[PvK]

Here's why I just bought Approaching Infinity for $40:

It looks like something I will enjoy a lot. People write about the good times they have had playing it, and I'm confident I will have similar good times. In particular, it's a type of game I want to play. I like managing a ship and its crew, trying to keep it and them alive, gathering stuff, and having different adventures in an ongoing context. I like permadeath designs over savescum designs. It looks very fun and creative and like a nice independent effort. I want to support that, too, by paying for it.

Yes it costs more than many other games I could get, and other free Roguelikes, but that's not going to keep me from playing this game. This game actually has almost zero competition on features that I want. There are a few somewhat similar games, but nothing quite like it, so I have to either buy it or abstain. I choose to buy and play it. It's not about "oh this is priced higher than other games, so I will buy other games instead."

If I _do_ choose to think about price comparison, I think about today's $46 lunch-with-woman, which was nice, and also not an either-or comparison, but it puts it in perspective. If I can spend $46 on a 45-minute lunch, I can spend $40 on a game that I'll may end up spending 45 hours or more enjoying. Not that price determines what I do like that, but even if it did, it would be very cheap entertainment by that measure.

On the other hand, I also agree with someone on another thread who wrote that Shrapnel might sell many more than 4x the copies, if they charged $10 per download, because so many people do have these kind of hangups about buying games, and people who aren't sure this game is what they want, would try it.