Is this an expensive hobby or what?

[Valar 7]

I'm kinda new to the civilian sim scene. I abandoned the civilian sims ten years or so ago in favor of sims like the DCS A-10 which I think I'm pretty proficient in.Now, having returned to civilian flight sims I'm very surprised to see how much progress had been made in the area of payware add-ons. Some of these planes are just plain amazing! Same goes for the scenery.But I must say: it is quite expensive once you start on a shopping spree what with the planes and the scenery add-ons and whatnot. I have already spent $250 and I'm not finished yet and that's not even counting the actual sim (x-plane $80 and P3D $50). How much have you guys spent on this and do you also play other games or are you exclusively spending your gaming time on flight sims?

[ramrunner800 10]

I've been enamored of flight simulation since I was a little kid, so when I got my first real job out of college last year, I splurged. I spent $3500+ building a rig and buying hardware controls, and well in excess of $1000 on addon software. I'm a member of the Ramit Sethi school of personal finance, I spend extravegantly on the things I love, and I'm mercilously frugal about the things I don't. At this point there isn't really too much that I would like to add to my rig that I haven't already purchased, so the hobby is actually quite inexpensive these days :( .I do use my rig for a few other games, such as a few shooters from time to time, and I use it's raw power for converting bluray's to digital format to run on my AppleTV.

Edited March 29, 2012 by ramrunner800

[tom79 6]

I'm inclined to say it's a rather cheap hobby, unless you are a home cockpit builder maybe.I have friends who spend thousands of euros on a new bicycle frame and another hundred euros to have it powder coated.Thinking about the value for money of an aircraft addon with respect to how many hours of fun you can have with it, you're getting a lot of bang for the buck. Compare this to other forms of entertainment. I've certainly spent more money in bars and restaurants on a single evening than on the average FSX addon.

[out 769]

I generally agree with what Tom wrote above. As long as you compare our hobby to others, it does not look particularly expensive.However the fact is that we should compare it to other virtual hobbies maybe as any real world ones will always be more costly.Buying cars, bikes, paragliders or collecting paintings is no way comparable.Most people see as as gamers and what we do is (at least in their eyes) just expanding the game with some more elements. Paying for that? Come on!And looking from this perspective once you buy A LOT OF stuff (aircraft, airports, UT, GE, AS, FSUIPC and much more) on a regular basis, it does cost.I actually buy at least one addon a month (sometimes every two months). Not much maybe but seeing how much I spent within the last few years... well.I am the only one at home who can see what was bought. It cannot be driven or ridden, used in our kitchen or during our trips. It doesn't even stand on the shelves (I buy downloads)!Anyway, no matter what others think, we do love this hobby and WE know it is worth every euro.Usually a few days before I plan to use my CC to buy another one I remind my wife how expensive hobbies my friends have and how poor their wives are because of that!

[BartEnder 2]

I cannot say it loud here how much have I spent for the hobby, since my wife can jump in here :)Seriously, my rig is worth (hdw + sft) more then my wife's car...Fortunately, there are a lot of free quality literature to go on between flights.

[Valar 7]

I'm inclined to say it's a rather cheap hobby, unless you are a home cockpit builder maybe.I have friends who spend thousands of euros on a new bicycle frame and another hundred euros to have it powder coated.Thinking about the value for money of an aircraft addon with respect to how many hours of fun you can have with it, you're getting a lot of bang for the buck. Compare this to other forms of entertainment. I've certainly spent more money in bars and restaurants on a single evening than on the average FSX addon.

Yes when you look at it that way it is not very expensive. Time spent is time spent after all, doesn't matter if you're drinking beers in a bar, biking or flying virtual aircraft.

[Rocky_53 1,600]

I guess it's like most hobbies, it can be as expensive or as cheap as you like. For some it may be something they delve into once a week, for others like myself, more time than I want to admit! My new FSX specific rig was about $3500, for controller hardware $1000 and for addons, including aircraft and scenery about $2500-$3000... sheesh, now I have really made myself depressed :( ...... not really :(

[EngineRoom 205]

I guess it's like most hobbies, it can be as expensive or as cheap as you like. For some it may be something they delve into once a week, for others like myself, more time than I want to admit!

Took the words right out of my mouth. If you want to keep up to date with the latest a greatest in PC hardware, have a big screen or projector display, have all the fanciest controllers and compulsively buy every addon that comes out then yes this can be an expensive hobby. If however you are content with a more modest PC and controllers, and just buy one or two addons a month then it's a pretty cheap hobby.My other hobby is scale aircraft modelling. Like quite a few others I've met in that hobby I've been bitten by the bug and have a fairly large "stash" (i.e. stockpile) of 390 kits. I've met guys that have 2-3,000 unbuilt kits :) The most expensive kit I have cost me £90. There are styrene kits now that cost up to £129... I've got a resin kit that costs £350 on my wish list... Then of course I like to add aftermarket accessories to most of my kits, and these can end up costing as much as the kit itself and quite often even more. Then throw in the cost of a good airbrush and compressor, about £200-250... a comprehensive set of tools £150-ish, paints £150-ish, things like glues, fillers and other stuff like that maybe another £150.... a dedicated desk or space to work..... perhaps an extractor unit for airbrushing..... travelling to shows and museums...... It can get pretty expensive. Then of course there's the modeller who just builds straight out of the box and paints with a normal hairy stick. It's a much cheaper hobby for him...I'd also like to take up amateur astronomy or perhaps astrophotography, but once again the cost of a good telescope, camera or CCD, photo editing software, travelling to a dark location and sitting there all night long.....I live next to a motorcycle business and all day long people are coming and going on motorbikes. I see some of these guys with fancy motorbikes and they're dressed in leathers and helmets that match the motorbike. I bet that can't be cheap....You get the idea :)

[Reason 20]

It depends on how much budget you allocate for this hobby as some people differ to another. One should not make a direct comparison since every one has different financial condition. As Rafal said, it is relatively cheap compares to other hobbies. I have spent $2200 for so many years, I spent around $ 1300 for my current rig, as the rest is for add ons. I am more than happy with it. I cant think of movin to fsx as it will cost another 1- 200K . I need to set my priority first as my real life factors should be on top. IMO

[Brett_Henderson 5]

If the Cost Factor (CF) is such:$$$ / (hours-of-entertainment X [quality-of-entertainment + educational-value])It's as inexpensive as a hobby can be..

[Reason 20]

educational-value])

that's about it.. education is the finest investment

[BartEnder 2]

In other ways, You cannot fly 737NG, SuperBug, Cub, Cessna310 or Jetranger (add here any addon plane You are addicted to...) for few thousand dollars anywhere You want, anytime You can, and have the fuel in cost of electricity.I spend most of my free funds for FSX and barely regret.

[simmerhead 885]

Compared to my other hobbies it's the cheapest one...

[Raindance 25]

It depends how deeply you want to go. I have a lot of fun with freeware aircraft, liveries & scenery (some of that very good indeed), plus a few of the less expensive utility add-ons and airports. It really doesn't have to be expensive unless you're looking for near-perfect accuracy in aircraft simulation.

[JRMurray 214]

In terms of hobbies, I agree that it can be as expensive or as cheap as a simmer wants. For me, it's the cost of a new computer once every three years (actually, not really, as I would have bought one regardless of whether I was flight simming or not) plus the add-ons, which I buy at the rate of about one or two per month. I bought some good peripherals (TrackIR 5, Logitech G940) a few years ago that I don't anticipate replacing anytime soon. The cost involved really is the add-ons; all in all, the total cost of flight simming is more than returned by the number of hours of enjoyment and entertainment that I get from flight simming.I consider the cost of my flight sim hobby relatively cheap in consideration of my other hobby: playing ice hockey. I I play on average twice per week all year around (often, more frequently), and for just one of those games, I pay $10. Four of those games per month represents the cost of one add-on per month. I have to drive all around the Lower Mainland to play, sometimes up to 30 or 40 kilometers one way. Just travelling to one of those games probably costs me about $10 in fuel (with diesel fuel prices here at $1.45/litre) I then have to replace my equipment on a regular basis: I go through at least one goalie stick per season, and they cost around $150 all the way up to $300. I have to get my skates sharpened about twice per season, which represents the cost of an add-on. I've just bought new leg pads at almost $1000, new goalie pants at about $200, a new face mask at $450 (the last one had a crack after I took a shot off the head), and I'm just about to buy new upper body protection at about $600. Due to the nature of the game and the need for sufficient protection from injury, this equipment doesn't last forever, so it will have to be replaced in a couple of seasons or so. Of course, the costs involved are returned in that I'm exercising regularly and thus staying healthy by playing a game I've played and loved since I was five years old ...... but on a cost/entertainment hour basis, flight simming is far, far cheaper.