You've been told to put your money where your mouth is. So you do, and before you know it, you're investing your life savings in renewable diapers.
Seriously though, crappy jokes are one thing, but there is a lot of merit to the idea of "putting money" where one's pie hole is. Behind the saying is the idea that if you REALLY believe in something, or you REALLY want something to happen, you'll actually throw money at it. That's significant because money is the one thing most people have a hard time giving up.
And the value of money, while different for everyone, is also significant to everyone. So when someone tells you that something is "free" your ears are of course going to perk up. Everyone's ears perk up at the idea of getting something for free.
Playstation Plus gives players free games. Sony very cleverly shrouded PS Plus by first providing it as a perk for loyal customers, but then eventually made it mandatory for playing online. Most gamers aren't worried about the idea, because Sony butters up the situation with some legitimately good games every month at no charge.
Most of my Playstation library is made up of PS Plus games because I'm one of those guys who works a retail job and barely has any expendable income to pay for a full priced retail title. To me, PS Plus is a great opportunity to have fresh games coming in all year that can keep me playing, interested, and challenged for less than the cost of a full priced game. It's almost the only way I can get new games under the income bracket I live on. Even when I come across more money, I put it toward real things that matter-like working on a broken car or buying necessary things for my wife and children.
As it happens, as much as I enjoy games on PS Plus, I also don't play them that much any more. I have had to think long and hard about how I love Spelunky so much, and admire the storytelling of Ether One, and love the gameplay mechanics of Rocket League, and appreciate the efforts of Never Alone. Truth is, when I have a couple hours to enjoy a game, I don't want to play any of those. The only reason I can come up with as to why I'm not interested in picking them up is because I actually invested nothing in them in the first place. I got all of those games for free. Because of that, enjoying them or getting something out of them doesn't create any consequence.
To nail this point down, I purchased Guacamelee: Super Turbo Championship Edition from Nintendo's Humble Bundle for $1.00 (I know, I'm a cheapskate. But I made sure every penny went to the developer.) I played it for an hour, enjoyed it and then set it down so that I could focus on beating Splinter Cell. One month later, the game came out on PS Plus. I downloaded it for free, and I never started it up. I never have any INTENTION of starting it up.
I like the game. I'm actually looking forward to playing it on my Wii U. But I still won't play it on my Playstation, even if the Playstation version allows me to earn trophies and play online with my friends. I don't care. I actually paid money for the Wii U version. I invested in it. I put my money into it. In my mind, the Wii U version is worth more.
I know that we are technically "paying" for PS Plus games because we pay for the membership and the games are part of a membership. I understand that. But the fact of the matter is that Sony actually just wants money to support their network and they use the games to sweeten the deal and keep people subscribed. If PS Plus money only went toward online play and data backup features, the majority of subscribers would drop their subscription for 6 months out of the year.
The truth is that with any game, or any item for that matter, we value things more when we actually pay for them. Free things might be cool, but they're also worthless, because you didn't assign any value to them in the first place.
I have always enjoyed Mario games. I loved Super Mario World and Super Mario Sunshine and the New Super Mario Bros on Wii and DS. More than any of those games, I've played and loved New Super Luigi U, and Mario 3D Land (on which I obtained 5 stars on my play file). The only reason I love those games more is because I paid for them. And I want to keep returning to them because, in a way, they are giving back to me what I put into them.
Playstation Plus is still cool, and I will still subscribe, but I don't really value the idea of free games like I used to. The fact is that I want to put my money in the things I REALLY want and REALLY believe in. And those are the games that I forked over money for.
