Even though I’m quite the video game enthusiast, I break with the majority on the fact that I don’t rent games. No, it’s not out of some pathological hatred towards Blockbuster, Gamefly, or their cohorts. I’ve rented games from both companies in the past, but my issue simply boils down to time.

As I’ve become a crotchety old man, I simply don’t have the time to devote to games that I used to. So, even for a 12-hour adventure game, it may take me weeks to complete it. Renting from a brick-and-mortar store would quickly get extremely expensive; in that case, I might as well just buy the game! As for cheaper options, like the aforementioned Gamefly…well, $15-20 a month is a decent deal if you’re renting multiple games. However, like I said, I’m short on time, so I’d be renting maybe one at a time. In the end, it’s still not worth the money. Also, there’s plenty of games that I would purchase no matter what; when I’m playing those, the Gamefly subscription would go unused, and I’d still be paying the fee every month. In that case, I’d actually be losing money.

So that’s my beef. For gamers with a lot of time on their hands (damn college kids), renting’s the way to go, but it doesn’t work so well for those of us in the real world with too much to do.