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So here we are again, the beginning of a New Year. Christmas came and went (as most years now – if I get another pair of socks I’m going to kill someone!) and NYE once again hit me with a monumental hangover. A couple more days and all those decorations will be coming down, and life will once again be returning to normal. In true pantomime style I hear the rest of Europe shouting at me ‘OH NO IT WONT’...
How could I forget? The Euro. 1991 seems a long time away now, when I first heard and chuckled to myself about the ‘single currency’. ‘Yeah, that one is going to work’ I said to myself before tucking in to my jellied eels down the Nags Head. But ‘E-day’ is here. It’s very real and 300 million people are revelling in it as we speak. So far the changeover seems to have gone pretty smoothly – apart from the huge logistical nightmare of distributing 65 billion notes and coins, it seems to have been a success. OK, it may be too soon to say if it is an economical success, but the first hurdle has been cleared by a great distance.
So it got me thinking of the effect this will have on us gamers. Now of course I am fully aware that the previous government on our behalf decided that we would not join the Euro, but let us just say for now that the Conservatives had a smidgen of foresight and said ‘yes’ (I imagine some people on these forums are going to slate me for this).
The most important factor this would change how much we cheaper we can find games in other countries. It’s the one thing that we all agree on – most games are far too expensive and will only continue to rise over the coming years. A lot of high street retailers are shifting games for £45 apiece and this is just plain ridiculous. Prices vary significantly across Europe and a single currency would mean that these price differences would become more transparent. In other words it will become increasingly easy as time goes on to compare the prices of different goods, because they will all be in the same currency. If some game is 75 Euro’s in France and 65 Euro’s in Germany, it’s pretty obvious which one is the cheaper. Postage prices are fairly insignificant these days too, so all in all we could be looking further afield for the best deal.
This ‘transparency’ will also help businesses to become more efficient and therefor more competitive. They will be able to assess their strengths and weaknesses, to check their competitive position, to evaluate the products of competitors and to adapt their own products or prices. If you think of the many processes that are involved in the creation of games (design, production, packaging, music, distribution etc), many of these would benefit from this and ultimately this will have a knock on effect to the consumer.
Another great benefit is if the Euro remains strong internationally, European countries will be able to import at lower prices again affecting the price we pay for goods. Add to this the fact that there will be increased cross-border trading and no more currency transaction costs, we could be looking at significantly more value for money.
Obviously there are possible drawbacks to the Euro, and it would be foolish to ignore them. Billions has already been spent on the creation, distribution and implementation of the currency and there is an increased chance of ‘economic shock’ (devaluation, one nation suffering etc) or even political tension between nations, but to me there is only one way forward.
All I want is to be given the choice, a referendum to let the people decide. Hopefully I have convinced some of you out there to embrace Euroland, even if its just for the cheaper games.
How could I forget? The Euro. 1991 seems a long time away now, when I first heard and chuckled to myself about the ‘single currency’. ‘Yeah, that one is going to work’ I said to myself before tucking in to my jellied eels down the Nags Head. But ‘E-day’ is here. It’s very real and 300 million people are revelling in it as we speak. So far the changeover seems to have gone pretty smoothly – apart from the huge logistical nightmare of distributing 65 billion notes and coins, it seems to have been a success. OK, it may be too soon to say if it is an economical success, but the first hurdle has been cleared by a great distance.
So it got me thinking of the effect this will have on us gamers. Now of course I am fully aware that the previous government on our behalf decided that we would not join the Euro, but let us just say for now that the Conservatives had a smidgen of foresight and said ‘yes’ (I imagine some people on these forums are going to slate me for this).
The most important factor this would change how much we cheaper we can find games in other countries. It’s the one thing that we all agree on – most games are far too expensive and will only continue to rise over the coming years. A lot of high street retailers are shifting games for £45 apiece and this is just plain ridiculous. Prices vary significantly across Europe and a single currency would mean that these price differences would become more transparent. In other words it will become increasingly easy as time goes on to compare the prices of different goods, because they will all be in the same currency. If some game is 75 Euro’s in France and 65 Euro’s in Germany, it’s pretty obvious which one is the cheaper. Postage prices are fairly insignificant these days too, so all in all we could be looking further afield for the best deal.
This ‘transparency’ will also help businesses to become more efficient and therefor more competitive. They will be able to assess their strengths and weaknesses, to check their competitive position, to evaluate the products of competitors and to adapt their own products or prices. If you think of the many processes that are involved in the creation of games (design, production, packaging, music, distribution etc), many of these would benefit from this and ultimately this will have a knock on effect to the consumer.
Another great benefit is if the Euro remains strong internationally, European countries will be able to import at lower prices again affecting the price we pay for goods. Add to this the fact that there will be increased cross-border trading and no more currency transaction costs, we could be looking at significantly more value for money.
Obviously there are possible drawbacks to the Euro, and it would be foolish to ignore them. Billions has already been spent on the creation, distribution and implementation of the currency and there is an increased chance of ‘economic shock’ (devaluation, one nation suffering etc) or even political tension between nations, but to me there is only one way forward.
All I want is to be given the choice, a referendum to let the people decide. Hopefully I have convinced some of you out there to embrace Euroland, even if its just for the cheaper games.
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roughly 30% of road tax is spent on the roads. That really winds me up. Also about 60% of NHS payments from wages goes to the NHS.
Yet, The forces get a crateload, the Queen is on £6million a year for waving, and many other things. The dome and the bridge was a shambles, and we wernt consulted at all.
Yet, The forces get a crateload, the Queen is on £6million a year for waving, and many other things. The dome and the bridge was a shambles, and we wernt consulted at all.
funkygamer's hit the nail on the head there.
Some hideous proportion of the total tax ( about 20%, I think) generated by the government is spent on 'Defense' - a very non-descriptive word. Still, at 20 million quid for a small helicopter, it ain't cheap.
Some hideous proportion of the total tax ( about 20%, I think) generated by the government is spent on 'Defense' - a very non-descriptive word. Still, at 20 million quid for a small helicopter, it ain't cheap.
cookie monster wrote:
> There is only so much tax people are prepared to pay, in > a recent survey everyone said they would like to see
> more money spent on the NHS, but very few said they would
> be willing to pay more tax to fund it.
Which is why I said, lets not pay for as many of these dumb-ass submarines, and why I pointed out the the gvmnt has made errors in choosing to funf things that were just not viable, like Rialtrack, like the Millenium Dome, like Wembley. If the tax payer had not been forced to pay for these things, we could afford to employ some more nurse, doctors, teachers, and yes, even train drivers.
We can't ask for more, but expect to pay the same for it.
> There is only so much tax people are prepared to pay, in > a recent survey everyone said they would like to see
> more money spent on the NHS, but very few said they would
> be willing to pay more tax to fund it.
Which is why I said, lets not pay for as many of these dumb-ass submarines, and why I pointed out the the gvmnt has made errors in choosing to funf things that were just not viable, like Rialtrack, like the Millenium Dome, like Wembley. If the tax payer had not been forced to pay for these things, we could afford to employ some more nurse, doctors, teachers, and yes, even train drivers.
We can't ask for more, but expect to pay the same for it.
funkygamer wrote:
In fact, the
> government needs to tax us more if we are to do the next generation any
> justice.
There is only so much tax people are prepared to pay, in a recent survey everyone said they would like to see more money spent on the NHS, but very few said they would be willing to pay more tax to fund it.
In fact, the
> government needs to tax us more if we are to do the next generation any
> justice.
There is only so much tax people are prepared to pay, in a recent survey everyone said they would like to see more money spent on the NHS, but very few said they would be willing to pay more tax to fund it.
Firstly, can I just say, what a great topic. I had never thought of how the Euro would affect me as a gamer. Well done Craw for obviously thinking about this.
Now then. That said. I have to say I think Craw has a good point about pricing being more transparent if we join the Euro. To try and get this back to a gaming perspective, (rather than oil), apart from Government taxes, how much mark-up an games do retailers charge us?
SR might be quite good, but the high street shops like EB and Game (part of the same group of companies anyway aren't they?) probably make a mint off us gamers.
As for the Government being greedy by taxing us, well, no. I don't think they are greedy. I think they have made mistakes by bailing out Railtrack too many times, also the Millenium Dome was a major mistake, and lets not mention Wembley, eh?
We have the best army in the world. It does not come cheap. But lets also think about the NHS, lets stop spending as much on dumb-ass submarines, and start paying for more nurses and doctors. Oh, and teachers to. In fact, the government needs to tax us more if we are to do the next generation any justice.
Now then. That said. I have to say I think Craw has a good point about pricing being more transparent if we join the Euro. To try and get this back to a gaming perspective, (rather than oil), apart from Government taxes, how much mark-up an games do retailers charge us?
SR might be quite good, but the high street shops like EB and Game (part of the same group of companies anyway aren't they?) probably make a mint off us gamers.
As for the Government being greedy by taxing us, well, no. I don't think they are greedy. I think they have made mistakes by bailing out Railtrack too many times, also the Millenium Dome was a major mistake, and lets not mention Wembley, eh?
We have the best army in the world. It does not come cheap. But lets also think about the NHS, lets stop spending as much on dumb-ass submarines, and start paying for more nurses and doctors. Oh, and teachers to. In fact, the government needs to tax us more if we are to do the next generation any justice.
I have thought of one thing which would annoy me - I would look dramatically more in debt than I already look now!
Meka Dragon wrote:
But instead of getting paid £1000, I'd like to think I'd
> get paid approx 1600 Euro's.
You missed your chance - you shoulda moved to Italy while they still had the lire. I was a multi-millionaire over there.
Eat that Chris Tarrant, you blonde peasant-baiting Nazi!
But instead of getting paid £1000, I'd like to think I'd
> get paid approx 1600 Euro's.
You missed your chance - you shoulda moved to Italy while they still had the lire. I was a multi-millionaire over there.
Eat that Chris Tarrant, you blonde peasant-baiting Nazi!
Craw wrote:
> Meka Dragon wrote:
>BTW, what's the Euro equivolent of a 'p' -
> ie
> what's a 100th of a Euro called?
Its a cent no?
I think it is you know.
> Meka Dragon wrote:
>BTW, what's the Euro equivolent of a 'p' -
> ie
> what's a 100th of a Euro called?
Its a cent no?
I think it is you know.
cookie monster wrote:
It would cost more than 30 Euros if the exchange
> rate is 1 euro=61p
You're right, I calculated it wrong (as if £1 was worth 0.61 Euro's).
So something costing roughly £50 would cost approx 80 Euro's. No?
But instead of getting paid £1000, I'd like to think I'd get paid approx 1600 Euro's.
(Note, I don't really get paid that amount, it makes for a simple example)
It would cost more than 30 Euros if the exchange
> rate is 1 euro=61p
You're right, I calculated it wrong (as if £1 was worth 0.61 Euro's).
So something costing roughly £50 would cost approx 80 Euro's. No?
But instead of getting paid £1000, I'd like to think I'd get paid approx 1600 Euro's.
(Note, I don't really get paid that amount, it makes for a simple example)
Meka Dragon wrote:
>BTW, what's the Euro equivolent of a 'p' -
> ie what's a 100th of a Euro called?
Its a cent no?
>BTW, what's the Euro equivolent of a 'p' -
> ie what's a 100th of a Euro called?
Its a cent no?
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