Let's Talk: Sunk Cost Fallacy

Why do I want to buy expansions for games I have played little or not at all despite owning them a long time? Am I hoping to make the original purchase more worth it by spending more? Am I afraid to accept the game was a dud for me and sell at a loss? Am I victim of sunk cost fallacy? These are questions I'm asking myself lately.

I think it's easier to buy expansions because you can think "hey, it's not like I'm buying a new game", or "I can fit it all in the base box!"

It might be a collector's mentality, which I have sometimes fallen prey to in the past. FFG used to patch their games with expansions, so if you were a big FFG player in the past, you might have internalized that concept.

1. Game expansions in particular seem to go weirdly in and out of print relative to their base games. It leads to situations where you can find Relic for $15 and the expansions run $100 apiece. Same thing with Tragedy Looper and the Cosmic Evil expansion, Starcraft and Brood War, BSG and Pegasus, the FFG Limited Edition Lords of Middle Earth... for a while there, even the Seas of Glory expansion for Merchants & Marauders was out of print and selling for $100. In that sense, it's like a very slowly-moving FOMO.

2. A "complete" collection is more marketable by gamers looking to re-sell. If you think you might sell it down the line, may as well have the whole package on offer.

3. Having it all is psychologically satisfying. *looks over at complete collections of Dreamblade, Monsterpocalypse, D&D Attack Wing, and World of Warcraft Miniatures*

Expansions intended to add players and especially content are fine. I don't think I own any games that needed an expansion to make them playable in the first place.

I'm pretty down on expansions. There are plenty for games I like that I've just not bothered with. The only one I've gotten recently is the one for It's a Wonderful World, which adds a couple more strategies without a lot of rules overhead. Apart from things like alternate maps or factions, I'm not really interested.

ToS tells me I own 105 base games and 296 expansions, so maybe that's worth unpacking.

Legomancer wrote: I'm pretty down on expansions. There are plenty for games I like that I've just not bothered with. The only one I've gotten recently is the one for It's a Wonderful World, which adds a couple more strategies without a lot of rules overhead. Apart from things like alternate maps or factions, I'm not really interested.

Yes! I pretty much only want expansions that don’t add more rules. Just give me stuff I can effortless shuffle in, that makes it less likely I’ll see stuff I’ve seen before.

I’ll admit I was briefly worried that the OP was going to express his opinion that there were better board game websites out there, but he’s already so invested in TWBG….

You’ve already made the emotional decision for the game, so the expansion purchase doesn’t require the same permission to purchase.

Expansions are generally useless, made for games that don’t need them. I rarely buy except for new tracks for racing games or ew airplane models.

Sagrilarus wrote: Expansions are generally useless, made for games that don’t need them.

Them's fightin' words. I think a lot of this hinges what one considers an 'expansion.'

Looking at my shelves, these are the games I've expanded:
QE: 5th player expansion
Neuroshima Hex: new armies
Smartphone: KS, came with expansions I haven't used
51st State: New factions and card sets that change rules
Galaxy Trucker: Bought Big expansion years ago, took it back out.
Core Worlds: Galactic Orders is a very solid expansion. The other one not so much.
Innovation: Bought used and came with one expansion, but I never use it.
Shards of Infinity: bought one expansion
Theseus: bought 2 armies
Fallout: Bought New California and Atomic Bonds, which make the game co-op
Power Grid: More maps, different power plants. Didn't buy robots or stock market
El Grande: Had the Big Box with all the dumb expansions, traded for normal box version without them
Nations: Has a good expansion
Xia: Expansion stuff is okay, hit or miss
Small World: more armies
Lords of Waterdeep: Skullport is very cool, the other is mostly just more of the same
Steam: maps. I had Steam Barons (stock game) but took it out
Terraforming Mars: I have them all but only interested in Prelude and the maps
It's a Wonderful World: Haven't played it yet but expansion adds a few things that mainly give some more strategy
Zeppelin Attack: expansion mostly just adds cards
San Juan: now comes with expansion

Stuff I have that I know has expansions I passed on:
Bunny Kingdom
Pandemic: The Cure
Tramways
Civ New Dawn
Mottainai (I think)
Ginkgopolis
High Frontier 4 All: Just have the modules it comes with

And here's what I WISH had expansions:
Android (more characters pls)
Ethnos

I'm sure there's more of all 3 groups but that's what I can see at the moment

Shellhead wrote: It might be a collector's mentality, which I have sometimes fallen prey to in the past. FFG used to patch their games with expansions, so if you were a big FFG player in the past, you might have internalized that concept.

Agreed. When it came to Runebound 2e, I was afflicted with Gottahavitis. Hell, I sold some stock and bought the Midnight expansion off of Noble Knight over a year ago, and I've STILL yet to play it.

Rliyen wrote:

Shellhead wrote: It might be a collector's mentality, which I have sometimes fallen prey to in the past. FFG used to patch their games with expansions, so if you were a big FFG player in the past, you might have internalized that concept.

Agreed. When it came to Runebound 2e, I was afflicted with Gottahavitis. Hell, I sold some stock and bought the Midnight expansion off of Noble Knight over a year ago, and I've STILL yet to play it.

Maybe you should watch Midnight Chronicles to get in the mood:

www.imdb.com/title/tt1079372/

This made me think, and I started looking into my expansions.
boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/296015/inquest-matter-my-expansions

I logged into BGG to read Dave's thing. Who needs microbadges?
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Where do expandable game systems fit in? Except for the April Fools’ scenario Barkham Horror, I have and am in for every release and promo. I even have most of the convention exclusives. If I get tired of it. I probably won’t realize it until I look down from an upcoming campaign announcement and see that I haven’t played the last two.

I did the same thing with Dominion last year, only sitting out the latest expansion when I realized I hadn’t yet played the two previous more than twice. Games like Lvl 99’s Exceed release another 12 or so characters in regular seasons. Sometimes I scoop a bit more of these than I need because the bundle deal is pretty good.