My xbox is dying. It's an xbox series s that I was given a while ago and I play mainly Fallout 4 on it. This is my way to de-stress and not give in to my depression and anxiety - it gets me out of the stressful real world for a while and I'm much better off for it. But now it's started freezing after about 5 minutes or less of gameplay. I restart, try to play again, and it freezes again. I've taken off all the saved games I don't need, I'm not playing with any mods, it's literally just vanilla Fallout 4 and it's refusing to function. It just started this week and I'm crushed. It's not just a game to me - it's something I need to cope with my life. The thing is, I know if I just buy a new series s, it'll have the same problem in no time because of Fallout 4 and it's own issues needing so much processing power, so I really want (need?) to buy a series x - that lovely, box-shaped, powerful monstrosity - but it's upwards of $500. That's...fuck, that's more than my monthly car payment, cell phone bill, and grocery bill combined. Even if I get a used one, it's around $450. I'm not a rich person. I live well enough I guess, but $500 is a metric fuckton of money. I work a full time job, but I just feel like $500 is SO much money for something that I, as an adult, shouldn't even want. I feel like I should save the money or spend it on something useful and adulty...like what, I don't really know.

So I was thinking I'd sell some things on Facebook marketplace or maybe some art on here, but I don't really have much that's worth much that I'd want to sell and honestly, I'm not good enough at digital art to make enough on here. So here I sit, stewing in my depression, half way wanting to forget about it and half way wanting to say fuck it and trudge my ass over to Best Buy to just buy the damn thing already.

Fuck it all. First world problems, amirite? headdesk

There's nothing wrong with an adult wanting to play video games or do anything else fun as long as it's not hurting anyone. If someone in your life is making you feel guilty for that, they're wrong. If it's just "society" you feel the pressure from, who cares, it's wrong about a lot of things too. Do what brings you happiness.

Sorry your xbox is dying though. It sounds like you're saying you can actually afford a new one so I think you should go for it; don't feel bad just because it's "not adulty" enough, especially since you say it's actually therapeutic for you. Anyone who would judge you for finding a safe, healthy coping strategy can go jump. The world sucks sometimes, do what you have to do to deal with it.

Fallout 4 is my favorite game too. I had it on xbox before I had a PC good enough to play games and then I bought another copy when I got a gaming computer. The only thing I felt slightly silly about was having to repurchase the same game on another platform, but considering the hundreds of hours of entertainment I've gotten out of it, it was completely worth it. What's your favorite faction? I'm Institute all the way but I headcanon doing things a lot differently as the director.

I feel it because I grew up with video games and still play as an adult. May I suggest saving bits here and there until you rack up about 400 or so? November isn't really that far away and black Friday deals are a thing if you're in the US... Maybe you might buy another gaming platform with that cash and finding a good sale but it can become a short term goal for your long term benefit

I felt that. I'm worried that my PS4 is going to die on me and I'm unable to buy another or a PS5, I don't even have the option FOR a PS5. I have an Xbox One S, digital, but that means I'd have to dedicate the system to likely one or two games and start from scratch with all the DLC I have.

Fun times. You have my sympathies and well wishes for finding a good, cheap system.