You've paid 7000 dollars for a video game?
I know someone who spent $4,500 on a semi-custom rifle not long ago. We all have a button that makes money come out. For some it's a rifle for others its drugs or tits and pussy. The list is endless.
That isn't even the full amount I spent on digital goods in the past six or so years. I think that's roughly at 8k spread over a half dozen different games. Most of them were not worth it and I don't believe I got my money's worth. I know what you are thinking and I'm thinking the same thing. Will I ever learn. I guess we will find out in early 2016.
Look you can rationalize spending money on anything. It's all relative to your own context. You can take money spent on cars/boats/entertainment systems/travel and make it look damning. Hell try and rationalize spending 15k on a kitchen upgrade (this is modest) where 10k of that is a granite counter (unless you did that right before a sale). Or someone spending 10k on a boat and another 20k on a truck (both used) just so they can go fishing a dozen times in a year. I know a friend who has spent about 50k on audio equipment (cheap if you knew the cost of most pro hardware/software) that he uses to craft music.
Here is my context: I quit all but one game where you can spend real money on digital goods and scaled that back to virtually nothing. I don't drink or smoke, I have no boat/car (can't drive due to medical condition), don't own a house, have no family or any dependents. I'm paid decently and not going to starve. Unlike most of my friends who are 50-150k in the hole I owe nothing on credit cards, student loans or loan sharks. My gambling addiction starts/ends at the weekly office lottery pool. On a side note I would never have done this if I had a SO or a kid and don't plan to ever spend this much on digital goods ever again. The pinata is almost empty.
Ok so that's the context. So why?
I started off with $65 in way back at the start and thought that was risky even on a game from Chris Roberts. I badly wanted to see a real space sim / adventure game and wasn't quite sure what we would get but took a leap of faith. I back other kickstarter projects but those all come in under $100 and the average is probably closer to $40. I then ignored the game for a year and by the time I came back to it we have speed past the original funding goal to fully fund the game. The scope of the game started to crystallize and that's when I realized it might be possible to achieve something I always dreamed of in a game but could never hope for since the game industry tanked quality wise years ago. I do seriously regret giving them (EA and others) money. Anyway I carefully came up with what I wished for which was a fleet to command and when the limited ship sales came up I spent what I spent. Now part of that is real goods like mouse pads and towels and stuff. I give a lot of gifts out to my friends for xmas from their store but most of it is still ships. I'm in FORGE, some may know us from WoT and other games, and the org and my friends will be staffing my fleet.
Look I realize all of this can go sideways and I can get burnt again. Unlike the people on the forums who put up threads and have the occasional group cry over the state of the game I walked into this with both eye open. I have real world expectations about the game development process and can see the game taking until early to mid 2016 to launch at the earliest. I'm still not quite done spending money on it. When I started I expected to spend money on ship upgrades and I'm only partly done with that but most of the more expensive ships are still to come. Unlike a lot of people I won't be spending real money on the game when it launches. I have done that already. To make money in game I will be renting out some of my ships and use that to fund the rest. The rest of my real money is going towards a new sim chair/HOTAS monitors and a new computer. If you think spending 7k on a video game is a lot wait until you see how much it costs for a sim setup and new computer.
But hey I don't look down on frugal people who have piles of cash in the bank and count every penny. It's all relative in what you want out of life.