I’m not sure whether to be proud or ashamed. My personal Steam account now stands at a whopping 466 products. According to Steam store transactions listed on my account, I have spent $1307.22 on games, and have redeemed 220 codes (almost universally from promotions like the Humble Bundle) on my account. On top of this,  I’ve only actually played 210 of the products I’ve spent—and wasted—so much money on. So why the hell do I have so many games?

My Steam Gauge page tells me my collection is valued at $7087.23, a far cry from my true total of $1307.22 plus a hundred or two extra dollars from Humble Bundles. Even knowing I wouldn’t play all of these games, I continued to throw money at Steam and the almighty Gaben. I saw the “value” in spending an average of 18.44% sticker price for a game which I may or may not even play.

Much of this can be attributed to the “herd mentality” effect. Nearly every storefront lists its bestsellers and new releases for everyone to see. As humans, we naturally are attracted to what’s popular. If we are made aware that Killing Floor 2, for instance, is in the top 10 bestsellers on Steam right now, we are more likely to buy it even if we detest zombie games (a situation I fell into with the original Killing Floor. Buyer’s remorse set in within 10 minutes for me). Of course, this isn’t an inherently bad thing. Everyone buys bread and milk at the grocery store; it’s a staple that is seemingly necessary. Despite the incredibly mixed reviews Destiny received, I went ahead and bought it with my PS4 last month because it seems like one of the quintessential games to play on current-gen consoles. Hell, I’m fully aware I’m being manipulated by marketing and I still buy into it.

I’m certain that you, like me, have bought a game from Steam or any other retailer that you really had no interest in, but it was on sale, so you just had to have it. Despite having no prior interest to a product, our human nature to jump at any good opportunity will tell us to at least consider it if we see it is discounted. Even the simple technique of pricing products at $19.99 instead of $20 is a deliberate action on marketers’ behalves. If the expected value is larger than the actual value, we tend to gravitate towards the enticing 75%-off price tag. We like the satisfaction of seeing a cold, hard dollar amount that we saved on a receipt. Cashiers sometimes circle the totals savings in red pen or highlight them to entice the customer’s return.

Researchers have found that when consumers are presented with two copies of an identical item, one priced at $200 with a $25 rebate, the other at $175, the $200 option is more likely to be chosen. Humans just want a deal.

All of this culminates into the fact that humans buy first with emotions, then later justify the choice with themselves later through logic. Many people end up losing sight of how much they spend on useless crap they’ll never use ($2.00 for Aliens: Colonial Marines a few months after release? Why not!).