RPG Consumerism as a Play-Replacement

In the last week or so, I've gotten in a flood of new-old RPG stuff.  Judges Guild mags, KODT, and I bought a copy of CC3 from the Loot sale. 

I love reading it, but I know that I buy more stuff than I can really consume.  But I'm not really a collector, either, since I refuse to get buy anything other than what would be considered play copies of anything. 

So why do I buy as much as I do?

Part of it is the confluence of increased disposable income, increased time alone, and electronic marketplaces available at this point in my life.  Twenty years ago - even ten years ago - I wouldn't have the burgeoning stack of books and magazines I have today.  With a bored click my Internet searches turn up things I always wanted as a kid growing up in a small town that I didn't have the enough money for, or the ability to transport myself to.  

What I haven't had is my old crew of buddies who were always up to running their latest characters through whatever I had bought or thought.

And so far I think a large part of why I buy the quantity of things that I do is as a sort of pacifier, or binky (or whatever they call baby-plugs in your corner of the world).  It keeps the jonesing down.

I wonder how much of the OSR is the RPG equivalent to nicotine patches?  I have no doubt that the material producers are playing, and that many bloggers are playing, but what about the people who buy the new product?  (Or old, for that matter - somebody's keeping TSR (A)D&D prices inflating steadily enough that the collectors/resellers market is healthy.)

How much of the R is based upon unrequited desire to sling some dice? 

Google+ appears to be coming to my rescue, but I'll leave that for another post.