But if I am having fun, why would I want to waste the money, time, and effort if I am already having fun?
Why is it necessarily a waste? Personally, I never consider time spent learning something, even if it winds up sucking, to be a waste.
That being said, there are plenty of ways that you can try out new stuff that might appeal to you without having to pay for it. People are always running games and demos at cons - go take the time to try it if you're already at one. Alternately, you can contact a group that's already running whatever game it happens to be and ask to sit it or play a pregen or NPC so that you can check it out. You can check out AP podcasts like
The Game Master Show to hear how a session runs. More than anything, ask questions of people who know the games, or better yet, that make the games. I know that quite a few designers and game devs are active in forums. Luke Crane is probably one of the best examples, but I know that the Shadowrun devs are pretty active over at
Dumpshock, too, and several of White Wolf's freelancers and devs post at
Shadownessence. So it's not like detailed information is out of reach. Hell, a lot of people release sample chapters or quickstart rules as free downloads, so you can look at the writing style and get a feel for how the rules are laid out.
Now, sure, you might find that you don't like a particular game after playing it or looking at it, but there is
always something that can be taken from the experience, so neither the time nor effort are actually wasted.