It Doesn't Matter How Long Games Are

this guy has clearly never played an RPG worth owning.

That being said, if a game has a short gameplay time from start to finish, it better have one HELL of a replay value WITHOUT relying on multi-player to give it lasting value/ownership. Such games are few and far between. I refuse to plunk down full retail pricing on a game I am going to play through only once, unless I know that come hell or high water, I WILL be playing the ever loving hell out of it before it goes back on the shelf.

too many games rely on multi-player to give a game replay value nowadays. it feels like game developers aren't even trying to make a solid title without it and that's why my game collection isn't larger than it already is. its not that I don't like multi player, as I do own games like Counter-Strike, Quake 3, Left 4 Dead, Rainbow Six Vegas 2, etc. its just that sometimes I want a little more than that for my money.
 
I didn't really think Far Cry 3 was really all THAT. Then I played Crysis 3, and I began thinking to myself "You know... Far Cry 3 was actually a lot better than I gave it credit for..."

But by the time I completed Far Cry 3, I was sick of the world and was more than ready for it to end.

Definitely has its issues. The UI can be annoying at times but overall having tons of fun. Its been years since I have lost track of time playing a game. I'm still not bored with it due to the flexibility of the combat system. I usually stealth in and tickle the bad guys with my knife and they die laughing while I drag the bodies into the bush.
Oh and chucking cooked grenades into moving enemy Jeeps = Multi Kill LOL.
 
this guy has clearly never played an RPG worth owning.

That being said, if a game has a short gameplay time from start to finish, it better have one HELL of a replay value WITHOUT relying on multi-player to give it lasting value/ownership. Such games are few and far between. I refuse to plunk down full retail pricing on a game I am going to play through only once, unless I know that come hell or high water, I WILL be playing the ever loving hell out of it before it goes back on the shelf.

too many games rely on multi-player to give a game replay value nowadays. it feels like game developers aren't even trying to make a solid title without it and that's why my game collection isn't larger than it already is. its not that I don't like multi player, as I do own games like Counter-Strike, Quake 3, Left 4 Dead, Rainbow Six Vegas 2, etc. its just that sometimes I want a little more than that for my money.

Well look at Diablo 3 as an example. Even though I hated the RMAH I still managed to put in 90 hours on just one character plus other alts messing around. I got my money's worth based on hours played and entertainment value. It was worth 60 bucks easily to me. If D3 had 5 hours of gameplay AND RMAH then yes I would still be pissed. Having said this, any game that has Jay Wilson in the credits or even working as a custodian will never get my money.
 
I dont want a game I paid 40-60€ to last only 4 hours. Thats a length of a extended edition Return Of The King. Sorry, but unlike movies I want to play them in other days too than just one. Thats just dissapointing if I can finish the game in one sitting, even if its good. It better have good replay value with only that long single player campaign.

That said, I dont want games to drag out either. RPGs HAVE to be long, but for general action game if it last 8-10 hours it has to be solid. Too much air and it gets boring.
 
If the game is priced accordingly, I wouldn't mind playing a game an hour long. As in free or 99 cents.
 
I dont want a game I paid 40-60€ to last only 4 hours. Thats a length of a extended edition Return Of The King. Sorry, but unlike movies I want to play them in other days too than just one. Thats just dissapointing if I can finish the game in one sitting, even if its good. It better have good replay value with only that long single player campaign.

That said, I dont want games to drag out either. RPGs HAVE to be long, but for general action game if it last 8-10 hours it has to be solid. Too much air and it gets boring.

Kingdoms of Amalur was a prime example of this. I remember having a good time with the game but there was so much content, quests and stuff to do that once you got the best gear, magic and potions it was trivial. I remember almost one shoting one boss when I drank magic and attack potion + my gear. Eventually I stopped doing the sidequests and finished the game then uninstalled it. :p
 
The best games give you quantity + quality. That's why the best developers are game players, too--they know how to create what they like. The developers who decry game length and pretend that quantity & quality isn't possible are the developers whose games I would prefer to skip.
 
Kingdoms of Amalur was a prime example of this. I remember having a good time with the game but there was so much content, quests and stuff to do that once you got the best gear, magic and potions it was trivial. I remember almost one shoting one boss when I drank magic and attack potion + my gear. Eventually I stopped doing the sidequests and finished the game then uninstalled it. :p

That was just poor game design. It had little to do with the scope of the game.
 
I don't see how anyone can equate movies to games.

For me, I watch a movie once, and I'm done. I might rewatch it years later or if someone else is watching it.

As far as games go, I definitely want to play it more than once.

1-2 hours of a movie does not equal 1-2 hours of gaming.
 
I mean, he has a point that the quality is more important than the quantity,

That being said, I think there comes a point where making a game too short makes less story content fit into it.

Personally the games I have had the most fun with, have all been games I've gotten at least 20 hours out of. Examples are all the games in the S.T.A.L.K.E.R series, Deus Ex (both the original and HR, etc. etc.)

When I know that I am going to like a game, I tend to play it at a difficult setting, so that it takes longer, and tend to complete all the side quests I can.

Right now I am ~20 hours into Deus Ex HR, and I have not even finished Hengsha part 1., so like just under 30% of the way though. It has proven to be an excellent game thus far.
 
You need a certain amount of a certain type of stimulation, for a particular duration, depending on the type of person you are. This certain type of stimulation is created by a certain type of resistance.

Example: many humans have evolved into them neurological paths which are conducive to leading them to gain positive stimulate to the process of hunting. Those humans have effectively been designed (pre-programmed) with a pre-disposition (instinct) to say hunting deer in say a 20 mile radius forest located about 10 miles from their camp. To be fully stimulated, they would be compelled to follow through the full program which might take several hours in order to obtain food for the next couple of days. If it was over to quickly to easily, with very little resistance, then those neurological pathways simply would never get stimulated. Life would seem dull, and your existence pointless, if all you had to do was point and click. (You can get a bot to do that).
 
I can equate to an analogy movies vs games and time. Games that have a single player game (not counting sandbox games) more that have a linear story should be edited or cut much like editing a movie. There are A LOT of movies that would benefit from getting parts cut from it for the pacing to be faster without slow down the samething can be said about games. I cannot stand a FPS that includes puzzles or other stuff just to pad the game itself. Provide me with a good story without dragging it out and I will be happy to pay what you want. Even people can decide whether they want to pay for a IMAX and/or motion seating movies if they want too spend there cash. If games AAA were priced 40.00 on release you would see less pirating and more sales no doubt. Publishers and Developers also have no room to complain about the used market either if there price out the gate wasnt so damn expensive.
 
Devs can make a game as long as they want to. Though they have to get it through their publisher... and then customers have to decide if its worth 60$ or whatever they charge. Free markets will decide if the game length is ok or not.
 
I bought DLC quest last night and beat it in under an hour. Was I mad? No. It was $2.

But I was more than a little bummed out when I pre-ordered Portal 2 for $45, beat it, beat all co-op, and got all achievements in less than 12 hours.

Now, I never buy games for $60. Never! And nobody else should either. We should all demand a cap at $50. We should also not buy games until all the DLC is released so we aren't spending $60 for most of a games on release day and then $30 every few months for a year after that.

That said, I got Borderlands 2 for free from a friend and I've put 80+ hours into it. It's really pretty good so I got the season pass for $30. If I hadn't gotten it for free I would have waited for the GotY edition with all DLC to be $50 or less.
 
lol when you loose your virginity you will find out.

I have played plenty of games, so there. In fact, I am Dragonborn. That is what they keep telling me. That makes me a Dragon hunter.

(BTW: WTF is virginity?)
 
I'm with the crowd who says it's about quality vs. time vs. cost.

If it is short and good and fairly priced, I'll be a happy gamer and keep an eye out for the next thing you make. If it is long and good and fairly priced the same thing applies. However fairly priced changes with the amount of content I get.

No game can be short enough to cover up for being a bad game. Waste and hour of my time, and you still wasted my time. Also, no game can be cheap enough to compensate for wasting my time. Your game can be decent and can still be a waste of my time (I'm looking at you elder scrolls filler. punched out at oblivion and I won't be back).

As of yet, IMO, nothing in the medium of video games has delivered something worth more than about $3 an hour, and most of the stuff I play and think to myself that I have to keep an eye out for their next one falls someplace between $2-3 an hour.
 
I didn't read the whole thread.. just wanted to say "it's not the length of the game, it's the motion of the ocean" ..and done.
 
I'm with the crowd who says it's about quality vs. time vs. cost.

If it is short and good and fairly priced, I'll be a happy gamer and keep an eye out for the next thing you make. If it is long and good and fairly priced the same thing applies. However fairly priced changes with the amount of content I get.

No game can be short enough to cover up for being a bad game. Waste and hour of my time, and you still wasted my time. Also, no game can be cheap enough to compensate for wasting my time. Your game can be decent and can still be a waste of my time (I'm looking at you elder scrolls filler. punched out at oblivion and I won't be back).

As of yet, IMO, nothing in the medium of video games has delivered something worth more than about $3 an hour, and most of the stuff I play and think to myself that I have to keep an eye out for their next one falls someplace between $2-3 an hour.

Yes, I think that it is possible to put a price on any game (or movie etc), particularly after you have experienced it. For example, I have done all of the Call of Duty games. They are good (and all that), and they have got to be done. However, none of them are worth anymore than $5 each.

Perhaps, then the developer involved, in the article, should have focused on the price.
 
It really depends on the gameplay.

Strategy games have to be long.

Arcade games can be fun in short form.

There used to be games that when you were killed, you died, and had to start from the beginning. People didn't like that. So if your 20 hour game involves you getting killed 100 times, it's actually only a 12 minute game.
 
It really depends on the gameplay.

Strategy games have to be long.

Arcade games can be fun in short form.

There used to be games that when you were killed, you died, and had to start from the beginning. People didn't like that. So if your 20 hour game involves you getting killed 100 times, it's actually only a 12 minute game.

What about when they get you to replay the same mission? You don’t actually get killed. But instead they say that you “failed”, or went “out of sync”, because the enemy saw you (sometimes through a brick wall). They say you went “out of sync” because you did not follow the programmer’s script. You tried to play it your own way. I say that if they want me to waste my time playing it their way, then they can pay me.
 
am I the only one reminded of the arcade game era of the 80's? A quarter buys you 10-15 minutes into an arcade game and you've had your fill of fun for the evening. Well maybe after 4 quarters.
 
am I the only one reminded of the arcade game era of the 80's? A quarter buys you 10-15 minutes into an arcade game and you've had your fill of fun for the evening. Well maybe after 4 quarters.

Depends on the game. There were quite a few arcade games out there that could take hours to beat.
 
Sounds like a plan for a mediocre dev to justify his mediocre games.

Someone fire his ass.
 
The thing is, like I said before, length of game is totally not interesting to me. At all, I don’t care about it at all. A great game could be ten hours, but it rarely is. Most of the time, I feel like they could have cut away at three or four. But they kind of fit it in because reviewers kind of have the idea that it has to be a certain length – I don’t even know where that came from, I don’t care! It’s like if you go see a movie or hear a song – you don’t care. You care about the experience – that’s the important thing. And I think it’s become like a bad habit. The reviewers and creators say it’s supposed to be long, so they push it in. and they take these game mechanics and they reuse them all the time, and people get tired of it. So for me a ten hour game, if it’s great then it’s great, if a one hour game is great, it is great. I don’t care about the length.


Replying to the bold part of the article. If your content can't be considered acceptable and fun for 10 hours, it's not the length that's the problem, it's the content itself. It's not my fault that I think "Call of Battlefield: dubstep lens flare war zombies 3000" sucks, it's the devs. fault. Stop reusing game mechanics, think of something new. After all, don't game devs. constantly refer to their games as art? Good artists constantly create new and creative pieces, they don't whine about people getting bored with their old art work.
 
I bought EverQuest in 1999 and I'm still playing it ...
14 years later, feels good man
 
Yeah,

I just finished my first playthrough of Deus Ex: HR last night.

Great game. I pursued all side quests and played it on the most difficult setting.

It took 39 hours, and it never felt tired or boring.

I'm not saying a game HAS to be long in order to be great, I'm just saying that I can't think of any game that I finished in significantly less than 20 hours that stands out in my head as great.

It takes some skill to make a game fun. It takes even more skill to make a game that still is fun and has you wishing there was more 40 hours of play later.
 
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