Video Game Completion Anxiety Disorder

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Gamasutra has an interesting article posted today that looks at the problem of not finishing games that we buy. The article looks at things like game length, attention span and game difficulty but the question remains "why aren't you finishing games you buy?" What about you? If you are plopping down $60 for a game and not finishing it, why?

Beaten, conquered, finished, whichever your pleasure. I recently spoke with Naughty Dog Studio vets Dan Arey and Bob Rafei on the launch of their new studio, Big Red Button Entertainment, and they theorized that the average gamer confronted with the average game is more likely than not to leave it unfinished -- and it seems a reasonable estimation.
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If I really like a game, I may get anxious at the idea that I may soon be without it as I feel the end approaching. (the second time thru is not the same). But if I don't finish a game, its because I don't like it. No other reason.
 
I probably own around 200 games. (Computer and consoles) I can count how many I've finished on my fingers. Problem is as you get older, you have less time for games. Now that developers are making the games shorter they are easier to finish. I just finished COD4, and am at the end of Titan Quest.
 
I didn't even finish the article.

Did I not finish it because I couldn't pay attention? Bored? We will never know...
 
Yeah, I got a ton of games and I've beaten a bunch of them. I got Army of Two and I am at the end of that game (it's not that hard... boooo!!). If I don't finish a game it's because I got another one.
 
I seem to suffer the opposite. I get a little restless and irritable after I finish a game. Especially if it has been the focus of my free time (away from wife and work). There's a sense of "now what?" when I finish a game of Civ IV or finish the campaign in Medieval Total War II.
 
Most games are padded out for length and go on longer than they need to so that they can make it seem like the buyer got their money's worth. The last few years I have had no time to finish these, both due to lack of patience and the rest of my life.

I actually prefer it when a game does what it needs to do, I get my enjoyment out of it, then I'm done. The time can range from hundreds of hours like a Guitar Hero/Rock Band type game, Tetris, any Zelda or Metroid game, Super Mario Galaxy, Team Fortress 2, or in under 10 hours like Gears Of War or Call Of Duty 4 (both concentrated shots of fun). Portal was one of my absolute favorite games of last year and it was only 3-4 hours, but what it did it did perfectly.

It is games that are padded for length that go by the wayside. If it is a long game it needs to earn that playtime by staying fresh and keeping me entertained.
 
I stopped playing single player games when I got into competitive fighting games (tournaments and such).

ever since then, it's been tough to go back and play single player games. Crysis was the only game I played all the way through for a really really long time (4-6 years).

Theres something about playing vs someone that interests me a lot more than any A.I. has to offer.
 
i use to buy many games, but then i realized that i didnt finish many of them. i now only buy the ones i really am interested in, and even then i dont play many games, i basically only play cs1.6 regularly.

good thing i have a 8800GT quadcore pc to use internet and play cs1.6 on lol
 
Ryle said:
i use to buy many games, but then i realized that i didnt finish many of them. i now only buy the ones i really am interested in, and even then i dont play many games, i basically only play cs1.6 regularly.

good thing i have a 8800GT quadcore pc to use internet and play cs1.6 on lol
Click to expand...

I need a dual core E8400 with SLI 8800GT to play Quake 3 with r_picmip5, nothing less will do. ;)
 
I don't think I've finished any Xbox title I own other than Halo 2, 3, and Rainbow Six Vegas.

PC wise, I still haven't finished C&C Tiberium Wars or Company of Heroes.
 
games i have bought and havent yet beaten
Bioshock (not my fault it refuses to run on my computer i blame DRM)
S.T.A.L.K.E.R.
Paper Mario
Mario Galaxy
Crysis (working on it)


i keep getting distracted by easy casual gaming, Guitar Hero 3 and now Smash Bros Brawl.

i seriously need to go back and play those other games to death.
 
Games I've actually completed...I can genuinely count those on both hands (and maybe a foot). My eyes are much bigger than my commitment, for lack of a better phrase...I'm about this close to just doing a damn system purge (so to speak) and clearing out most of the deadwood...
 
I think the real problem with games these days is that apart from graphics, very few games are truly interesting. You can count on two hands the games that actually attract interest. The only game that comes to mind that was interesting in the last year to two years is Oblivion and there's a reason why people still post about it. Crysis, albeit graphically incredible, is boring, it's the same old same old.

Another game that captured gamers was Knights of the Old Republic, a fresh perspective to the Star Wars games and people recognized it.
 
I think I complete 25% of the games I play. I usually will find something that annoys me or ticks me off so I stop playing.

Sometimes I will just get a trainer and just blast through a game.
 
On one hand I have had some which I did not complete. But most of the time I have already read reviews and am 90% sure that I want the game and will finish them (usually). The only exception from late was the FEAR expansions.

On the other hand there are several games I have played through several times because they were so engaging. To list a few, Half Life 1 played through more times than I can count. Half Life 2: 3 to four play throughs (with impulse101). Quake 3 Arena; does this game end? So far played through Crysis 1.5 times. I cannot fathom why I would want to play from the moment you enter the mining complex on again.

Multiplayer seems to be where it is at. I get 20+ hours on mp a week.
 
Steve said:
Gamasutra has an interesting article posted today that looks at the problem of not finishing games that we buy. The article looks at things like game length, attention span and game difficulty but the question remains "why aren't you finishing games you buy?" What about you? If you are plopping down $60 for a game and not finishing it, why?
Click to expand...

Wow steve, where do you find these half-baked articles?

Do I need to finish everything I start? Should I have drank the entire case of beer I just opened last night? No, Heres why:

Because I only wanted to be a little drunk, not ted-kennedy drunk.
Because I have other shit to do, besides playing oblivion all day for 2 months straight.
Because NFS Underground sucked so much, I burned it with Ether and vowed never to purchase a game which uses "Lil' John" as theme music.
Because SimCity 4 is what happens when the management style of a retail store chain is combined with city planning: Pure untolerable crap, and thus unplayable.
and finally: Because a computer game is not something that needs to be finished, just like a supply of alcohol or any other stash of drugs.

Article said:
"We demand more engaging, immersive and enduring game experiences -- and then we don't finish them. What's wrong with us?"
Click to expand...
Woah there... Speak for yourself. I request that games have minimally shitty gameplay, anything else is a bonus.
Although, I tend to be dissapointed by games which suck. The last "Kill people and blow shit up" game which was worth finishing, is Mafia.

Article said:
Problems Paying Attention?
Unable To Do The Things You Once Did?
Loss Of Pleasure And Interest?
There's Hope...
Click to expand...
You are suffering from diseases!
Click here for the cure (Youtube Video)

Sure, cure for insomnia... but it works for this situation too.
 
Back in the 90's, I finished most of the games I played. One of the first I had the compulsion to finish was Ultima Underworld I and II, I think those were the names. I was nearly late for work (military) on several occasions, actually skipped dinner a few nights and barely slept on weekends. Very few games have done that to me, save maybe a few other RPG-like games. These days, games tend to have lame endings and no real sense of accomplishment. Yes, not all of them fit that, but a lot seem to. Seems to be more about eye candy and explosions vs. good storylines and such.
 
I also don't finish games for various reasons. I've played hundreds of games since the 2D days and I find myself rarely finishing games lately.

Like this article says, the problem is we're not finishing Good games. I have a ton of games I really enjoyed and wanted to go back and play, but I just didn't. I think in my case, the reason for that is that as good as a single-player game is, I'll still enjoy a round of Day of Defeat: Source, Team Fortress 2 or another online game more. If I have an hour or so to play before or after work, I'd rather get some instant gratification online rather than spend the time progressing slightly in a single-player game. I think that's the problem in my case at least.

Things like Audiosurf also keep me busy for short periods of time so I end up playing it a lot because again, I don't have to play 5-6 hours at a time to get somewhere, find out what happens in the story and so on. I play a couple of songs and I can stop...but if I play it everyday for a few months, that adds up.
 
I like the GTA series of games, as well as the 2002 game Mafia.
I bought The Godfather: The Game for PC, thinking it would have GTA-style gameplay. I wanted it to have such a gameplay style.
One of the main things that irked me was that if you didn't "beat up" an enemy with the correct key combination, they don't take any damage at all. For example, you can punch a guy all day but you can only defeat him by kicking him.
 
daemionsos said:
If I really like a game, I may get anxious at the idea that I may soon be without it as I feel the end approaching. (the second time thru is not the same). But if I don't finish a game, its because I don't like it. No other reason.
Click to expand...

Feel the same way.

That or it's a game with no end ETQW has been my fave and that has no end :p

 
Like a lot of other people have posted...

1. I don't have the time to play single player games (or at least I tell myself that)
Actually realistically if I didn't check my 'daily' forums and news sites I probably would have time.

2. A lot of the games single player just sucks, or starts off well and loses steam quickly.

3. I would rather play the multiplayer in 99.9% of the scenarios. When I have the option of either a) playing against real people or b) playing against AI, there is no contest.

4. Even the single player games that are supposed to be great are usually just a rehash or extremely similar to something you have played through in the past. No thanks.
 
i have played games since the text adventure "planetfall" (gamers never die :)

if the game is great ..i play until it is done (no breaks). Some games i get and don't have the right hardware to really enjoy it (ultima 7). Other games i get..i soon find out they are horrible (eg. accross the rhine) and never play again and never read pc gamer again.

A couple games i have bought (gt legends, splinter cell:chaos theory) only to discover they require starforce copy protection ..i stop playing (sc:ct) or never open ..gt legends.
Death to starforce!

World of Warcraft has eaten into my gaming time.

And finally, some games are just ok (bad console ports,dumbed down games, or just meh) and i don't feel the need to play them through but will prolly get them finished when i run out of other games to play (sin 2, gta4, pandora).
 
Ryle said:
i use to buy many games, but then i realized that i didnt finish many of them. i now only buy the ones i really am interested in, and even then i dont play many games, i basically only play cs1.6 regularly.

good thing i have a 8800GT quadcore pc to use internet and play cs1.6 on lol
Click to expand...

Same here... I play other games occasionally but that's pretty much it... sad isn't it :D
 
i don't buy a lot of games but I complete almost all of them. I have probably bought/ borrowed/ was given ~ 10-15 games in the past 2.5 years (since I was a freshmen) and completed most of them. I can fully understand how some people would not with crappy, long games like Hellgate London and others.
 
My problem on the other hand is that I have to finish my games. And I refuse to play anything else until I finish a game (SP component).

Sans a few really bad ones (SoF: Payback and I barely finished Turning Point, more recently).
 
Guilty as charged! :)

I bought a bunch of games knowing I would eventually play but I have yet to start playing some of these.

but when i start a game i tend to finish it unless it bores me to death.
 
I used to be a hardcore console gameplayer until 1999 when I got a PC for graduation and discovered this game called Quake, the Internet and heat.net

I haven't been able to play a single player game for long ever since.
 
The biggest factors that lead to me not finishing a game are:
1. Oooh, look! A shiny new game!
2. I get good enough at the game mechanics that it just becomes a grind. Like others have posted, a game can feel padded, and simply becomes tedious.

Having said that, games that I tend to finish are the FPSes (Quakes, Half-Lives, also GTAs). Not sure why, maybe it's because that genre tends to be the kind of game that I can pick up and drop, then pick up again with no "I've forgotten all my tricks and will now get the crap beaten out of me by the AI" issues.

But with the Fifa series, for example, after a while I just develop a style that works and playing the games becomes a chore. However, this is all only SP. Multiplayer is where it's at for longevity, but then again, we're talking about finishing games, not how long they are playable.

So, I'm building a new rig now, and will be getting back to Oblivion to see the pretty graphics and revel in the expansiveness of the world. But Crysis comes with my video card. And Stalker comes with my motherboard. And there's also the Orange box. And they're new! And shiny! What were we talking about?

-knobbicus
 
You know I feel that the reason some players do not finish the games they buy is due to monotony setting in during gameplay. Some games that appear to be so cool when you buy them result in the same series of events happening over and OVER again ad nauseum. It is the current state of affairs nowadays that if it is too repetitive then there is no need to see it through to the end since it will surely be more of the same until the anticlimactic climax.

I am sure that many people who do not finish current COOL games feel the same way... my kingdom for a new and innovative game experience.
 
I can't really think of any games that I truly enjoyed playing that I didn't eventually finish.Games that really sucked are a different matter.Way too many of those.
 
Deviationer said:
I think I complete 25% of the games I play. I usually will find something that annoys me or ticks me off so I stop playing.

Sometimes I will just get a trainer and just blast through a game.
Click to expand...

That's exactly what I USED to do, but even now, I don't even set aside the time to do that.

I guess it all boils down to time management (when you get older). Does the game keep your interest long enough to play through it all --- is it worth spending the time to do so? Very few games do that for me nowadays since I've seen a lot of the gaming formulas out there. Some games introduce new and interesting concepts that are entertaining for a few hours, but unless it captivates you enough to the end, you'll eventually stop playing it.

The truth is I want to be able to play and finish most of the good games out there, but I just can't. The only way I do so if it is short enough or if the gameplay is conducive to playing in short 1-3 hour bursts. Some games are great but don't feel too fun if you play them in short bursts (because you tend to forget/distance yourself from the experience when you come back again; e.g. Oblivion/Civilization IV was a great game for me, but I'd end up playing 4+ hours each time which I did not have time for... playing 1-3 hours at a time was not fun because I'd lose track/forget/lose interest in what I was continuing upon from my previous session).

I think part of it is that there are also many good games out there so we want to divide our free time to have a taste of each one, and as a result don't finish most of them
 
i dunno if its so much of anxiety as it is boredom. some games you just get tired of playing i guess. there have been a few where i have sat down for hours and played start to finish.

now i find myself buying games that just have simple replay value with nothing to finish (multiplayer-only stuff). that way i don't worry about "getting my money's worth".
 
I rarely finish games. It's very rare that a game holds my attention long enough to complete it. Bioshock was the only recent game that got even close. I got bored as I hunted Atlas.
 
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