Joe Danger Completion Level Calls Gamer Desires Into Question

Tom Goldman

Crying on the inside.
Aug 17, 2009
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Joe Danger Completion Level Calls Gamer Desires Into Question



If people want games that they can play for dozens of hours, why did only 10% of purchasers complete Joe Danger?

The encroachment of the internet into consoles has enabled us to do more than compete online. It also allows developers to "see" how gamers are playing and how much of their games are being completed. In the case of Hello Games' Joe Danger [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/editorials/reviews/7716-Review-Joe-Danger] the majority of its audience didn't complete the game at all, calling into question whether people actually want long games anymore or not.

The complaint of games being "too short" is brought up often, as Hello Games' Sean Murray points out in a post on Edge, with developers and journalists alike often arguing over whether this is a valid complaint. Joe Danger got strong reviews and had strong sales to go along with them (hands-on [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/102045-Joe-Danger-Devs-XBLA-is-a-Slaughterhouse-for-Small-Studios] at PAX East I was able to tell that it was a deep game. But if everybody cares about game length, and people hate short games, why did only 10% of purchasers complete Joe Danger as Murray reveals in his post?

"Only about 10 per cent of people who bought Joe Danger have completed it (their average play time is well over 20 hours)," he writes. "Most journalists didn't get past the halfway mark." So he wonders: "Was it a wasted effort to add those last few levels that most people don't see though? Is it valueless?"

Murray says no, admitting that he aspires to "creating something so lasting and varied," and I agree. People can plop down Portal as an example of a great "short" game and I'll agree that games can be short and great too, but there is a huge amount of value in deeper experiences like Joe Danger, not only because of the amount of content, but because they're a different kind of gaming experience. Murray calls the 10% his most "valued players," but he could be counting out the type of players like myself.

I can play games like Tony Hawk and Stuntman for hours trying to nail a perfect run or to squeeze out a few more points. Joe Danger is a similar kind of experience, sort of like an individual level-based sandbox that gives players freedom within an enclosed gaming space that will be different each time they play. I might not beat games like Joe Danger all the time, but I'll definitely get my money's worth out of whatever levels I play and enjoy it every second of the way. It's not always the completion of the game that matters, but the fact that I know the content is there will get me to plunk down my $14.99, which I'll also gladly plunk down for a shorter game that's completely different. A good game is not always about length, but about doing something unique well.

Source: Edge's Hello Games Blog [http://www.next-gen.biz/blogs/the-long-game]

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TheBadass

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Aug 27, 2008
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Because it kind of sucked?

Edit: WAIT. Wrong game, thought this was that parody one about third person shooters. That sucked so bad I can't even remember the name.

Gamers don't know what they want. At all. Developers are probably better of just ignoring any and all advice from the internet and in a lot of cases doing the complete opposite imo.
 

elricik

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Nov 1, 2008
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Yeah Joe Danger is sort of tedious after a while, I can't see playing it for more than a few hours. Playing epically long games is good though, when the game is good. Look at any Bioware RPG, I have easily invested 30 plus hours into each of their RPGs, and have played multiple times.
 
Jul 22, 2009
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I've never even heard of it...

But from the picture it looks marketed at a more childish audience?

I know my 10 year old brother (while he does buy lots of games) rarely finishes any.

He has Mass Effect 1 and 2 but he hasn't finished them.

If this was the sort of game I;d enjoy I'd probably get round to finishing it.

That being said I need to start up FF13 again sometime...
 

Googenstien

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Jul 6, 2010
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Its a great game.. but I am stuck on it and dont care to figure out why. I just pick a board and cruise thru it when I have a few mins.
 

IamSofaKingRaw

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GamesB2 said:
I've never even heard of it...

But from the picture it looks marketed at a more childish audience?

I know my 10 year old brother (while he does buy lots of games) rarely finishes any.

He has Mass Effect 1 and 2 but he hasn't finished them.

If this was the sort of game I;d enjoy I'd probably get round to finishing it.

That being said I need to start up FF13 again sometime...
No you don't. The game is for everyon but its sort of a min game so you wouldn'y be playing it till completion. If you get tired of MW2 Killzone etcc you can relax play this and have fun. Its a good thing that its long it gives me somthing else to play when I can't think of anything.
 

oranger

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Journalists are a different breed of gamer, so you cannot go with them as your benchmark.
Besides, what factors are at work here? does the game hit a difficulty cliff, or otherwise change drastically? Is the meta game broken very quickly? Is there a weak connection to the lizard brain (this causes people to "burn out" on a game quickly).
 

rees263

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Jun 4, 2009
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Tom Goldman said:
Joe Danger Completion Level Calls Gamer Desires Into Question

If people want games that they can play for dozens of hours, why did only 10% of purchasers complete Joe Danger?
I would guess because the "people" in question are the vocal minority - ie those among the 10% who finished it that wanted more. You don't hear from people who are contented as often as those who aren't. Maybe 90% of people are perfectly happy with a short game, but they don't speak up about it - why would they, they are happy.

Or maybe it's because the game sucked (I'm not saying it did, I never even heard of it but it's a possibility).

Or maybe it's because everyone wants more for their money. If you showed consumers two (near enough) identical games and said that one lasted for 10 hours and another for 20 hours which do you think they would buy (assuming they cost the same)? I know that if I enjoy a game I want to play it longer.
 
Jul 22, 2009
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IamSofaKingRaw said:
No you don't. The game is for everyon but its sort of a min game so you wouldn'y be playing it till completion. If you get tired of MW2 Killzone etcc you can relax play this and have fun. Its a good thing that its long it gives me somthing else to play when I can't think of anything.
Can honestly say I've never heard of this game and just first looks are very childish so it's not something I'd be immediately interested in.

And yes... yes I will start up FF13... and I'm going to enjoy it!
 

WaywardHaymaker

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Aug 21, 2009
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Sooo... we DON'T actually want longer, content-heavy games anymore? Why not...? That just doesn't make sense. If I have the choice between two games, one with plenty of stuff to do and plenty of replay value like Mass Effect 2 and one with less content (Even if that content is totally awesome), like BioShock, I'd take the one with more stuff. Provided of course it doesn't suck. Money is money, and the more hours I can get out of a game the better.
 

Nimbus

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Oct 22, 2008
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Games being too short is a legit complaint. HOWEVER, games outstaying their welcome is also possible. If a game goes on longer than it's concept can keep interesting, that's not really making it longer.

Think of it this way: You can't call a 10 hour game which has been padded out with 30 hours of filler a 40 hour game.
 

IamSofaKingRaw

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GamesB2 said:
IamSofaKingRaw said:
No you don't. The game is for everyon but its sort of a min game so you wouldn'y be playing it till completion. If you get tired of MW2 Killzone etcc you can relax play this and have fun. Its a good thing that its long it gives me somthing else to play when I can't think of anything.
Can honestly say I've never heard of this game and just first looks are very childish so it's not something I'd be immediately interested in.

And yes... yes I will start up FF13... and I'm going to enjoy it!
If you haven't started it yet then you are in for a surprise but if you have then you need better games. FF13 is boring. Not bad just boring. I had to force myself to play the game and when I finally got to the free roaming partd it didn't get anymore fun.
 

DeadlyYellow

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Jun 18, 2008
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GamesB2 said:
Can honestly say I've never heard of this game and just first looks are very childish so it's not something I'd be immediately interested in.

And yes... yes I will start up FF13... and I'm going to enjoy it!
Hell, I thought it was just a stylized version along the lines of the Trials games.
 
Jul 22, 2009
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IamSofaKingRaw said:
If you haven't started it yet then you are in for a surprise but if you have then you need better games. FF13 is boring. Not bad just boring. I had to force myself to play the game and when I finally got to the free roaming partd it didn't get anymore fun.
I'm 40 hours in... I've played nearly every Final Fantasy game.

I played over an hour of 12... I can handle anything by this point.

And I'm really enjoying FF13, the story is deep and the combat is actually quite interesting with the new paradigm shifts.
 

IamSofaKingRaw

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GamesB2 said:
IamSofaKingRaw said:
If you haven't started it yet then you are in for a surprise but if you have then you need better games. FF13 is boring. Not bad just boring. I had to force myself to play the game and when I finally got to the free roaming partd it didn't get anymore fun.
I'm 40 hours in... I've played nearly every Final Fantasy game.

I played over an hour of 12... I can handle anything by this point.

And I'm really enjoying FF13, the story is deep and the combat is actually quite interesting with the new paradigm shifts.

I've invested 100 hours into FF12 much more fun. Monster hunting in real time during FF12 is much more fuin then in FF13.The only thing I give credit to FF13 for is that the summons are more powerful and cooler looking this time around. I like how you searched for them in FF12 though. It made it worthwhile to explore the vast (much larger than FF13) world.
 

SenseOfTumour

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Jul 11, 2008
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An awful lot of people still make buying decisions at least partly on $ per hour entertainment.

Trouble is, as stated above, you never know when 30 of those '40 hours of gameplay' are going to be tedious padding, either repeated levels or just travelling between gaming areas.

Would Portal have been any better if they'd made you play it backwards at the end?

I think we shouldn't disregard how much gaming time we'll get from a game, but we certainly need to consider just how much FUN per hour it's packing in, rather than just how many hours it will entertain, there's a difference between being captivated utterly, and midly amused.