224: So Many Games, So Little Time

[Ronald Meeus]

So Many Games, So Little Time

It's a sad fact of adulthood that you simply have less free time to do the things you want. For Ronald Meeus, that means buying games with more manageable single-player campaigns. So why is eight to ten hours of gameplay too short for most reviewers?

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[lightbound]

As a 19 year-old university student I find myself in the transition phase between the Hardcore and the Casual. Similar to your experiences I tend to be more drawn to the shorter, if not equally fulfilling, games such as Prince of Persia and ODST, instead of my usual engorgement of MMO's, namely WoW. It's a sad experience, but at the same time it's exciting to explore the more "adult" past-times as well.

 

[awesomeClaw]

Well, now i know how to NOT become you, thats a good experience. Thanks.

 

[Mr. Fister]

This article raises a good point: Length of a game is always relative. Yes, games are expensive today, and you always want to get your money's worth out of a new purchase, but 8 hours to you may not be the same to someone else. I recently started college, and I know for a fact that my free time is going to be much less than when I was in high school. This means a game deemed short by some critics could take me several days to complete. Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars, for instance, takes less than 10 hours to complete the storyline, but where some people could go through that in a day, I had the game for a solid week before I was able to fulfill Huang Li's revenge. The point being, you shouldn't let length of a game determine whether or not you should purchase it, as even the shortest of games can last you a while when personal responsibility rears its ugly head.

 

[ukslim]

Whenever a review complains about a "short" game, I see it as a positive. I have a short attention span, and I'd usually like to have finished within 7 or 8 hours. Sure, if you measure it in dollars/hour it sounds bad -- but I'd rather 7 hours of concentrated fun to 14 hours of monotony.

 

[Plinglebob]

One of my friends has an agreement with his girlfriend where she sits and watches her soaps for an hour while he plays games. She's also a casual gamer (LBP, Animal crossing etc) so they also play some multi-player. I do agree with the article though especially regarding game length.

 

[stonethered]

I'm a 'real gamer'
I spend countless hours playing Video games, and the rest on forums(trolling for n00bs).

I envy you. You have a life, and more importantly you have a family. And I for one would gladly trade all this time for that.

 

[Clemenstation]

Typo in article: "Amazon.com currenlty retails Bound in Blood for $37.99"

Good topic, and I think your experience of transitioning from having lots of time and no money to having lots of cash but no time is a common one.

 

[LeonLethality]

I expect to stay a gamer my whole life of course as I gain more responsibilities my gaming time will be reduced but damnit I will still play them!

 

[Zeldadudes]

To the writer:
I've found that my life is becoming a little like that.
I am a Student, like a large collection of us are, and recently i've just not been able to play. The work load is heavy but at the same time its heavy as i want to succeed.
Recently getting used to a girlfriend as well i've stopped sitting in front of the screen playing DoTA and picked up the guitar and played for her or just sat there watching the damn X-factor as i know that i'll appreciate it more in the long run.
When i do however get time to play it is sacred and i do throughly enjoy it.
Good Read.

 

[boholikeu]

Spouses and children aren't the only things that help one appreciate shorter games. After years of playing shooters, RPGs and adventure games that all rely on the same mechanics, it takes a lot for a new title to hold my attention for more than 10 hours. Too often I start playing one of those 50-100 hour monoliths (you know, the ones that reviewers praise for their "value") only to find that barely a quarter of that is worthwhile gameplay. It really makes me wish that good editing was as valued in video games as it is in film or literature. Perhaps if it were we'd see fewer pointless grinds and filler levels, and narratives wouldn't use every cliched plot twist in the book just to tack on a few more hours of game time.

I guess this is why Portal will always be one of my all time favorite games. Yes it was short, but for once it let story dictate length, rather than the other way around. Other developers would do well to take a page from Valve's book here, especially as it appears that the average gamer is no longer a 16-year-old with tons of free time at his disposal.

 

[Mr.Pandah]

As most people have already said, its a common transition in all gamers lives. Even though some of us say otherwise, most of us aren't 40 year old virgins who still live at home with mom and dad. We all take whatever time we can out of our lives, and spend it on what we love to do. Whether its model airplanes, or remote control cars, just being able to continue the hobby, is a reward in and of itself.

Trust me, I've been that guy who plays video games for entire days, and I'm sure just about everyone on here has been as well. Thats the wonder of being a kid, being young. No responsibilities. Its a wonder we ever managed to even do our homework back then. I've slowly made the transition over to what is known as the "Casual" gamer(even though I hate that term). I used to be able to dedicate hours upon hours into games like Banjo-Kazooie or Super Mario 64, just to 100% them. Nowadays, I find other ways to whet my gaming appetite. I play CS:S, I play TF2, I play handheld games, and I roam these boards in whatever spare time I have. I still enjoy games the same way, and I'll indulge myself every once in a while on a massive time dump (RPG's and whatnot), but my love for games has never faded.

While it certainly is disheartening to look back and say that you wish you could be back in the good old days, you have to realize that you're love for gaming is still the same. Its just how you enjoy gaming, is different.

 

[GonzoGamer]

Waitaminnut Waitaminnut!
So we have to spend $60 on a 4 hour game because you forgot to put a condom on? What a treat for me.

Seriously though. I'm glad you can now afford to buy a couple of games a month but maybe you don't have to. Put that money to the side for a rainy day maybe. There are a lot of gamers that can't afford to buy a couple of games a month like we can and I do think it's unfair for them to be convinced to buy a well made game that they will be finished with in a week.

My free time has also dwindled since I got full time employment years ago but I find myself sometimes going through more games than I did in my teenage years: though games were much different then.

I'm not saying we should sacrifice quality for quantity but I figure for $60, is it really too much to ask for both?

I've been playing Fallout 3 on and off for the past year; it even takes me a couple of weekends to get through a dlc pack. But you know what? I wouldn't have it any other way. It's an incredibly rich game that takes a long time to complete and we should be grateful.

So don't be afraid of the long play games fellow greybush, they'll just save you money.

 

[MorteSphere]

I really wish my father was a gamer. I think.

Your writing style is wonderful, and engaging. I've nothing much to relate to the story itself, but I can sympathize. School can really put a mark in my gaming time.

 

[oppp7]

I don't plan on having kids or getting married (for reasons other than gaming), yet I still feel a little bit of pull towards casual gamers rather than hardcore. One of these reasons is that most hardcore gamers I've seen lately have been stoners who dropped out of high school (which I view as being lower than the appendix in the grand scheme of things), but another is that college is messing with my schedule, such as having classes set so I don't have 5 hours of free time to vanquish areas in Guild Wars. This has made Pokemon, with its turn based gameplay that can be saved and put down at a moment's notice, more common than the MMOs.

 

[Vanbael]

I used to be a hardcore gamer, but now I'm kind of starting to mature and ask myself "what am I getting out of this?" It started when I found that online play with Call of Duty 4 and World at War just seem to feel like a grind trying to reach that new rank for a new weapon. I find single player story modes more satisfying because I actually feel like accomplishing somthing and I won't get a slap on the wrist for leaving mid game to upkeep my life. The only time when I'm enjoy playing multiplayer modes is when I'm in a LAN party with friends, or I'm playing with a group of people just play for fun and not to "pwn n00bs". Also, I'm now needing to dedicate time to a job, hobbies, family, and school. Its coming down to reseting priorities and being a gamer is loosing rank quickly.

 

[LTK_70]

I really wish my father was a gamer. I think.

Haha. My father is a gamer. It's not as great as you'd think, though. It's fun to talk to him about games, but sadly he's a lot like the author of this article, being able to find only a few hours every week and occasionally a whole weekend (for games like Bioshock and Fallout 3) to play. I, on the other hand, an 18-year-old college student, plow through those games in less than a month, so when I left Bioshock, Fallout 3 and STALKER: Clear Sky behind me, he's still getting the hang of beating the Big Daddies in a one-on-one. His hand-eye isn't what it used to be, either.

It's a funny thing: Like I said, I have the same taste in games as the author right now. I rarely play MMO games or RPGs that give you dozens of hours of gameplay just to get through the single-player main quest. I also prefer the games with quality over quantity, but because I only have to invest a small amount of time to get good results in college, I've got enough free time to bulldozer through HL2: Episode 2 in one afternoon. I guess that's a good thing, just in case my free time diminishes to hours under two digits a week.

 

[antipunt]

Older individuals (especially adults with children I suppose) are rather busy with 'living'. The irony is that gaming many times is a "life-substitute", most particularly when it's at the 'hardcore-level'. It's not all that surprising that many of the most hardcore gamers feel this way:

I'm a 'real gamer'
I spend countless hours playing Video games, and the rest on forums(trolling for n00bs).

I envy you. You have a life, and more importantly you have a family. And I for one would gladly trade all this time for that.

The grass is always greener I suppose? But I ask you this: which would you rather be? The 40 year old father? Or the 40 year old virgin?

 

[Video Gone]

I like this article, as I can relate to it. I too have a girlfriend (A fabulous girlfriend) job (A fabulous job), and friends (Fabulous friends) now, so I find my gaming time decreasing, but frankly, I don't care. (Dun dun duuuuuuuuuuuun.)
See, my girlfriend, as well as being incredibly attractive, shares my interests, to a certain extent. She is an avid casual gamer, (Little Big Planet, The Sims, Popcap Games, that kind of stuff) and I enjoy playing co-op with her on LBP and such, so I am able to maintain a great life and great (co-op, in my opinion, can make a game so much better if played with a loved one) gaming experiences.
Not so much the middle ground, as it leans a lot towards maintaining my personal and social life.
I enjoy making people envy me, as I am evil.

 

[Pinguin]

Excellent article. I still yearn for those Halcyon days when I could play until the early hours of the morning.

Now I may get an hour or two most nights. I don't begrudge the loss of gaming time because it's mostly good stuff that takes up the time. It does mean I can no longer 'pwn' in the games I play though, sadly.

Also of course some of my gaming time is given to reading the escapist!