How Long Do You 'Give' A Game Before You Stop Playing?

[Starbird]

I remember when I was younger. Getting a game was like an annual/bi-annual thing for me, so even if it was pretty bad or flawed I played it anyway because I didn't really have options.

Now...the amount of games I actually end up finishing is pretty sad.

Honestly, if a game hasn't blown my socks off by about 2 hours in I tend to give up and go back to games I know I like.

Not sure if this is a good thing or a bad thing. I'm sure I've uninstalled great games that got better later.

How about you?

 

[Uriel_Hayabusa]

It depends on the game. I've dropped games after less than an hour of play, other games I played well over 10 hours (mostly RPGs) before losing interest in one way or the other and putting it away.

 

[Casual Shinji]

It depends on the type of game. RPG's tend to be a lot longer so they usually take a while to get started as well. I remember quiting both Fallout 3 and New Vegas initially, because the slow beginning and super dreary setting just didn't invite me to really delve into it. Then after about a week or so I went back, got over the hump, and ended up loving it.

With any game though, if there isn't atleast one aspect of it that tickles my fancy within 3 hours, then I'm done.

 

[hickwarrior]

Like the others have said, it depends on the game. Hell, some I don't play much because of the multiplayer aspect and subsequently have an invisible 'pressure' for me.

Others, like RPGs, I tend to play longer until I give up.

Unfortunately, I can't be less vague, since I never really try to keep track of the time it takes for me to continue playing. I like to be absorbed by the game rather than have to fiddle with time.

That might make me a bad adult to be fair.

 

[small]

judging from the play time 34 minutes .. thats how long i lasted playing betrayer yesterday before i uninstalled it

 

[shrekfan246]

I remember quiting both Fallout 3 and New Vegas initially, because the slow beginning and super dreary setting just didn't invite me to really delve into it.

I quit New Vegas because it took all of ten minutes from the start of the game for my character to decide that the ground needed to become their love partner, and thus the two became inseparable.

OT: It varies. And gets clouded by the fact that I often don't intend to never go back to most of the games I stop playing, and indeed tend to boot them back up a few weeks or months after the fact.

So, I dunno. Given the fact that I played Final Fantasy XIII for twelve hours, I'll be charitable and say that the range is anywhere from half an hour to twelve hours.

 

[erbkaiser]

Half an hour. If a game still doesn't manage to catch my attention -- if I've not had any fun -- after thirty minutes, I will have lost interest.

This does not apply for RPGs of course since there I usually spend at least one or two hours just setting up my character.

And of course for games where I know from reviews or friends that the start is bad and it gets better, I will keep playing as well. So I guess that only goes for games I play 'blind'.

 

[Spaceman Spiff]

How long I play depends on what I don't like about a game. If the mechanics or controls are bad or just don't appeal to me, I'll drop a game within an hour. If the story isn't interesting, I'll give it an evening or two. If the world scaling is bad or a game is too grindy, I might make it a few weeks (for RPG-ish games).

 

[Kotaro]

Depends. Even with a slow start, it should still be enjoyable in some way from the get-go.
My favorite game ever (Persona 4, for reference) takes a long time to get you into the gameplay, spending over an hour establishing the characters and the plot. But the characters are likable enough to keep that interesting, thus I will sit through it.

 

[Mimic]

Assuming there is an 'end point' I try to finish every game I play even if I'm not particularly enjoying it to get my money's worth and also because it mightget better along the way.

 

[Adam Jensen_v1legacy]

It depends on the game. I give a lot more time to open world games and RPGs than more linear titles. This is why games should really try to start strong instead of easing you in with slow and boring tutorials. Look at how awesome Darksiders 2 started for example. No bullshit, just immediate action and a boss battle with an awesome adrenaline pumping music in the background. If a game starts slow, then it needs to do set up an appropriate atmosphere to keep you engaged. Like Bioshock and Bioshock Infinite. Those games start off really fuckin' slow, but it doesn't matter because the atmosphere is right. It's interesting and I want to see more.

 

[happyninja42]

Well, considering the most recent game I've had that issue with (The Witcher 1), I've clocked maybe 4-6 hours of play? I got it and Witcher 2 on sale during Halloween, and figured "What the hell, a friend of mine really likes them, I'll see what they're like". Ugh, I'm not enjoying it very much at all so far, and I'm reluctant to slog through in the hope that "it gets better later". I might go back to it eventually, but I'm not in any rush to do so.


Prior to that though, I think my record was Prince of Persia: Warrior Within. I think I lasted half an hour (or however long it took me to get to the metal thong villainess reveal scene), and then shut it off and never looked back.


I used to count Fallout: New Vegas among that roster of games I just couldn't keep playing. I even tried it several times, like 3-4 restarts, and never could finish it. However I recently finished the game and have started a new campaign with a different play style. I might keep playing, not sure.

Like others have said before, it kind of depends on the game. Some have such a massive level of suckitude that they get shut down quick. Others have a slow trickle of suckosity, that only reaches dangerous levels after long exposure.

 

[LittleJoeRambler]

It depends on the type of game. RPG's tend to be a lot longer so they usually take a while to get started as well. I remember quiting both Fallout 3 and New Vegas initially, because the slow beginning and super dreary setting just didn't invite me to really delve into it. Then after about a week or so I went back, got over the hump, and ended up loving it.

With any game though, if there isn't atleast one aspect of it that tickles my fancy within 3 hours, then I'm done.

I had the same experience with Fallout 3 a few years ago, but I never got back into it after quitting like an hour in.

For the general question, I generally try to at least the finish the games I buy (sometimes unsuccessfully), but it's becoming rarer and rarer for me to make an actual purchase so it's less of an issue. I'd say if the game doesn't have me grabbed within 2-3 hours I'll put it down, maybe for a little while, maybe permanently.

 

[necromanzer52]

It's rare I won't at least try to finish the main story mode of a game. To get me to stop playing, it would need to be some combination of really bad, really long and really hard. Also, if it's a game leant to me by a friend, it will get finished no matter what.It clearly means something to them and I owe it to them to see it through, even if I'm hating it.

 

[Mezahmay]

While this answer is unsatisfactory and vague, it depends. The game has to get to the point that I am not having fun with it. I quit Skyrim after maybe a half hour, but I can still play Diablo 3 after over 400 hours. I'm 560 hours in Warframe and still come back every couple weeks since the devs are generally good about adding new content and the escapist fantasy of being a super-powered space ninja is so enjoyable. I stop playing Hearthstone every month after I reach rank 20 because gold is in such short supply I know for a fact I'll never get good enough cards to compete after level 20 without giving Blizzard a ton of money I don't have. It varies wildly, but the same condition of not having fun is always the same.

 

[K-lusive]

Regardless of 3000 hours in TES4 I never actually finished the main story... Wtith Skyrim being out for almost 3 years now I don't think I'll revisit it.

 

[Drummodino]

Like others have said it depends on the game but I usually give them a good crack (several hours at least). If the gameplay and/or story hasn't piqued my interest by then I'll usually drop it, but I like to give them a chance. I'm a big RPG fan and a lot of those start very slow.

 

[Spanglish Guy]

It varies from game to game. I generally give a game at least a couple hours to grab my attention, smaller games I will probably give maybe an hour instead.

I know I have played games for a while only to just stop playing altogether for no reason at all, it's not even because I got bored with it, I just stop playing.

 

[Raikas]

It depends on the type of game and the specific issues that I have with it.

If a game has terrible controls or hideous voice acting, I may give up within 30 minutes (even less sometimes).

On the flip side, if a game starts out strong and then goes downhill, then that's where I'm quitting; I gave up on Skyrim after 80 hours - at a certain point I'd done enough exploring and since I wasn't engaged in the story I saw no reason to go back to it. Similarly, I've started finding games that have boss fights that are out of line with the rest of the gameplay to be more irritating than challenging, so that's another case where I find myself quitting a game that I'd put major time into.