Warren Spector Is Tired Of Leather-Clad Men

[Echolocating]

Yes BUT how many game designers/companies want to make a cash grab by slacking off on game length because it takes less work and still expect us to pay $50 for them? I feel better paying that for a 50+ hour game that I don't finish, because that's my choice to waste that money, than paying that price for a short game that makes me feel ripped off when I finish it.

Do you feel cheated when a music CD has only 30 minutes of songs compared to another CD with 50 minutes? Does a film suffer when it's only 1.5 hours compared to 2.5 hours? Do you honestly judge the value of a book by the number of pages? Give me a break.

I don't know why people equate the length of a video game to it's value. It makes no sense to me.

 

[haruvister]

I agree with Echo.

I had a free evening, so I finished CoD4 in a single 8-hour sitting. That experience was far more rewarding than slogging through Oblivion with no hope of ever seeing the end. There will always be a market for persistent worlds - WoW is testament to that - but as more games take on movie-style, self-contained narratives, so their structure will change to reflect it. Like great movies, great games deserve to be experienced time and time again, regardless of their length... hence the fact that I still return to CoD4.

 

[Arbre]

I returned countless times to Starfox, just to play the first level.

 

[Pr0]

Man, Warren Spector publicly defending selling out for Disney money.

I guess he got tired of trying to get the rest of the game developers in the industry to stop selling out and decided if he couldn't beat the big money production groups, he might as well join one.

Warren Spector at Disney, Lum the Mad at NCSoft, the industry is slowly running out of mavericks and ne'er do wells.

Least Vince Desi is still out there doing his crazy man impression.

 

[Razzle Bathbone]

See, this is the difference between giving players what they want, and giving them what they SAY they want. Spector is smart enough to know the difference.

 

[Andy Chalk]

The predicted cut in length will necessitate an increased focus on the quality of gameplay, Spector added, saying that dazzling technology was no longer enough to make a game successful

I take that as the quintessential from the above text. And I have to say that I agree with him. I'll take a 8 hour long game that's brilliant from start to finish above a 40 hour marathon that's 60% filler material without any real value.
Valve's most recent games, especially Portal, are a great example for that. Portal is how long again? 2 hours? 3? Perhaps 4 if you really take your time. But it's simply awesome from start to finish.
The only exception to that for me would be RPGs. An RPG is only good with a truely great story, which needs depth, a bit of complexity and the likes. Also, RPGs need to give you time to slowly develop your character. Thus, RPGs should be longer.

Oh, and btw: Lay off the name calling. It's Warren Spector, for god's sake?