What is your ideal dollar to gameplay-hour ratio?

[DrDeath3191]

Games have been quite variable in length as of late; there are hundred-hour RPGs and games you could easily beat in an afternoon. So I ask you, dear Escapists, what is your ideal dollar (or currency of your land if you live out of the US) to game-hour ratio. We're assuming the game is enjoyable, so none of that 'it depends on how good the game is'.

I think $5-$10 per hour is reasonable: I'll gladly pay $40-$50 for a 10-hour game.

 

[bassdrum]

I'd love to see more games get close to 1 to 1, but that's just unreasonable, I guess. I think no more than 6 dollars an hour, though: If you can't get ten hours of game into a sixty dollar product, develop a little bit more, drop the price a little, or make it the best damn nine hours in the history of the universe.

 

[Bonkekook]

I believe it should be at most $5 per hour, and that's for shooters with good multiplayer. The games I've enjoyed the most are way above that, but I think a large scale(i.e. you are making it to be one of the big boys, not a movie ripoff, sports, etc) game should take at least 15-20 hours to complete. But it really depends on the type of game. I'll never pay $60 on a game like CoD MW2 because the campaign is short, and I don't enjoy the MP. However, I'll gladly pay that on the next FallOut, because I know I'll get at least 50 hours out of it.

 

[Angry Caterpillar]

Ideal? One dollar to every twenty hours.

Realistically? I'd give it six bucks an hour.

 

[Fidelias]

The longer the game the better. I like having a game with good characters and story, even if its a shooter or fighter.

 

[Generator]

Well, if we're assuming it's good, of course I'd want to pay as little as possible for as much gameplay as possible. However, since we're assuming it's good, I also have no qualms in paying more for it. Anymore than $10 an hour is getting slightly less reasonable.

 

[SimuLord]

Anything more than a nickel an hour and I feel like I got shortchanged. I won't buy a game unless I think I'm going to get at least a 20:1 ratio of hours to dollars spent. Most games in my collection, when rounded to the nearest cent, were free.

 

[HontooNoNeko]

I would say $3 for every hour of enjoyment that means a $60 game has to keep me entertained for 20 hours. This can be through multiple play throughs or such but grinding or frustrating points in the game that I can't get past don't count.

 

[Kelbear]

I don't really use a dollar/gameplay ratio to determine which games I buy. I rent my games unless I don't want to send the game back.

Games like Skate 2 which has lots of replay ability
Games like FFXIII which will clog my rental queue for a looong time while I try to finish it.
Games like MW1, which I played on and off for about 6-months to get a multiplayer fix.

For the vast majority of games I just rent them. It's worth it to rent if I beat it in less than 4 months, which covers about 95% of the games out there. I won't replay the vast majority of games because I'd rather just move on and play a new game for a new experience. This also means that I can enjoy all those fun but too-short games without worrying about getting enough value.

If I play the game and determine that I'd probably enjoy playing it again, I just pay to keep the rental.

 

[mad825]

I think $5-$10 per hour is reasonable: I'll gladly pay $40-$50 for a 10-hour game.

lmao, thats dirt cheap in pounds.

33 pounds at the current rate,I would expect £45 ($67) for at least 20-25 hours of game play

 

[Amnestic]

£1 for every 3 hours preferably, so about 33p per hour.

Which means I generally expect about 90 hours of gameplay out of a £30 game. Anything less and I feel like I've been ripped off.

 

[insectoid]

I used to go by a $5/hour model, seeing as I was earning $5 an hour, and my younger self thought it would be nice if for each hour I spent earning money, I could spend an hour doing something fun. But now I try not to think in $/h, but rather how much enjoyment I will get from the game.

 

[mad825]

£1 for every 3 hours preferably, so about 33p per hour.

Which means I generally expect about 90 hours of gameplay out of a £30 game. Anything less and I feel like I've been ripped off.

do I see a hint of sarcasm from my reply

 

[the_baku_eats_dreams]

1 to 1 ratio is my ideal, hence why i am a big rpg player and why i feel good about buying games at used games retailers. otherwise for a new game i better be getting at least a 5-6 dollar to hour ratio or else i'm going to be angry at the purchase.

 

[Amnestic]

£1 for every 3 hours preferably, so about 33p per hour.

Which means I generally expect about 90 hours of gameplay out of a £30 game. Anything less and I feel like I've been ripped off.

do I see a hint of sarcasm from my reply

Nope. I'm serious. As a long time consumer of RPGs, if I'm not getting a good 90+ hours out of a AAA title I buy new from the shops, I'm disappointed.

And when I get better deals than 33p/hour (I bought TF2 for something like £2.50 on sale, so I'd only have to play it for around 8 hours to get my moneys worth - 32.2 hours so far (~8p/hour!)) I'm a very happy camper. I've sunk 160 hours into Mass Effect 2 and I paid...£30 I think for that.

That's what I like to see. 19p/hour for that game :3

 

[Craftybonds]

Sort of breaks down by genre for me, RPG's, it's about 1 to 1; shooters, it's about 5 dollars per hour, sandboxes are anywehre from 1 to 5, action/adventure games are about 5 to 10.

Then there are MMORPGS, the cheapest gaming habit out there. honestly, i don't know how the hell anyone out there bitches about wow being 15 dollars a month. if you include the bi-yearly expansion packs, then it's around 16 or 17 a month, but regardless, that monthly fee gets me hundreds of hours of playtime every single month. i'd say my ratio for mmo's are about 10 cents per hour played, maybe less...depending on whether or not i'm unemployed/have a girl/boyfriend at the time.

 

[Bonkekook]

£1 for every 3 hours preferably, so about 33p per hour.

Which means I generally expect about 90 hours of gameplay out of a £30 game. Anything less and I feel like I've been ripped off.

do I see a hint of sarcasm from my reply

Nope. I'm serious. As a long time consumer of RPGs, if I'm not getting a good 90+ hours out of a AAA title I buy new from the shops, I'm disappointed.

And when I get better deals than 33p/hour (I bought TF2 for something like £2.50 on sale, so I'd only have to play it for around 8 hours to get my moneys worth - 32.2 hours so far (~8p/hour!)) I'm a very happy camper. I've sunk 160 hours into Mass Effect 2 and I paid...£30 I think for that.

That's what I like to see. 19p/hour for that game :3

While I don't know the exact translation into Dollars because I'm a cocky American who doesn't pay attention to the rest of the world( ), that's probably similar to what my Oblivion amount is. I've spent 1047 hours in Oblivion and I paid $30 for it. Hah. It's 2am and I just finished studying for an exam, so I'm not doing the Math now, lol.