Say a simple (hours enjoyed playing)/(price of game) equation. How many hours (you enjoyed) per $ do you think is reasonable/expected? Or is there other criteria for you?

I feel like I’m on the upper end here. But to be fair I also tend to play things that has a lot of replayability. So I usually reach 100+ hours on my favorites eventually.

Eager to hear how others reason about it.

Edit: Added the enjoyed part. I agree with the comments that frustrating hours shouldn’t be included in the measure :)

  • donuts@kbin.social
    8·
    1 year ago

    I don’t consider my gaming in terms of price/time because that just encourages buying games that suck away my time.

    So true and well said.

    I love playing a 70 hour From Software game or a 50 hour JRPG as much as the next guy. But some of my favorite games of all time are old classics like Super Mario World or Zelda: OoT, which can probably be completed in a single session or two if you know what you’re doing. And there have been some truly great, but short, indie games over the years.

    Then there are also sim games and arcade/fighting games that had great reliability and you can get many hours out of if you like them.

    In the end, as long as the game is fun and satisfying, I don’t care how long it lasts.

    • CleoTheWizard@beehaw.orgEnglish
      7·
      1 year ago

      I think people don’t often factor in that time in a game is just as much or more a cost than money is.

      If I make it super nerdy, my equation for games would be more like fun / (money cost + time cost). But really I don’t actively quantify these things, I just have a sense of it.

      The other thing id say is that games recently are being judged more on how they respect the players time. The max game money cost is locked in at $70, likely for a long time. So the thing being optimized right now is the fun/time part. Not respecting the players time is one of the worst crimes a game can commit in my opinion.

      That’s what I’m hearing about games like Starfield and it’s always been a criticism for games like assassins creed. Like they’re fun games, but the time investment is far too large for what they offer.

      The reason it doesn’t apply to sim games or city builders is because you are largely in control of how best your time is spent. That’s why open world games used to rule Steam for a long time and still somewhat do.

      Anyways that’s my rant.