Game length vs Value.

The definition of gaming varies from someone to the other, some people consider gaming a free time killer, some consider it a hobby and some consider it a necessity of life. And each type of those people looks for something different in a game, some just want something fun, easy, and makes them feel relaxed, others look for a challenge or a hardcore experience that makes them feel good about themselves, might that be a 1$ mobile game or a 60$ AAA console or a PC game, people value the experience different from one another.

Personally I’ve always loved open-world and multiplayer games, always loved the freedom and the idea of playing at my own pace, I preferred them so much over linear games up till a couple of years ago. I would buy games like “Battlefield” or “Call of Duty” but never play the campaign, straight to the online modes. I would only play linear games if they get massive review scores, for example “The Uncharted Series” or “Mass Effect”, a game like “Assassin’s Creed” to me is the true meaning of an open-world game. I played and finished the first 2 parts, skipped the next two and returned for “Black Flag” an amazing game with so much to do and very fun gameplay, same goes for its modern settings replica “FarCry 3-4” I also played those two, but you know what the problem is ? I never finished any of them. Add to that several others in the past 4 years or so I also never finished games like “Dragon Age 2”, “Infamous 2” or “Watchdogs” those are all great games and very fun experiences and I was enjoying them very much, but whenever I reach half-way through or maybe further on any of them I just never come back for it, not because it’s not fun but because I lose interest. The game becomes repetitive and every time I think that I spent 20-30 hours on it and still haven’t completed 50% of it yet I get demotivated to play again. I just fire up something like "Battlefield" or “Fifa” play for an hour or so and go on with my life. I really wanted to get “Dragon Age: Inquisition” but the idea that it might take 70+ hours to complete the main story and few side quests was a big turn off for me.

But you know what games I played and finished in the past 2 years? “ The Last of Us”, “Wolfenstein”, “The Order:1886”, “Splinter Cell”, I know that you maybe thinking right now that I don’t like open-world games and I prefer linear story-driven games instead, no I don’t, I still prefer open-world games over story-driven games or "Cinematic Experiences", I still prefer the freedom and the variation of things to do, but I just can’t commit to them anymore. The games I mentioned above have something in common which is they all can be finished in no longer than 15-18 hours, and once you do you feel great about yourself and that yo actually achieved something. A game like “The Last of Us” has great gameplay because there is so much variation in a short time, if it was 50 hours long I don’t think I would have enjoyed it as much and maybe stopped half-way through as usual. You may get surprised, but the fact is I am not alone, a lot of people who have commitments and busy life can’t just sit down for 5-6 hours a day ( or one sitting) to play video games anymore. We need to accomplish something very fast and move on to the other. For me personally an 8-10 hours game worth of 60$ is very acceptable as long as I enjoy the experience, when I go to the movies I never judge the movie by whether it’s 90 minutes or 180, I judge it by how much I enjoyed it, and I pay the same ticket either way.

Bottom line is the variation of games we have nowadays is a luxury we didn’t have 15-20 years ago, I know people who buy a console to only play “Call of Duty" or “Fifa” and nothing else. others who prefer an HD Remake ( especially old Nintendo titles) to any modern game. People value things differently, some people consider an iPhone is worth every penny because of it’s power, simplicity and feel, others might think it’s overpriced because it lacks features some other phone has, neither of them is wrong, they just have different standards and opinions. I urge people not to attack and bash anything they don’t like and more important not to attack the people who like it because at the end different taste is what makes every industry great. If all people agreed on what is good and what is bad then we would only have 1 type of mobile phones, one type of cars and one type of games. So enjoy and let others enjoy themselves too.

PS: I apologize for any writing mistakes, I am not a native English person.