Being immersed in a world is everything a gamer can expect from a game. To be one with the character, to forget about our mundane problems just for a few hours.
But there comes a time when even the most passionate gamer needs to leave the console or the computer alone. Whether is it to go to work or to have, you know, a social life, gamers needs to take breaks. It’s hard to go back to real life after eight hours of demons slaying because some gamers are so immersed in the game that they think about it over and over again, and they don’t stop until they finish it. And let’s be honest, nowadays it’s really hard to stop playing; the games are getting better and better, their world building is getting more imaginative.
They are also getting longer. Much, much longer than they were in the past.
And this, for a casual video game player, is a problem.
 |
| Long games are sometimes problematic for casual players |
“You said that being immersed in a world is a good thing, so why suddenly games being too long is a problem?” you may ask. Well, let’s start with the facts:
To finish The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt – and by “finish it” I mean not only finishing the main plot but also the majority of the side quests - you need more or less 100 hours. It’s a lot. Now, 100 hours is basically four days of playing the game non-stop, which is so unhealthy so please, don’t try this at home!
So, we have 100 hours of the game, and let’s say the player has a day job, eight hours five times a week. We also have to take into consideration the time it takes to get ready for the job and to the job. Next, we have food preparation (our gamer is a healthy gamer who makes their own food, with vegetables and meat and so on), and social life. Also, sleep.
With all that let’s say that it will take two months to finish the game, which is more or less the time I finished the Witcher 3.
 |
| Even gamers need free time for other things |
But! Yes, there is a but! We need to remember: The Witcher 3 is not the only game available. There are other games that are being released and they all seem very tempting. They’re different than the Witcher, some shorter, but most of them aren’t shorter at all.
The Witcher 3 was released on 19th of May, and to finish I we need two months, so 19th of July should be the time of hitting the end credits. In the span of two months 23 games were published, including Batman: Arkham Knight, LEGO: Jurassic World, and God of War: Remastered. Even if we finish the game by the end of August we still have big titles that were also released in this month, including Dishonored for PS4, Gears of War Ultimate Edition, and finally Until Dawn.
And yes, I know not all of these game might be the ones that the Witcher 3 player will be willing to play instead of slaying monsters as Geralt, but there are always new games to play. AAA games, indie games, mobile games, they all take time to get into, figure out mechanics and the plot and such.
There are also games that we miss to play, because they’re so dear to us. Few times I had just started a game, but in the end I came back to my old favourites to meet characters and welcome the world they live in yet again.
 |
| I often come back to my favourite games |
The games are getting longer, and there are more available than there were even before.
I can understand that some developers want to make the experience of playing their game more unique and exceptional. But they’re not creating that atmosphere by telling the player – yet again – that he needs to go to the other end of the map to find this thing, bring it back, and then go and find another thing and so on. You’re not playing as a postman, for god’s sake. Also that kind of narrative, the ‘fetch something and bring it back’ is repetitive and gets on my nerves so much.
The story doesn’t have to be long to be amazing. Of course, it can, but with so many games out there it would be a shame to just create a plot and quests for the sole purpose of making the game the longest it can be.
What do you guys think: are games nowadays getting too long? Or maybe you would like to play only 100+ hours games? Let me know in the comments!
Having played games like The Witcher 3 since the 80s I'm not sure that games are getting longer but the long games are getting more dense. The world's that are being built are more detailed and immersive than ever. For an example of an equally long game http://howlongtobeat.com/game.php?id=9850 . I played this more than Witcher 3 but like you said this games quests were very much mainly fetch quests, characters were very generic and the world felt way more empty. Newer long games are also much better at directing you towards the main story path which gives the player more agency in deciding how long they want to spend in the world. I guess what I'm saying is although I don't think games are getting longer I feel more compelled to stay in them longer because they are more developed worlds but at least designers have become more aware of the length of their games and provide a easily identifiable way to finish them as fast as the player wants.
OdpowiedzUsuń