Long Live the Long RPG @ Edge Online

The better question is: what's the difference between 2 20 hour games and 1 40 hour game?

If we're wasting time, I fail to see how a longer game is worse than several shorter games. It's not like we stop playing games after we've completed one of them.

In any case, the length should fit the game. I tend to favor longer games - because my favorite genres and subgenres play better when I have a horizon and the inclination to immerse myself.

I greatly enjoy suspending disbelief and putting myself in the shoes of my character, and as such - I don't enjoy realising that the game will be over in less than a day. I like to "pretend" that it's not going to end soon - because that will make my investment into that universe that much more worthwhile.

So, I would be very sad indeed if long RPGs went away.
 
Jason Killingsworth confuses Tolstoy with Dostostojevskij as the author of The Brothers Karamazov at one point, but I guess one Russian novelist is as good as another, eh?

Anyway, I agree with both articles to some extent. Playing games can never ammount to anything more than time well wasted.

I disagree! I would never have gotten into the computer industry and become a programmer if it wasn't for computer games, and I'm not very convinced that young (or even not so young) people would have been interested in the PC back in the early 1990s when the information age kicked off if all they could do with them was "information". Besides, I used to learn a lot about creative problem solving back in the days when computer games were hard.

Have to admit I'm not learning much from them now except the mentality of the average 13 year old C student which I never wanted to know about, anyway. Kinda pisses me off my superior IQ and vastly more experience doesn't give me any edge at all over a pimple-face teen with a learning disability...
 
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@Sir_Brennus - Hmm…no? I comfortably cover Fallout (1) in 20 hours, without skipping anything intentionally. It's not a big game…how long does it take you?

I agree it wasn't a big game but I figure I spent at least 20 hours just on random encounters, my first play through. Probably more. And that's not counting the half dozen times I started over with a different character and a different game plan because I wasn't happy with where I'd gotten and how I'd gotten there.
 
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Yeah, if you know where everything is, you could finish Fallout 1 pretty fast. But for the first time, without looking at walkthroughs, it could take ALOT longer.
 
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Fallout is a pretty short game, I find. I completed it at around 14-15 hours - and I didn't hurry.

Oh, and I DO think it suffers from being too short. I love the game for its mechanics and its writing - but the time-limit and overall lack of content is a significant detriment.

Would you have liked FO3 and FO:NV more or less if they were 20 hour games?
 
Fallout is a pretty short game, I find. I completed it at around 14-15 hours - and I didn't hurry.

Oh, and I DO think it suffers from being too short. I love the game for its mechanics and its writing - but the time-limit and overall lack of content is a significant detriment.

Would you have liked FO3 and FO:NV more or less if they were 20 hour games?

Yes I finished FO in 15 hours as well. I was very surprised! Of course you can easily replay it many times finding new things and new ways to do things, so in that sense, it is anything but short!
 
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Well the game encourages you to finish fast because of the time limit. That part I didn't like one bit.

The first time I played Fallout I completely forgot about the whole time limit thing. I played a long time, did most everything, and never ran into the time limit. I could never figure out why that had people so upset.
 
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Well you could find things in the wasteland just by wandering around. The time limit encouraged you not to do so… I love exploration, though.
 
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Playing games can never ammount to anything more than time well wasted.

I have to disagree with this as well. I remember during my university days for instance playing Ultima IV and having quite a profoundly reflective time with the game. I'd take notes, respond at length to issues and concepts of virtue raised by the game in a personal journal. I'm sure I'm not the only one who has had a strong personal reaction to a game on a variety of levels.

So I don't think you can underestimate the potential games have, (particularly interaction and dialogue heavy role-playing games) for creating valuable reflective experiences - which is certainly more than merely time wasting. I explored an argument for this line of thinking for an assignment (which isn't uncommon in education cirlces) and wrote at length on it, essentially giving credence to the idea that certain games can consist of learning tools to the reflective player.

But again, to quote ol' Bertie Russell "Time you enjoy wasting, is not wasted time".
 
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