Why most people don't finish video games

Relayer said:

It's actually a vicious cycle with me: start new game, buy another, start THAT one, buy another, repeat. It doesn't help that most games nowadays just don't draw me in as much so that after 15 hours I just don't care anymore. And I don't mean just RPGs but all games in general.

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This exactly how I feel. It doesn't help either that with digital downloads and sales it becomes really cheap and convenient to buy new games. 'Ooh I better grab that while it's $5 because I might want to play it someday'

Anymore, I kind of feel like games are the new TV in that I have a ton of options and yet can't seem to find a single one that interests me at that moment. I'll flip through and try some and then stop feeling like I am just not in the mood for that game. It's funny how that works whether it be TV or games or whatever that paradoxically the more options we have the less we seem to partake and enjoy it.

Sometimes I feel like I am going through the motions with games like I used to enjoy them a lot and so I play them because of that rather than because I actually am enjoying them now. Or I'll feel like I should enjoy such and such game because everyone is raving about it but I don't and I just try and muddle through anyway. And then there's the 'Well the sequel is coming out so I suppose I should finish this' thing.

I don't finish games anymore either. I have to *really* want to know how a game ends to finish it, meaning the story had to have pulled me in DEEP. Otherwise I just get utterly bored with it and move on. I barely even purchase any new games though. And when I do they are all RPGs. I'll probably pick up Skyrim, Risen 2, and Kingdoms of Amalur:Reckoning. But who knows if I'll ever finish them.

I recently finished Blue Dragon and felt good about doing so. But man, I did NOT want to play that last level. That dungeon just felt like it dragged on forever with all the pointless battling. I was just waiting for the end credits to roll. That was a game that I definitely wanted to see the ending though, because I really liked the story, but especially the cutscenes. I loved the cutscenes in that game and they kept me trudging along through the repetitive combat.

Other RPGs though - never finish 'em. I just get bored after 30ish hours or so.

Motoki said:

I kind of feel like games are the new TV in that I have a ton of options and yet can't seem to find a single one that interests me at that moment. I'll flip through and try some and then stop feeling like I am just not in the mood for that game. It's funny how that works whether it be TV or games or whatever that paradoxically the more options we have the less we seem to partake and enjoy it.

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Definitely being spoilt for choice is a problem for me too, I'm just not one of those people who can buy one game and play it to death - there's always something else to try.

But another factor for me is that after I'm done with work, tucking the kids off to bed, dinner, etc, the hour and a half or so left for gaming is so precious that I don't want to waste it on just any old game.

Not complaining though, it's a nice problem to have.

As always a very interesting discussion - thanks.

For me I do tend to finish. However, what I like is to play a decent game but on easy/casual difficulty so I can focus on story/interaction and thereby immersion but not be too frustrated/challenged by how hard it is. So sort of like choosing/paying for a good game and then treating as casual. I use it to wind down after work most times.
Why do I tend to finish? I want to see how it turns out and after investing 30+ hours in a game my completionist selg often appears.

I have developed a bit differently than most here, it seems. I used to never finish games when I was younger. In fact I believe the vast majority of the (frequently pirated) games of my youth I played for maybe 10-15 minutes before putting them aside. A few I played for much longer, but also usually never finished them. A factor is that those games were hard and often still followed an Arcade like mode, where "finishing" was simply not in the reach of normal humans. I only started "finishing" games a couple of years ago, wehn I also became more focused on CRPGS, and to a lesser extent, shooters. I still tend to start more than one game at a time, but I always settle on one major RPG and finish it. Like Badmofo above, I have precious little time, so it takes me a long time to finish a game. I am currently in the first third of Act 2 of the Witcher2, and I got it on day one - just to give you an idea. That frustrates me sometimes. Just recently I read someonse post here complaining that they hadn't released the mod tools for TW2 - " they should have released it when it was new! Now its old, and people have moved on!" And I am like, WTF?

Of course there are still games where I don't care about finishing. Most strategy games are like that, I play a couple of campaign missions, and one I have a feeling i have seen most of the gameplay variety on offer, I drop them. Also something like Torchlight, or Dungeons of Dredmor, I play "in between" and I don't care if I ever finish or beat them (and don't expect I will). But story driven RPGs I always finish now. However, as I posted elsewhere, I have about a dozen games I have bought, but yet to start or even install... The upside of that is that I never have to play bad or even average games - I have plenty of top games still waiting for me, and new ones come out faster than I can play them.

I usually focus on one game at a time. I'll play it until the end if it delivers enough fun or if I have to write a review. If I'm not having fun I uninstall and the game is gone.

I rarely replay games. The old games I reinstall once in a while I can count on the fingers of one hand.

right now I buy about 20 games a year. about half are RPGs and the rest are a mixture of the rest of the genres.I finish about half of the RPGs and about half of the others. Most RPGs I start I intend to finish but if the game becomes a grind then after about 50 or so hours I stop. The other games in the mix, I go in with the intention of checking it out and only finishing only if they are good. About half of those games do get finished. Of the games I do not finish, about half I intend to get back to at some time.

Typically the reason I don't finish games is that the game design simply does not compel me to finish and I am happy just getting some time in and my moneys worth. About once a year I buy one game that I do not like after playing for about 10 hours. Curiously, those "bad" games I do not like right off the bat are RPGs.

Dammit I didn't even have time to finish reading the article.

i end up just playing something else most of the time!

Getting better about it tho, once I spend about ten hours in a game I generally finish it. Sometimes ='.'=

Me, I've become more picky - in buying games.

Nowadays, I only buy games that have at least a - that's how I call it - "fun factor" and which I think could (or would) be fun both to play and to finish them.

So, I'm t a more deeper level : I don't buy these many games (partly because I just cannot afford them), plus I only buy those games which fit my taste.
I leave those alone which I tend to believe I might not finish them.

… and I notice that my taste seems to develop quite differently compared to the majority …

Those games which have actually delivered their promise of a "fun factor" to me, those few remain on my hard disk.
And I do look into them every now and then … just like … taking a fresh new bath.
Or a good shower.

Not only that, but the accelerating rate at which new games are released cannibalizes existing games and further distracts the already inundated player.

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This is something imho very, very important !

It's like Holiday sales. Too much at the same time. And there's only so much to take from the cake.

badmofo said:

Definitely being spoilt for choice is a problem for me too, I'm just not one of those people who can buy one game and play it to death - there's always something else to try.

But another factor for me is that after I'm done with work, tucking the kids off to bed, dinner, etc, the hour and a half or so left for gaming is so precious that I don't want to waste it on just any old game.

Not complaining though, it's a nice problem to have.

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I can relate to this (although I tuck in the dogs not the kids). It is interesting on the choice issue that some folks mentioned. To many. I know when I have just a few books its easy to grab one and dive in. After a large book order and I have over a dozen to pick from ... I waiver and go back and forth between them. Only when it is from a favorite author or the next part in a series does it become easier.

Or maybe its because there are plenty of choices but most of them are now mediocre. With nothing "awesome" to get I will try to fill the void with second rate games, of which there are many, so then bounce around between them.

If it is a game I love I will play it exclusively until done (with the exception of when I am into a SRPG and a MMORPG in which case I may alternate nights).

Good point, also, on RTS or games that are meant to be dabbled in that don't have a "real" story to follow through till the end. I have played some sandbox style games for hours and hours and loved them even if I may not always complete them.

So, I'm t a more deeper level : I don't buy these many games (partly because I just cannot afford them), plus I only buy those games which fit my taste.
I leave those alone which I tend to believe I might not finish them.

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I also have a limited economy (but I really like to game). My way of handling this is to buy plenty of older games that I can get for 2-5€ that look interesting enough, and hope for the best (it results in more good games per € than if I buy a few 40€ games). And some of these older games have turned out to be incredibly good, even though they are relatively unknown.

Yes, I often buy older games as well.
Almost mainly : Budget titles. Which have already been proven to be good over time (aka "the test of time").

In my youth when I didn't have access to online multiplayer games the only offline games I finished were cRPGs. When I got Internet access I almost exclusively played multiplayer shooters or RTS games like Warcraft 3. At that time I did not understand anymore how I could ever have played singleplayer games so diligently.

In recent years this has changed somewhat. My fascination with multiplayer has worn off and I now feel my time is better spent with story driven games. Rescuing the galaxy in Mass Effect is a more memorable experience than giving headshots on de_dust afterall.

Nowadays, I try to play games one at a time and finish them. I have a huge collection of games both physical and on digital platforms - possibly numbering in the hundreds - because I am very to susceptible to low price deals and bargains. But I have only finished a fraction of my collection.

Looking back the main reason why I didn't actually finish games is probably that most singleplayer games I am interested in take a lot more commitment and effort from my higher level brain functions than multiplayer games, which I play almost instinctively. I noticed that in order to enjoy singleplayer games I have to force myself to play them in the first place.

Now, that I think more abstractly about the issue, I am quite interested psychologically why this happens. I assume that this is somehow connected to the dopamine emission occuring during multiplayer games, which probably don't occur so frequently during singleplayer games making them appear less satisfying on an instinctual level, while single player experiences are usually only satisfying on a more conscious level.

Tilean said:

I have a huge collection of games both physical and on digital platforms - possibly numbering in the hundreds - because I am very to susceptible to low price deals and bargains. But I have only finished a fraction of my collection.

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This. Exactly this for me. If it's cheap and I even have the slightest interest, I'm there. I rationalize that I will play it someday sooner or later, but with the amount of games I have and if I continue along this pattern scooping up deals, it seems unlikely I will get to them all.

The big thing with digital downloads seems to be impulse buys. Hell, one of the digital retailers even named their store Impulse. So you've got prices slashed on not quite new release games like day old bread and then you've got the games that are just released at a low price point to sell a lot from the get go. The idea seems to be that the price is low enough that if you don't like some of them or even don't play some, it's not a big deal. It's a quantity over quality thing.

That said, it really bugs me to pay for stuff and then not at least try it. I've been trying to make an effort to go through all my digital download games lately and at least play them a little bit and see which ones grab me. I think it will take me some time to go through them all but I'm getting there.

And I need to be a little better about resisting deals too unless I really want something.

Motoki said:

That said, it really bugs me to pay for stuff and then not at least try it. I've been trying to make an effort to go through all my digital download games lately and at least play them a little bit and see which ones grab me.

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Yeah, I too have hundreds of games and a significant portion have not even been opened, let alone installed. A while back at Octopus Overlords, there was an occasional forum post that proclaimed "Back Log" week. In that week you were to start a game and give it a few hours and then move on to another game. Unfortunately, I was never in game downtime mode at the time, so I never participated but it sound like something I would do now. (currently working on my 3rd run through of Gothic 2)

Dajjer said:

Yeah, I too have hundreds of games and a significant portion have not even been opened, let alone installed. A while back at Octopus Overlords, there was an occasional forum post that proclaimed "Back Log" week. In that week you were to start a game and give it a few hours and then move on to another game. Unfortunately, I was never in game downtime mode at the time, so I never participated but it sound like something I would do now. (currently working on my 3rd run through of Gothic 2)

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I think what Steam did with the Summer sale and the 'raffle tickets' via achievements kind of helped do that a little bit. I know I went through and played several games I otherwise wouldn't have in order to get a 'ticket' and I noticed on a number of the game forums there others were saying they were doing similar. The Trine forum in particular had a number of people who commented they owned the game for a while and never played it until the summer promotion, then were suprised how much they liked it.

It's kind of amusing that we had to be bribed just to play our own backlog of games we already paid for. :lol:

I always finish a game I start, with very few exceptions. In fact, the only one I can think of was Unlimited Saga, and even then I did complete the game with one of the seven characters, but I couldn't bring myself to play the rest.

However, there are so many interesting games that I have to be very picky when choosing to buy one. I still have close to 30 games in my backlog anyway, and that only counting the boxed ones. Guess I'm not picky enough .

I finish… oh, at least 80% of the games I start, ignoring games that don't really have a finish (4X games, X3-TC). When I don't finish it's either because I don't like the game or because some other game comes along that I know I'm going to like a lot better. By the time I'm done with that other game, it's unlikely that I'll go back and finish off the first game.

I wonder if that stat is going by how many games are started or how many games are bought? I've got a few I'm sure I'll be getting to <ahem> someday that I got for cheap.

Edit:

Of every 10 people who started playing the consensus "Game of the Year," only one of them finished it.

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Start playing, not just bought. That really is amazing. No wonder so many games have had such weak endings lately. What's the point of making a good one when so few people see it?

When I started gaming as a kid in the 80s I always finished my games. Nowadays it really is more difficult to find the time to finish them. Aside from having less free time, I think the sheer number of options available is certainly a factor. As a kid I couldn't afford many games, and there weren't nearly as many published. Now, I can afford more, games are cheaper, new games are constantly released, and old games I never got around to are waiting to be played as well.

When I do find time to game I also waste time deciding which game to play. Like someone mentioned - that free time is precious.

But I don't necessarily think shorter games are the answer to this issue. I still want games with deep storylines, intricate mechanics, and detailed worlds to explore with lots of content.

Maybe a more modular or episodic approach to releasing games would help the issue somewhat. Not creating / releasing the whole game world at once, but instead smaller chunks starting with the initial quest areas and expanding out from there. Of course, it would need to be reduced in priced accordingly. Maybe $10-$15 for the earlier part and then you can add more modules as you play through it more. Also if you end up not liking the game much - you've only paid $10 and not the usual $50. I think some adventure game devs (Telltale?) are doing this sort of thing already - but it would be interesting if RPG devs tried it out.