Gaming

I think you've nailed it by outlining the worry of kids without an income of their own - if you can't buy what you want whenever, game length is a plus, but when you've got disposable income, summer sales, the odd free game, and new good titles coming out all the time, brevity's more valuable than each game being a forever-game.

If you're enjoying yourself while you play, then the time was well spent. Like you said, try to remember that nobody is making you play every game you start to 100% completion, that's an entirely self-imposed rule.

That said, for me personally, the length of a game is generally irrelevant to whether or not I will enjoy that game. If I enjoy a game, I enjoy that game. If it's long, it's long. If not, cool.

As a dad of two young kids, I am 100% with you.

Best example for me: Zelda Tears of the Kingdom.

I loved the first game but I had significantly more spare time back then. I picked up TOTK on day 1 but I just couldn't connect with it because it's too big. The map is too big, there's just too many options it overwhelms me now. I maybe can spend one or two hours a day playing and I really enjoy it now if the game just takes me by the hand and guides me. These massive open world games are not for me any more I'm afraid.

Welcome to the Patient Gamers world. Now that I'm in my late 30s with responsibilities, I'll take a short linear game (e.g. Mafia Definitive Edition) with a compelling story over long, repetitive games (e.g. Assassin's Creed). Quality over quantity for me. Since I don't have a lot of time, I want to spend some quality time with the game.

I have a system.

For every hour of play a game offers, I'm willing to pay $1.

I don't. There's nothing worse with finally getting immersed in a game then running out of stuff to do in 10 hours.

I don't finish games and have a huge backlog, but I'm looking for the small handful with mechanics that work, and when I find one running out sucks.

I just play whatever I want. If it's long but fun then I'd play it over a few months period. No big deal.

It's definitely both for me, time management and responsibilities definitely play a part in what I'm able to dedicate to a game and some games definitely have subjectively useless filler for me.

I've definitely moved from playing RPGs and competitive shooters to just RPGs as I'm done with grinding for the most part and don't want to spend my limited time that way lol. Totally get that a lot of people like rogue likes and souls type stuff where the grind is more the point, but it's not really my cup of tea anymore.

I also see that there's a trend for studios to just pack their games with a lot of content (Red Dead Redemption 2 having had some more interesting filler, to me, and stuff like Assassin's Creed getting more grindy).

I find my gaming is more like how I consume books, now. I'll have a couple RPGs going at a time (usually a replay of something I've enjoyed and want to reexperience and another that I'll be trying out of my backlog) and just play what strikes my fancy.

I get what you're saying with the bundle kinda thing where you may just skip a game if it's not something that really grabs you.

I've definitely had a few false starts and games where I just kinda saw what they were about and didn't want to continue or wasn't super interested.

There are definitely games I've put on my docket that I'm more interested in because of their history and relation to the gaming industry, Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines and S.T.A.L.K.E.R for example.

I think most of it is that I've needed to extend my playthroughs to make them work with my life as I'm no longer able to just come home from school and game for like 3 hours a day. I mostly want to either get into (or back into) a cool plot or story and/or consume some older gems I had not been exposed to earlier as I definitely don't have as much free time.

I'm always juggling 2-3 games of various time commitments for this reason. It's works well for me tbh. I just stopped caring about my "backlog" or finishing a game. Video games have been way more fun for me ever since.

I don’t think I’m alone in this, but what I’m really wondering is if this is a result of getting older? Or is it because the gaming space itself has changed?

Both. When you're older you don't have as much time to play video games so you want that time to be more meaningful and for the games you play to be more concise. In addition, a lot of games have added "hundreds" of hours of content by large and relatively empty open worlds that are full of worthless autogenerated side quests and collectible trinkets, which is undoubtedly a worse gameplay experience.

Same. It seems like all games have gotten longer, and many want to be your one and only. Mostly I prefer VR games now, partly for that reason.

I stopped playing AAA games because there is so much filler. I would prefer if games went for 3-6 hours for playtime with a clean and tight plot.

I don't read books that have a cool intro, 300 pages explaining how everything works, 1000 pages of characters just doing random stuff for random people, and then a return to actual plot in the last 100 pages.

Yeah, there's a happy medium.

For example, Elden Ring is a great game, except for the fact that it just drags on for SOOO long. I'm convinced that both Faram Azula and Mountaintops of the Giant were meant to be completely separate from the main sequence, much like Haligtree or Moghwyn Dynasty is. Then they just shoved them onto the end to pad time.

I tend to lean the same way, with a kid and busy job I just don't have enough time to finish long games. Hearing something like FF16 is not 80 hours makes me happy.

That being said, I also lean toward sandbox games as I get older with no definitive ending. Factory builders, city builders, colony management sims, etc... even though those games can last hundreds or even a thousand+ hours. The difference is sandbox style games typically always allow you to quick save or save anywhere, and I never have to worry about finishing some storyline to feel good about my playtime.

Me too. Definitely comes from having less flexible free time now compared to when I was younger. Having a kid (and wife, and responsibilities) really sees me only having about an hour a day that i truly can kick back. And then I am too tired to do anything.

Backlog: finish Elden ring (I am 110h in). Finish BoTW (I am 100h in). TLOU2, God of War 2, Cyberpunk, finish Persona 5 (I’m in 50h in), crosscode, mass effect trio,

Want to play: Metroid dread, a plaque tale requiem , nier replicant. Armored Core, Hollow knight silk song

Look, I am not complaining, things are great. Just need to find a way to play all this inmensive quality. Maybe when I am stuck in a retirement home.

Any game longer than 10 hours is usually a no from me. I don't want to dedicated days of my life playing one thing.

Whenever I see a game needs 50 hours to finish now, I just hard pass. Most games simply do not deserve 50 hours of life. Especially Ubisoft games which just patch out the length with fetch quests. Unnecessarily long games is a big problem and its partly caused by people with "bang for the buck" mindset. Do these people don't have other things to do? Like going out? Watching movies?

The gaming space may have changed but I'd say it's because you changed.

You brought in your decision the "worth playing". Is this game worth to buy or is this game worth my time. When you can give your time a value, you can also compare it to what you are doing and if it's worth to do that.

I tend to not really do that too much, because gaming is a hobby. If I start to compare it to what I could earn, well it doesn't give the most "value" in monetary gain or maybe knowledge gain. But that is why it is a hobby for me, not work.

On the other side, is it worth playing? What is the comparison? The price? If you like the game? For me, if I can enjoy it, and come back to it, even if it's very long (Warframe for example is the one where I have the most hours played), well it's worth playing to me.

Tho some games are very expensive for the experience they give and some are really s* recently (gollum *cough) and those are not worth playing.

And is it worth playing compared to your other games? Maybe, maybe not? If you wait you can get discounts (at least on pc), and increase the value. And play your backlog in the meantime.

I think that playing the most recent games can be enjoyable but not always the best "value". Tho I still play "newer" even if I have the backlog, which I use as a filler between releases and "patient gamers" style.

the gaming space has changed a lot! there is more money pumped into it than ever before and little room for experimention in AAA titles. but the indie scene is enormous now and there are still tons of older mainstream games to play. no need to play pointless time sinks.

It's funny, before they were everywhere, open world games were my jam. Now there are only a few where I actually pay attention to the world.

I typically treat open world games as linear in some way. Go from one story/side mission to the next without really bothering to explore. Especially for large games. Some exceptions, but not many. I've become a chronic fast traveler and I have no intention of changing that.

It's not that I don't appreciate the work put into a lot of these games, it's more that I simply don't have the energy or time to actually get into it all and it doesn't bother me that I'm "missing out".

In general, I just crave linear and relatively short games. If howlongtobeat lists something as more than like 12 - 15 hours for a non-RPG/immersim game, I'm usually out. I'd have to really be enjoying it to stick with something for more than like 20 hours total.

Titanfall 2 is one of the best examples of a fantastic game that doesn't overstay its welcome. Everything's tightly packed into a linear, but incredibly well-developed game. It doesn't stop being fun, and throws new shit at you without being overwhelming, can be beaten in a few days (probably like two if you're playing in long sessions).

I do sometimes go over that limit with stealth games, often because I play them very patiently and can spend a few hours on a level. But they're really the exception.

Yeah, I feel the same. When I was younger I loved RPGs because they usually gave you 40+ hours of content just for the main story. Now I kind of dread playing them because it takes so much mental effort.

Then again, Long Covid also gave me brainfog. But I also felt that way before I had it. I guess back then my mental capacity was taken up by work.