When was a game's price worth it to you?

berg@lemm.ee to Gaming@beehaw.org – 63 points –

Say a simple (hours enjoyed playing)/(price of game) equation. How many hours (you enjoyed) per $ do you think is reasonable/expected? Or is there other criteria for you?

I feel like I'm on the upper end here. But to be fair I also tend to play things that has a lot of replayability. So I usually reach 100+ hours on my favorites eventually.

Eager to hear how others reason about it.

Edit: Added the enjoyed part. I agree with the comments that frustrating hours shouldn't be included in the measure :)

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Price per unit time suggests that the only value of a game is in how much time it consumes.

The value calculus is going to be different for everyone but for me, I tend to look for:

  • A game which is a game first and foremost rather than an entertainment experience. That is to say: something that demands decision making of me in which I can either increase or decrease the payoffs of those decisions. Games which focus heavily on cinematic scenes, heavy QTEs, or long dialogs disinterest me.

  • I am often willing to take a punt on a game that tries to do something creative and interesting.

  • I tend to not like games that demand a high degree of memorization and/or dexterity.

  • Games which perform well. A recent example of a regretful purchase I made was with Shin Megami Tensei V. I adore the series but the framerate on the Switch really brought my experience down to a level where I just didn't want to play anymore.

The weights of these things will change from game to game and other elements may enter or exit the equation from time to time, of course.

I am often willing to take a punt on a game that tries to do something creative and interesting.

take a punt on

scratches head

This has to be one of those cases where British English and American English mean essentially opposite things for the same phrase.

googles

Yup. Well, this goes on the list with "moot".

Apparently in British English, this is "take a risk on doing something" and in the US it means to skip doing that thing.

https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/punt-on

to risk money by buying or supporting something, in the hope of making or winning more money

US informal

If you punt on something, you decide not to do or include it:

We punted on a motion that makes no sense.

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/punt

(Australia, Ireland, New Zealand, UK) To stake against the bank, to back a horse, to gamble or take a chance more generally

TIL. I guess it makes sense with the British English term "punter".

I'd argue that it's 'punt' in the sense of to lightly kick something. I'll give it a punt = I'll give it its day in court

I definitely agree that you shouldn't (just) measure a game's value by playtime. I prefer a shorter game that's an interesting and exciting experience all the way through over one that is longer, but feels drawn out.