Why a 6-10 hour game is sufficient

[dunno001]

This article has quite a few fallacies. I'll look at them by point-

1. Part of what you pay for in the theater is the atmosphere and the new-run aspect. Remove either of those, and the price drops dramatically. I know of a second-run theater where that hour and a half movie ticket is $2, and I could buy a 6 hour series of anime for $11. Even on a budget repriced game of $20, 10 hours falls into the low spectrum, let alone for a $50-60 game. And has been mentioned by other posters, there is the density of entertainment value, which for a game, is lower than a movie or a book. So for sheer quantity of entertainment, more time is needed just to balance that out.

2. If it's good, yes, I do remember them. I spent about 100 hours on both Personas 3 and 4, and I wish both were longer; they were just that riveting. How about the DQVC and weekly quests from DQ9? 380 hours, and still going! These are the games that feel like the drive the value, that we, the consumer, are cared about. A game that's over in 6-10 hours might also be memorable, but not as much as the 6 hours of yore. And that brings me to...

3. Why do we replay games from our past, but not newer ones? It's not because they're short, it's because they were good then, and are still good. New games may be good, but they don't leave as well of a lasting impression- they miss that certain charm that the older games had. And why did we play the older games so much? Because they were harder. They forced us to work through the game, to replay it continuously to master the game. If we wanted to beat it, we had to spend a lot of time on it, learning the intricacies of the game. Today's games are mostly cakewalks- run through the game, finish it in 6 hours, and not notice a good chunk of what was there. If I were to say Super Mario Bros's world 2-2, most people here know what world that is, and a fair number can even tell you which world was most similar to it. But the second board in a modern game? Most people won't remember much about it...

Sure, I'd take a shorter game- IF it felt to be worth it. But if I'm blowing through the game, and there's no real incentive to play again (sorry, gamer points or trophies don't count), then it's not worth the price for a short time. I expect to be entertained for a while by a game; while I'd love the replay to also be high, if I feel I get enough enjoyment time out of it, it'll be worth it.