The Factors that make a game great

[The_Liquid_Laser]

Veknoid_Outcast said:

The_Liquid_Laser said:

You left out the most important factor of all: content.  Imagine a game with the best graphics, music, story, and gameplay.  It's over after 1 hour.  Now the game is really disappointing.  On the other hand if you have a super long game without much variety then that gets old too.  Content is actually what people are looking for when they buy a game, both quantity and quality of content.  

(You also left out challenge, but content is even more important.)

I might swap out the word "content" for "value". I think value does a good job at unpacking the usefulness of the content of the game.

"Content" and "value" are closely related, but they aren't the same thing.  Content is what determines value when we are talking about entertainment.  An interesting 10-page novel for $20 is a bad value.  A boring 1000-page novel for $20 is also a bad value.  An interesting 1000-page novel for $20 is a great value.  But the value is not the content.  The content is what you actually experience when you read the book.  The content is the reason why you buy.

For a book, the content is closely related to the story.  But games are much more than just a story.  The best word for games is just content.

kirby007 said:

The_Liquid_Laser said:

You left out the most important factor of all: content.  Imagine a game with the best graphics, music, story, and gameplay.  It's over after 1 hour.  Now the game is really disappointing.  On the other hand if you have a super long game without much variety then that gets old too.  Content is actually what people are looking for when they buy a game, both quantity and quality of content.  

(You also left out challenge, but content is even more important.)

Content and challenge is under gameplay

Content is different from gameplay.  Mario Kart, 2D Mario, 3D Mario, Mario RPG, and Mario + Rabbids all have very different gameplay.  The content of these games is very similar.  In any of these games I can experience Mario, Bowser, Goombas, Peach's Castle and all of the other parts of the Mushroom Kingdom.  The way I experience it is the gameplay.  But the actual world and the stuff in it are the content.

Graphics are experienced with the eyes.  Music is experienced with the ears.  Gameplay is experienced with the hands.  Content is experienced with the mind.