@TruckOSaurus and I made a New Year's resolution to make more threads, so here's my first of 2019  

Is it more important to you to have depth or breadth of knowledge in video games? In other words, is it better to have a deep, complete understanding of a particular series or game, OR is it superior to possess a wide, general comprehension of a large variety of topics, genres, etc.?

When I was a teenager I labored over every game I had, finding every item, unlocking every cheat, and honing my craft. That's diminished over the years and I'm much more willing to move on to the next game after the credits roll, even if I haven't accomplished or mastered everything the title has to offer.

What is your experience, your preference?

Both, deep understanding is key in acknowledging what makes a series/game appealing and all while a wide understanding gives you a more open view on things for example if you look at Breath of the Wild that game is a prime example of depth vs breadth as you have people saying they'd like dungeons and such back while others are saying no BOTW was great for ditching them and lets move further away from them.

I don't particularly care. Sometimes I play games because they have a certain reputation and I want to see whether I enjoy them, but mostly I just play what I find fun at the moment. It's rarely getting very deep into a game, but sometimes I do go deeper. Recently, I've been trying to clean up my backlog, so it's meant giving up on some games earlier than I would have liked to - which is sometimes so I have any hope with my backlog, and sometimes because the next game is so interesting that I really want to get into it.

Despite me moving through my backlog and in a way trying to play lots of different games, there are some games I come back again and again. I play osu! and Rocket League very regularly (which, unfortunately, my skill level doesn't reflect very well), and Cities: Skylines and Grim Dawn have been other, less regular favourites from the recent years.

Overall, I don't think depth and breadth apply to my situation very well, but if I had to pick one, I'd probably have to slightly lean towards breadth - for now, at least.

Both were possible maybe. If you love a game then you probably want to go as deep as possible with it, but if you think it is OK you finish it but move on fast afterwards

Why not both?

I wanted to say depth > breath.... but changed my mind.

I honestly dont really always care about doing every little thing in the game.
Some things are just too troublesome, and Id rather just go to the next game instead.

It really depends on how much you enjoyed the game, I guess.
But I usually go "deep" into depth of a game, learning the mechanics behinde the systems and such, so I can min-max, before even playing it.

Thanks for the thoughtful responses so far!

Honestly, I'm not really sure myself. Part of me wants to play everything under the sun, but the other part realizes it's just not possible and that maybe I should squeeze the most out of a select few games. I dunno.

I don't usually care for shallow experiences in gaming very much. Unless the gameplay itself is addicting and requires all your attention--AudioSurf, for instance, or Gran Turismo when I was younger--then I tend to move on from those games quickly. A superficial game where a random mascot character has to jump over stuff to complete a generic quest will lose me immediately. My mind will drift and I'll think of something I'd rather be doing and that will be that.

Instead, I want big, expansive games with lots of substance. I want worlds with depth and weight. I want my intelligence and my imagination to be engaged while I'm playing. I desire complexity.

I end up completing few of the games I buy. That's because I'll drop games I don't like in a heartbeat, especially if they let my interest drop. On the other hand, I'll spend 500 hours in games that pull me into their world or make me interested in the premise. That's the kind of experience I'm after.

I can't say what's superior for everyone, but I've found that I enjoy gaming more when I'm dedicating my time to a few games I really love, rather than trying to play everything that even remotely interests me.

I used to do the latter, but found myself getting overwhelmed constantly. I would beat one game, have two more release while I was playing that one, beat one of those, have four more release while I was playing those, and on and on. Eventually I found myself buying games just to put them on my shelf or have them be forgotten in my digital libraries. Maybe serious gamers don't think much of it, but to me it was just stressful, and I eventually asked myself why I was buying games I would never have time to play.

Nowadays, I don't bother buying games unless I plan to play them right away, and I find myself a lot less stressed with this hobby as a result. I'll play each game until I find myself not getting any enjoyment out of it anymore, which, for games I really like, means I'll play it until I've exhausted every bit of content, and sometimes even past that. If you look at my Switch library, you'll see 160 hours in Zelda, 200 hours in Xenoblade 2, 60 hours in Valkyria 4, and ~40 hours in anything else I have on the system. I'm sure there's a ton of great games I'm missing out on, but at the end of the day, I find I vastly prefer playing a few games a ton rather a ton of games the bare minimum.

So long story short...Depth for me.

I definitely like both.  The way I see it is that everyone has a set of games they "like" and a set they "love".  I still want to play the games I "like", but I might just beat them and forget all of the optional stuff.  If it's a game I "love" then I want to get every last bit out of it that I can.  I am a lot more likely to replay the games I "love" too, where I am happy to play the "like" games just once and then move on.

For example I remember liking the first Just Cause.  It's a good open world game.  I haven't played Just Cause 2 or 3 yet, because my time is limited, but if given the chance I'd probably pop one in and play it to the end.  On the other hand Breath of the Wild is an open world game that I "love".  I put it over 100 hours into it even though I know I could have beaten it after 20-30 hours.  It's just that good of a game.  I'm sure at some point I'll play it all over again for another 100+ hours.  Why not spend a lot of time with a game that you "love"?

On the other hand I still like variety.  I get a lot of enjoyment playing a game I only like and quickly beating it so I can move on to the next game and get a different kind of experience.  I'm glad to play both kinds of games.