Are gamers actually finishing their games?

[DiabolicalAdvocate]

Hey guys, new here, but I've been lurking for a while. Hopefully, a similar topic wasn't posted recently...

I found this on another message board, and I thought it was an interesting read;

http://www.slate.com/id/2179398/entry/2179826/

Since it appears that many of you here are in your 20's and older and have a crap load of games, I was wondering if this hit as close to home for you as it does for me?

I have a really hard time finishing games, yet I still find myself buying, on average, one new 360, PS3 or PS2 a week with the delusion that I'm actually going to finish it, though I don't really regret it since I enjoy the collecting aspect of gaming as well. I also tend to avoid buying games that I hear take 50+ hours to finish(mostly RPG's) unless it REALLY looks like it'll appeal to me, and I don't think I've ever spent more than 30 hours on a linear, single player campaign. I'm almost glad that most of the games released for the newest gen are less than 15 hours, and I've had the most success completing these games. As much as it was criticized by critics, I'll take high quality, shorter experiences like Heavenly Sword over a 20 hour game with weaker production values. The longest I've spent so far completing newer title is about 25 hours on Ninja Gaiden Sigma, mostly because of the difficulty and mission mode.

Are you guys in the same boat? Do you think shorter single player games are the future? (Regardless of multiplayer, which is another issue)

[roushimsx]

I don't have a problem finishing games (http://wiki.roushimsx.com/index.php?title=RoushiMSX%27s_Completed_Game_List) , I just have a problem finding time to play games to begin with. I normally squeak in an hour or so of game time a day at most (with exceptions on weekends when I can wake up way earlier than everyone else), so I try to focus that time on a single game until I complete it.

Every now and then I'll run a few games concurrently and swap between them whenever I get frustrated with one.

[YoshiM]

I do get free time I could devote to finish games but I can easily get sidetracked surfing the web or getting sucked into a multiplayer game of COD4. Sometimes I do get bored or frustrated with a game and I'll leave it and usually I'll come back to it.

[JustRob]

I have never once finished a game. Not a single one....not without cheating anyway.

This is something I intend to fix once I start my collection over. I'll be blogging the progress also, so look to my sig for updates on that.

[thedeityofhardcore]

I've probably beaten 12% of my games.

[kaedesdisciple]

With the way games are being developed now, what exactly do we define as "finished?" Is it running through the campaign? At what difficulty? Is it getting all of the achievements or other milestones?

I am in the same boat, I have trouble getting to give what I feel is the proper level of attention to all of the games I own. I am trying to slow down my purchasing and focus on what I do have ATM.

[smork]

I haven't even played a game on anything other than a handheld in a month. Bought a bunch, though. I'm more of a collector right now, but i'll swing back in the gamer column soon enough.

I'd say I've finished 10% or less of my games, though. But there's alot of sports games and such that you don't really *finish*.

[mailman187666]

I play a lot of RPGs but I try to get as far as I can then I will usually put it down to play something else. Sometimes I'll get back to it, other times I won't. Usually the games I beat are fighting games and such. I did beat Eternal Sonata and Mass Effect recently, both too good to put down. I've taken time away from Lost Odysee for some Smash Bros. Brawl though. Then when I go to my basement to smoke a cigarette, I'll bring the PSP down to play god of war: CO

[jdc]

I've found that by paring down my purchases over the last two years, that I now DO finish my games. It's a great feeling. My old habits were just like most around here, amass tons of games and always be in the mode of "starting" all of them. I also buy games that ARE "beatable" without having to sit with them for hours at a time. I just got my 16th PS3 game....and I've had the other 15 for ages and have played most of them more times than once. I've had my PS3 for a year. In past years I would have owned 16 games within the first 3 months.....and would have completed none of them.

[XYXZYZ]

About 90% of the gaming I do now is arcade games, and I usually play them to see what I can accomplish in one credit. So, actually finishing a game is a rare occasion for me nowadays.Console games tend to be much easier, especially all the modern games that require no skill, just 40 hours of your time. Not that I don't have 40 hours, but I don't like devoting all that time to just one repetitive game. I don't have the attention spa- ... I think I'll have spaghetti again for dinner.

[heybtbm]

I almost always finish my games. This includes epic 100+ hour RPG's right down to 6 hour FPS's. If I pay for it, I feel compelled to finish it. Of course there are a few games that slip through the cracks....not to mention the 100 or so games I haven't even opened yet. Still, my "completion" ratio stands at ~80%.

[otaku]

I've always mostly played racing and arcade games so yeah I beat em or play e alot anyway. Otherwise I focus on a game till I beat it even if it takes me months or a year even without playing much else.

[DiabolicalAdvocate]

With the way games are being developed now, what exactly do we define as "finished?" Is it running through the campaign? At what difficulty? Is it getting all of the achievements or other milestones?


Personally, I consider "finished" to be getting to the end of the campaign/story mode, regardless of the difficulty level and not including achievements, bonus missions, etc...

If completion means 100% of the game must be unlocked, then I probably haven't finished anything. As redundant as it may sound, I think there's a difference between completion, and 100% completion. I just finished Mass Effect and it took just under 20 hours. I did the side missions that sounded interesting to me, and this kept the game moving at a good pace. I enjoyed it, so I intend to eventually go back through and finish the game again by doing the side missions I haven't done, and skipping the ones I did on the first play through. I'll probably do this shortly before the second one comes out.

Had I forced myself to do EVERY single side mission the first time, I might not have finished it. No matter how much I'm enjoying a game, I'm easily distracted by newer acquisitions.

[cyberfluxor]

If by completion you reach the final sequences, then no I haven't actually made any dent into my collection. It's not a matter of I don't play or lack time, although there are some constraints. The real issue for me is the whole workings of my spare time. If I really wanted to I could dedicate an entire week beating a long RPG or messing with a few of my computers, watching anime/movies/tv shows/news/music, reading a book/manga/website/magazine, or just going outside and enjoying the weather. Most of my game devotion is spent driving around and digging. It's a real thrill to find interesting games, come home and spend an hour or two on it. Sure, this makes my back log huge but so are my videos, books, magazines, and other hobbies I'm into. Currently I'm concentrating on watching my anime VHS and DVDs, while recording only interesting movies I want to watch on the TV. Oh, then there's that "build an arcade" on the back-burner until I move out.

So, in reality there is a lack of dedication to really tackle the game completion task but one day it'll come.

[calthaer]

The third-highest accolade I can give a game (or game designer) these days is to actually finish their product. I complete a small percentage of the games that I own, and as a result, I'm purchasing very few newer games. I do not have time for the 10+ hour epics, either - perhaps time for a few of these, and so I'm very choosy about which of these I'll pick up.

The highest honor is to actually play their game twice and not finish it the second time around.

The grand prize goes to a game that I complete two or more times. I can probably count on one hand games that I've beaten more than once - over the course of my entire life. I don't generally do that unless the experience is really compelling.

My gaming backlog is rather hefty...I don't see that changing any time soon. I just got to Phoenix Wright within the past few weeks. I won't be able to get to some of the best PC games of the past few years until I've built myself a new PC - probably not before the summer. Too many other things going on in life to prioritize some of the inane tripe that passes for interactive entertainment.

[Trevelyan]

I do not think I own a PC game that I have not finished, although there are numerous video games I have not seen the end of especially on my 8bit & 16bit consoles. I do own alot more video games however. :hmm:

I am very selective about what games I purchase for my modern consoles and my PC. I buy games that I assume I will finish (normally on the hardest settings) because I'm very much in touch & excited with what I'm buying into. This applies to all aspects of the game including the story, design and technical features.
Back in the day this wasn't always the case and I would often find myself getting bored with games that I bought on more of a whim. I think its a complex issue regarding gaming difficulty & the has it changed debate!

[QUOTE=DiabolicalAdvocate;1338080
Do you think shorter single player games are the future? (Regardless of multiplayer, which is another issue)[/QUOTE]

:hmm:, do you mean single player games of the future may take a shorter amount of time to complete? Gut instinct is the opposite :?...but Im very much a fan of the games Valve have developed, and their recent episodic content has its pro's.

Gimmie, gimmie, gimmie!!' to quote Krusty the Clown! But its an issue that I cant generalize about due to my knowledge.

[Niku-Sama]

i have alot of games i havent even played but of the ones i have i would say 35% are beaten, the rest get to a point where the frusterate the fuck outa me so i say screw it

[josekortez]

I hardly ever finish them, especially when they require a 60-hour commitment to get through them. If it's a simple game like a 2D shooter or a puzzle game, then I'm more likely to reach the end than not.

[roushimsx]

I hardly ever finish them, especially when they require a 60-hour commitment to get through them.

Why even bother starting a game that you know is going to require a 60+ hour commitment, though? Especially if you know that you'll never stick with it through the end, why even pick it up in the first place (outside of the usual compulsive collecting urge that so many of us have here :P).

[exit]

I tend to get half way through a game (or the end in some cases) and just stop playing them all together. Either I an unable to beat it due to difficulty, or the game gets difficult/frustrating and I just lose interest in playing.

[Steve_the_tiger]

I am in the same boat, I keep buying more and more games and never get to finsh them. But i just can't stop buying games :band:

[bazariah]

i'll play as many games through as i can to their conclusion, then possibly play them again for extra stuff, achievments, bonus content or whatever

devil may cry 4 is a game which is admitidally short.. it's fairly straight forward and takes a couple of hours to beat all 20 missions, yet i've played that game for something like 55 hours allready since i bought it (28th feb)

i am now only buying one game every 2-3 weeks, there was a point in my life though that i was buying anywhere between 3-10 games in an average week (across multiple systems), seeing as how im limiting myself on purchases im finding im actually enjoying the games a bit more, and reaching the logical closure points on more games than i had done in the prior generation

[consolecrusader]

I have a lot of games I haven't finished. And yes I am the kind of gamer that goes out and basically buys a game knowing they have 20 more in the pile to play. But all in all I eventually get to all my games. Now the question your asking is do I finish them? Most of them, no. I have a hard time finish games I can not get into. Any RPG I can basically jump right in and get into it as long as it has a decent story line, ala Xenogears. But I think it's like a compulsive disorder us gamers have that just lure us to buy more and more games without thinking about what we have at home.

[The 1 2 P]

Well, during the Playstation One era I use to finish most of my games. But once I upgraded to the Xbox I finished very few of my 50 plus games for it. And sine I've added several more systems, I can honestly say that I've only finished like 10% of my current game collection, probabyly less than that. But I have atleast 500 games so thats not too bad, I think.

[DefaultGen]

.....

[roxybaby]

For generations I would focus on beating games. I beat almost every Genesis , Saturn and Dreamcast game I bought. In the last two generations I've finished far fewer. It just takes too long to beat a crappy game now.

[Ed Oscuro]

The third-highest accolade I can give a game (or game designer) these days is to actually finish their product. I complete a small percentage of the games that I own, and as a result, I'm purchasing very few newer games. I do not have time for the 10+ hour epics, either - perhaps time for a few of these, and so I'm very choosy about which of these I'll pick up.
Similar to this (except until recently I tried to go through as many games as possible; it's a pretty hollow feeling so no more)...I don't have a problem finishing games; games have a problem convincing me.

[Famidrive-16]

I try to finish most of my games now. I used to never really do that (unless it was a game I really, really liked) but I'm trying to keep my pace up.

A recent game I gave up on however was Drill Dozer. The control scheme started to hurt my hands too much halfway through.

[josekortez]

Why even bother starting a game that you know is going to require a 60+ hour commitment, though? Especially if you know that you'll never stick with it through the end, why even pick it up in the first place (outside of the usual compulsive collecting urge that so many of us have here :P).

I've got that same compulsive collecting urge that everybody else has. LOL!

[zektor]

I keep thinking there will be this magical moment (my vacation time, some time off, etc) in which I will be able to sit back and go nuts on the games that I have purchased and barely touched...let alone played through. Then, when a day off or my vacation arrives, I am stuck doing some other "productive" thing.

[walrusmonger]

I keep thinking there will be this magical moment (my vacation time, some time off, etc) in which I will be able to sit back and go nuts on the games that I have purchased and barely touched...let alone played through. Then, when a day off or my vacation arrives, I am stuck doing some other "productive" thing.

That's how I feel too, and it doesn't work for me either :( I beat about 5% of my games. Thankfully I've cut down a hell of a lot over the past 2 years.

When I worked at a game store, I'd be buying at least 3 to 5 new games, and at least 2 or 3 used games a week. I bought anything new that looked cool, and took any used deal that seemed too good to pass up.

I beat almost nothing.

Once I quit that job, I went 6 months without a job. I spent time beating a few games while going to school, but also liquidated a ton of my collection.

Now I have a fresh backlog of about 15 current gen games. My last gen backlog still sits at 50+ (mostly still sealed).

[Sudo]

I still have a ton of unfinished games from last gen and before. I've finished all my PS3, Wii, DS and 360 games so far though, and I've made a vow to continue doing so in the future.

[The 1 2 P]

I keep thinking there will be this magical moment (my vacation time, some time off, etc) in which I will be able to sit back and go nuts on the games that I have purchased and barely touched...let alone played through. Then, when a day off or my vacation arrives, I am stuck doing some other "productive" thing.

I always figured this moment would come for me when I won the lottery and no longer had any other responsibilities. Too bad I never play the lottery8-)

[BocoDragon]

This was a smart and rather frightening article.... "Do they understand how alien video games are even to most gamers?"

[RetroYoungen]

Finishing games I have trouble doing, especially when lately I've been playing games that really have no "end"; Donkey Kong (for the sake of saying I'm getting nowhere near the 22nd board), Eyes (arcade game from Roc-Ola), Robotron 2084, Tetris... they're games that I'm trying to better myself at, but not necessarily "beat." I've plenty of games I still need to play all of the way through that I honestly WANT to (like the Red Star and Final Fantasy X)... but as of the past few years, I find that playing through a really deep adventure, satisfying as it is when you reach the end, I just don't have the patience (or time) for.

Sometimes I wish I was back in high school, or college when I didn't have a job... I felt like I was getting more done then. :D

[PentiumMMX]

I normally try to finish a game, unless I get side-tracked by other games (.hack, most everything I own on NES), lose my copy (Super Mario Bros.), something happens to my save file (Mystical Ninja starring Goemon, EarthBound), or just give up because I don't like the game (Super Mario Sunshine).

[kainemaxwell]

I haven't finished a rpg in a few years myself...

[TheDomesticInstitution]

I usually get bored with a game and wind up playing with myself instead.

Out of all the games I bought last year- I probably finished 6 or 7 to completion.

[bangtango]

I mostly play sports games, either in Season Mode or Franchise Mode. I can make it through a single game in about half an hour to an hour. But there is no real pressure in "finishing" anything.

The difference between something like Madden 07 versus Dead Rising, Halo 3, Super Mario Galaxy (or ANY game of that ilk) is that with the latter three, it is hard to say you've truly gotten your money's worth if you never bother taking the time to finish them. It is one thing if you aren't "good enough" to make it to the end but it is another thing entirely if you are capable of finishing it and just quit playing.

With something like Madden 07 or NBA 2K7, you can get your money's worth without having to play 10-15 seasons in a Franchise Mode. Just because of the fact that each game (even an exhibition) is an event in itself and there is some accomplishment in coming out victorious against the computer or a second player.

[ThoughtBomb]

The bottom line for the most of us is that as much as we'd like to finish every single game we start, it just isn't gonna happen. As we come into our own, (even if it seems like we're pretty slack) our everyday lives and responsibilities will always outweigh a game. This and the fact that we are so easily pulled in by the habit of routine. We get used to doing something more so than something else, thus most of the other ideas we get to do something else (like complete a game) get thrown to the back burner. I do it all the damn time. Im nearing the end of Driver 2, just beginning in Final Fantasy XII, trying to beat someone in Super-Punch Out, attempting to escape Arcade's Revenge, unlocking more things in Soul Caliber 3, not even close to getting all the costumes in MGS3, haven't achieved all the endings in Silent Hill 4, and am just plain frustrated with Boomer's friggin Adventure in God Forsaken Asmik World! Not to mention I've got Twilight Princess, Resident Evil Zero, Dino Crisis 2, Sonic Adventure, Paper Mario, Shenmue, all of which have not even been touched. Do I finish most of my games? Yes, but on my terms. Usually it's beat game till ending, unlock what I can, move on to next game. If an ending is achieved, then that's mostly what matters. No, scratch that. Having a fkin good time playing the games you want, old or new, that's what matters.

[The 1 2 P]

Sadly, out of my 700 + games, a good 1-200 of them are still factory sealed. That should tell you how much I finish games lately. I'd love to finish them but life keeps getting in the way. Well, that and porn :)

[videogameking26]

I'm in the same boat as I do try to finish more of my games, just keep buying more so usually keep my attention the few I'm playing and tend to forget about the tons I have in shrink-wrap laying on my gaming shelves, instead of starting one of them up I go out and buy some more to add to my collection. I say out of my 1,000+ games I'm completed probably 30 to 40% of them if that.

[BydoEmpire]

I'm doing pretty well - I probably finish more games now than in any other period due to save points and online FAQs. Usually what prevents me from finishing games is buying new games that suck me in.

[jahvybe]

Lately I have been completing more of my games. I realized that every week I was buying more and not playing much. So I have gone back an been finishing games that I started a long time ago and never finished.

Just finished Jak X racing a couple days ago. I had beaten it like 63% and never finished. I tried to start from where I left off but it had been too long since I played. I just started over, and I beat it 100% in less time then I had into it for 63%. But there is no way I am going back to beat it again in "hero mode."

Now I am gonna go back to red dead revolver on xbox. I had fun with that game before but just got distracted before I finished.

I have pretty much given up watching tv for gaming and that has made a big difference. I still tivo lost and stargate atlantis but those are the only 2 shows I watch all week. That is probobly the thing that has contributed most to completing more games.

I am pretty much ok with just fininshing the easy or normal mode for most games. The exception is games that have levels only playable in more difficult modes like goldeneye for n64. I kind of gave up on trying to get the 2 secret levels unlocked but I am gonna go back and try again. I think I kind of suck at that game because I couldn't unlock them but I still love that game.

[RadiantSvgun]

I only have a select few games I haven't beaten that I own. I have a few on Turbo, but thats because of having the system repaired.

I never beat Digital Devil Saga or Soul Nomad, because I stopped caring.

[parker619]

i dont usually complete most of my games,, even though sometimes ill be sitting playing a game and thinking, yes im going to beat it no matter how long i sit there,, and then something like half an hour later ill be like "fuck this" and just put it down :S,, tis weird :P