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 :)

  • Moonguide@lemmy.ml
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    10
    ·
    1 year ago

    Ditto on what others have said. Hours/price is a lousy metric because nowadays lots of games have some pretty toxic mechanics that incentivize sticking with a boring experience (New World, Assassin’s Creed, etc.), inflating how much time you’d spend in a game that should be much shorter.

    Games I’ve paid full price and I don’t regret: Rimworld, Baldur’s Gate III, Wasteland 2, Doom 2016, Celeste, Project Zomboid.

    • OutlierBlue@lemmy.ca
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      4
      ·
      1 year ago

      It’s still a valid metric because why would you keep playing a game you’re not enjoying? The number of hours isn’t a measure of how much time it takes to beat, or how much time I feel I should get out of it. It’s how much time I do get out of it.

      I don’t care if a $30 game claims to have 100 hours of content. If I only play it for 2 hours before I drop it for being boring, then the cost/time is $15/hour.

      • all-knight-party@kbin.run
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        4
        ·
        edit-2
        1 year ago

        I think they’re talking about hours to price that you get from other people or websites. Your personal hours to price of course is worth quite a bit, but there’s no way to know it for sure until you’ve already paid, at which point its use as purchasing advice is already lost.

    • tal
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      3
      ·
      1 year ago

      Project Zomboid

      I like the theme, like the ambiance, like the open world, and absolutely hate the combat in that game. Have you ever played Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead? Same sort of setting and game, but turn-based, and significantly more-complex, and particularly since I see Rimworld on your list, I’m wondering if you might like it.

        • tal
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          3
          ·
          1 year ago

          It’s free and open-source (though one of the devs put a build up for $20 on Steam, which basically amounts to a donation). I’d definitely recommend it to someone who enjoys Project Zomboid and Rimworld.

          • Moonguide@lemmy.ml
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            2
            ·
            1 year ago

            Oh, I had no idea it was open source. I’ll take a look, at the very least. Thanks for the rec!