What do you consider to be a lot of hours to put into a game?

[Locut0s]

Not putting this in Console or PC gaming since this is a general gaming inquiry. Just curious, how much time would you consider to be a lot of time to invest in any one game. I am NOT counting MMOs or playing Online FPSs because these games are basically endless time sinks. I'm talking more about games that can be finished in some sense, or close to finished anyway. Usually these would be RPGs, action games, strategy games etc.. Anything that can said to be completable even if technically speaking it's not. And by a lot of time I don't mean a crazy amount of time but the kind of time you could easily see yourself investing in the game but still count as "a lot" of hours.

Personally for me this is around the 90-100Hr mark. I don't tend to play many games beyond that point. I love RPGs and I've sunk 60-80Hrs into many an RPG levelling up, gathering equipment and completing as many side quests as possible. Again NOT counting WoW or online DII etc which are basically endless.

I'm currently 70+Hrs into Pokemon HeartGold. Basically finished and probably will only put another 10-15 Hrs into it I think. Even though I could put a LOT more into it if I wanted to collect everything.

 

[guyver01]

My WoW account says i've put in over 1 year of gameplay. I've been playing for 5+ years.

 

[Powermoloch]

150+ days on my paladin..WoW, 3 years. + a whole bunch of alts

I'm glad that's over woohoooooooooooooooooooo

 

[coreyb]

depends on the time frame

 

[Locut0s]

My WoW account says i've put in over 1 year of gameplay. I've been playing for 5+ years.

Well I wasn't trying to count WoW. Anyway. So over those 5 years you've actually spent about 1/5th of that time physically playing the game? And that includes sleep time too!

 

[Mike Gayner]

For me it has to be 100+ hours to be "a lot". Some of my favorite games of all time are much less than that (Half Life series for example), but the games that have been real time sinks are the 100+ hour games - Oblivion, GTA series, etc.

 

[guyver01]

Anyway. So over those 5 years you've actually spent about 1/5th of that time physically playing the game? And that includes sleep time too!

Most of that occurred within the first 2 years of playing. I was in a hardcore raiding guild.. and would go to work from 9a-5p.. come home... raid from 7p to 3a... go to sleep from 4a-8a... and rinse and repeat.

 

[Locut0s]

For me it has to be 100+ hours to be "a lot". Some of my favorite games of all time are much less than that (Half Life series for example), but the games that have been real time sinks are the 100+ hour games - Oblivion, GTA series, etc.

Oblivion would definitely have been one of these for me if it were not for its stupid levelling system. Basically I just stayed at level 2 or something and finished the main story line and most of the Xbox 360 accomplishments, without ever "sleeping" in game. I think I still put about 80Hrs into it or so. If the levelling had been reasonable I would have dumped a lot more into it. I'm guessing I'll put a lot into the next Elder Scrolls game. Dragon Age Origins II will be another big time sink.

 

[The Boston Dangler]

Most of that occurred within the first 2 years of playing. I was in a hardcore raiding guild.. and would go to work from 9a-5p.. come home... raid from 7p to 3a... go to sleep from 4a-8a... and rinse and repeat.

haha i'm never doing that again

 

[Mike Gayner]

I haven't played Dragon Age yet, but my bro spent quite a few hours on it. Not the same "sandboxability" as Oblivion et al though, so not necessarily as large a time sink.

 

[guyver01]

haha i'm never doing that again

Same here. I'm a casual player now.... i got my shiny blues... and i'm having fun with the 1 hour or so a day i spend doing dailies.

 

[ShadowOfMyself]

Crap, I voted before I read the MMO part...

Without counting MMO it depends completely on how long the game is though... If its a game like Final Fantasy Id probably still spend 100+ hours just to complete it over and over and figure out everything, but an FPS probably takes about 10 hours to complete without much replay value

 

[theprodigalrebel]

Pretty sure I have spent more than a hundred hours in each of the GTA games (starting with GTA3 through EFLC). I probably spent the most time messing around in San Andreas. I shudder to imagine how much more time I would have sunk in that game if it had Achievements that almost all games now have.

Not that I'm an Achievement-whore but there was a time when that would have appealed to me.

 

[DaTT]

Same here. I'm a casual player now.... i got my shiny blues... and i'm having fun with the 1 hour or so a day i spend doing dailies.

What server? I just got my first PvE purp yesterday.

 

[guyver01]

What server? I just got my first PvE purp yesterday.

Scarlet Crusade.

Bunch of Co-Workers created a guild there 5+ years ago. Most, if not all, have left the game, and i'm not that into it anymore to pay cash to transfer to a non-rp realm.

 

[DaTT]

I don't think I am into it enough to spend countless hours raiding again either....

 

[JimmiG]

I'm not a huge fan of 100+ hour single-player RPGs. Lots of filler quests and empty areas, so you spend a lot of time traveling across the game world or fighting the same enemies over and over.

Game developers have a limited amount of time and money for developing a game. I'd rather they spent that on creating an interesting game that lasts 10 hours than a repetitive 100+ hour game.

Also with work and school I don't have the time or energy to sink hundreds of hours into a game. It would take years to finish such a game...

 

[Tristicus]

Well I put about 100 give or take into GTA IV so I say that many.

 

[brainhulk]

i playing gran turismo, and i'm pretty much addicted. there I admitted it.

 

[SaDiZTiKStyLeZ]

I have 100k+ hours into WOW. An embarrassing number.
I'm still going to fall back on the excuse, that I wouldn't have played if not for my gf and friends playing though.
I rather would have spent all that time full time employed though.

I don't really find FPS addictive, unless there's more substance to it outside of pointless shooting. With the changes made to TF2, I can see why folks have several 100 hours. Something to keep you coming back.
Counter-Strike or L4D iun comparison, not so much. Good game play though.

Now if I was using XFire back when I first was pc gaming, I'd have logged several hundred hours. Easy. Although that's no problem when me and the friends would have entire weekend Diablo 2 binges. Good times.

 

[SunnyD]

A lifetime. See, there's this game I play every day called life. There's no pause button or savegames, so I have to play it every day whether I want to or not. Worse yet, it's stuck in hardcore mode, so if something happens or I turn it off, I can't even start over.

 

[SaDiZTiKStyLeZ]

Also with work and school I don't have the time or energy to sink hundreds of hours into a game. It would take years to finish such a game...

I hear that. I used to be able to binge on long winded games all the time. After school & work, if I want to play a game, it's something that has to keep it brief. An hour max, in one sitting. Something I can pop in & out, not worry about losing track of where or what I was doing last time. A quick 15 minutes is good enough, then focus my attention elsewhere.

Although I've found that if I want to play a long-winded games these days. That it's much easier to keep a strategy guide on hand (gamefaqs!) then just edit the text file to keep track of progress through the game. So I don't have to spend my entire play time trying to figure out what's going on.

 

[SaDiZTiKStyLeZ]

A lifetime. See, there's this game I play every day called life. There's no pause button or savegames, so I have to play it every day whether I want to or not. Worse yet, it's stuck in hardcore mode, so if something happens or I turn it off, I can't even start over.

:awe:
Making money is alot more awesome than making gold.

 

[Possessed Freak]

The ROI gets better after each hour of gameplay in a purchased game. Thus, I try to milk MANY hours out of the games I buy. Complete failures are ones that I do not play after the first week (Spore, Civ V, SC2, MOO3). Epic purchases are ones I still play after a decade (MOO2, XvT, SC1).