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[BruiserBear]

http://www.cnn.com/2011/TECH/gaming.gadgets/08/17/finishing.videogames.snow/index.html?hpt=hp_t2

"And it's not just dull games that go unfinished. Critically acclaimed ones do, too. Take last year's "Red Dead Redemption." You might think Rockstar's gritty Western would be played more than others, given the praise it enjoyed, but you'd be wrong.

Only 10% of avid gamers completed the final mission, according to Raptr, which tracks more than 23 million gaming sessions.

Let that sink in for a minute: Of every 10 people who started playing the consensus "Game of the Year," only one of them finished it."




I found this article to be an interesting look at this phenomenon. I've always found it irritating when people complain about games being "too short" when they're 6-10 hours. I've never minded, because in my experience most games that exceed 10 hours are filled with padding and filler to make them longer. It's extremely rare to find an experience that truly justifies a 15-25 hour experience. I hope the industry comes to realize this more and more, because I think everyone would benefit from tighter, more focused gaming experiences.

 

[Divvy]

Well if they want to sell me on a shorter game, they had better trim the price down too. No way am I paying 60 dollars for a 6 hour game.

 

[Seraphis Cain]

I find it funny that they used Red Dead Redemption as an example. Because, when you think about it, just how many people do you think never actually found the final mission?

(If you've played and beaten the game you know what I'm talking about.)

 

[Kintaro]

Gamers can't sit still for a total of 10 hours (say the length of an average game, maybe). Film at eleven.

 

[Mr. B Natural]

People don't finish games because they buy games based off of hype and marketing, not an actual interest in the product. Their hype moves from product to product and can't concentrate on any of it, can't actually enjoy any of it, can't play any of it, has almost nothing to do with the game in your disk drive or the display on the screen. And yet, oddly enough, those people that get hooked over and over again by the same marketing schemes are the ones that will defend "their games" like it's their own child.

 

[LiK]

Very true.

 

[Gowans]

Their stats are terrible. I made a thread months ago about raptr game competition stats. Red dead is miles out as a extreme but their 'last' mission is also something needed to be seeked out.

 

[Gravijah]

I find it funny that they used Red Dead Redemption as an example. Because, when you think about it, just how many people do you think never actually found the final mission?

(If you've played and beaten the game you know what I'm talking about.)

Huh, wonder why they considered the final mission.

 

[Hanmik]

95% of my games are finished.. I have some strange condition that forces me to complete a game.

 

[BruiserBear]

I find it funny that they used Red Dead Redemption as an example. Because, when you think about it, just how many people do you think never actually found the final mission?

(If you've played and beaten the game you know what I'm talking about.)

They point out that 10% completion statistic is the norm. Red Dead is not some rare example. They simply used it because it was generally considered the best game of 2010.

 

[Cartman86]

Red Dead is one of the rare examples of game where seeing that ending makes you you forget all the bad stuff (probably the stuff that made people stop). More games need good endings.

 

[sixteen-bit]

Well if they want to sell me on a shorter game, they had better trim the price down too. No way am I paying 60 dollars for a 6 hour game.

Wait 3 months and buy it for $15.

 

[faridmon]

Since I play Japanese games the most, I have to say the reason is thier final boss'.

Screw that shit!

 

[BanditKing]

They have short attention spans that's why.

 

[inner-G]

Wholeheartedly disagree.

RDR was good because it was so big and open, you could get lost exploring while not advancing at all, if you wished. It definitely wasn't good just because of the story. If I were being pulled through without exploring it would be exponentially less fun, I believe.

 

[Divvy]

Wait 3 months and buy it for $15.

Well yeah, obviously.

 

[Cow Mengde]

People don't finish games because the game sucks. I know I can't muster the energy to play a shitty game. I finished very few bad games. I forced myself to finish Bioshock because I wasn't having any fun, but people insists it gets better, but actually gets worse towards the end.

 

[Mlatador]

God damnit, finish the game!

 

[DaBuddaDa]

Why is finishing a game necessarily a good thing? People will get the enjoyment out of a game as they see fit. Ones enjoyment of a game isn't increased if they finish it. To take news like this and argue that games should be shorter is way off the mark and a dangerous thing to advocate.

 

[thetrin]

Most people have horrible attention spans and can't even finish what they started when it's something important. What makes us believe most people would finish a video game?

Games are not like movies or tv shows. Games require effort to complete, and most people just don't have any effort to spare because they're lazy.

People don't finish games because the game sucks. I know I can't muster the energy to play a shitty game. I finished very few bad games. I forced myself to finish Bioshock because I wasn't having any fun, but people insists it gets better, but actually gets worse towards the end.

No. People don't finish games because they're lazy, and don't think they should work for their entertainment.

You know it's true.

 

[Alucrid]

Terrible article. I mean, "At an average of 67 hours, "Call of Duty: Black Ops" is reportedly the most-played recent game. Many others don't get finished." what does this even mean? This obviously isn't single player because an average of that long is just insane, so it's clearly multiplayer or some combination of the two, which means that it's not indicative of whether or not people finished the campaign. Also fuck that shorter game, more expansion nonsense. We'll still be paying $60 anyways, might as well make it for a longer game.

 

[StuBurns]

RDR is an awful example, but for example Portal has the highest completion rate of any Valve game, and it's still pretty bad, I think 30%ish?

No one finishes games.

 

[Kintaro]

Red Dead is one of the rare examples of game where seeing that ending makes you you forget all the bad stuff (probably the stuff that made people stop). More games need good endings.

Final ending is overblown and disappointing given the message Marston was trying to pass on.

 

[mkenyon]

I dont think you're above claim is necessarily the case. Just because a game isn't "finished", doesn't mean that people don't want long games. For instance, I love long complex games that take 20+ hours to finish a single campaign, but they're mostly strategy type games like Civ or truly sandbox games like Mount and Blade.

I also love open world games like RDR, and GTA. I've never once completed any of those games though, but I never felt the need to. I think what this goes to show is that although they seem to come here in droves, the "completionist gamer" is a very rare bird. I've always been boggled by the folks who slog through an additional 5-10 hours in a game they don't enjoy just to finish it or get more trophies/achievements. I think that person is the phenomenon.

 

[snoopeasystreet]

I think one of the reasons why people don't finish video games is because they're usually paced like movies but are the length of TV series.

 

[Rolf NB]

Maybe because the average game nowadays is all marketing, and no fun.

/bitter old man

 

[Anteater]

I don't finish a lot of games when I was a kid either, I didn't even finish mario bros

 

[thetrin]

Meanwhile, I finish MOST of the games I buy, even the ones I don't enjoy. Is there something wrong with me?

 

[rvy]

God damn it, I thought this would be about releasing unfinished games to the market place.

 

[Synless]

Not in my house they don't, maybe 23-27% go unfinished. I eventually get to them though in one way or another and a few new games get put on backlog.

 

[levious]

They point out that 10% completion statistic is the norm. Red Dead is not some rare example. They simply used it because it was generally considered the best game of 2010.

using it to help display this point is silly though, given the nature of the end game.

 

[Rodney McKay]

I find it funny that they used Red Dead Redemption as an example. Because, when you think about it, just how many people do you think never actually found the final mission?

(If you've played and beaten the game you know what I'm talking about.)

I know exactly what you're talking about. The weird ending soured my experience with the game. I thought it had already ended and I was just in the post game free roam part like GTA4 had at the end.

Had to look it up online to see if the game had actually ended. Red Dead is a strange case and has never happened in any other games I have played.

 

[Mr. B Natural]

I think one of the reasons why people don't finish video games is because they're usually paced like movies but are the length of TV series.

Very true. People talk about how they don't care about story in games, but it's probably the most effective and true reasons to continue a game to completion, or anything for that matter.
Pacing in game stories (and gameplay) are generally awful, because that bottom line of game length trumps pacing...and therefore quality.

You mastered the game and its mechanics 10 hours ago, probably because the mechanics are identical to other games of the genre, but you got 10 more hours to go and at least 2 and half minutes of bad story telling somewhere in there for good measure.

 

[Boombloxer]

I find it funny that they used Red Dead Redemption as an example. Because, when you think about it, just how many people do you think never actually found the final mission?

(If you've played and beaten the game you know what I'm talking about.)

Open world games are a bad barometer for completion. Only 46% or so finished Assassin's Creed. RDR I'm fairly sure has different completion numbers, as will GTA and L.A. Noire, Infamous, etc.

To me, a better example would be Halo, Modern Warfare, Uncharted, titles that have a shorter campaign as a way to gauge it. Because the games exist just fine.

 

[Cow Mengde]

No. People don't finish games because they're lazy, and don't think they should work for their entertainment.

You know it's true.

One of the reasons I play video games is because I control the out come. My skills are what makes it go forward.

That said, yeah, I know people are lazy.

There is another reason people don't finish games, and that's losing a save. That's devastating. Funny enough, I lost my Harvest Moon save 2x and I'm surprised I was able to play through it despite that.

 

[Maxim726X]

What I do is get near the end of almost every game I own, get tired of it, then during a break I'll try to finish as many of them as I can.

 

[Cheech]

Two reasons for this.

Most people don't read game reviews, so they just leave shitballs unfinished. Or maybe the game might not be shitty, but it's not to their taste (I'm the only one out of 6 people I personally know who completed Demon's Souls but bought the game).

The game's content outlives the mechanics. I did not finish Red Dead either, and that would be why. At some point in Mexico, I simply got sick of the game.

 

[kliklik]

I used to never finished games. But thanks to trophies, now I do. Who says that achievements/trophies are ruining gaming?!

 

[PooBone]

A lot of games are just too long. I honestly like games in the 10-12 hour range. Most gamers are adults with families and jobs. In the example given, I didn't finish Red Dead Redemption because it bored me to tears.

 

[GraveRobberX]

Also some never even touch the MOTHERFUCKING Single Player Campaign

My brother has yet to even touch the SP of any COD, he was only forced to do so due to the PSN outage, he was like I was bored, need my fix, tried SP, he was like there's a story?, he goes onto say that they were just missions to prepare you for MP...me (!O_O!)

 

[mclem]

Wasn't this a thread a little while ago? CNN covering it may be new, though.

Edit: http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=417616

 

[graywolf323]

I have a bad habit of getting distracted by another game and then never getting back to the previous game to beat it

even RPGs where I might be just before the end and having already sunk 90+ hours into the game :-(

 

[Grinchy]

Maybe 10% really is the "norm" but I would have liked if they used other examples. It wouldn't shock me at all to find out a person didn't completely finish RDR or a game like GTA4. I mean, those are long games with a lot of content. I would like to see stats on games that really are only up to 10 hours long.

 

[uncleslappy]

I started a backlog blog to combat my rampant non-game-beating habit. No new games until I beat every game I own. Currently playing Mario 64.

 

[UnluckyKate]

In the case of Red Dead Redemption, there's been a terrible confusion among gamers about the ending. Most people thought the game was over... before the last mission. Rockstar had clear things up, saying " you didn't finish the story untill you saw the credits ".

 

[bigdaddygamebot]

How many people start a book and then don't finish it?

I'd be interested to know what completion rates for books are.

Reading a book takes effort much like playing a game takes effort.

Are people "in charge" discussing whether or not to make books shorter?

 

[rdrr gnr]

Who are these people? It's such a foreign concept to me. Everyone I know who plays games, finishes them. There are maybe two or three games this gen I never bothered finishing in comparison to the few dozen I have finished.
What about the money factor in this economy? If I pay $60 for a game, I'm going to get my damn value.

Also some never even touch the MOTHERFUCKING Single Player Campaign

My brother has yet to even touch the SP of any COD, he was only forced to do so due to the PSN outage, he was like I was bored, need my fix, tried SP, he was like there's a story?, he goes onto say that they were just missions to prepare you for MP...me (!O_O!)

This bothers me to no end. Especially if the SP is the meat of the game.

 

[Zen]

http://www.cnn.com/2011/TECH/gaming.gadgets/08/17/finishing.videogames.snow/index.html?hpt=hp_t2

"And it's not just dull games that go unfinished. Critically acclaimed ones do, too. Take last year's "Red Dead Redemption." You might think Rockstar's gritty Western would be played more than others, given the praise it enjoyed, but you'd be wrong.

Only 10% of avid gamers completed the final mission, according to Raptr, which tracks more than 23 million gaming sessions.

Let that sink in for a minute: Of every 10 people who started playing the consensus "Game of the Year," only one of them finished it."




I found this article to be an interesting look at this phenomenon. I've always found it irritating when people complain about games being "too short" when they're 6-10 hours. I've never minded, because in my experience most games that exceed 10 hours are filled with padding and filler to make them longer. It's extremely rare to find an experience that truly justifies a 15-25 hour experience. I hope the industry comes to realize this more and more, because I think everyone would benefit from tighter, more focused gaming experiences.

I'd hate it if your wish came true. While it's true taht the mass market doesn't finish games as much as the hardcore, that doesn't mean that 90% of the people taht played Red Dead Redemption left dissapointed, far from it. Just because someone burnt out on it doesn't mean that they hadn't sunk hours and hours of entertaining time in to it.

I've always found it irritating when people advocate for games to be shorter across the board. If you want every game to b a 10 hour experience, that dramatically effects game design, and would probably push 'CoD' like experiences even more.

There are few games that I haven't finished, that doesn't mean that I didn't enjoy those games, and I'd rather have too much content for $60 than too little or what someone else thinks is just enough.

 

[Caramello]

RDR was a good example in terms of my experience.. However out of all the titles I've played this generation it has only been RDR and Red Steel 2 that I haven't finished.

 

[SonicMegaDrive]

I used to force myself to finish games when I was a lot younger...just because.

One day I realized I wasn't actually enjoying a good chunk of these games. So now, whenever I find myself growing wary of a game, I do what any sane person would do - I turn it off and find something else to do.