Why Most Gamers Start but Don’t Finish Video Games
While video games are an increasingly popular pastime, there are some shocking facts about games that might surprise you. Did you know that most gamers start but don't finish the video games that they play?
An article in CCN Tech tells us how many gamers are just not finishing games anymore:
"What I've been told as a blanket expectation is that 90% of players who start your game will never see the end of it unless they watch a clip on YouTube," says Keith Fuller, a longtime production contractor for Activision.
They add that "Only 10% of avid gamers completed the final mission, according to Raptr, which tracks more than 23 million gaming sessions."
The article goes on to explain how even critically-acclaimed, popular games are affected. So what's the deal? Why are most gamers not finishing their games?
CNN has some theories: the age of the average gamer, short attention spans and limited time for the average gamer.
As a lifelong gamer myself, I have a few ideas on this phenomenon as well.
I think they are on the right track with the age issue. Although I am still in my 20s myself, I am a mother, a wife, and a business owner. I have found that as I get older, the amount of time I have to devote to video games is often limited. As a result, I don't play as many games as I used to at one time and I tend to stick to one large game (such as an MMO) and a smaller "goof off" game like Plants vs Zombies. Older, more mature gamers with families and other adult responsibilities just don't have the time to devote to beating a game the way they did when they were younger.
However, that can't be all there is to it. I think another reason gamers start but don't finish video games is the sheer amount of competition in the industry for our time and energy. There are so many games to choose from today, in some many different genres and for so many different platforms, it can be overwhelming to the gamer. If you don't finish a game quickly enough, something else comes along and you want to play that game, too. The end result is a huge collection of unfinished video games and a to-do list of "I want to finish that one day!"
Is it really such a big deal if you don't finish the game anyway? The point of a video game is to bring fun and enjoyment. It's a pastime. If you enjoy the time you got from it, then it was worth your money, regardless of whether or not you finished or "beat" the game.
I used to feel so much pressure as a gamer to beat the games that I played but now I have a new rule: My game; my way.
I just don't stress over it anymore.
Published by Lisa Mason
Lisa Mason is a freelance writer and social media marketer with more than 10 years of experience. As VP of Special Media for Social Media Sun, she makes sure that readers have access to the most relevant and... View profile
- Top Five: Sports Video Games We Can't Get Enough OfThere are certain games that have left their mark on us and continue to draw our attention away.
- Top 25 Games of 2010A lot of quality content was unleashed on the video game world in 2010. What were the 25 best?
- Top 10 Video RPGs of All TimeI have always been a huge RPG fan. Hours have been spent figuring puzzles and exploring various lands. These are ten of my favorites. Is yours on the list?
- MMO Addiction: Kicking the HabitMMO addiction is one of those addictions that you don't really think about. Here's one way to kick the habit.
- A Newbie's Time in AzerothSo soon before the Cataclysm, a brand new player takes on World of Warcraft.
- Is Violence in Video Games the Cause of Human Aggression?
- Five Most Hated Glitches in Video Games
- Video Games Don't Kill People, Crazy People Kill People
- About Video Games
- Categories of Video Games: A Primer
- 10 Worst Video Games of the Last Decade
- Top Five: Sports Video Games We Can't Get Enough Of
5 Comments
Post a CommentHow about another issue? That most devs put their best 'bits' up front when the game is still fresh and under 40-50% completed? After a while games start to become drags and repetitive enough for people to not care or be compelled to finish a mediocre story. I have this issue even with open ended games where I find myself doing the same task(positive/neutral feeling) that later becomes inherently a chore (negative feeling). A lot of times as consumers our yard stick isn't quality but quantity, we want to bury ourselves with content for our money and then shun it away because we realize how mundane it is.
I've been playing video games off and on for 30 years. I think a major contributing factor is that games, like most media, are targeted at a specific audience. In the case of games, that audience must include game reviewers and hardcore gamers, or the initial bad reviews from that audience can kill the overall success of the game.
As a casual gamer, I would be happy with 20 hours of really enjoyable content. Serious gamers I know expect hundreds of hours of play time. After a 50-100 hour play-through in the first week of owning a game, and they still want replay value or they'll complain that the game wasn't buy-worthy and should be categorized as "rental only". (The equivalent of assessing a movie as "Don't see it in the theater or buy the disc, just wait for Netflix.")
I still make a point to finish most of my games, but this does make sense. there are too many games coming out right now. A few less developers isn't the worst thing in the world.
I think a large part of the problem is that the gaming industry isn't focusing on originality, but rather on "eye candy". Games sure do look pretty, these days, but they're also either very short or very similar to other games. While the similarities can sometimes be a good thing (good controls, for example), it leaves players wanting more, and increases the level of boredom. This, I think, is why Minecraft does so well.
Very truthful. Most games blow all their features in the first half, that tends to make the rest of the game boring and leaving the user to just finish the story. By that time I have my eye on another title.