I think this video showcases an interesting aspect of gaming that I never really thought about before. In their case, they play more games for a shorter amount of time vs spending a large portion of their time in few games.
Personally I’m on the side of spending more of my time in a select number of games. By far I have put no less then 3000-4000 hours in Minecraft. Logged by Steam, I got 1300+ hours in both GTA V and American Truck Simulator
More recently I’ve been really into Rocket League and Trackmania. These games are notable because I am constantly working to improve and get better at the game. As much replay-ability as much I find enjoyment in succeeding.
From time to time though, I do really enjoy getting into shorter, more story based games. Great examples being Portal 2, Road96, and Firewatch. What kind of gamer are you?
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Depends on your stage of life as well. I’m 41 now and a dad, so I have max 2 hours per day. When I was still studying I played wow for entire days.
Now I enjoy shorter games like Firewatch and Lake. Just finished Beacon Pine. Xbox Gamepass is excellent for this as it’s full of these games.
I did play longer games like Mass effect legendary edition, and The Witcher 3, but I only play such long games if I really like them.
Thousands of hours in a game is unfortunately out of the question.
I’m 50+ and while my kids are old though to manage without me, I still have plenty of other responsibilities.
I don’t really “track” my gaming and I think the focus on hours spent is a bit silly.I play when I have time to relax.
It’s mostly WoW, single-player RPGs, Paradox Grand Strategy games, online chess etc - stuff that doesn’t need twichy eye-hand coordination, too old and slow for that - games like that make me frustrated, because I used to be competitive in Quake back in the day. Just can’t keep up with the kids :)Mechabellum has been my latest addiction
I’m your age and I’m in a similar situation. I still play longer RPGs when I really like them but it’s definitely harder to do. My last forever game was warframe. I clocked in about 3300 hours.
When did people start tracking how many hours they play? I used to play games for hours a day. I loved getting lost in them, but I never kept track of hour many hours I spent. Now I’m a dad with a full time job, so I only get to play a little bit every once in a while. But when i get an hour to play I really enjoy it a lot!
The only reason I know how many hours I have is because steam & other stores track how many hours you have in games. Minecraft is one game that doesn’t global counter, however & I agree its nice to just get lost and enjoy playing with friends.
some games also track it in game, like in Elden Ring loading a character you will time spent.
This is an interesting question. I never thought about it until platforms started showing it. I bet I have shockingly low hours on games from my childhood that I consider my “formative” or “beloved” games. I act like I spent years playing Ocarina of Time but was it actually like 20 hours?
Generally I’m a boomer shooter kinda guy, but I have recently been into more “chill in the world and ‘work’ on stuff” games like Satisfactory, Stardew Valley, Slime Rancher, Minecraft, etc
But like you I also occasionally pick up a shorter, story driven game. Fire watch is one of the best games I have ever played.
2 or 2000 with very little variation.
Most story games I play once, however long they take. Only a few get the “privilege” of a re-play.
Multiplayer games or games that don’t really have an ending I might put in more, like 200h in PUBG, 420h in Satisfactory (so far), 400h+ in Monster Hunter World, different roguelikes with 100h+, etc.
On Steam, the two games I’ve put in more time than almost all others are Nioh 1 and 2, with a combined 1200h. That’s not even multiple characters.
Only looking at Steam, it’s probably pretty even between story games and these “forever games.”
Then there are Blizzard games, which I’ve played more than basically anything else. I have probably over 25k hours in WoW, thousands in Diablo 2 and 3, hundreds in Heroes of the Storm and Overwatch. Their games pretty much always do it for me, which is a shame, since it was revealed how much of a shitshow the company is, so I currently don’t play their games.
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Racing games and multiplayer I can put hundreds of hours into, but it feels like single player games are too long these days. I prefer 20-30 hours for the main story although I do enjoy playing 60+ hour jrpgs occasionally.
I feel like it’s the opposite. It’s rare to find single player games longer than 20h.
Breath of the Wild can be done in under 30 minutes or take hundreds of hours. I’m about 120 hours in and have yet to finish. I could do the final battle now but there’s way more going on in this stunning world for me to enjoy.
AC Odyssey took me like 80+ hours, Valhalla apparently takes even longer. I feel like open world SP games take longer (and usually overstay their welcome)
Which for the price they ask i would say its the minimum. Recently i played “resident evil village” 10 hours, good game but very short.
There are 5 games on my Steam list over 100 hours, maxing out ~300 hours: Stardew Valley, Skyrim, No Mans Sky, Don’t Starve, Cyberpunk 2077
If we include Nintendo games it probably goes up to 8: BotW, TotK, Animal Crossing New Horizons.
So at the most, I’ll spend a couple months on a game before moving on - most other games I play are either quick weekend completions, or maybe take a couple of weeks to finish. Usually when I start putting months into a game I begin to seriously question whether I’m making the best use of my time and the “what am I doing with my life” itch makes me quit games for a bit. 😅
I think it comes down to whether a game’s mechanics are satisfying and whether the game is open enough to continue. Sandbox games like Stardew or NMS you can fire up, tend your machines or crops for an hour or so, and stop, like watching a rerun of your favorite show. Skyrim isn’t technically a sandbox, but similar, you can jump in, run a couple dungeons or repeating quests, and it’s just nice. No new controls or mechanics to learn, no wishing I had better gear. Like noodle soup on a cold day.
Skyrim’s been out for 12 years. 250 hours isn’t even a half hour a week. Not even 2 hours a month. Stardew Valley is 7 years old. 250 hours is barely 45 minutes a week. It really doesn’t take that much to rack up some serious hours.
I think you make great points!
Not sure why, but I tend to either be all-in on a game or not playing it at all; playing my Stardew saves for an hour would feel pretty unsatisfying because I wouldn’t remember what my plans were the last time I played and therefore wouldn’t feel like I got anything done. and Skyrim always ends up being “Modding: the game” because I set up mod lists, test them out, and then only play for a little bit before moving on, oops.
Definitely more time in less games. It makes me seem like I don’t like them but I get burned out yknow
I’ve got 2000 hours in Warframe spread across nearly a decade, most other games that I like clock in at about 100-200 hours, with most story focused games getting about 8-12. It really depends on routine updates and replayability
I prefer a nice contained 25-30 hour game most of the time.
That doesn’t stop me from having 700 hours in Total War: Warhammer II. But it takes a really special game to grab me for more than 60 or so hours.
However many it takes to beat them. I typically don’t replay games, and I don’t play into those insane multiplayer games that require hundreds if not thousands of hours. I beat one, I move on. The only exceptions are NHL and MLB, I play those on Friday nights with some beers to decompress from the week so I have a disproportionate amount of hours in those, but I also don’t buy new ones every year; maybe every 4-5 years. I really bounce off of games that are too long or too big, though. No game needs to be 100 hours long. The last time I did one of those was Assassin’s Creed Odyssey and that’s the last time I’ll ever do that.
I tend to prefer indie games, cult classic series like armored core, and a few big mainstream titles like Mario kart and breath of the wild. How much time I put into games depends not on what “kind” of gamer I am so much as whether I need more out of it. I’ve only played Undertale twice through, but it had a big impact on me and at the end I had enough to take with me. If I feel like I’ve lost those impressions I might go back to that well after a long while. Right now I’m going back to a few of my old PS2 games to see if there’s more for me to draw from them. They’re like old books you reread with new eyes.
On the other hand I’ve put hundreds of hours into darkest dungeon and slay the spire, and I’ll probably continue until I’ve gotten to a point where I feel like I’ve overcome my limitations in a meaningful way. Those games are about dynamic challenges and perseverance at any cost, which resonates with me on a deeper level.
Games are art, or should try to be, and how long you spend with them depends on your relationship with them.
The hours I dump into games varies wildly. Certain games, mainly Splatoon 2/3, Final Fantasy 14, Factorio, Satisfactory, and anything with a level editor I’ll happily dump hundreds of hours into. According to Steam, the game I dumped the most hours into as of this post is Distance, with the majority of that being spent in its level editor.
I’ve been playing Runescape since grade school. I’m approaching a bit shy of 25,000 hours played (a little under 3 years). As an AFK’able “second monitor game” a good half of that is just “I’m at my computer anyway” but the other half is actual investment/more active playing.
I don’t bother playing a game if I’m not going to invest a significant amount of time into it. I aim for 100% completion or reaching the top 0.1% of players if there is a competitive ranking system. It’s extremely rare for me to play a game that I don’t dump a minimum of 500 hours into.
My play time is less now than it was when I was a teen but it’s still skewed towards the higher end due to me being fortunate enough to work from home with a FIFO queue of work. If my work is done - I can game during work hours if I want to. As long as I keep close tabs on my queue and handle anything as it comes in. This gives me 8~ hours of potential game time that I otherwise wouldn’t have. Since I need to be near my computer in case any work comes in - I’m pretty limited with activities I can do. I can some weights, browse the internet, cook a quick meal, or play video games. But I can’t really leave the house, go swim in the pool, etc.
RuneScape is a great second monitor game, the game allows you to be very active when you want to and have time for that, chill semi-afk content when you also want to watch videos’ on the side, and even ‘click once every five minute’ style gameplay. I have a bit over 9000 hours on my ironman.
After Runescape, my second most played game is definitely Minecraft, then Skyrim with about 550 hours, Fallout 4 with 300 hours and everything else is 115 hours or less.
