Not to say you're entirely wrong. A game that sells well has to be accessible to a large audience, and when people say "good story", they frequently mean "complex story". The complex story isn't always the one people like; need I gesture in the direction of currently-popular authors? The game with the Best Story Ever, Planescape: Torment, was an enormous failure sales-wise, I believe.
I think you're dead-on in terms of length. Not just because of advertising potential, but because of value. People like to think they're getting value for their money. It's OK to spend $50 on a game that will give you 60 hours of entertainment. That's less than a dollar an hour, which is cheaper than the movies, and games are frequently more fun. Spending $50 on a game that will only last 20 hours isn't as good a deal, and it leaves people feeling cheated if they know that the game right next to it is good for three times as long. People aren't going to like it as much, and if people don't like it it won't sell. (If a game isn't fun, people do eventually notice, via word of mouth, reviews, playing sample games in stores, etc. Alas, the reverse is not always true.)
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Date: 2006-01-21 04:37 am (UTC)Not to say you're entirely wrong. A game that sells well has to be accessible to a large audience, and when people say "good story", they frequently mean "complex story". The complex story isn't always the one people like; need I gesture in the direction of currently-popular authors? The game with the Best Story Ever, Planescape: Torment, was an enormous failure sales-wise, I believe.
I think you're dead-on in terms of length. Not just because of advertising potential, but because of value. People like to think they're getting value for their money. It's OK to spend $50 on a game that will give you 60 hours of entertainment. That's less than a dollar an hour, which is cheaper than the movies, and games are frequently more fun. Spending $50 on a game that will only last 20 hours isn't as good a deal, and it leaves people feeling cheated if they know that the game right next to it is good for three times as long. People aren't going to like it as much, and if people don't like it it won't sell. (If a game isn't fun, people do eventually notice, via word of mouth, reviews, playing sample games in stores, etc. Alas, the reverse is not always true.)