How long do you play a new game before deciding it's not worth your time?

[avatar! | 1,861]

We've all played a game we were so looking forward to, only to decide it stinks! Okay, maybe it doesn't stink, but for whatever reasons it's just not fun. So the question is --

How much time do you invest in a brand new game before deciding you decide to call it quits?

I mean, if the game is not fun after 30 minutes is that it? 1 hour? 3 hours? I know it can also vary from genre to genre, but hey this is just a simple poll and I'm curious

edit: fixed typo

Edited June 21 by avatar!

[Reed Rothchild | 9,716]

I'd say I have a pretty good system for weeding stuff before I even play it.  It's rare that I end up with something I don't like.  But that's partially because I'm also a lot more... open to a wide spectrum of the gaming landscape than most.  Especially with aging gamers.

But when something does slip through (ie Shenmue last year), it was obvious an hour into the game.  I stuck with it, but I already knew it was a negative experience.

Mercenary Kings and Contra Uprising were two recent ish misfires that were extremely similar in nature.  It took me a couple hours to recognize it with the former, but that helped me identify the issues with the latter within minutes.

[RH | 5,081]

Honestly, the average is probably in the 45 minute range.  If I see I put 30 minutes into the game, I will convince myself to go just a bit further. It also helps to not factor in tutorials and cut scenes, which, if there are a ton of, it can add to the time burden.

But, then there are games that I really, really wanted to like.  This includes Earthbound and Xenoblade Chronicles II.  I put in about 12-16 hours into Earthbound and I put 4 hours into XCII before restarting it and trying it again, turning up the cheat settings and muscling my way through 6 hours, getting about 2x further through the game.

So, I guess for me it varies.  The cheaper I got a game, or the less I know about it going in, the greater the chance I'll simply give it a passing try. However, if I have hype for a game, I'm really, really going to give it an honest shot.

[avatar! | 1,861]

Yeah, for sure there are various factors involved. Also, sometimes you start a game and after a few hours it's amazing! Then a few hours more and it starts to unwind...

[Reed Rothchild | 9,716]

Jeez, that Contra game was bad enough I couldn't even remember the name correctly.  Contra Rogue Corps*

[Brickman | 4,117]

I’m pretty open to most genres and games so I’m not overly critical on what I’ll play and enjoy.

However, if I’m really not liking something I usually know by 2 hours and probably around 4 hours for a RPG.

[Ankos | 499]

I'll play games for about an hour and enjoy them, then forget about them, and go back to playing the same five games. I am too set in my ways and way too readily just toss stuff onto the backlog

So I guess one hour if I like the game. 30 minutes or less if I don't like it

[jonebone | 1,313]

I'm not sure if I've willingly picked a game that didn't hold my interest?  I guess I've been lucky?  I assume I'd at least give a game 30-60 minutes if that happened though.

[ZeldaFreak | 3,683]

I'm actually not sure this has ever happened to me personally (I enjoy most things) but if it were to happen, I'd definitely give it a very fair shake before just giving up on it, probably somewhere in the 5-10 hour range depending on the genre and length of the game. Again though, I enjoy almost every game I play to at least some extent, and if I pick up a game it's probably in a genre I know I like (I enjoy most of them) and I've looked over reviews online and have seen them to be mostly positive, so I'm not sure I've ever actually been put in this scenario where I've been caught off guard by a game being bad.

...Most of the time though I probably fall in to the latter-most camp to be honest. If I start a game, chances are very very good I'm going to be finishing it, even if parts of it can be a bit of a slog.

I like video games what can I say

[fcgamer | 4,820]

I'd say 2-4 hours. I try to give games the benefit of the doubt, and sometimes getting used to odd mechanics is all it takes to turn shite into fun.

[Link | 2,837]

I voted 2-3 hours. This happens rarely, that I start a game and really don't like it. What happens more often is either undiagnosed ADD or I eventually give up because I'm not gud and I get stuck halfway through. >>10 hours.

[Tulpa | 3,590]

Back in the day for NES, I think within a half hour (and usually a lot shorter) I'd find whether I liked it or not, even if it resulted in dying over and over on the first couple of levels (usually it was the second level of most NES games where the difficulty spiked.) I would do a lot of rentals before committing $50 for purchase. Better to waste a weekend than however long it took to save my allowance.

Nowadays, for newer games (mostly PC/Steam), I do a fair amount of research before committing, at least for non-impulse buys. Watching gameplay, reading reviews, word of mouth. Heck, within about a half hour of watching I usually know if I'll like it, and have rarely been burned.

For impulse buys, those games tend to be shorter, but let's say an hour or two if they're multi-hour games. Usually give it at least a few levels if they're structured that way.

Edited Saturday at 07:54 PM by Tulpa

[RegularGuyGamer | 2,023]

I chose 2-3 but really I try to give a game 2 hrs. I couldn't get into that Arceus Pokemon game and gave that 2 hrs. I didn't make the 2hr mark for elden ring, the game was too weird. I generally don't finish most games though. Idk the last game I played all the way through. Maybe BOTW?

[JamesRobot | 5,875]

Generally 30 minutes but there are exceptions.  I really wanted to like Breath of the Wild; I gave it an hour or two on a couple different occasions.  Not for me unfortunately.

But I usually have an idea if I'm going to like a game before I shell out.  

[Mega Tank | 1,004]

If the trailer grabs my attention, I'll look up a review and watch some gameplay. I'll do this for most games, so usually I have a good idea of what I'm going to play. If the game doesn't grab my attention after an hour or two, I'll give it another chance later on, but It's usually game over at that point for it. With more modern games where the game may be unfinished or unpolished, I'll wait several updates for them to fix the game and eventually I will remember and play it again.

[Tyree_Cooper | 804]

I played "Wet"  on the PS3 and couldn't make it through the very first part of the first tutorial. I tried 20 times. Game almost flew out the window. Bye.

I played "Ridge Racer Unbounded" on the PS3 and couldn't get the car steering right. After 5 minutes the game was back on the shelf. A year later I tried again and found out what you had to do to make it just right, and most people felt like me at the beginning. Played 100% through it, very fun game.

So yeah I guess 5 minutes is all you need. but sometimes you need to come back to it, just in case.

MGS2 though, I came back to it 4 times already and every time I just can't make it past the first part of the first stage. No idea what's going on, it's like the game doesn't want me to play it.

[avatar! | 1,861]

So far we have only 14 people who voted -- while statistically significant, our error margins are large! We need more votes

[CT | 112]

I just voted, but it really depends. For example, if I find a game to play randomly, I may play it less than if a friend recommends it to me.

[Andy_Bogomil | 819]

Depends but lately it's been rough trying to stick with a games I've wanted to play. I played Metroid Prime Remastered and just lost interest about halfway through and doubt I'll go back (so maybe 4-6 hrs in). Hollow Knight is another game I put significant time in and just lost interest and really wasn't enjoying it all that much... probably closer to 5-8 hrs. Those are games I liked or really wanted to like but just can't keep with them at this time.

If I go in blind then probably like 30 min or less depending on the genre.

[T-Pac | 7,707]

For the type of games I typically play, I prefer to go by progress rather than "time-invested" when deciding whether or not it's worth my time.

Usually somewhere between level 3 or 4, I feel that I have a good sense of what the game has to offer as far as mechanics and content, and I can form a good assessment of whether or not I'll enjoy pushing through to the end. Whereas playing for just 30 minutes (or any arbitrary amount of time) might not get me far enough to see what the game's really about or allow me to acclimate to the controls.

"Time-invested" is probably a better gauge for high-score games, though. In which case I'd say an hour is enough to make the call.

[T-Pac]

[RH | 5,081]

I'm going to add that I don't conscientiously think "Ok, I've put 30/45 minutes into this game... that's enough."  However, I'm quite busy and I really don't game much at all.

That 30 minute session might be all I play that day and if it just doesn't pull me in, I've got so many games to play and so little time to do it, I'm probably not coming back to it.  It's more, that's just how it works out, rather than a decision.

As a kid, however, it was quite different.  Even though I bought a ton of games as kid when I started working around 1996, I still would put a lot of time in any game.  Heck, I was enjoying the plethora of RPGs on my PS1 when I got Quest 64 and I still beat that game because I really, really wanted to play an RPG on my N64!

[Tripredacus | 1]

My tastes in gaming has changed over the years. I think that when I was a kid, I would play anything. Nowadays it really comes down to mechanics. I try many games but if there is something with the controls or the design of the game that I do not like, then I will stop immediately. I'm not worried about having wasted time or money, as I already know I can't play all of the games I own.

So it could be right away, or it could be after an hour or so, it really depends on the game.

[Tanooki | 4,978]

I didn't vote because nothing fits.  It could be a 30 year old game and you know it's bad/not a fit within 15-30min, but it could be one you need to push into a bit due to the design of it, that can take 2, 4, or more hours to reaiize...this SUCKS so...no vote.

[SNESNESCUBE64 | 588]

Unfortunately there isn't a set for me. I play until a game feels like it is wasting my time. I typically give up on a game if it requires a lot of grinding.

[koifish | 566]

6 hours ago, SNESNESCUBE64 said:

I play until a game feels like it is wasting my time. I typically give up on a game if it requires a lot of grinding.

This summarizes my feeling too. Grinding in particular hits a nerve. That junk was invented for kids to waste time on so they don't bug their parents.

For me 30 minutes is probably generous. If I'm not having fun within a few minutes then I know to move on. One of the reasons I don't play many new games, since they waste so much time.