Your Moneys Worth - Hours to Dollars Ratio

maskedweasel

I've been wondering lately how people determine whether a game is "worth it" for them to buy it.  Everyone determines this differently, but in terms of game play, how do you decide how much play time would be considered the minimum amount for a game to be worth the purchase?  For example, take two games of the same genre that you're interested in.  One is 40 dollars, one is 60 dollars. 

Considering competing games in saturated genres are so similar these days, yet some are considered "bad" purchases while others are considered "good", how much play time would you expect to get out of the 40 dollar purchase, and how much play time would you expect to get out of the 60 dollar purchase?  

Granted other factors are in play, subgenre, concept, art, game features,  but talking in a broad sense, if you spent 40 dollars on a game, how many hours would you have to spend in it before you considered your purchase a good one?

rojoArcueid

In a single player story driven game that costs $40 dollars i expect to have a minimum of 6 hours of gameplay before i start squeezing every corner of the game to maximize my game time.

If the game costs $60 i expect a minimum of 10 hours of story content before i engage in side activities and exploration/discovery.

When it comes to pricing i also factor in the medium of distribution. If the game is digital i expect it to be 50%-60% cheaper than its physical counterpart by default. Since PC is now digital only (not my problem) i expect that % to be the base price for AAA games on PC (or any platform) before i make any purchase.

So adding that % drop of digital distribution to the dollar per hour investment and i should get a final answer for the OP question, which varies per game since every game is different.

Hopefully that gives you an idea of how i calculate my moneys worth on a game.

EDIT: i made a mistake in my % numbers above so i crossed it. I meant 40%-50% cheaper, so the digital game would cost 50%-60% of the physical/full price.

Vrika

For a single player game with a story, I'm happy if it's under 3 dollars per hour. But for an MMO or a game that involves grinding same thing over again I want it to be under 1 dollar per hour.

Dartanlla

For me I feel like it is in the $1 to $2 per hour range.  I expect a $60 game to provide between 30 to 60 hours of gameplay.  Anything less and it seems like a bad purchase. 

WoW was the best for hours to dollars ratio.  I played around 12,000 hours for a total outlay of around $2,000 over 3 years.  During this time I saved a fortune as I never went out to eat or spent any money on any other entertainment

Panther2103

I don't know if I could give a definitive answer on that. It really depends on the game. If I spent 40 dollars on a four hour game, but it was an amazing 4 hours, and I loved every second of it, then I would feel justified in the purchase. But most of the time I try to aim for 10 or more hours of enjoyment for 60 dollars just because I really like games, but don't always have money to spend on them. I think I have 700 hours on CSGO, which I spent 15 dollars on back in the day. That's nuts. 

To get the most out of purchases, I tend to try to complete all achievements or do everything I can in the game. 

It's a strange thing to look at though. If you look at reviews on steam, you see some people with 2k hours who don't recommend something due to bugs, but if you spent 20 dollars for 2000 hours of entertainment, but then don't recommend it, that seems odd, even if most of the time you were irritated, there had to have been something fun there to play that long. 

sunandshadow

Well the quality of the play should also be in that equation.  Play of the minimum tolerable quality is only worth about $1 a day to me, but higher quality play is worth much more.  For theoretically perfect quality play, as much as $20 a day.

(for humor value, try taking all instances of the word play in this thread and remove the p)

Cryomatrix

I tend to not think of the dollars per hour. I have a few rules for buying games. 

1) Only pay full price if I'm jonesing to play something I know I will play for awhile (most recent example is Madden 18). I knew I'd play the game for many hours, so I bought it at max price ($60). 

I may buy a game at full price if i'll play with my bro when they come visit me. 

2) Otherwise, I only buy games on sale, ideally at least 50% off. 

If I buy a game and never play it (which I have a few), I tend not to care because I probably paid less than $10 for it. 

3) For the games where I payed more like:
 GTA V ($30 for 4 hours of playtime)
 Kerbal Space Program ($25 for 2 hours of playtime)
 Fallout 4 ($30 for 4 hours of playtime)
Dark Souls 3 ($30 for 8 hours of playtime) 


I do this so infrequently that I am not bothered about it. I also can go back in time and play them again. It is just unlikely to happen, plus, I blow so much money in other things, my video game costs are very low compared all my other costs. Hell, the gardener costs $100/month . . . Hell, my wife costs me like 1-4k per month . 

For example, I just bought icewind dale and baldur's gate 2 on the steam sale for $5 each. If I never touch it, i'm cool with that. I just spent $6 on 2 Red Bull's and drank em already, so no big deal. 

I may buy Divinity 2 OS but only if there is a steam sale at 50% or less. I know this because I am too addicted to Path of Exile at the moment to want to play anything else. I'm only a one game at at time guy. 

I tend to only care about how many $-per-hour I can earn which is much more than whatever gaming is. Also, the thing about video games is that, the $-per-hour you play isn't the real cost of the video game, it is the opportunity cost that you have. 

So the person who spent 12k hours on warcraft and spent $2k for it seems like a good deal, but in reality, they could have learned 2 languages or gotten an online degree or started a business with that time. 

The opportunity cost for me is so high, it's why I could careless if a game cost me $50 for one hour of game time. 

Shaigh

Its bit tricky given that I have played a bunch of story/mood centric games with gametime of less than 5 hours but I try not to buy them unless they are €10 or less.

I don't purchase 10 hour gametime shooters until they dropped below €20. 

I purchase 1-3 games per year at full price, games like dark souls 3, witcher 3, pillars of eternity that I really want to play and last me a month.

I still have poe2 and dos2 in my backlog but I got a few short games that I will probably buy during summer sale. I haven't had enough time to truly dig into the long RPG.

An MMORPG is poor value if I end up dropping the game without playing endgame dungeons, I find very little value in most leveling content.

ceratop001

Buying a game based on others reviews is always a gamble. Most new mmorpg's end up being a disappointment. I find the best value tend to be FPS type games that get you right into the action.

Quizzical

It all depends on how fun the game is.  If I pay $50 for a game and it's a ton of fun for 10 hours, and then I've done everything there is to do and quit, then that was well worth it.  If I pay $50 for a game and then play it for 100 hours while not really having much fun, but the game was just never quite bad enough to quit immediately, then in retrospect, I'll probably conclude that the game wouldn't have been worth it even if it were free.

MadFrenchie

I've found that as I've aged and more things compete for my time, the value needed to feel the purchase was justified increases.

When I first started gaming, the core game loop itself could keep me playing if it were enjoyable (i.e. things like ARPGs, where the core gameplay changes very little compared to other genres).  These days, those things don't hold my attention by themselves for long, and I feel like I can get much more value out of other kinds of games.

Great multiplayer games can generally last much longer than their singleplayer counterparts for me.  I'll pay a higher premium for quality multiplayer titles.

Eldurian

These days. If an MMO is fun and I can afford it, then it was worth it. I care much less about price than the near complete lack of quality MMOs currently available on the market. That's why I'd rather gamble on a kickstarter than waste money on the vast majority of current MMOs. At least with the kickstarters there is a chance I will love the game.

Dagon13

I usually only intentionally do calculations like this to justify a subscription.

A few notables from my steam activity tell me that there's probably some subconscious decision making happening.  At the very least, I suppose the playable hours should be greater than the dollar figure.

Terraria- $2.50 ~130 hours 
Enter the Gungeon- $7.50 ~130 hours
Borderlands 2- $0 ~140 hours
Skyrim- $60 ~289 hours

Wizardry

We have all seen it over the last 10 or so years,quick fast popularity then that game dies out real quickly within a couple months or sooner.
The entire market is just very different now than it was 10-15 years ago.Now people are followers more than ever,they see the next popular ESPORT,they are jumping in no matter what,they see a new game coming out by Blizzard,they are buying it with no clue if the game is any good or not.
Tons of people are buying games because some popular streamer is sponsored to play it.

We never had these outside influences back in  the day,games had to sell based on merit and being good and through word of mouth,now it is all sponsored/marketing/gimmicks and sneaky advertising.

Sovrath

maskedweasel said:

I've been wondering lately how people determine whether a game is "worth it" for them to buy it.  Everyone determines this differently, but in terms of game play, how do you decide how much play time would be considered the minimum amount for a game to be worth the purchase?  For example, take two games of the same genre that you're interested in.  One is 40 dollars, one is 60 dollars. 

Considering competing games in saturated genres are so similar these days, yet some are considered "bad" purchases while others are considered "good", how much play time would you expect to get out of the 40 dollar purchase, and how much play time would you expect to get out of the 60 dollar purchase?  

Granted other factors are in play, subgenre, concept, art, game features,  but talking in a broad sense, if you spent 40 dollars on a game, how many hours would you have to spend in it before you considered your purchase a good one?

Easy ...

If the setting and subject matter are of interest, if it looks like it's put together well "or" has some camp value, if the art design is amazing "or" interesting "or" retro'ish" enough where it's not a turn off.

that's pretty much it.

How long never comes into consideration. Since there are no guarantees in life I also don't expect any guarantees in my purchases. If it ends up being good then "great" if not then "oh well, better luck next time".

[Deleted User]

The user and all related content has been deleted.

rojoArcueid

Dagon13 said:

I usually only intentionally do calculations like this to justify a subscription.

A few notables from my steam activity tell me that there's probably some subconscious decision making happening.  At the very least, I suppose the playable hours should be greater than the dollar figure.

Terraria- $2.50 ~130 hours 
Enter the Gungeon- $7.50 ~130 hours
Borderlands 2- $0 ~140 hours
Skyrim- $60 ~289 hours

how long till you started repeating content in those games. For me personally, the amount of hours i get in all content i see the first time is the amount of hours i count toward my money.

Once i hit repetitive content the game no longer offers me value for my money, i just choose to keep repeating stuff i already did. That is the trap online games make us fall into. Go crazy on the same map and game mode before something new hits the servers. No additional value there for me.

From those games you listed I only finished Skyrim and It took me about 308 hours to finish, and i think i missed some side quests because i didn't see 100% of the map.

AlBQuirky

The best games I have purchased, "Bang-To-Buck-wise" have been:

Morrowind: $30 for GotY. Bought again on GoG. Easily 2000+ hours and counting.

Skyrim: $60 plus all the DLCs as they came out. Over 2000 hours played and counting.

Fallout 3 & New Vegas: $30 bucks each, each bought twice (Steam then GoG). 1000+ each and counting.

Master of Magic: $30, I think. Bought again on GoG. 700-1000 hours and I still play occasionally.

EQ 1: (Expansion Paks to Omens of War) $60 for Ruins of Kunark and $20 to $60 for expaks. $15/month for 3+ years.

City of Heroes: $60. Bought 3 times total? $15/month for 3-4 years.

Some games I have purchased multiple times (for PC) and all of the above have had me enjoying them for easily 1000 hours or more.This is the unfortunate standard I hold new games to and they fail miserably.

PS:XCom2 should be in here, too. Still having fun with that. Paid about $50 for original and War of the Chosen.

H0urg1ass

I'm not sure that I can attach a dollar amount.  First off, I'm a huge cheapskate when it comes to video games.  I almost never buy or play new titles.  I'm about six months behind all the hot games, and sometimes even further behind than that.

I waited a couple of years to buy FarCry 3, but I loved every minute of it.  It was worth every penny of the $20 I spent on it during a Steam sale... and I only played it for 42 hours.  If I hadn't looked and someone had asked, I would have said 100 hours minimum.

I waited a year after Mad Max came out to buy it and got it at an even better Steam price, played it for 63 hours, but honestly it was only... meh.  I don't even really know why I spent 20 more hours in a game that I honestly didn't care for nearly as much as another game I loved.

Pillars of Eternity... I'm really not a fan of it.  It had a lot of flaws, a miserable story that never really got better by the end, and characters that were nowhere near as memorable as BG II characters... but I have 128 hours in it.  128!  For a game I didn't particularly like, but kept praying it would grow on me.

I loved Grim Dawn to death.  337 hours.

I also absolutely loved and would highly recommend Batman: Arkham City.  52 Hours.

Xcom is one of the most frustrating games I've ever played and in retrospect I didn't like it at all.  I slogged through it because so many people I knew loved it.  204 hours of boredom and screaming at my monitor through the shitty, annoying air game.

So really, it's hard to attach a dollar amount, but my hard and fast rule is Never Pay Full Price.  I am almost NEVER satisfied with a game that I pay full price for.  Somehow they always fail me.  Maybe it's because in the back of my head I keep thinking to myself "This better not suck for $60" and then I spend the whole time finding the flaws.

Rhoms

This is a tough one to nail down, but I think it's some sort of mental equation where "worth it" is derived from variables like interesting story/lore, amount of content, price, fun factor, mechanics and quality, absorption into the game, graphics and quality, soundtrack, etc.  A reckoning takes place when you gauge your perception of a game's worth prior to purchase with your review once you've had time to play.  I don't think I would ever use time per dollar as a metric of success in isolation.  I think it oversimplifies how one measures satisfaction, and I've powered through a couple of long games where I wish I had all my hours back.

It's kind of like Gone with the Wind or the original Ben-Hur.  A movie can be pretty damn long, but it had better damn well be good, too.

KiwiHype

For some value is measured in time. Less time spent here doing that is more time making money doing this. Wearing this costume instead of a cheeseburger/starbucks. Getting this is this game and not in that is also another scale. We all use different measurements and for older folks a lot of it has to do with "I no longer go out and blow money on partying, clubbing or dinners." Now it's "order in and buy this game for date night." etc. 

Age brackets and lifestyles play a lot into how we measure worth online and off.

delete5230

Offline: 
I will pay $49.99-$59.99 for a new release if I've been hyped for it. 
I could off set the price by getting other games on sale between $4.99-$19.99.
 

Online mmorpgs:
I'll play full price, infact I still believe in the old $59.99 + Sub.  After all this was the going standard back in 2004..... 2004 !!  

It's important to note, I'm picky.  For Online I have to be hyped. 
I will never play ANY mmorpg with a cash shop, 
EVERYONE MUST be on an even playing field (who has what) 
I'll never give scum bag developer trickster's a dime ! 

My rules are simple !

Kyleran

Like @H0urg1ass, these days I'm a huge tightwad when it comes to buying single player games, and for the most part won't buy them until under $20 for known best sellers like Fallout 4 or XCOM, (and preferably are GOT editions) and under $10 for titles I'm less sure on.

My core units of measure is a month of gameplay or 100 hours at a minimum. I consider good values for any titles over 200 hours, and must note, I rarely play through a game more than once, too many games unplayed in my libraries for "do-overs."

MMORPGs are different, but there is really only one I've ever played for any length of time in the past 11 years. ESO and Archeage were the last two major titles I tried and didn't care for because at least at launch were deficient games IMO.

I've heard ESO has improved since launch, but I can't go back as Zenimax declined my refund request l coaster. 

I might buy Fallout 5 at full price, or Fallout Online for sure. The upcoming FOV76 is more of a wait and see I think, unless its more like CE and less like Rust as is being rumored.

someforumguy

This is the situation :

Commercial companies want to ask more for their products. That is only the natural state of things, because making money is their business. So they will always try new ways to earn more.

But I want to give less or maybe nothing at all, because I am a cheapskate, but more importantly, not an idiot. So they better convince me to buy something.

This would all work great, if there weren't so many idiots who pre-order games, buy loot boxes and starship packages for ridiculous prices. So now we get shitty games for max price. Thanks guys.

Jakdstripper

if you are calculating $$-per-hour on your games.... i've got news for you: you're not having much fun.

if a game is hella fun, there is no thinking of price. sure, you might cringe a bit when you think of what you are spending, but it's quickly justified and forgotten by how much fun you are having. the issue these days is that the grand majority of games are simply re-skinned, rehashed, sub par clones of all the other boring games you've played. you play 5 minutes and get that "been here, done that" feeling. all style/flash and no substance. all eye candy and no brain cake. soulless, husks painted with bright colors.

so it gets harder and harder to justify spending your hard earned money on shit that isn't even that much fun....and this is where you start counting dollars-per-hour. cents-per-minute....

as an example, i remembering lining up at 9pm for a midnight release of WoW ( a 60$ price tag on a premium sub game) without a single thought of how expensive it was. i was hooked, the game was fantastic, and i was going to have it. even looking like a uber nerd , full grown man, waiting in line at 11pm on a Thursdays to buy a video game....i still laugh at that.

a word of advice. go do something else. if you have to nickel and dime your games, they are probably not worth your time. 



 

maskedweasel

Jakdstripper said:

if you are calculating $$-per-hour on your games.... i've got news for you: you're not having much fun.

if a game is hella fun, there is no thinking of price. sure, you might cringe a bit when you think of what you are spending, but it's quickly justified and forgotten by how much fun you are having. the issue these days is that the grand majority of games are simply re-skinned, rehashed, sub par clones of all the other boring games you've played. you play 5 minutes and get that "been here, done that" feeling. all style/flash and no substance. all eye candy and no brain cake. soulless, husks painted with bright colors.

so it gets harder and harder to justify spending your hard earned money on shit that isn't even that much fun....and this is where you start counting dollars-per-hour. cents-per-minute....

as an example, i remembering lining up at 9pm for a midnight release of WoW ( a 60$ price tag on a premium sub game) without a single thought of how expensive it was. i was hooked, the game was fantastic, and i was going to have it. even looking like a uber nerd , full grown man, waiting in line at 11pm on a Thursdays to buy a video game....i still laugh at that.

a word of advice. go do something else. if you have to nickel and dime your games, they are probably not worth your time. 



 

I think you misunderstand the point of hours to dollars ratio, and it was summed up by another poster earlier... 


It's considering ones playstyle "worth it".

You see people on steam who have hundreds of hours in a game they spent 30 dollars on and they say.. "Don't buy it"   but why or how would you have spent so much time in the game.. you don't believe 30 dollars was well spent for 200 hours in game?  Even 50 hours in a game that cost me 30 dollars I feel is significant. 


I've played games for a long time,  back when I was playing games on the old consoles like super nintendo, you could get a game that was barely a couple hours of play time, I remember in a few situations I though, "man that was very short, that wasn't worth the cost" 


And to this day, sometimes I'll have something in my steam library I played for several hours, and I have to consider the cost... because honestly...  not everyone has the luxury to spend money on a full steam library they aren't ever going to play. (Which I have tons of games I haven't touched in my steam library, and probably never will)


It's not nickel and dimeing games, but looking objectively, if someone sees a game and says.. "that game that just released isn't worth 40 dollars" what is that worth based on?  If that same person could play it for 100 hours, wouldn't that be more than enough time spent in game to justify the cost?