The cost of Destiny (Destiny)

by Cody Miller , Music of the Spheres - Never Forgot, Thursday, June 25, 2015, 20:03 (3662 days ago) @ Oholiab
edited by Cody Miller, Thursday, June 25, 2015, 20:12

I really wish this idea of $/hr for entertainment would go away. First of all, it just assumes that all hours spent have the same entertainment value. Clearly they don't. Destiny in particular has a lot of 'empty' hours, where you are repeating stuff, grinding exp, trying to get a Hawkmoon, etc.

Second of all, money sometimes even can't quantify an experience. If you could have the absolutely most amazing time of your life, but it cost $100/hr, would you not do that because it's not a good 'value'? No. You have to weigh the intensity and overall satisfaction of the fun.

This is exactly the line of thinking that drew JRPGs to be longer and longer, but not making them any better. And it's also the same line of thought that drives Destiny's experience, as evidenced by everything Bungie and Activision are saying (not to mention them using the three hour per day average metric).

When we make movies, we make them as short as possible. If you can get everything you want to get across in a 3 minute scene, as opposed to a 5 minute one, you go with 3 minutes. If something goes on too long without actually providing benefit, people get bored and their minds wander. You want them in that movie every second. Have you ever hear anybody complain a movie was too short? Say that Guardians of the Galaxy only gave them two hours of entertainment, when Titanic gave them three? No! In fact, most complaints about films are that they are TOO LONG.

So why aren't games made like that? Why aren't they the absolute most concentrated experience that can be provided, with all the fluff and bullshit removed, and just leave the fun? They should be, and they largely used to be.