Why most people don't finish video games

A pretty engaging read, head on to the following link:-

Why most people don't finish video games - CNN.com

Take last year's "Red Dead Redemption." You might think Rockstar's gritty Western would be played more than others, given the praise it enjoyed, but you'd be wrong.

Only 10% of avid gamers completed the final mission, according to Raptr, which tracks more than 23 million gaming sessions.

Let that sink in for a minute: Of every 10 people who started playing the consensus "Game of the Year," only one of them finished it.

How is that? Shouldn't such a high-rated game keep people engaged? Or have player attention spans reached a breaking point?

Who's to blame: The developer or the player? Or maybe it's our culture?

The correct answer is, in fact, all of the above.

At least I, personally, can pretty much relate to the fact. It's easier for me to tell how many games I have finished in the past 2-3 years, rather than telling how many I have played.

So do you agree with the article? And what's the percentage of games that you have finished in the last 12 months?

I finish the games I play no matter how hard it is. But yeah, only game I havent completed till date is Project IGI 1

Didnt have cheats and never tried a Trainer

ummm I have finished around 7 out of 12 games I have purchased. It gets boring actually, if mission is difficult. If you have time, then no problem, but when you have only sat-sun for your family, time is hard to get by...

Same here, gagan. Hardly any time to engage in a story-based game like RPG or FPS/TPS. Racing and RTS are order of the day. Currently playing Witcher 2, don't know how far can I go.

i have many games that are played upto a certain level & removed. the profile is saved so that at a latter date i can resume from that point. most of my unfinished games are TPS.

Well nice thread.

I have finished countless( ok i'll count someday and tell you and soon post my complete backlog.....very long list)

now ontopic there are also a lot which i left in between reasons are simple

1. Get bored with game(repeating gameplay or bad graphics).
2. Got something new and better.
3. Facing some bug that made me to uninstall it.

some are below

1.hitman silent assassin#reason#-was bad and boring

2.super mario-#reason#-strange but true, i'm a game bug but i didn't finished that legendary and can't tell reason :-(

3. Max Payne#reason# get bored.

4.return to castle wolfenstein-#reason#-got new one(2009)

5.crysis warhead-#reason#- black ops

6.nfs
(carbon, underground, shift)-#reason#- after playing near 50% getting bored.

7.Dragon Age 2-#reason#- didn't have time.

8.x-men wolverine-#reason#- when i was playing this i got DA:O so uninstalled.

9.Prince of Persia Forgotten Sands-#reason#- $hit bugs and strange face of prince :-x

Similar situation with hitman and nfs. Have played Max Payne on all my 4 graphics cards till date, can play it till eternity. And I couldn't finished Wolfenstein (2009) despite liking it very much. Problem was I couldn't devote continuous time for it, and every time I start after a gap, I was getting confused where to go and what to do. After trying to revive it more than a dozen times, I needed a Windows reinstall. End of game!

N

hitman ,one of the best series ever...played it 100% long time back

And what about the games that you haven't completed?

I usually finish most games I play(they're loads). But like everyone else I too have a few unfinished ones due to the same reasons as kola.

Serious Sam the first encounter - didn't like it
NFS MW - got really really bored
X-Men origins wolverine - got even more bored with hack and slash
PoP Forgotten Sands - bug in game -.-
PoP sands of time - got to a reallyyyyyyyyyy boring puzzle so quit

Most people are unable to finish games because bl**dy console port keymapping isnt done properly (DMC4, dark void etc)

Yeah i have dmc 3se . Nice game but bad port , i can't play it my controller coz it uses right analog to move :-x

anyways finished by using keyboard.

Cybertonic said:
PoP sands of time - got to a reallyyyyyyyyyy boring puzzle so quit

that's old game but
lol :-D

that's one in my favorite list :-D

and which puzzle u find boring??

I try to finish majority of my games.

J

Well I usually complete my games once I start a game. Some of the games that I did not complete are:

1. Project IGI 2 : Too Hard after 4 stages
2. Titan quest : Repetitive gameplay
3. DMC : Very bad port
4. Dungeon siege 3 : Repetitive gameplay + bad story (DS1 and DS2 are one of my favorites)
5. Heavenly Sword (PS3 went Kaput...LOL)

But IMO , POP series is really good (especially POPWW)

The games I left after playing 1 or 2 levels :

Crysis : I started to play FPS late, when I tried crysis it was pretty old and also I didnt like the gameplay.Only graphics were good.

NFS HP : I got bored of it easily as the handling and controls are too childish.The cars handled like boats and I skipped.

Farcry : That was also tried late and didnt find interesting.

GRID : I could never handle those cars.

Prototype : Played some levels and found that it was not suited for me.

Mass effect 2 : Not my cup of tea

Half Life 2 : I tried it years ago and that time I wasnt interested in FPS.

POP WW : I never could beat the first lady boss so I put that in waiting list.I think thats still in my PC :razz:

The games I played further and left before completion.

GTS SA : Left at 40% or so.No chance of completing it later.

POP SOT : Played till almost the end got some bug and got locked somewhere.No chance of completing that too

POP 2008 : Played 80% or so.Had to uninstall and lost savegames.Not interested to finish.

NFS Pro Street : 60/70% same as above

Mafia : Played a lot.Had to a take a break then lost interest.

Just Cause 2 : Over 30% then lost interest.

Splinter Cell DA : Over half way but no chance of playing again to finish.

The games that are not yet finished ( I dont know when I am going to play those again as its like I have almost quit gaming) :

Dirt 2 : Almost completed
Dirt 3
GTA 4
AC BH
Metro 2033
Resident Evil 5

N

Skud said:
And what about the games that you haven't completed?

So far i have completed EVERY FPS game i played , 100%.

I dont play racing games..get boring after few races..

I am exact opposite of you. I get bored with shooters very easily. Most of my started but never finished games are shooters. And that include some very very big guns.

You're not much of a gamer it seems.

Why? Is gamer=shooter? I don't think so. And these days they are mostly either a khichdi of fps/tps, rpg, strategy etc. in the name of innovation or multiplayer. I dislike both.

My list of unfinished games
IGI1-last mission was too tough
Farcry2-after couple of hours of play i got bored
Full Spectrum Warrior-Installed played for 5 min & thrown that Rs. 400 junk in bin
Metro-struck in library level

For a FPS game to be engaging it has to be versatile in gameplay,locations,timeline,weapons & enemies (e.g call of duty, crysis,medal of honour)also the toughest boss should be in the last level

Hmm...
well the most common reason among us are
-->time
-->boring gameplay/story
-->bugs or insanely high difficulty in some missions

anyways If I have to leave a game in between, I do that in initial couple of hrs
or else I finish that game 100% (at least main plot)

but still there are games which I haven't completed yet and wont do in any case

-->DA2:boooring as compared to DA:O
-->GTA Vice City:Stupid plot and even stupid missions
-->Fallout3:New Vegas was better IMO
-->Dead Space 2:difficult for me
-->Amnesia:insanely scary
...and many more...these are the latest which I could recall

One game I couldnt complete because of bugs but always wanted to:-
Batman Arkham Asylum

Never got a chance to kill Poison Ivy

Well I usually try to complete game I start but the most obvious reason for leaving a game for me is that I get addicted to some other game and leave first one behind. And most of the time I leave FPS, racing or arcade for RPG games.

Yeah, we all have our own favorite genres.

Skud said:
Yeah, we all have our own favorite genres.

true.
My fev.=>1.rpg , 2.sandbox action adventure(not first person)

Skud said:
Why? Is gamer=shooter? I don't think so. And these days they are mostly either a khichdi of fps/tps, rpg, strategy etc. in the name of innovation or multiplayer. I dislike both.

I was referring to ajai. Forgot to quote, my bad.

my list:

Blur ---> to be continued (2012 maybe).
NFS Undercover ---> cartoon racing game.
The Saboteur ---> third person shooter + GTA style, not for me.
TimeShift ---> BIG BAD BOSS.
Tomb Raider Anniversary ---> will never play it again.
Tomb Raider Legend ---> Flying dragon vs a girl.
Resident Evil 5 ---> third person shooter + survival.
Prince of Persia The Forgotten Sands ---> read above line + hand to hand combat.
Prototype ---> not for me.
GRAW2 ---> need LOT more practice.

Extreme Gamer said:
I was referring to ajai. Forgot to quote, my bad.

OK, got it.

M

Lack of good games on the PC. Honestly, so many shooters that I wonder why people don't get enough of them.
Lack of time? Multiplayer?
I had my share of shooters back in the old days and every shooter these days(forgive me if you find this offensive) seems pretty bland, repetitive and just a rehash of the other shooters I've played (probably because they are meant for a multiplayer experience whereas I've always been single player).
The same can be said for RPG's and the other genres to a lesser extent though they are still manageable.

In short, the main reason for me dropping games is because if you've been a gamer as long as me, everything seems to have been played/done before with the same half-baked stories with improved graphics being the only thing that probably distinguishes them.

Very nice topic.

I have completed:

Farcry
Half Life 2
Half Life 2: Episode One
Crysis
Medal of Honor (PS3 version, 2010)
Call of Duty 2

Could not finish/got bored:
Crysis Warhead - Got bored after finishing Crysis.
Civilization 4: Beyond the Sword - could never win on normal (prince) difficulty.
Call of duty: Modern warfare - could not finish a level (not remembering the name), but this is where the protagonist and his sergeant have to pass through the enemy and their tanks and sniffer dogs, etc lying prone using stealth mode. This is where the story goes in flashback. Always got detected and killed.
Half Life - Got stuck in one of the last levels.
Doom 3 - Got stuck in one of the last levels, I think it is the penultimate level.
Rise of Nations - Got bored of the gameplay.
Grid (PC version) - Handling the cars very difficult. Although used to finish 2nd/3rd/4th in some races and proceeded around 9-10 years in the career mode, I could never win the 24 hrs Lemans race. In fact I could never finish it. But I liked the drifting mode very much. I could manage some incredible/legendary drifts from time to time but that was not enough to win any competition.
Age of Empires - Sometimes got defeated.
Company of Heroes - Ran into a very difficult level at the later stages.
Galactic Civilizations II: Dread Lords - Boring. Uninstalled after 1 hr of playing.
Gears of War II - Very difficult controls on keyboard, mouse. Also I realized I did not like shooters on 3rd person.
Dead Space (PS3 version) - Let's say I did not like survival/horror. Let's say I have a weak heart.

Currently for the last couple of months, I am trying very hard to win on Prince difficulty in Civilization V.

abhijit_reddevil said:
I have completed:

Farcry
Half Life 2
Half Life 2: Episode One
Crysis
Medal of Honor (PS3 version, 2010)
Call of Duty 2

Could not finish/got bored:
Crysis Warhead - Got bored
Age of Empires - Sometimes got defeated.

already done.

abhijit_reddevil said:
Call of duty: Modern warfare - could not finish a level (not remembering the name), but this is where the protagonist and his sergeant have to pass through the enemy and their tanks and sniffer dogs, etc lying prone using stealth mode. This is where the story goes in flashback. Always got detected and killed.

"All Ghillied Up". not so hard. finish in first playthrough. you just need to keep moving from left to right & left so to avoid touching any enemy.

abhijit_reddevil said:
Half Life - Got stuck in one of the last levels.
Doom 3 - Got stuck in one of the last levels.
Rise of Nations - Got bored of the gameplay.

same. stopped playing midway.

Y

I've actually completed over 80% of the games i played. Think one of the important drives for me is that i'm curious of how something end, so i just have to complete. Or a status bar has to get to 100% for me. I dont take into consideration games you can't really finish like world of warcraft.

Think the reason why the overall percentage is that low is because of the large amount of casual players that only play a limited amount of time. They dont play enough to really get sucked into a story. So if the other aspect arent good enough they dont finish, because the dont care about how the story ends.

yadpoc said:
i'm curious of how something end, so i just have to complete. Or a status bar has to get to 100% for me.

nice curiosity but sometime a particular game goes too bad that i have to left in between.

Y

Kola2842 said:
nice curiosity but sometime a particular game goes too bad that i have to left in between.

I must say that with the less interesting games i tend to skip sidemissions/achievements/collectibles and stuff

Civ 5>>> boring as hell plus hogs on ur system down as i dont have uber cool rig..
Arcania: Gothic 4 >>>one of most dull story driven RPG game till date having poorly optimized graphics for PC although it was PC exclusive game.
Far cry 2 >>> repetitive as hell..left it after doing some missions
Wheelman>>> GTA clone with bad graphics and bad controls
john woo:Stranglehold >>>not my cup of tea
Street fighter >>>> fighting game r not of my taste.

I only finish games which has gripping gameplay & not repeated gameplay....
I stopped LFD in midway because of repeat & boring

Y

saddy said:
Far cry 2 >>> repetitive as hell..left it after doing some missions
.

Far cry 2 is such a bad game. Installed, played 30 min, removed from my PC. It is nothing like far cry 1 (which is one of the best shooter imo)

yadpoc said:
Far cry 2 is such a bad game. Installed, played 30 min, removed from my PC. It is nothing like far cry 1 (which is one of the best shooter imo)

Bro...it was a pure Sandboxie game....I agree most people hate FarCry 2 & love FarCRy1 but still I believe its the best sandboxie game with excellent graphics...beating Crysis in some areas :grin:

^^yeah those dawn trees were cool......

Y

Oke agree it looked good. And setting plains on fire was cool, for 1 min tops. I dont like sandbox games and i wanted to play a shooter like far cry 1. So i was disappointed when far cry 2 turned out to be a sandbox game :S.

Crytek rules when it comes to graphics.

Finished Halo on legendary mode(a fact of which i am very proud!!),COD modern warfare,prince of persia SOT trilogy(yes all of them!!) ,Deus Ex.

N

Completed
Crysis, Crysis : Warhead, Halo (The original), Doom3 (Took me 1 year, 2 months to get past a single monster), Call of Duty: 1,2,MW,World at War, MW2, Black Ops. Medal of Honor : Allied Assault,Airborne , 2010. NFS: Porsche Unleashed, Underground 2, Most Wanted , Carbon, Pro Street, Shift, Undercover (I still don't know why I played it). Max Payne 1 and 2, GTA Vice City, San Andreas, IV. Mafia 1 and 2. Race Driver: GRID

Not Completed: NFS: Hot Pursuit, Driver Parallel Lines, Splinter Cell (not a single one), Prince of Persia (none of them either, I found gameplay tough), EA Cricket 2005, DiRT1 and 2 (both are in progress, I love the games but find less time to play these days).

Except for the DiRT series, I found the others uninteresting esp. NFS HP (2010) which was a shock to me compared to Shift.