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Steam Gauge: Steam’s most popular games

arstechnica.com

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Re: Steam Gauge: Steam’s most popular games

#31

Post by adwf »

Goosey wrote: post #24

Note how Football Manager 2014 dominates both the Mean/Median "number of hours played per owner" charts, but doesn't register on the "Most played games" charts. This seems to indicate this game is the most successful at hooking it's players, but not the most successful at reaching large numbers of players. Not really surprising, but I find the implications interesting: A game such as this (and perhaps this can be app…

I'd be more tempted to attribute FM2014's hours played to the style of game that it is. It's very much a "spreadsheet" game in many regards - you can leave it running in the background while it plays through the simulation of the football leagues. I know plenty of people who just leave it running while they browse the internet or watch TV. All they have to do is occasionally check on their lineups and watch through a match.

Re: Steam Gauge: Steam’s most popular games

#32

Post by pault »

xanderstrike wrote: post #25
Einstalbert wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is frightening, but I wonder about the previous generations. A hundred years ago, how did an individual self-medicate their problems? Was there more crime, suicide, etc. as a result? People don't usually "change" all that much from generation to generation, and I don't want to get into some trap of thinking about "golden days" or any of that nonsense; people have always been fitful and worried, depressive even. Ho…

This is something I've been thinking about as well. Whenever I meet someone who doesn't play videogames, I ask them what they do in their spare time (because it's an idea I can't comprehend). It's always "watch tv" or "facebook" or "reddit" or something equally mundane. I'd rather be engaging my brain, thinking spatially, and solving interesting problems.

I used to be a heavy gamer, now I spend my spare time doing research and working on side projects that will make me a better developer. I now find this infinitely more rewarding than video games. At a certain age the entertainment value of the games was ruined by mortal terror at the rapid increase in the rate of my birthdays. :)

Re: Steam Gauge: Steam’s most popular games

#33

Post by Xero »

withad wrote: post #21
Xero wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Time you enjoy wasting, was not wasted."

I was about to correct you and say that was Bertrand Russell but apparently it was neither of them - http://quoteinvestigator.com/2010/06/11/time-you-enjoy/ .

Interesting article. Thanks for the fact check!

Re: Steam Gauge: Steam’s most popular games

#34

Post by pharrington »

Einstalbert wrote: post #16
jurassic wrote: post #5

Games scare me because of their addictiveness, especially for people who need an escape from crappy things in their lives. I enjoy them occasionally as much as the next person, but it makes me sad to see how high the play numbers are for some games. A good friend of mine in college pretty much ruined his life by using Team Fortress 2 as his "coping" mechanism for depression: he logged 2000+ hours on the game in 6 mon…

It is frightening, but I wonder about the previous generations. A hundred years ago, how did an individual self-medicate their problems? Was there more crime, suicide, etc. as a result? People don't usually "change" all that much from generation to generation, and I don't want to get into some trap of thinking about "golden days" or any of that nonsense; people have always been fitful and worried, depressive even. Ho…

Well clearly people haven't changed, but the activities available to us have. Instant and repetitive positive feedback is trivially available. It's tons easier to accelerate one's progress through any particular path.

Re: Steam Gauge: Steam’s most popular games

#35

Post by saraid216 »

Einstalbert wrote: post #16
jurassic wrote: post #5

Games scare me because of their addictiveness, especially for people who need an escape from crappy things in their lives. I enjoy them occasionally as much as the next person, but it makes me sad to see how high the play numbers are for some games. A good friend of mine in college pretty much ruined his life by using Team Fortress 2 as his "coping" mechanism for depression: he logged 2000+ hours on the game in 6 mon…

It is frightening, but I wonder about the previous generations. A hundred years ago, how did an individual self-medicate their problems? Was there more crime, suicide, etc. as a result? People don't usually "change" all that much from generation to generation, and I don't want to get into some trap of thinking about "golden days" or any of that nonsense; people have always been fitful and worried, depressive even. Ho…

Games have always been devices for both socialization and addiction. It's not a variable that meaningfully changes.

Re: Steam Gauge: Steam’s most popular games

#36

Post by anon4 »

jurassic wrote: post #5

Games scare me because of their addictiveness, especially for people who need an escape from crappy things in their lives. I enjoy them occasionally as much as the next person, but it makes me sad to see how high the play numbers are for some games. A good friend of mine in college pretty much ruined his life by using Team Fortress 2 as his "coping" mechanism for depression: he logged 2000+ hours on the game in 6 mon…

Games aren't addictive by themselves - only in fringe cases like your friend. And used as a coping mechanism, it's perhaps the least health-detrimental option (compared to alcohol, drugs, cutting yourself, just sitting there doing nothing and enjoying the feel of starving to death..), plus with multiplayer games you get to interact with other, normal, healthy people.

Mental illness is scary.

Re: Steam Gauge: Steam’s most popular games

#37

Post by __david__ »

jurassic wrote: post #5

Games scare me because of their addictiveness, especially for people who need an escape from crappy things in their lives. I enjoy them occasionally as much as the next person, but it makes me sad to see how high the play numbers are for some games. A good friend of mine in college pretty much ruined his life by using Team Fortress 2 as his "coping" mechanism for depression: he logged 2000+ hours on the game in 6 mon…

I hear that a lot from people, but from my personal experience I find them no more addictive than books or TV. I find most single player games take somewhere in between reading a book and watching season of a TV show, in terms of hours. And just like TV shows and Books, you don't have to consume the whole thing at once.

It's funny because nowadays people talk casually about binge watching TV seasons on Netflix, but if you mention that you played a game for 5 hours straight the same people often roll their eyes.

Re: Steam Gauge: Steam’s most popular games

#38

Post by broodbucket »

guard-of-terra wrote: post #3

I could never figure out what Dota is. What's the gameplay? (I've never seen it and given I'm a Linux person it's non-trivial).

If you're a bit more curious but don't want to get the game and try it out, Valve made an excellent documentary [1] that gives an introduction to the game and shows why it's so incredibly compelling.

[1]: http://www.freetoplaythemovie.com/

Re: Steam Gauge: Steam’s most popular games

#39

Post by chris_mahan »

__david__ wrote: post #37
jurassic wrote: post #5

Games scare me because of their addictiveness, especially for people who need an escape from crappy things in their lives. I enjoy them occasionally as much as the next person, but it makes me sad to see how high the play numbers are for some games. A good friend of mine in college pretty much ruined his life by using Team Fortress 2 as his "coping" mechanism for depression: he logged 2000+ hours on the game in 6 mon…

I hear that a lot from people, but from my personal experience I find them no more addictive than books or TV. I find most single player games take somewhere in between reading a book and watching season of a TV show, in terms of hours. And just like TV shows and Books, you don't have to consume the whole thing at once. It's funny because nowadays people talk casually about binge watching TV seasons on Netflix, but i…

I don't watch TV (at all) and I game maybe 4 hours a week, usually in 2 sittings.

(I will occasionally watch a DVD, but maybe 2 hours a month, max.)

When people give me grief that I play the games, I tell them I'm a software developer: it's like a writer reading books.

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