"Average Play Time" On Game Store Page

[Phantom_Vader]

This is something I thought of ages ago but never took the time to suggest it:

An "Average Play Time" stat within a game store page.

I've had steam for many years and noticed that there are many games that get REALLY good reviews but turn out to have extremely low play-times with reviewers, and some with only mediocre reviews but the people reviewing tend to have 300+ hours logged. This greatly influences whether I buy a game, as I like games to be fun over a long period of time or something I repeatedly come back to, rather than be something I greatly enjoy for only a day then forget about. Steam already collects play time data, and there are even many 3rd party sites which have compiled average play time data for games. Adding such a thing would be relatively low effort.

Method:
-Only use play times which are over 2 hours.
-Do not include average play times for free multiplayer games since people often idle on these games and so it's not a representative stat
-DLCs will not have an average play time.
-Consider disclusing all MMO games (for the same as the free games issue).
-Greatly consider including a separate stat for average for over the last 6 months. This shows trend and highlights what occurs when a developer releases a bad patch.
-Do not combine and rank ALL games on the main store page!!!! This will likely cause AAA games to take all spots and the indie game market will suffer.


Possible Pros:
-Increased sales for games with long-term playability
-Increased Steam user traffic (due to choosing long-term games)
-Increased information for consumers
-Increased overall satisfaction
-Less consumer reliance on 3rd party websites
-High gains for a single, relatively low effort steam update


Possible Cons:
-Decreased sales for games with short-term playability (this is a good thing in my book)
-Some game types will have skewed numbers due to having low-effort, low maintenance playability that could be left on in the background (such as management/sim games).
-Game companies may attempt to manipulate these stats (low impact on popular games, high impact on niche games).
-If handled incorrectly (ranking all games, including free games, including <2hours, etc.), this can cause sales to drop, stats to become unrepresentative, poor games to gain publicity, and good games to become obscured.

I truly hope Valve considers this. This could be a very powerful resource that can greatly help consumers like me, who value this kind of information when making a purchase.

[cinedine]

THat has already been discussed in many threads. It's a two-edged sword and the data is irreliable at best. Your limitations will not help in the slightest and make it even more useless in some areas. Why should a story-based DLC not have average playtime, for example?

[Narcoleptic Marshmallow]

引用自 Phantom_Vader：

-Only use play times which are over 2 hours.

The whole thing went down the drain with this sentence alone.

[HEART]

This reviewer has nearly 2,600 hours. http://steamcommunity.com/id/georgethecynic/recommended/72850/

I rest my case.

[Phantom_Vader]

引用自 cinedine：

Your limitations will not help in the slightest and make it even more useless in some areas. Why should a story-based DLC not have average playtime, for example?

Because I am almost certain that DLC's play time isn't recorded. Play times don't seem to be different for DLCs compared to the main game. Also, considering how much DLCs there are (far more DLC than game), collecting such data would be an absurd amount of effort.

Also, I never said "story-based DLC", just DLC in general. I am not not convinced it wouldn't help, and I am certain it wouldn't make it more useless.

引用自 Narcoleptic Marshmallow：

引用自 Phantom_Vader：

-Only use play times which are over 2 hours.

The whole thing went down the drain with this sentence alone.

Explain please. That allows times to be representitive of the overall playtime of a game, as it disclude people who buy the game and don't place or people who open the game and barely play it whatsoever. Make it 1 hour if it makes you happy, but that limiter is needed. I thought it was obvious why I gave that limitation, but I guess not. Sorry about that.

引用自 Silversun ✴ Moon 0430：

This reviewer has nearly 2,600 hours. http://steamcommunity.com/id/georgethecynic/recommended/72850/

I rest my case.

... I honestly don't even know what your case is.

Again, I seriously think this would make a great addition. At the very, very, very least.. it wouldn't hurt and could only improve sales for Valve and tell gamers what games are very often played. I am suggesting something with good potential, requires relitively little effort, and has very little down-side (if any whatsoever).

[Cray Trashfire]

I agree. I think you thought way to far into it. I feel that this would be a great tool for both cosumer and the industry. If I was looking at a game but its from a no name company and its 25 bucks. And then I see that is has a played time of 100 hours! Well that sale was made. Than we can feel confident in our purchase and that unknown company gets some more recognition. Its a win win.

[WiTcHeR]

וגוגוגוג

[shak59]

Just pull the information from howlongtobeat or make a partnership for their data. Steam already uses data from metacritic so they can make external agreements when required.

[Jaca]

omg

[Gus the Crocodile]

It seems weird to specifically avoid short playtimes. People deciding not to play a game for a long time is real data with reasons behind it; throwing away those reasons seems to kind of defeat the point. Don't get me wrong, I understand the point of eliminating outliers to get a better average, but you do that after actually seeing the data, not before - otherwise you don't know whether the stuff you're throwing away is a tiny number of outliers or a significant chunk of the sample.

[Davoodinator]

引用自 shak59：

Just pull the information from howlongtobeat or make a partnership for their data. Steam already uses data from metacritic so they can make external agreements when required.

steam already has information on playtimes and how long to beat using the achivements themselves........

[cSg|mc-Hotsauce]

what about the idlers?