Entertainment Value Per Hour
Looking back at some of the best games I've ever played I realized that I make a sub-conscious judgment about the game I'm playing in reference to how much money I would have to pay for a movie.
A ticket at my theater is $11 for one person and the movies are typically 2 hours therefore my entertainment value per hour (EVPH) is $5.50.
Video games however seem to be reluctant in producing the expected results of this comparison.
Let's take Bloodline Champions for example. Bloodline Champions is a free-to-play game that has absolutely no restrictions whatsoever on how long you can play. Therefore, if you wanted to, you could get indefinite enjoyment out of zero investment putting your EVPH at $0.00/hr.
But wait a second... how can your video game have zero entertainment value? You had fun playing the game right? It was enjoyable and you probably played it for at least a good 12 or 14 hours before you grew tired of it. Does that mean your time was wasted?
My answer: Kind of.
When going to the movies, I'm being presented with the hard work of the many people who put their time and money into making the movie that I'm watching as well as the service provided by the staff at the movie theater. The goal of the movie producers is to make a profit by making sure that I have a great movie experience that hopefully exceeds my expectations based on their marketing of the movie.
When playing a free-to-play multiplayer game, I'm being offered a free pass to play with other players in a world that was created by the hard work of the game developers and publishers. Sounds the same right? Here's where it gets convoluted...
The goal of the multiplayer model is to make sure that there is an environment to play in for an indefinite amount of time by providing a readily available stream of new players. More players playing the game means more "content" for other player therefore adding "value" to the game.
Imagine League of Legends with only 5 people playing online.
The goal of the free-to-play model is to provide the stream of players (a.k.a. the content of the game) that the multiplayer model needs.
Finally, in the case of the two aforementioned examples, the goal of the micro-transaction model is to make the entrance-fee smaller for players (or non-existent in the case of F2P) therefore allowing people to pay for as much, or as little, content that they desire. Micro-transactions allow companies to hit all possible demographics at once from the person who wants a $50 triple-A title to the person that wants a casual $5 indie game but without having to change their game's content.
Phew... so that was a lot to process. Sounds like a lot of work doesn't it? That's because it is. Work. You are essentially "working" for the game developer if you are playing a game that is using a pay-to-play business model whether it be mega-games like World of Warcraft, Everquest, and Rift or the smaller games like Bloodline Champions and League of Legends.
Without the player, the multiplayer game would be worthless and is also why multiplayer games have some of the lowest EVPH values on earth.
Portal and Portal 2 weren't critically acclaimed for nothing. They have high EVPH values when you compare their price to actual game-time and I don't think that's a coincidence. Players may complain about games that lack the expected depth of the mega-titles they're used to like Mass Effect or Oblivion but I think when the game has around 1000 hours of content for only $40 to $50 there's something wrong there.
Granted, there's still some holes in this topic. For instance, how do you factor EVPH in game-time that isn't counted like side-quests or achievement farming? Does EVPH fluctuate? Can a game, movie, or television show's value change during particularly dull or interesting parts? Why do people play games that have zero EVPH?
I beat the first difficulty of a game, almost never go further. I don't care about achievements but am happy when they are a result of normal gameplay. I try not to play games that don't have a finish. Finally, I do all of this because it maximizes my EVPH and at the end of the day I feel like I had a lot more fun then the people I talk to who have played the same game I have.