Community Question: Average Multiplayer Play Time

[badman]

Community, there are many different types of multiplayer modes out there - some take just a few minutes for a round to finish, while others can last hours (I'm looking at you, 64 player mp_marketgarden!). What's really interesting to us this week is to know how much time you actually spend playing on average when you sit down for some multiplayer action. Are your sessions 30 minutes? Several hours? We must know!

So, here's this week's question:

When playing a multiplayer title, how long do you usually play for per gaming session?

Please cast your in the poll above. As a bonus question, are there any factors that make you play longer or less (such as clanmates being along for the ride or double XP weekends going on)? If so, please let us know in your replies.

Thanks, Community!

[tokamak]

Quake Wars -again- nails it with 3 x 20 minutes. For me it's often more than an hour which means that the chance of a full campaign is quite big.

[Faerie]

60 - 90 minutes with absolutely no degree of consistency. Sometimes I get bored within 10 minutes, sometimes I can play for 6-7hrs straight with only brief breaks to replenish beer.

I am more likely to play for hours on console than I am on PC though, if that helps at all. Something about dossing on the sofa with only a few buttons to press instead of having to remember what buttons I bound everything to and having to tweak settings because my PC is utter pants just appeals to me more.

Also if I haven't played in so long that I can't remember any of the buttons, people coming in and going "What are you doing, you need to press X/Y/RT/whatever to do that!" is likely to cause immediate cessation of any gaming urges I may have had (*cough*digibob/RR2*cough*)

[SebaSOFT]

Quake Wars -again- nails it with 3 x 20 minutes. For me it's often more than an hour which means that the chance of a full campaign is quite big.

Agree with tokamak here

[sponge]

I'm very happy with 10-15 minute intervals at which point I can quit without being a lamer. Any longer and I'm much less likely to want to play another round.

[Dthwsh]

Pretty much what toka said. ETQW had match times pinned down.

[DarkangelUK]

I prefer quicker matches than drawn out ones, for objective games I think RtCW had the formula right by giving each map the timer they needed rather than everything conforming to a blanket 20mins per map... Beach was 8mins, Depot was 15mins, Sub was 10mins etc. Forcing maps to a set regime can cause them to be stagnant... if a map is looking to be good then make it good, don't ruin it with rules.

60-90 btw

[wolfnemesis75]

Play around 2 hours average when I play. Matches that last 10 minutes total each is good. 20 minute matches are a bit longer. 30 minute for a single match is pushing it.

[light_sh4v0r]

Usually 1-2 hours per game, and then I move to another game for another similar session. @ games of LoL and then 1-2 hours of tribes is my normal evening

[INF3RN0]

Oops voted before I realized what the question was (thought it was asking for round times). 90-2hrs for me then.

[Humate]

I usually stick to one MP game, and dedicate my time learning that.
So in the beginning - it could be 3 hours, assuming ofcourse theres plenty of depth.
For SC2 which I only started learning to play online since xmas, I can go back to back to back 40 minute games quite easily. For ETQW, in the beginning - 2 full campaigns back to back were quite easy to do, this however decreased to 1 campaign, and later on 1 map.

When the dust has settled and theres no learning or experimenting with the game, if its a brilliant game 60 to 90 minutes.

As a bonus question, are there any factors that make you play longer or less (such as clanmates being along for the ride or double XP weekends going on)? If so, please let us know in your replies.

I knew quite a few players who would play ETQW more for the social aspect, rather than to play the game. Ofcourse they never would admit such a thing, but you knew they didnt really care about the game so much.
Voip in-game whether it be team or fireteam voip, as well as ventrillo, was an easy convenient way for these people to socialise during the week. As long as they knew that was available to them, they would consistently "play the game" for extended periods.

[Miki]

I usually play for around 45-60 mins, then take a quick break of 3-5 mins (go drink something, get some fresh air...) and then another 45-60

[phoen1x]

Depends on game, on team. I've used to play ET for 2+ hours, played ET:QW demo/full game for hours when it came out, i can't play BRINK for long, most of the time one one map, sometimes two. Now when i have more free time i could say that i play mp games for 1-2 hours a day, sometimes even more.

[Indloon]

2 hours

A question:Why SplashDamage asks this kind question?
Are They working on game speed design or ?

[.Chris.]

2 hours

A question:Why SplashDamage asks this kind question?
Are They working on game speed design or ?

They've been asking questions for ages now.

[Indloon]

They've been asking questions for ages now.

Yes,I have noticed that -> new game

But still,this kind question :O

It is same as I can ask "How much time you spend on watching my reply?"

[Smooth]

"How much time you spend on watching my reply?"

Roughly 7 seconds

[Apoc]

Depends on the game, when a new game is out i can happily have multiple 4 hour + sessions. Once its been out a while and its not as new and interesting id say an hour and a half is the average?

[.Chris.]

I get headaches when play for too long but sometimes if having fun can be like a good couple of hours.

[tokamak]

I think one guy over at SD had the epiphany that what the community wanted and what the company thought the community wanted isn't quite the same thing.