I understand people like video games. I really do. I enjoy playing them. According to my wife, I play them a lot. Apparently, video game developers have caught on to the fact that people like to play these games. Well, more specifically, they’ve caught on that some people will play them for hours at a time. Some bright genius thought it would be a good idea then to design a game or part of a game that requires you to play in a long marathon gaming session. The first one that comes to mind is the Horde mode in Gears of War 2. After that, Bungie Studios put in Firefight mode in Halo 3: ODST. Now, I’ve played both of those games. I know how long they take. My question is now….why put them in?

How I felt after a Gears 2 Horde Run or ODST Firefight game
I enjoyed playing Gears of War 2. I really did. Right up until the point that I completed a full Horde run. A few friends and I got together one Saturday afternoon and went through the full Horde run. It took us about eight hours to complete. After that, I don’t think many of us have even loaded the game up again. It seriously ruined the fun factor of the game. Every time I think of playing Gears of War 2 now I think of that one single marathon gaming session and how I felt afterward.
Last fall Bungie Studios released Halo 3: ODST. The game was thrown together fairly quickly by a small development team. As such, they decided not to implement a full multiplayer matchmaking system like they did with predecessor games Halo 2 and Halo 3. They did, however, include a new multiplayer mode called Firefight. Essentially, it was a copy of Gears of War 2’s Horde, in that a team of gamers faced off against wave after wave of increasingly stronger enemies in an attempt to gain a higher score. Once again, I got together with some friends one day and we played through the Firefight mode. Although not quite the marathon length of Horde mode, it still took us over two hours to get through. Just as with Gears of War 2, I never really have enjoyed ODST the same since.
What is it about these marathon endurance modes that ruins the gaming experience for me and probably many others? I think it has to do with the challenge difficulty. The whole point of these modes is to see how far you can go, how far you can push yourself. In order to do that though, you have to set aside the fun part of the gaming experience and turn it into something most of us are trying to avoid by playing video games – work. In order to succeed you really do need to view it as work. It takes planning, leadership, and a team effort to succeed. You can’t screw around and just goof off. You have to take it seriously, otherwise what’s the point of even doing it?

Just today I sat down and played the latest DLC content from Gear Box Software for Borderlands. Some friends and I managed to get through the first three arena challenges. These are five rounds of five waves each, facing stronger and stronger enemies each wave. It took us probably five hours to complete those three challenges. After beating those three, we find out there are three additional larger challenges. We went into the first of those challenges just to see what ‘larger‘ meant. They are twenty rounds of five waves each. Twenty!
I’m not sure how long before I attempt those later challenges in Borderlands. Right now I really enjoy playing the game. I guess I should learn from past experience and just know that once I sit down and force myself to play through them (which I know the perfectionist inside me will eventually make me do) that I will probably not feel like playing the game anymore after that. Then again, maybe if I actually do it before Gearbox Software releases their next DLC, maybe that DLC content will make the game fun again. Either way, I still wish developers would move away from these marathon gaming modes and find newer, better ways to make gamers want to play their games for hours on end. One that doesn’t require gamers to play it hours on end just to actually play it.
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