I really wouldn’t say this piece on Destructoid about why folk don’t finish games delves particularly deeply into the matter (and nor will this one), but it did spark a few idle thoughts across the deadend pathways in my brain.
Most people don’t finish games, even games they’re dead excited about. The reasons are manifold – Valve tweaked Episode 1’s zombie/lift sequence to be easier, for instance, when their creepy online monitoring system spotted that a ton of players were struggling with it and giving up there and then. I know at least half a dozen people who didn’t make it far past That Moment in Bioshock, praising its power but in the same breath claiming boredom with the game’s admittedly repetitious structure and combat.
