Posts tagged playtime 
The Daily Grind: How long do you need to play a game before you get a fair impression?
First impressions are tricky things. Play a game for a little while and you'll get an idea of what the game is like, but you might miss some important parts that give it context. The combat doesn't change once you finish the tutorial in DC Universe Online, but you have a lot more powers and ...
Storyboard: To say nothing of Elim Garak
As usual, my promise of what would be in this column has been foiled, this time largely because my previous plan will require a bit more refinement. It happens. Last week's column also provoked some interesting discussion, some of which will fit well in a future column. But today, I'm going to go ...
The Daily Grind: What game rewards you best for limited playtime?
Sometimes, we have all the time in the world to sit down and play a game to our hearts' content. But that's not the most common situation -- more often than not we have to scramble to get some playtime in. In party-based games such as EverQuest and Final Fantasy XI, that can unfortunately make ...
The Daily Grind: How long are most of your play sessions?
How long we play changes as times change. When you first start playing RIFT, for instance, odds are good that you'll be playing for several hours at a stretch. It's possible, however, that by the time you've reached endgame you'll be logging on briefly, seeing if anything is going on, and then ...
The Daily Grind: How long do you really plan to play a new title?
Let's be honest with ourselves for a moment. While we like to talk about being a lifetime member of a new game, we generally are referring to the game's lifespan rather than our own. No matter how awesome a game is on release, it's going to show signs of age over time, and some of us just don't ...
The Mog Log: Class actions
The biggest news about Final Fantasy XIV this week, other than the somewhat mollifying UI update preview, was the addition of another 30 days of free playtime for everyone. This is the sort of thing that I don't think you can really see as anything other than a classy move on the part of ...
Final Fantasy XIV grants players a month of freedom and revamped markets
Player opinions have been strongly mixed on Final Fantasy XIV, something that hardly needs to be reiterated. Even the game's supporters have occasionally been a touch leery about paying for their first month of the game with the current state of polish. Which means that it should be good news for ...
The Daily Grind: Have you gotten spouse aggro?
The couple that plays together may very well stay together, but sometimes only half of the couple is interested in playing in the first place. There's nothing wrong with that, of course -- until the issues start up about how much time you spend on your favorite game. That's where the dreaded spouse ...
Log into Aika, win fantastic prizes
If you're one of the lucky souls who doesn't need to work over the summer, or just a discerning player with an eye toward conserving your online time, there are a lot of games clamoring for your attention. Aika's newest event is hoping to entice players with a fairly routine but no less efficient ...
The Daily Grind: What's your briefest MMO dalliance?
There are some games that we play for months on end and never even bat an eye at the timing. And then there are games that we are given for free and never pick up after two days of play, even if we have no particular reason for leaving them behind. Usually we talk about the games that suck us in ...
