When I write my reviews I tend to steer away from the whole ‘value proposition.’ My fundamental goal as a critic is always to inform the reader whether a game is good or not, and why. The choice of whether or not the game is a good value is left solely for the consumer to decide. It’s a dangerous game comparing my dollars to yours, and vice versa. Although we may spend the same amount of money on our games, the value of our dollars is quite different.

For some reason in the gaming industry – more so than others – we’re tempted to create these silly algorithms to decide if a game is of good value or not. We get into the pointless practice of determining a game’s price based on a check list of features, the most common sticking point being game length. If game (X) takes (Y) amount of time to complete it should cost (Z). Value, like quality, is a completely relative, subjective thing that cannot be determined in such a black and white, binary fashion.

While gaming has been around for a few decades now it’s still in its relative infancy as a medium, and thus we’re still developing our vocabulary and expectations. Rather than creating our own scale for this new medium many seem happy to arbitrarily compare games to other forms of entertainment, more often than not film. If a movie ticket costs $10 and entertains us for 2 hours than a game should be priced similarly, right? No, not quite, and we cannot afford to let this mindset become the norm. If we accept this dollar to hour mentality we’re setting a dangerous precedent and taking the fun out of gaming.

Recently released on XBLA, Limbo is the most recent title to stir up the value debate. Clocking in anywhere between 3-5 hours to complete, many think Limbo is too short to be priced at 1200 Microsoft points ($15). Part of this backlash is due to the $10 precedent created by many downloadable games up until this point. Games like Bionic Commando Rearmed have set the $10 bar extremely high by delivering an unprecedented amount of high quality content for a low, low price. However, I would argue that it isn’t Limbo that is mispriced but rather Bionic Commando, and that it is significantly underpriced. Instead of getting caught up in quantity we need to start concerning ourselves with quality of experience; and Limbo is exactly that, an experience. Sure it might take you as few as 3 hours to complete, but those 3 hours will affect you in a way no other form of entertainment could ever hope to.

Some of this price to hour mentality is unfortunately created by the publishers themselves. When we turn over the box of almost any retail game we’re greeted by a laundry list of arbitrary features, or selling points. There is certainly some value in knowing what you’re getting when buying a game, but the results give the feeling of being just another product, rather than a piece of entertainment. Just imagine turning over your favorite DVD or novel and having it tell you how long you should expect to use it. Games are not tools, and they shouldn’t be compartmentalized as such.

The other fundamental problem with this mentality is a game’s length is ultimately subjective as well. How long we spend with any given title relies on a number of intangibles, including skill, thoroughness and even patience. When we buy a movie ticket or purchase a DVD we’re locked into a single sitting of entertainment, in a way we know exactly what we’re getting. Sure you could walk out of the theater or stop the movie but either way you’re paying for something with a very specific run time. Many players simply don’t finish the games they purchase, and thus the promised play time is rendered moot.

This same rule applies to the check lists of features we see, each of us have to take into account our own personal interests as gamers. Just because a game possesses more stuff than another game doesn’t make it necessarily a better value. When 2K announced they were creating multiplayer for BioShock 2 they assumed they were adding another selling point to the franchise, when in actuality they were wasting both their own time and money. Yes multiplayer pads the time you may spend in your second trip to Rapture, and yes, there may even be people who like BioShock multiplayer, but for most fans of the series it added nothing to the overall experience, or value.

As consumers it’s our god given right to debate pricing and value. We all want the most out of our dollars but we need to have these debates over the points that truly matter. Games are still an evolving form of entertainment and we need to keep an open mind regarding their fluctuating price. The value of any title will ultimately always come down to you. It’s your dollar, your time and your experience, and no one else can tell you what those are worth.