When do you feel you got value for money in your games?

[Kouen]

Im curious as to what peoples Value for money point is, and also is it in the Game Length aka play time till you finish it or how much fun you will have.

for me its more based on the fun within reason of length, Id be rather pissed if i payed the price of a new release to have a blast but the whole game last 3 hours.

So for Curiosity sake, whats your Length and fun thoughts on what you deem value for money is? and for a twist in 3 categories

Indie Price Point ($4.99 or your currencies typical Indie game price)
Budget / Sale Title Point (50% off style sales about half the price of a new release)
New Release (Full Price, No Discount or Preorder perks)

Here is my answers to get the ball rolling:

Indie: even an hour long is fine with me as long as im having a blast!
Budget: As long as it has a few hours gameplay and decent amount of fun im happy
New Release: As long as I don't finish it in under 8 Hours and its fun ill be happy, unless its really really fun then maybe i dont mind 6 xD

 

[Onyx Oblivion]

For every $3 I spend towards the game, I want an hour of play. Regardless of catagory of game and price point.

I generally feel the value should be $60...at least 20 hours. Not in campaign length, but in my personal total play time. I can play a short games multiple times, but I can't play a long game more than once. Too many unopened RPGs to beat to be bothered with a second playthrough of RPGs these days. Sorry, Dragon Age. You know I loved you...

I beat Vanquish in 6-7 hours, but then beat it 3 more times over the next few days...Totaling about 20-25 hours, when you include all my restarts and collectible hunting.

I bought Ratchet & Clank: Tools of Destruction for $20, and got a solid 15 hours of play. That was a great value for me.

On the other hand, I bought Splinter Cell: Conviction for $60, and felt ripped off, as I beat it twice in 8 hours. TWICE IN EIGHT HOURS! And one of those was on Hard. And my desire to play again a third time was non-existent.

And I got LIMBO for $15, beat it in 4 hours. Had no urge to play again. Ever. 3 x 3 = 9. So, Limbo did not meet my price requirement of $3 an hour, as it was not 5 hours long. And I do regret the purchase because of it.

 

[dimveiw]

I suppose in the indie categorie I would like a game from dlc that I can just keep coming back to a zone out while I waste an hour or two. then when I buy something at half price I would usual go for something with an on-line option, so even if the game was a bit pants it might offer a challenge in some areas.
and then finally for a full price game I would want something like the fallout games were its already a long game but come back and play it in a different way. like playing as a charmer one play through and then as a sneaky back stabber, so I suppose if a game gave me different ways to play it I wouldn't mind sacrafising length, still has to be fun though.

 

[Continuity]

Its a good question. I guess its a function of how much you paid, how much time you spent with the game, and the quality of that time i.e. how much you liked it.

Even then I don't think its a simple linear relationship that applies to all games, for example an adventure game may only last 10 hours and not have much replayability but, at the same price, might have more VFM than an RPG game that you played for 30 hours and then put aside because you were bored with it. We have different expectations of different games and I think a large part of the VFM calculation is going to be a measure of how well the game fulfils our expectations rather than anything objective.

Generally though I'd say a game passed the VFM test when you're satisfied with it or when your playtime in hours exceeds some multiple of the price (depending on your currency and the depth of your wallet).

E.g. L4D has little content and for the price you might think its low on VFM, but as I've had nearly 200 hours gameplay out of it (and counting) I can't really complain.