The Value of Your Saved Game 161
N'Gai and the LevelUp blog take on an interesting thought experiment: which is more valuable, the $60 game you bought at the store, or the save-game file sitting on your console's hard drive? The article explores the various ways save-games can be backed up, and calculates how much the average saved game is worth based on your age and income. "Our back of the envelope calculations clearly demonstrate that in all but one of the categories, the save file is more valuable than the game itself, and ought to be backed up regularly in recognition of that value. And that's without even attempting to figure out the worth of any intangibles: the frustration of having to replay familiar levels and challenges just to get back to the halfway mark; the attachment that you may have built up to the character; any customization and personalization you did the first time through; the loss of unlocks, user-generated content and other valuable elements." I have a massive save-game file for Oblivion that I would be very distraught to lose. Any saved-games you've been carting around or protecting over the months/years?
Inter-Act Dex Drive (Score:2, Interesting)
Depends on where you are in the game. (Score:5, Interesting)
The exception to this is open-ended games, of course... There is no end to those. Even Oblivion never 'ends' because you can continue doing minor quests after you beat the game. The Sims is another obvious sandbox game that had savefiles that only increase in value... Until a new version of the game (not expansion) is released. At that point, the saves are just as worthless as the ones from games that end.
Any game that you quit before the end, for whatever reason, has no little or no value as well. The effort to get back into the game after a 2 month break is better spent re-playing the beginning and getting better at the game before you get to the stopping point.
And one last remark: Games are entertainment, not work. Playing them produces nothing of value and is only useful for relieving stress or boredom.
BTW, I'm an avid gamer with a couple decades experience.
LEGO Star Wars (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Used to back up savegames (Score:5, Interesting)
With games like SimCity, I don't think the loss would be all that horrible, because replayability tends to be fairly high. I tend to get bored with any one city after a few days with that game anyway.
This is where Valve could shine (Score:5, Interesting)
I have just re-installed all of my Steam powered games, but what is missing are all my saved games. Wouldn't it be great if I could add those to my Steam account, so that not only do I always have access to my games, but also my saved games? I guess it would only be necessary to store the last saved game, but this could really be a useful feature.
Valve? Anyone?
Re:This is where Valve could shine (Score:5, Interesting)
Lost game, lost interest (Score:3, Interesting)
Playing for hours on end, only to come back to "saved game corrupted" and the prospect of going thru all of that again, just pretty much nullifies any interest in completing any game, and thus any interest in even starting one.
Re:Used to back up savegames (Score:4, Interesting)
My completed save games allow me to start new games with the stats or equipment from the previous incarnation, which usually unlocks a whole new series of areas I was previously unable to enter due to low stats or poor equipment.
Then there is the value of playing a game without having to grind.
Re:Used to back up savegames (Score:3, Interesting)
Take a more likely scenario - the game crashes on you that corrupts the savegame file. (Some games keep the savegame file open and save everything continuously.) I had that happen when I was playing with a friend in Diablo 2 (made it to the second to last level), when it crashed (hardware fault, it turns out - motherboard underpowered the CPU - you say to give it 1.4V, it really only delivers 1.35 or less - Funny how 50mV separates rock-solid stability from "crashes every now and again").
The crash corrupted my savegame as I was messing around in my inventory juggling stuff. Diablo2 reopened the file, and determined it corrupt, and only offered me to start over again. Luckily I found a simple character editor, opened it, and found what caused the problem. The corruption resulted in the inventory having multiple items occupy the same spot. Remove the offending item, and it worked great again.
Another reason to keep the save game is often, well, you might want to see the endgame again. Sometimes they're quite amazing and you want to show your friend, etc. (I really hate games that don't let you save just after you defeat the final boss).
It may depend on where you were in the game. (Score:3, Interesting)
However, I put countless hours into F-Zero GX (which you can't back up the save file), and I would be very distraught if it got corrupted because the game is So blissfully, delightfully, mind numbingly fucking hard at times (most of the time) that having to do it all again just to get back to where I was would be crushing. There are other games that have a definitive "Value cycle" as the game save in the beginning isn't very valuable, gets more valuable in the middle, becomes Extremely valuable as you approach the end, then goes back to little/ no value after you beat the game.
Even then the value changes based on the game length. If I lost my "almost at the end" save file in Zelda I would be much more upset about it than if I lost my save file for say... Max Payne.