To be honest, in the last 10 years, I have felt WAY more "engaged" with short - tiny, even - games that I have with 80+ hours monsters or die and retry Skinner boxes - even if my actual log time may say otherwise.

And I think a crucial way to influence the discussion as #gamedevs is to try and design experiences for the hundreds of thousands of video game players who quit altogether each year, bc with kids, a work and a more filled life they don't have much time available to play.

We should design more 2 to 5 hours long games, games that can be finished in one or two evenings and are very enjoyable that way - and stick. And we should try to market them as such, because my intuition is that there is a massive untapped audience here.

I'm thinking A Short Hike, or Minit, or Her Story, or Gone Home, or Firewatch, or... Games that will provide a wholesome, intense moment that you'll remember fondly a few years later. And also, I think those game should be priced according to this promise - i.e: not dirt cheap.

I, as a consumer, am a client for those - but only because I never stopped playing and being interested in the indie scene output. I know a lot of mums and dads with hectic schedules who used to enjoy gaming but dropped it - and would enjoy getting back at it occasionally.

For a busy 30-or 40-sth, with basically 1 or 2 free evenings a week, watching a TV show or a movie has become their leisure activity of choice. But they sure would enjoy more diversity - they would crave a good game they can see the end of, from time to time.

If we want short, well-crafted and often - but not always - story-centric games to have a future, I think this demographic might be our way to salvation. And they're also more open to out-of-bounds experience. So we should market our games accordingly!