4th

I've been considering the marketing view of games, specifically the cost factor. This cost is measured as being perceived benefit - perceived cost. Apart from the obvious financial layout, games may have other costs, for instance, the waiting to install a gmae in the case of pc gaming, loading times in others. When I owned an amstrad 464, loading times of 17 min were possible! Modern technology has reduced that so it is rarley a concern. So in terms of time, the biggest cost I perceive is in actually playing the game, and more often in the case of story-driven gameplay, playing itself is not neccessarily the payoff, but rather a means to advance the story. This also seems to be the case in competetive games, where the experience itself is more of a tense, adrenaline-fuelled one, whereas the 'hit' may be got from winning. In these cases, the games are asking the player to invest often a considerable amount of time to get the maximum benefit.