A new Paradox Interactive DLC was released and was obliterated in the reviews. Nothing new there, but it got me thinking: quality wasn’t used to market it; quantity was. (On the side note, the DLC is one of the worst rated DLCs found on steam, uff)

• A new activity you can do.
• Oaths you can take.

You may ask what else they should have said. Maybe that most of the features are bugged? Nah — that’s not my point. It’s just an interesting observation.

How to Value Something?

My friend doesn’t value games by the quality of the time he spends with them but by the absolute amount of time spent. A rule of thumb of his is $1 per hour played. If he spends $60 but only plays 30 hours, he sees it as money wasted.

The thing is, my friend uses absolute time spent not because he thinks it’s the best way to measure value, but because it’s easier to determine. Just think about it: how would you determine the quality of an hour spent doing something? How much dopamine did you get? How much did you laugh? In reality, quality cannot be easily quantified. The result is that people can’t use it to market something.

But they can market things as getting your money’s worth — not in terms of quality but in absolute time spent with it. Maybe most people just want to spend some time, and quality is not that important.