Why was FFXI so great?

[Tigercub]

And sorry, but no one should spend 18 hours in one sitting on a game. People have died in net cafes with less time spent than that.

I agree it's not a healthy thing to do often. But done very occasionally I do not think it's remotely unhealthy unless you're suffering from some pretty extreme health problems or have already neglected to drink anything for 2 days. Nobody has ever died from playing a video game for 18 hours in one sitting (or the population of the United States would have taken a sharp dive when Skyrim was released). It's not uncommon for me to pull hours like that at work, and I work in a hazardous environment and high temperatures. Healthy people don't just die after 18 hours of sitting down for most of the day.

And I have gamed for 18 hours before. Probably about three times in the last ten years. I don't think this constitutes having a problem. I don't think anyone should be told they have issues for having done it before.

[OJtheLIONKing]

I agree it's not a healthy thing to do often. But done very occasionally I do not think it's remotely unhealthy unless you're suffering from some pretty extreme health problems or have already neglected to drink anything for 2 days. Nobody has ever died from playing a video game for 18 hours in one sitting (or the population of the United States would have taken a sharp dive when Skyrim was released). It's not uncommon for me to pull hours like that at work, and I work in a hazardous environment and high temperatures. Healthy people don't just die after 18 hours of sitting down for most of the day.

And I have gamed for 18 hours before. Probably about three times in the last ten years. I don't think this constitutes having a problem.

I've worked 18 hour days in very unhealthy conditions myself, and I'm not dead. But it's not a healthy thing to do, and certainly shouldn't be encouraged by basing game content around it. The thing about "once in a while" is that you already have to have been putting in pretty extensive hours in the game to even get to the point of fighting something like Pandemonium Warden.

I put in some long hours when Skyrim came out, but I knew my limits. When I noticed I was spending a while, I turned the game off and did something outside for a bit, or slept depending on the time of day. The difference is Skyrim doesn't have any bosses or content that requires 18 hours, or even 30 minutes, to clear by itself--instead it has many many many many many smaller things to do that add up to probably the most epic thing I've ever played. I think other games could learn from that example. You can clear everything in Skyrim with no more than 15-20 minutes a night...probably over ten years, but the point is it doesn't require long hours.