"Completing" a Video Game

What does it mean to “complete” or “finish” a video game? What criteria are required to say that you beat a game?

Obviously, this isn’t a simple question, and there are no definite right or wrong answers. Video games comprise a huge industry, and there is such an immense variety among them that what applies for one game or genre may not apply in the slightest to another. I might be able to “beat” a First-Person Shooter (FPS) in under 10 hours easily, but to say that you “beat” a Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game (MMORPG) typically implies hundreds if not thousands of hours of work, and frequently means continued play as developers release new content.

Are there any hard and fast metrics you can judge this by? Main storyline is obviously a large component for completing a game. Can’t say you’ve beaten it if you’ve never seen the ending of the story. Usually that means you can see the credits, too. But what about games that have extra story content after the credits roll? Or games with multiple endings for different sorts of “new game plus” variants? Do you have to see every ending, or does the first ending that you get count as beating the game?

Besides the main story campaign, most games have some number of side quests. Do they count at all? Do you have to beat some threshold number of side quests? Or are side quests just as important as the main quest, and you have to finish all of them? Some games have “radiant quests” that are procedurally generated and never end. Since there is no way to complete all of those, do you have to do any? Do you have to beat enough to satisfy some arbitrary requirement? How much is enough?

Instead of quests and missions, maybe you choose to indicate completion from defeating bosses. When you defeat the antagonist of the game, it’s reasonable to assume that you’ve beaten the game. However, what about optional bosses? Final Fantasy and other games in the JRPG genre are notorious about having “super bosses” that aren’t required in the main story quest, but are tremendously more difficult to kill than any necessary enemies. Do you have to beat them to finish the game, or can you leave them be?

As of the Seventh generation of video game consoles, on the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, many games had achievements or trophies that could be obtained by satisfying some criteria. On PlayStation, at least, players can obtain a Platinum Trophy by acquiring all other trophies available for a game. For many players, the Platinum Trophy is the ultimate mark of completion for PlayStation games. However, this is debatable by game, since some games do not require 100% completion, while others require some multiplayer participation, which some players would consider beyond what is necessary to finish a game. While I used to go for the Platinum Trophy in any game that seemed reasonably possible, I haven’t pursued them anywhere near as much as I once did for the past few years.

Expanding on the idea of multiplayer, there is quite a bit of variation between gamers on whether multiplayer facets count toward completion. Personally, I don’t think that any online or multiplayer facets should count toward completion. For one, they are an inconsistent metric by which to measure your ability, and I don’t think that’s a fair comparison. Also, it requires an active community, and that isn’t likely to be the case once a game’s sequel comes out. If a game’s servers are shut down, there is literally no way to experience the online play again. How is that a fair way to judge progress? In any case, there are people who say that online multiplayer should be required for completion. I am not one of those people.

One of the most simple and direct ways to measure whether a game is finished is the completion percentage. Many games list a distinct percent value, either in a menu or on a save screen. This indicates how much of the game that the player has finished. Games may differ on how that calculate this, but typically a 100% means you’ve beaten the game. A handful of games, one notable exception is Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, in which players much reach 200% by finishing the standard castle and then the inverted castle. Some players swear by this completion percentage, and will not consider a game complete until the value is maxed out. However, there is one game that infamously does not allow players to reach 100%. In Gran Turismo 2, no matter if players finish literally every single race in the game, they can never get higher than 98.2% completion. For some die hard completionists, this is unforgivable. Even though most people who have played GT2 are aware of this glitch, it bothers some players that they can never see 100% completion.

For me, it typically boils down to, “did I get my money’s worth?” That question has become increasingly fuzzy in recent years. I haven’t bought a new game for myself in a very long time, and I haven’t bought a used game since PS3 generation. Mostly, I either check out games from the library or borrow games from friends. So getting my money’s worth when I didn’t pay anything is difficult to determine.

Beyond getting my money’s worth, I might go with any of the above criteria. Given that I have far less time to play video games lately, I rarely go for Platinum. If I beat the final boss and see the credits roll, that’s usually sufficient for me. Optional bosses I may go after, but always. If there are trophies that I can get with very little extra effort beyond what I’ve already done, I may try to snag them before I put a game down. If I do choose to go after a Platinum trophy, it’s either because I really enjoy the game or because it seems relatively easy to get.

“Completing” a video game is clearly a very inexact science. There are numerous ways to count a game as “finished,” and it varies wildly from person to person. For some people, finishing a game is a trivial condition that has no bearing on whether they have fun with a game. For others, beating a game to the fullest degree is absolutely required. At the end of the day, play a game as much as you want to, and that’s all you have to do. After all, it’s just a game.