Gaming

I don’t use it as a pure metric that I base all my game buying decisions on, just one of many factors. If a game only lasts 10 hours but each hour was extremely memorable and enjoyable, that metric doesn’t hold as much weight. In the instance of Stray, the “dollar to hour” ratio might not be the greatest but I’m confident enough that I’ll thoroughly enjoy the play through so I’m going to buy it at its current price. I would’ve only paused more if the play through only lasted an hour or two though.

I’m also weird, but the pattern I use for books and movies is kinda indirectly dollars/hr.

Basically if I think I’ll watch it more than twice, I’ll buy it. Otherwise it’s a rental/stream.

If it’s a book, I’ll either just go to the library or maybe buy the paperback. If I think I’ll read it more than twice I might get a hardcover.

Value is pretty universally important. In games it just happens to be super easy to measure value as hours played and it's a common metric exposed by game platforms now, so it's commonly talked about.

People definitely look for dollars per oz, for example, since that's a commonly shown metric in stores and online.

My guess is people probably find it easier to gauge the worth of a game considering most games have a higher price point than those you mentioned. You could look at it the same way for a subscription service like Netflix. If you're spending $10 a month over the course of a year and have invested $120 into the service but have only watched a couple of movies or barely use it, it may not seem like its worth it. I don't think this sentiment is really expressed with things outside of gaming.

Stray is a great example for me of a game that was pretty short but I thoroughly enjoyed the experience and felt satisfied when I finished it.

I'm only a little bit into now but I already feel like it was worth the money. Thanks for the feedback, looking forward to the rest of it