Did I open this can of worms through that earlier poll that I made?
(I’m happy for opening it, if I did…)
Essentially when I started I had some conversations with some authors round here, and I reached my own conclusions that any game should be at least 20,000 words per playthrough, and that meant at least 100,000 of code (in order to avoid the worst of too short/too railroaded criticisms). I thus decided to make my games higher than that, 30,000+ per play, and 150,000 words. But, even that started to feel short. Highway Wars jumped to almost 200,000 and 35k playthrough. Now, I feel readers are asking more, and maybe requiring 250,000 and 40k (that is where Birth of a Hero is going to).
However, I fear that this is an unsustainable path for me (and all of us in general).
Maybe this has to be stopped somewhere? (but, how?) Maybe CoG needs to cut longer games into two (like, any game that is 600,000 words gets cut into two, Choice of the %%%% I and II). Same for hosted games. Essentially, we sort of agree what is the length that a game “should” have, and divide it.
Some might complain about this, but it is accepted in the book industry. Lord of the Rings has 3 parts, harry potter has 8. Many people over here already write in installments (Samurai, CCH, etc).
Maybe the way forward is thus to ask for those writing longer pieces to have clear “cliffhangers” at 30,000 or 50,000 word playthrough points? (then, if they want to write a longer piece from the start they can, but CoG just divides their game into two. That way, they can charge $6 for each side, addressing the point made by @dfabulich)