For me there is 3 important lengths of time when I try a new MMO.

I usually start on the weekend so I have 2 free days to play.

After the first hour I will only quit if the game is horrible. Sometimes it just doesn't work for me, the UI, the graphics or the combat.

Then after a day comes the second threshold, Is the game fun? Do I like the world? 

The 3rd time is after a week when I put on the final judgement on everything.

For me is the first hour not that important unless it is total crap. 

The first 60 minutes is crucial for me.   That's long enough to see if anything innovative is there, or if it's just another cookie-cutter game dressed up with shiny graphics but with the same old class archetypes, combat systems, etc.  I usually give it a week to see if it gets any better, but up to now I usually end up thinking  "I've been playing a game basically the same as this for the last 4 years" and then I bin it and never look back.

Do you people have any idea how many derpensteins will play a game for 5 minutes and make up their mind on it?

I'm still waiting on a reply in the LFG section from a guy that said he's looking for a "non point and click" mmo, after listing 4 games that are *NOT* point and click. Apparently he must have clicked on the screen, seen his guy move, then assumed the entire game is point and click, then uninstalled them. In fact, only one of them allows that to happen in the social hubs, while it's impossible to do so in combat. I have no idea how he figured Maple Story for one... though people should avoid that game for various other reasons.

This kind of stuff happens way too much, and to my utter discomfort.

I play every single MMO that comes out so I usually know a good game when i see one, and so far what impressed me in the first hour and I continued to enjoy were fairly successful games while others not so much. Like another person said, the best way to describe it is the urge to want to play the game again. If all i did was kill 10 rats and struggled with something during my first play, there's a good chance I wont look back even though I'll still give the game a good shot. So yes the first playthrough which usually isn't an hour but 2-3 is very crucial in my enjoyment of said game.

At this point in my life I have played enough MMOS or single player games, I can usually tell within 15-20 minutes if I am going to enjoy the game or not.

If not, uninstall and move on.

Originally posted by Scot

The first 60 minutes is irrelevant for me. I decdided to buy the game after extensive research into the game, its community and its guilds. So even if the first hour is poor I will just play on.

 

Alternatively you could just preorder and take a gamble every time something new comes out you like the look of.

Well when you buy a game thats a different case, I think what the OP was asking was more or so when say your on a trial or playing a free game...or well that's how i answered it.

Originally posted by Amathe

I always love starting a new game.  The box is laying next to my desk.  I've just made my decisions on what race and class to play, and chosen my appearance.  My character has appeared in a new world waiting to be explored. My family has been told to leave me in peace for the evening.

 

Now the question is, what will the first hour be like?

 

In that hour I will experience the graphics and sound, get a flavor for the game's community, try out the UI and maybe face off against a few monsters.  For me, they key is whether the combination of those things and others evoke some emotional desire to see more and want be part of this new world.

 

So how important is that first hour?  Do first impressions really matter?  Or do you need to give it days, weeks or months before it's fair to start evaluating?

 

The first hour is really important. In my opinion not exactly the first hour, just the first impression. That means, for example, if there is a cinematic that helps you get in game. The character creation, it should really help you creating a charcter you feel attached to at first glance. And the first few missions, if something of that fails, a lot of people quit the game, mostly the casual ones.

Not really important. Actually, I tend to get bored in the starting area of most MMOs, but after a couple of days I start to get a feel of the game.

If there's a point I can make an educated guess on whether I'm going to enjoy the game or not, it'd probably be after that first couple of days (during which I'd be out of the newbie zone and really getting into the world and the game mechanics, with some progression under my belt, an acceptably populated skill bar and a list of potential goals.

Originally posted by Vercin

At this point in my life I have played enough MMOS or single player games, I can usually tell within 15-20 minutes if I am going to enjoy the game or not.

If not, uninstall and move on.

Same here.

The firsts 2/3 hours of gameplay tell you 90% of what the game is about.

So ya, very important.

Ther first hour is sort of important to me, since I have tested and played so many. If it is total crap, as the OP said, then I might stop quite fast. Otherwise I do give it 10-20h before I say yay/nay. If there is something that really interests me, say some new innovation, I continue, even if there are things I find bothers me - in that case it seems, without thinking of it, that around 80h is a breakingpoint, where I quit out of boredom.

I realized, and have from many, you need to give an MMO at least 1/4 of the level cap, or 2-4weeks before you judge it. But why does it have to be like tyouhat? There are enough modern MMOs, even if they are clones, that manage to get you into the game fast, so why bother with boredom to get to an interesting point of the game (especially if you want to play because you are bored...)?

The first hour or so decides if I'll continue playing the game. If the first thing I do in a game is go kill spiders for random NPC #31 chances are I'm already bored. 

The 1st 60 minutes of any game are the most important of any game, at least from my point of view they should be. This time frame the developer is sending me a message. This message is their vision of what this new world is and means to them. If they think this message is important and worth hearing and seeing, then they will present it to me in that way.

They will have well thought out game mechanics, a storyline that is interesting and worth learning more about, graphics that present this vision acurately, and because of having done these 1st few important things, there will be a community that seems interested in taking the journey into this vision.

If the developer did not take the time to show me their vision, why would I spend my time there?

Just MHO,

Axe

I give a persistent world (MMO) game at least 20 hours of playtime before I make a decision. However, that first hour is probably the most important. If I am not having fun quickly, I lean towards the thinking that the game has long spaces between the fun parts. I do not want to spend too long going from one place to another with dead nothing in between. I do not want to have tedious combat or interminable intros (of course, I think it best to incorporate lore into a game instead of having to tell me at the beginning). I want to feel like I am in the world, and I want to be able to do stuff (read: kill stuff) quickly.

There are exceptions to this. For example, EVE (I cannot stand playing it, personally, but bear with me.) It has a quite steep learning curve. You probably will not be having fun (at least in the same way you would/will later) in the first hour. You are trying to figure out how to move, what you should be doing, what those half-circles on the bottom of the screen mean, etc. But once you get the hang of it, if you like the way it plays, it can be pretty intense, almost whenever you want. That is why you need to give a game time.

The first 60 minutes are actually very important and i guess thats why WoW is doing so well. The first 60 minutes are amazing, nice intro , you get into the game quite quickly , etc... I guess thats what is nerfing EvE , the first 60 minutes barely get you anywhere , if you actually really got into the game after 30 days i'd already say you're doing really well lol

Originally posted by Amathe

I always love starting a new game.  The box is laying next to my desk.  I've just made my decisions on what race and class to play, and chosen my appearance.  My character has appeared in a new world waiting to be explored. My family has been told to leave me in peace for the evening.

 

Now the question is, what will the first hour be like?

 

In that hour I will experience the graphics and sound, get a flavor for the game's community, try out the UI and maybe face off against a few monsters.  For me, they key is whether the combination of those things and others evoke some emotional desire to see more and want be part of this new world.

 

So how important is that first hour?  Do first impressions really matter?  Or do you need to give it days, weeks or months before it's fair to start evaluating?

 

I'd wager a little of both, while to get a good feel for the content I'd say you need at least a few days to a week (and even then you really don't have an idea of what the later or endgame may be like) and the community as well (starter area community has usually been bad imo)- the first hour tell me the core things I have to know- does it play well on my PC and can I stand the UI as well as the feel of the controls.

Those core things are what kept me away from FFXI at NA release even though I adored the rest of the game.  I just could not stand all the log-ins, the way my character moved from keyboard input, and the UI/combat menus.

Id say the first 1-3 hours are the most important.

I think the first hour is very important but to really judge a game you have to play atleast 10, by that time you are most likely out of the first zone and have seen what the game has to offer. That being said if the first hour is horrid the next 9 can also be bad and I am not a person who does not accept the whole "It gets better blablabla". I should not have to play 20h for the game to get better...heres looking at you FF13. A few days ago I bought Lineage 2 since I found it really cheap so I can descrbe my first hour with the game. The first hour was spent scouring the internet trying to find a way to speed up the damn patched which is supposedly capped at almost modem speed...The first hour ingame was a miserable time. What I learned in that time: There is little to no immersion in the games world since the tutorial/begining is simply bad. Graphically the game looks fine although every HDR option seems to be broken becouse all of them try to blind me with fire from the skies. Controls are horrible. Mouse controls are pretty bad but managable, the WASD controls are a disaster, clearly an afterthought. For a games like that that plays only with WASD this is a major letdown and an immense surprise. To the game itself its grind from the get go. Grind, grind, grind. The animations arent bad and the battles dont last too long so it is bareable though. But then again a game should not be barable it should be fun and as far as i have heard and read the game gets fun at the top...I will try to play the game for the month I have free but quite frankly the first hour was such a letdown its hard to turn the game on.

I think most people will know in the first hour of playing an mmorpg if they are going to keep playing it or not. Odviously I can't speak for everybody but thats how I look at things.