Duration Amnesia A Machine For Pigs!

[Googolplex]

@ Goog: Games that last hundreds of hours do so because of gameplay, not story.

A game that lasts 100 full of story is almost guaranteed to be a bloated and woefully boring game.

The Elder Scrolls Games last a lot because there's so much to do, not because the stories last 100 plus hours. In Oblivion I was done with the guilds i liked in under 60 hours, the other 350 plus hours were from personal role playing.

All the game that are focused on story and atmosphere are generally shorter because the writers don't want the story or atmosphere to hang about too long.

This isn't true. It's not only about the story, it's about the whole game. And when you need an half hour per puzzle, it's even good. Remember the generator repair in Penumbra Overture, which took you very much time! And there's nothing about story, but this procedure is a part of it. Sometimes it's also good to stop the story and let the player alone, chilling, thinking and enjoy the atmosphere. That's what even a role playing game does. Not every optional quest is part of the main story, but part of the game like puzzles. I can jut talk about Gothic, which is about story and atmosphere and 100 hours long. So it's wrong that games focused on story and atmosphere are generally shorter.

What I also want to say is, that a good game represent a story very slowly and at the beginning you doesn't even know anything about the story. As more you explore the game and come around the world, as more you will confronted to the story content. No game will tell you the complete story at one piece!

And RPGs like that are not stretched, even when they are 100 hours long.

You on the other hand, Goog (can I call you Goog?) want them to artificially extend the game with unneeded exposition and puzzles. That's a massive no-no and a clear cut definition of stretching.

As I said before, no game should be just about story. Then you can play Dear Esther...
A game should be diversified and that means chilling moments without story, puzzles where you have to think or other interesting stuff. You always follow the story, but slowly and with much other work in between.
When I just want a pure story, I could read a book. But I want to play a game and that means there must be a lot more to do along the main story.