If you want a game with exploration and combat but don't want to "worry" about stats, gear, or in-depth dialog, you play an ACTION game, not an RPG. I guess you'd like having a pie that gets injected directly into your stomach, without worrying about things like "taste".
What evidence is there that "today's player" has little time at their disposal?
Maybe they should just play shorter sessions. Blowing through a $50 game in 15 hours sounds dumb.

I agree with Octotron. RPG is a game where you "worry" about gear, stats and in-depth dialog, and Fallout 3 fails in all three departments. Rape of the SPECIAL system, gone is the detailed equipment descriptions, and dialogue is written by a 3-year old with a Captain Obvious syndrome. I stopped playing FO3 when I realized my IQ dropped by half after reaching Three Dog.

By promoting the fact that modern players have no time to play 'long' games, all you are doing is playing into the dumbing down of gaming. Short, 12 hour games are like TV shows, mostly bland entertainment that washes over you. Yes you can watch a TV show in one sitting and then move one, but the experience compared to reading a book, which is what an RPG is more like, is minimal.

No one would suggest that you can read a novel in one sitting, no one is demanding less regular novels and more graphic novels that can be 'read' in an hour as opposed to the few hours of a regular book.

RPG's have a save feature, so I dispute your argument entirely. If you bookmark the book your reading over a few days, you are doing the same as saving a position in your RPG.

Trust me, if we continue to move toward all video gamers having shorter and shorter stories and gameplay - for the same retail price the market will continue to shrink as games are priced out of most people's pockets.

You may think it okay for gamers to have games thy can finish in a weekend, but at $50+ a pop, I doubt that most gamers will see that as a good thing, and indeed would have longer gaps between game players and more time spent doing other things, leading to less interest in gaming!

Dumbing down things seems te be a trend in society and this applies especially to the media and entertainment industries. Have you seen the quality and diversity of music improve thanks to say, MTV?

Needless to say, dumbing down should be resisted. IMHO people shouldn't be given a "McMenu" just because theyre easy and cheap to make and nearly everyone likes the flavor of 'em. People should be inspired and motivated to develop more personal interests and refined tastes and to broaden their horizons and perspectives.

It should be no surprise to learn that from a marketing point of view we are most easily and effectively viewed as cattle, to be herded and guided to the slaughterhouse. And because of that we're slowly turning into unhealthy, low quality Whoppers and Mcmenu's ourselves ;).

Hehe sorry for the rant, but i do feel it applies here.

THE AUTHOR POINTS OUT THAT THE "MAIN" QUEST IS ONLY 15 HOURS BUT FORGETS TO MENTION THAT THERE IS OVER 300 HOURS OF SIDE QUESTS AND EXPLORATION. This is a free roam game, which does not focus on the main quest (like all of bethesda's games). In fact many of the side quests are twice as long as the main quest. This is not a 15 hour game, rest assured. In fact, i played for over 100 hours before I even began the main quest.

everyone: I never said that the main quest was just 15 hours long and that this is all the game can offer. I just pointed out the fact that Fallout 3 has two very separated audiences it aimed to attract and it had to accept some compromises to do this. Maybe the tone of the article does not convey it but I actually think Bethesda created a very good game in Fallout 3, even with the two audiences in games.