10 Ways Video Games Keep Pissing Off Fans

4. Filler Content

The greatest argument against video games being big just for the sake of being big is filler content. Filler content comes in many forms. They could be massive empty spaces that don’t hit in a solemn intentional way like that of Shadow of the Colossus’ map but instead just feel like great expanses of nothing significant.

Separately, but equally as mundane are mechanically and narratively meaningless side quests, busy work, and redundant objectives.

Unless you're a fan of fetch quests, random encounters, or anything that will grant you a little extra experience, there’s really nothing to love about any of these inclusions that are clearly designed to pad out a game’s world and runtime. In these situations, most of us would prefer less side content that was actually substantial, for example fewer quests that stretched out longer and let us get to know NPCs better, or smaller world maps that are more populated with interesting things to do, encounters to witness, and secrets to uncover.

Filler content feels like a tool for publishers to help market their games, so they can tout runtime or map size, but it’s rarely what actual fans are looking for.