Glowing LanternIf you could only play one game exclusively, which one would it be?
daveyeahSmite or maybe another MOBA, because that's what I already do and I apparently hate myself.
Is it the competitive multiplayer aspect that draws you in, or is it something else?
EtherealIf mods are allowed, Stardew Valley. Heck, even if mods aren't allowed. I've probably put nearly 600h into it between PC and Switch, so if I'm playing one game exclusively, I'm going to design the best damn farm I can!
You just inspired me to play Stardew Valley again 😄
artillectProbably Minecraft, Skyrim, or another game with good mod support from the community. I'd never get bored
Mods are great! I’m really interested in projects like Skywin or Skyblivion. Recreating the whole modern Elder Scrolls franchise within Skyrim is just crazy.
probably dwarf fortress. I can always come back to it and haven’t even experienced everything possible in the game yet.
Other than that, maybe Zelda? The latest switch games have a lot of replayability so I’m assuming future games in the series will too.
Skyrim /The Elder Scrolls
I've been posed the same question about 'if you could only listen to one band' and I usually decide that if I were restricted to just one, I'd sooner drop the hobby altogether. Anything loses its luster after too much repetition for me.
But for the sake of actually answering the question, would have to be something that can't just be shut down, has variety in and of itself, and stands the test of time. So maybe something along the lines of Fallout 4? I know Skyrim is the darling but Fallout 4 has more actual stuff to fiddle with between base building, constant procedural questing, etc. I dunno. That's not a perfect answer, but it's in the same realm at least.
AnomanderExactly this. Like, I have favourites - but I'd wind up hating them if that was the only thing I could ever engage with from then forward.
I've found especially with games, there comes a point where if you get deep enough with a game for long enough - there are issues apparent at those levels of detail that are inevitable, and are going to drive you nuts.
No game is going to survive full-time play for a year, or ten years, and you come out the far side still loving it completely.
I mean, the answer kinda just has to be something like Call of Duty to make sense. Think about how much evolution that series has gone through over the years, and how many components there are between campaign, multiplayer, Zombies, spec ops, battle royale, and most recently DMZ. It's probably the most variety you'd get from just one franchise.
There’s not much variety in terms of genre at that point 😔
I’d be looking at highly moddable games types—something like Gary’s Mod, maybe? I personally wouldn’t want to play an FPS forever. But I’m not sure what games these days have super strong mod communities that frequently genre-bend. Maybe something like GTA?
I don’t know how to categorise these types of players. If it were a board game or TTRPG, they would be casual players (e.g. the people who only heard of Monopoly), but the average playtime would make them hardcore gamers. It’s weird.
DerinHunt: Showdown. Shit’s my jam.
exscapeSeeing how I've played Slay the Spire for about 650 hours, and the only game that comes close (and almost certainly surpasses it) is Counter-Strike when I was a teen, I'd have to go with that I suppose.
Crusader Kings 3: It will get updates for years probably, has a very active modding community and you can play in vastly different scenarios. Ranging from historical to Elder Kings, Lord of the Rings and much more.
But it would at some point get bland anyways. I wold probably start to hate it at some point.
I feel the same about Mount & Blade, the different kinds of mods are brilliant too, from single player total conversions to Horde mode multiplayer
Hyphlosion@GlowingLantern I’d have a compilation so I could enjoy multiple titles in one package. Super Mario 3D All-Stars or the Sonic Mega Collection come to mind!
nice glutes 
@GlowingLantern If I had to pick just one game, Morrowind or Super Mario RPG (maybe the new one if it’s still amazing).
If collections counted maybe the old super Mario all stars. Used to play that religiously after school at my grandparents when I was a kid.