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Why isn't Activity Log standard in systems?

BigHatPaul

BigHatPaul

Member
May 28, 2019
1,670
I just checked my PlayStation wrap up and to my surprise it was able to tell me how many hours I spent on Final Fantasy 8 on PS3. This just floored me. Why isn't this kind of information readily available for a player to look at? Why was the 3DS the system to knock this out of the park and then it never came back again? This kind of tracking is obviously interesting to people and we like to see it. Why do we need to wait for a yearly wrap up to be able to see this kind of information? Even play time on XBOX One isn't a standard stat this is tracked. It's common, yeah, but it isn't tracked in every game. No idea why. This drives me up the wall.
 
AtomicShroom

AtomicShroom

Tools & Automation
Verified
Oct 28, 2017
3,080
Because it's not perceived as bringing much added value to the sale proposal. (i.e. the time spent developing it does not translate into enough money.)
 
ShyMel

ShyMel

Moderator
Oct 31, 2017
3,483
I really enjoyed being able to track times and other stats in the 3DS' log. Wish Nintendo would release a version for the Switch.
 
SoH

SoH

Member
Oct 25, 2017
5,739
The only reason I give any sort of a shit about trophies is that you can kind of get an idea of some stats out of them from your playthrough. A standard system with stats would be incredibly nice.
 
OP
OP
BigHatPaul

BigHatPaul

Member
May 28, 2019
1,670
Jon Carter said:
The Switch itself gives you a ballpark amount of time spent on the last, I think, 15 games you played, and there's a full activity log in the Parental Controls app.
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I don't want a ballpark amount. I'd like to, at the very least, see hours:minutes, of all my games, that doesn't require me to go into the Parental Controls. It should be its own thing. Ideally I would be able to see play time by months and year along with top games. And according to Polygon the Parental Controls activity log is even less descriptive than the one on your own profile.

There's a homebrew for this that tells you your information on the Switch. This information is there, Nintendo just has to display it in a better way that's more detailed to achieve it.

nx_activity_log.jpg

I especially love the total hours shown. Very cool.
 
Weebos

Weebos

Member
Oct 25, 2017
7,060
I loved this on the 3DS. At least the Switch halway implements it.

I want to see it as a standard feature on all consoles.
 
Zassimick

Zassimick

Member
Nov 6, 2017
495
Would love for a detailed activity log like with the 3DS. Seeing how much I play one title over others is always interesting.

These year-in-reviews have been great in my gaming chat as we've compared each other's stats.
 
Jon Carter

Jon Carter

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
5,746
BigHatPaul said:
I don't want a ballpark amount. I'd like to, at the very least, see hours:minutes, of all my games, that doesn't require me to go into the Parental Controls. It should be its own thing. Ideally I would be able to see play time by months and year along with top games. And according to Polygon the Parental Controls activity log is even less descriptive than the one on your own profile.
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I don't know what Polygon said exactly but it is absolutely not less descriptive than the one on your profile. The activity log in the app tracks how much time you played what software every day.

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Not sure what makes going into the Parental Controls app any less convenient than going into "Activity Log" on the 3DS. You said, "This kind of tracking is obviously interesting to people and we like to see it. Why do we need to wait for a yearly wrap up to be able to see this kind of information?" Well, you don't need to wait a year and if you like to see it, you can. The app is free and loads instantly.
 
DaleCooper

DaleCooper

Member
Oct 27, 2017
2,852
I always wondered why Blizzard took away the play time metric in the console versions for D3...

I also miss the good old stats screen in Assassin's Creed that captured your distance covered and altitude climbed. I don't want that online club bullshit.
 

Deleted member 21255

Banned
Oct 28, 2017
881
Jon Carter said:
I don't know what Polygon said exactly but it is absolutely not less descriptive than the one on your profile. The activity log in the app tracks how much time you played what software every day.



Not sure what makes going into the Parental Controls app any less convenient than going into "Activity Log" on the 3DS. You said, "This kind of tracking is obviously interesting to people and we like to see it. Why do we need to wait for a yearly wrap up to be able to see this kind of information?" Well, you don't need to wait a year and if you like to see it, you can. The app is free and loads instantly.
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The parental app data is really limited compared to the 3DS activity log though.
The app tracks your daily playtime but only from today to a month back, the 3DS can tell me what I played and for how long all the way back to the day I first got it.
The month breakdown only goes back a year as well and gives no overview for the year, meaning you'd have to add up all the monthly values yourself to get a good overview while the 3DS can give me daily/month/yearly breakdowns of my playtimes with more accuracy than the 5 min intervals the app measures in.
It also doesn't have any of that info in the screenshot above which the 3DS has all of plus the average play session per game.
 
Static

Static

Avenger
Oct 25, 2017
6,110
BigHatPaul said:
I don't want a ballpark amount. I'd like to, at the very least, see hours:minutes, of all my games, that doesn't require me to go into the Parental Controls. It should be its own thing. Ideally I would be able to see play time by months and year along with top games. And according to Polygon the Parental Controls activity log is even less descriptive than the one on your own profile.

There's a homebrew for this that tells you your information on the Switch. This information is there, Nintendo just has to display it in a better way that's more detailed to achieve it.

nx_activity_log.jpg

I especially love the total hours shown. Very cool.
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This is all of the information I would want in an activity log and the fact that it's totally nonexistant in the actual system's software is bullshit.
Jon Carter said:
Not sure what makes going into the Parental Controls app any less convenient than going into "Activity Log" on the 3DS. You said, "This kind of tracking is obviously interesting to people and we like to see it. Why do we need to wait for a yearly wrap up to be able to see this kind of information?" Well, you don't need to wait a year and if you like to see it, you can. The app is free and loads instantly.
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As sleepless_swan said, the parental controls app is a piss poor substitute for the 3DS solution, the fact that it can only be accessed through a whole different device is the least of its shortcomings.
 
mute

mute

ā–² Legend ā–²
Member
Oct 25, 2017
25,116
Because people that walk into the store and buy a console don't ask which one has the best activity log.
 
Jon Carter

Jon Carter

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
5,746
sleepless_swan said:
The parental app data is really limited compared to the 3DS activity log though.
The app tracks your daily playtime but only from today to a month back, the 3DS can tell me what I played and for how long all the way back to the day I first got it.
The month breakdown only goes back a year as well and gives no overview for the year, meaning you'd have to add up all the monthly values yourself to get a good overview while the 3DS can give me daily/month/yearly breakdowns of my playtimes with more accuracy than the 5 min intervals the app measures in.
It also doesn't have any of that info in the screenshot above which the 3DS has all of plus the average play session per game.
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I'm not saying it's perfect, which, indeed, the 3DS Activity Log basically was. But it's not true to say that the feature "never came back again." It's not as comprehensive, but it's there with the most important information.

Also, it's not true that "the app tracks your daily playtime but only from today to a month back." You can see the daily playtime for the past year as well.
 
Dyle

Dyle

One Winged Slayer
The Fallen
Oct 25, 2017
29,950
It's not a feature that will drive any additional sales or provide any significant utility for developers, so it's about as low as you can get as far as system OS development priorities are concerned. The 3DS and Wii U activity logs were ridiculously fully featured but given the limitations of their respective operating systems they probably weren't the best use of their developers' time.
 
Jon Carter

Jon Carter

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
5,746
Static said:
This is all of the information I would want in an activity log and the fact that it's totally nonexistant in the actual system's software is bullshit.

As sleepless_swan said, the parental controls app is a piss poor substitute for the 3DS solution, the fact that it can only be accessed through a whole different device is the least of its shortcomings.
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Disagree. It's not as good but between that and the total time given on your profile, most of the relevant info is easily accessible. It's not just as detailed but it's got a good amount of info. The OP is wrong that the feature never came back.
 

Deleted member 21255

Banned
Oct 28, 2017
881
Jon Carter said:
I'm not saying it's perfect, which, indeed, the 3DS Activity Log basically was. But it's not true to say that the feature "never came back again." It's not as comprehensive, but it's there with the most important information.

Also, it's not true that "the app tracks your daily playtime but only from today to a month back." You can see the daily playtime for the past year as well.
Click to expand...
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The daily playtime for specific games is only kept for a month (I can only see back to the 8th of December on mine), the app does have times for the rest of the year but they are just time values for how long the switch was on, it doesn't tell me if that time was spent in a game (or what game) or just idling on the Home screen.
For some people the app is enough for them but again it lacks so much.
 
NioA

NioA

Member
Dec 16, 2019
3,640
The 3ds one is perfect, it should be on any systems, the fact that Nintendo didn't do anything like that on the Switch is unexplainable.
 
Lyrick

Lyrick

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
2,818
It's one of those things that was cool on the 3DS, but for me to continue to enjoy the hobby it's best I don't get any more granular data than I'm already privy too.

Similarly I definitely don't want a timer or full history of my Netflix viewing or anything similar from other streaming media or live TV consumption.

If gaming was a more productive hobby (like woodworking, or another craft) or if it was viewed positively like Running, Biking or similar sports and health activities I could see the immediate value in granular tracking access. Unfortunately instead of offering any level of achievement, all the video game consumption tracking data really does for me is tell me exactly how much time I wasted on a non-productive hobby.
 
Noisepurge

Noisepurge

Member
Oct 25, 2017
8,493
3DS and Steam are the best for that as you can track hours played. And Sony clearly has that data available, i also hope the PS5 OS has that information somewhere that we can check time spent
 
C.Mongler

C.Mongler

The Fallen
Oct 27, 2017
3,881
Washington, DC
No clue, and it's especially annoying because clearly every system on the market has methods to track this data, but it looks like console manufacturers are content just to use it in marketing materials and not much else.
 
Josh5890

Josh5890

I'm Your Favorite Poster's Favorite Poster
The Fallen
Oct 25, 2017
23,244
BigHatPaul said:
I don't want a ballpark amount. I'd like to, at the very least, see hours:minutes, of all my games, that doesn't require me to go into the Parental Controls. It should be its own thing. Ideally I would be able to see play time by months and year along with top games. And according to Polygon the Parental Controls activity log is even less descriptive than the one on your own profile.

There's a homebrew for this that tells you your information on the Switch. This information is there, Nintendo just has to display it in a better way that's more detailed to achieve it.

nx_activity_log.jpg

I especially love the total hours shown. Very cool.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

I would kill for that info. Unfortunately I'm too scared to do any homebrew stuff on my Switch.
 
OP
OP
BigHatPaul

BigHatPaul

Member
May 28, 2019
1,670
Lyrick said:
It's one of those things that was cool on the 3DS, but for me to continue to enjoy the hobby it's best I don't get any more granular data than I'm already privy too.

Similarly I definitely don't want a timer or full history of my Netflix viewing or anything similar from other streaming media or live TV consumption.

If gaming was a more productive hobby (like woodworking, or another craft) or if it was viewed positively like Running, Biking or similar sports and health activities I could see the immediate value in granular tracking access. Unfortunately instead of offering any level of achievement, all the video game consumption tracking data really does for me is tell me exactly how much time I wasted on a non-productive hobby.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Man I am really sorry you feel that way. How is running and biking more productive than gaming? All three of those things still only benefit you in the end. If gaming makes you happy, that's all that matters. I just like stats and I keep track of game time in my backlog spreadsheet to gauge averages and total time on systems. It's cool to see those numbers rise. I feel plenty productive when I've hammered out quests/achievements in games. Not about to let other people's opinion about it weigh me down.
 
Lyrick

Lyrick

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
2,818
BigHatPaul said:
Man I am really sorry you feel that way. How is running and biking more productive than gaming? All three of those things still only benefit you in the end. If gaming makes you happy, that's all that matters. I just like stats and I keep track of game time in my backlog spreadsheet to gauge averages and total time on systems. It's cool to see those numbers rise. I feel plenty productive when I've hammered out quests/achievements in games. Not about to let other people's opinion about it weigh me down.
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Man I've been gaming for 33+ years, I'm well past the point in pretending that it's a worthwhile activity. I still enjoy it, but I recognize that it's just for wasting time.

There's no need for extended gamification of actual games or their metadata, the fractal design doesn't improve the base experience.
 
criteriondog

criteriondog

I like the chili style
Member
Oct 26, 2017
11,161
I really want this feature in the PlayStation 5. I also wish the Switch version was more accurate.
 
OP
OP
BigHatPaul

BigHatPaul

Member
May 28, 2019
1,670
Lyrick said:
Man I've been gaming for 33+ years, I'm well past the point in pretending that it's a worthwhile activity. I still enjoy it, but I recognize that it's just for wasting time.

There's no need for extended gamification of actual games or their metadata, the fractal design doesn't improve the base experience.
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lol have it your way
 
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