I've been looking at games and stuff... and I had kind of a general question for the community. It's...

Does the typical game being a game which plays in browser, rather than a game which requires a download, make you want to play it more? Why or why not?

I realize this is a bit of a general question though, and doesn't account for factors like the possibility of a game having both a browser version and a download version.

For me, I'm a bit undecided, but I lean toward the browser just being better for some games, particularly small ones.

I think that's true for a lot of people, because there's less effort involved in playing the game as well as reducing the possibility of encountering a bad actor embedding something malicious into an .exe.

But depending on the type of game that you're playing, an .exe makes more sense for the size and scope of the game. This is the case with the game I've made, and my intended audience for the game has been okay with that format as well. My game lasts approximately two hours for beginner players who engage with all of the game's NPCs, which is beyond the length a lot of players would expect from a browser-based game.

I think that downloadable game is better, because games in browser are usually mini games and downloadable games are usually full and often pretty good.

This question most often does not even arise. It would only be valid in the cases where there is the possibility of choice. And if you remove the games that are only webplayable, because the engine offered an html5 export, it is even less.

It is two different approaches and traditions. Web games "historically" were hosted on content aggregators. Often specifically created for that purpose. Most of those were flash games. They were made to attract people to play that game on a site.

Downloadable games are a continuation of the games that were distributed on discs. People are used to having "a copy" of a game. Even if it now is fully digital distribution.

The term casual might apply here. It is lack of "commitment". Downloading something is a bit of effort, while playing a browser game is basically just opening a webpage.

You can add online features in the mix to make this more complicated.

But in the end, it just heavily depends on the game. You would rather play "Bejeweled" as a browser game or a mobile app and you would rather play "Doom",  "Super Mario" and "Minecraft" as a downloadable game.

And to answer the question, it does also depend on the game. Do I believe that the advertised game is sufficiently playable in a browser? Would I want to play this game without being on my browser? It go either way. 

For me, running executables from random strangers on the internet is an insane idea. I only play web games on itch, with the exception of a few well known publishers.

I thought about the same question before. The answer is yes, I would be more likely to play a game just because it has a browser version. HOWEVER, very few games are small enough to have a browser version run on itch (500mb size limit). So I could also be playing the game because I am specifically looking for a small and casual type of game, not JUST because I've been swindled by "play in browsr".

edit: Ok, maybe not "very few games" but "not every game".

As a Linux user, I tend to ignore games unless they either run in a browser or have a Linux version.  As a player, I'm more likely to try a browser game, but I'm more likely to come back to a game if I've downloaded it.  As a game developer, I use a "try in browser, pay to download the full version" strategy.

Not really, there are many browser games which I've played once and never again but there are downloaded games which I've played more than once. So it depends on the game.

If your question is about tendency, it depends on the game again. Browser game which takes long time to "download" is less preferable for me than downloadable games which takes short time to download.

Generally if there is an option to download an browser version of a game, I do. I think the best example and the clearest that I can remember if of Friday Night Funkin. It's probably for the better anyway, since that game got so popular that Newgrounds became near unusable during it's week 7 update.

My own personal opinion is that providing both options are good, but that I think most games will only have a downloadable version because it's too big to play in browser.

Does the typical game being a game which plays in browser, rather than a game which requires a download, make you want to play it more?

Not really. I don't typically try browser games that I don't like the premise of. I wouldn't want to play a browser game just because it's a browser game.

If it helps, I tend to look at premise first - how it looks, feels, and what it's about. If there's a browser version available for something that's caught my attention, I'll play it there on the fly - it makes it easy for me to just scroll down and write a comment for it. If the game requires a download, I probably won't play it for the time being until I can either find time to sit down and install it, or play other bite-sized browser games with a similar premise first before coming back to it... if I remember to, that is. 😅 If I'm on my phone, I will only play browser games.

Of course, the download-required games would need to be from publishers I know and have an amount of trust in, such as particular developers I've chatted with (either from the same writers' group or game jam), folk from the same fandom or a reputed publisher like Y Press Games. Large, long, and graphics-heavy games tend to be better downloaded, but for safety reasons I do try to ascertain that the developers are genuine first before downloading them.

I feel browser versions of games make them more easily accessible on mobile devices or people who're casually browsing for something quick to play, which in turn makes them look more desirable as a whole statistically. Ease of access can be quite a draw, but I personally find first impressions - thoughtful synopses, nice cover images and screenshots, attractive character profiles - to be more successful in getting me to try them out overall.

There are thousands of demo's, starter games and prototypes. These games are short, and it takes longer to download them, tell Windows they're okay to play, find the executable etc. than it takes to play the game. I no longer download those types of games, the effort isn't worth the result. But I will play those types of games if  they're browser games, because I don't have the hassle factor.

Longer games (3+ hours of game play), and games that save your progress along the way are better downloadable.

I'm actually more likely to play a game proposing both options, because depending on the context sometimes I immediately play a game after clicking on the page because it's browser-based while I would not download it at that point, but in the same time I'm almost exclusively following download-based games so if I don't immediately play a browser-based one then it's more likely I'm never going to play it.

if I'm wanting to play a smaller, shorter game, then I may search for games that are browser-based. downloading a game takes a bit more

time and effort. also, with a browser game, I don't have to worry about downloading any malicious files.

For me, yes and by a huge scale. First off, it's easier than to install a build in my potato pc and run ( and often times get errors ) the game. And secondly web games are a lot safer than installing exe on your desktop, unless it's from some well known publisher. And also web games make it available to a lot of different platforms including mobiles easily. And on a casual weekend, while scrolling through itch, I'd rather play a web based game which can be launched on the go instead of a download type. I think a lot of people have the opinion too.