(The original version of this file had a minute-long gap about 36 minutes in. The updated version is fixed—sorry about that!)

Inspired by Danielle's Dark Souls misery and Rob's experience with hardcore sims, the Weekenders ponder the costs and the pleasures of high investment games. Is it really worth dozens of hours of your busy life to defeat an imaginary dragon, or to land a phantom plane on a digital aircraft carrier? Do the highest highs always have to be accompanied by the lowest lows? And is "get good" ever an appropriate response to whining about difficult games? No. The answer to that is no.