Playing games you don't enjoy.

Usually one full play through of the main story mode. I have given up on a few games though, but those I also removed from my library/given away the disks.

1-2 Sessions. If by then i still think i dont like it, im stop playing it...

It really depends on the game.

1. With MMOs its most likely to happen because every update can break/change the game to a degree that the player got pissed off enough to stop playing( look at Firefall for example : v1.6 at the end of January 2016) .
2. Then there is the feeling after finishing a game and see what emotion will you be left with. Example : story-driven games : It might be a great game but if the ending is lacking then its likely your first thought to be "That was a waste of time" ( Example: Me after beating Witcher 3 2 times just to see does the game changes much or my mind can be changed)
3. First sight can always be "Omg this is great.Best game ever" and you can see how many positive reviews are posted with barely any meaningful playtime but later on you may start noticing small issues with the game that just starting pissing you off( I may even go in nitpicking mode at times).

And to answer your question . Its usually 1-2 hours then I think for a bit to see what its going on and off about the game and is at least the story/gameplay enjoyable and then depending on the result I either bin the game or continue to play it for a bit more.

What gives you the right?

It's not that you dislike playing the game, but you don't recommend it because of certain reasons. For example Payday 2, I played 1k hours, did I enjoy it? Yes, I have fun playing it, doing all challenges/achievements, but I wouldn't recommend it to others to buy it because of the DLCs, you would need to pay for every single one of them or have a group of friends where one of you buys the DLC so others can join the heist. But even then you are missing out on some of the content unlocked by the DLC.

Not too much. I--and most people--have too many games to play something you find to be a slog. I've begun to put games into the figurative waste bin quicker because of this fact.

When I was a wee lad and I owned physical copies of games, and very few games, I was limited to playing what I had. Maybe I overlooked a game's flaws more readily, or maybe I just appreciated things, I don't know.

But for those of us that have 500/1000/3000 games, it's often quite counterproductive to try to wring fun out of an unenjoyable game. You already paid for it. It's a sunk cost. Your gaming time should be dedicated to finding enjoyment in gaming, not squeezing blood from a stone to somehow get your $0.50/$7.50/$29.99/$59.99 worth when you really can't because if you aren't enjoying it then it isn't worth much.

That's not to say I know how you should play or when you should give up on a game. I'm just saying that most of us have too many options to finish a game's 15-hour story mode only to admit that they didn't like the game, the plot, the gameplay mechanics, etc.

PerfectWorld (morpg) - over 1000 h
StarCraft 2 (rts) - over 500 h
Diablo 3 (hack-n-slash) - over 1000 h
and more
...
There are many games that do not bring pleasure, but that you continue to play in the hope of finding something that will entice you. Unfortunately, not all games are able to attract, even after many hours of play ...

I'm currently playing Risen. I'm about 8 hours in. I really wanted to learn magic, but I can't find the solution for one quest I need to do before learning magic. I'm starting to feel like the game is a burden.

Or maybe some games are just like GTA V, where both singleplayer and multiplayer are game options, but most people give it an overall negative review solely based on the multiplayer experience. Basically if you read 90% of the negative reviews on GTA V, they'll be about multiplayer hackers, but will also say that the singleplayer story is amazing. And those are all guys with hundreds of hours played.

Really depends on the game. But usually I decide wheter or not to play it after 1-2 hours, although I'm a bit more patient when it comes to things like strategy games (I'm a huge fan of strategy games and know that the beginning of such games can be boring/too hard, but the fun can come in later).

Depends on the game and why I'm playing it. If I have to review a game but I dislike it, I put the minimum of time I can into it. I try to understand the game, explore its contents and then enjoy it as much as I an but sometimes it's just not possible. But I would be doing a disservice to review something and just say "I don't like it" without giving it a fair chance and then explaining why I didn't like it.

Hmmm...I would say up to an hour. If it's early access or a big patch was released that changed how the game was when I played it the first time and I think it's worth it, then I will give it another try :)

I agree how it is seemingly senseless to play through a game that isn't enjoyable. In my case, I played through Trulon: The Shadow Engine and felt like giving up on the game until I saw that it was on many wishlists of friends. The overall reviews used to be Positive on the steamstore page at the time due to the dubious positive reviews from various curators/reviewers (most likely they got the game for free).

My reason for playing through Trulon is to help warn friends and other potential buyers from the disappointment they will experience from this inaccurately rated game. It was my first steam review that I put real effort into writing. Had to restart the game twice as well from the bugs but I think it was worth it because it seems to have encouraged other users to share their negative experiences in the review section.

there's lots of different reasons i'd argue
first of all if they say it's bad in a review it could be more of saying it's objectively bad, and they personally actually like it
and then there's when it becomes bad/unbearable for them, if its towards the end or perhaps even after the end of the game it'd make perfect sense for them to play until completion, whereas if it's towards the beginning it might not
they could also have a sliver of hope that maybe it might not be TOO bad, or that it'll pick up later
i could go on, but it's pretty much a case by case sorta deal i think

I'm still struggling to finish Soma - and I want to finish it before I write a review, that will be negative. Which is greatly surprising, even to me as the game looked cool, people LOVE it, the story is great, yet I feel often that it's as enjoyable to play it most of the time as spending time at the dentist's. It will get downvoted to hell, I'm pretty sure about it. But I want to get out of me, how badly designed the game feels for me, and how uninvolved I feel with the game. ( Taking a glance to the negative reviews, besides the obvious haters, the proper reviews mention the same weaknesses I feel the game has, so at least I'm not completely crazy) If I'll be able to point out important gameplay aspects to someone, who will pay attention from it, and knowingly paying attention to it in the future, my review will reach it's goal :)

IB4WB-N3C7Y-08YFKkkk
woodle tree

Why would anyone go on playing if they don't like the game..

Alot of those reviews are trying to be funny. It could also be because of a stupid update (adding microtransactions or a bug that came into the game).

"I don't understand how folks can keep continuing to play a game they hate or dislike though."

Welcome to my world... I am a game designer so I should dissect games (especially bad ones) to understand what they did right and how they did it. Sometimes it takes longer than usual (15 min), sometimes I feel like the dev hid something later in the game and push forward. After 15 mins, I rarely find what I look for though.

I don't finish games that I really hate - like DH games :) But in cases like that you don't have to play long to write bad review.
I finish games if I have mixed feelings about them xD I wan't to see if it's getting better later or I just play to see ending/earn achievements.
Sometimes I give negative review to games that I liked but they did some things terribly wrong. For example Evil Maze - I liked the game but because of weird design decision and/or bug I had to start game from the beginning because I couldn't enter room with the finall boss :/

It's like The Division. Most bad reviews are from people with 100+ hours on the game, and it's simply because Ubisoft f*cked them over and totally gave up on the game, letting hackers take over and leaving the game lacking in content. I can imagine that being really disappointing for people who used to be very invested in a game.

Personally, I'll give up on a game pretty quickly unless I really want to like it, in which case I'll take months to complete the bare minimum of the game. Abandoning a game always bothers me a lot though, I hate leaving things unfinished.