Actually, why it matters is because it's nice to be able to finish games before you run out of time or interest.
I'm reminded of Lagaan [imdb.com], a movie I saw a while back. It would have made a decent 90 minute flick, but at 224 minutes (nearly 4 hours!) it was a chore to watch.
Like overly-long movies, overly-long games are usually bloated, repetitive and tedious.
Re:Is this really a problem? (Score:5, Insightful)