Does Size Matter? We Asked Moderators—And Is There Anything You Can Do About It If Your Levels Are Short?

People often overestimate what the average level length is. Several studies have reported that the average length of a level is slightly over 60 seconds based on potentially biased measurements from participants. Other research has found that the average size is about 30 seconds. Like many elements of a level, there's no such thing as the "ideal" length of a perfect level. Still, some people feel self-conscious about their level length, which may impair creating confidence. Here, ASJ breaks down what you need to know about the variety of level lengths and treatments available to lengthen your level.

One of the most important factors that impacts level length is the amount of horizontal grid space it takes up. But this can also be slightly misleading, due to factors such as speed changers or level rotations. It's important to make sure you're using the time to completion when measuring length. While there are many unsafe practices for increasing the length of your level, such as adding speed changers to alter the way time is calculated, or creating secret paths that make completion time take longer, there are a few ways to lengthen your level without compromising the potential for a rate. Creators may look to utilize slower speeds in order to increase the amount of time spent per grid space in the editor, or simply allocate some extra time to adding additional parts.

A major point of contention related to this topic is over that of level length categories provided for uploaded levels. Many community members have raised criticisms over potentially insensitive names such as "Short" or "Tiny". Those who have organized under the "Length Doesn't Matter" banner have proposed a new set of length categories that are more inclusive: "Tiny" to "Long", "Short" to "Very Long", "Medium" to "Extra Long", "Long" to "Exceptionally Long", and finally "XL" to "Unnecessarily Long".

Due to their expertise on the subject, ASJ asked a few members of the Moderator Team for their thoughts on the issue, here's what we heard:

• "I understand where people are coming from, but Short levels just aren't satisfying, I really only enjoy Long levels, maybe Medium if the decoration is really good." - Arb, Moderator
• "I vouch for levels of all lengths, shoutout to all my Short kings out there. We're rooting for you!" - Prism, Elder Moderator
• "Frankly I find Short and Tiny levels to be pathetic." - Sharkarie, Elder Moderator

ASJ asked RobTopGames AB for their stance on how length affects a levels ability to be rated, a representative responded "We have no comment to make at this time."