you’re not getting the full picture. you’re not… “playing”. you’re there and you’re living that experience first hand. you can’t possibly explain it with words. when you see the videos of those people freaking out because they’re walking a plank on top of a skyscraper, it’s not like you’re “playing” to be walking a plank… YOU ARE THERE AND THE PLANK IS UNDER YOUR FEET. to your brain, that’s as real as it can get.
anyways Terraforming Mars hardly lasts more than 3 hours. I’ve had games at it that lasted 1h45’. It needs that everybody prepare their turn on other player’s turns, and when it’s up to you, you just execute what you planned.