Well, I try not to quit any multiplayer games, unless as Futures mentioned, there is a connection problem or I get involved with the wrong people. Just getting a game started can be quite an adventure some days. Sometimes the meter freezes on me at the exact right moment causing a massive mis-click. Those rounds get trashed because rolling the ball 20 yards in front of me isn't indicative of my ability, but even when that happens I still play through to the last putt because rounds with good friends are few and important.
However, when it comes to unlimited play, I'll toss the round the minute I feel I cannot attain the score I've already posted. For one, I don't have all day, despite what some may think. :) I'm never playing more than an hour or two a day to avoid burnout. I've been there once already, so lately I've been trying to regulate my playing time a little better. I've been all over the forums today, but didn't play a single round.
Secondly, and more importantly, it's a financial decision. My GI-D balls cost money. I need to be very aware of how much ball I'm wasting on a round deemed useless. In unlimited 9-hole play, I can't use more than a sleeve otherwise I very well could end up in the red and that's no good. I need to make smart 'business' decisions to maximize how long those balls last. If that means stopping on hole #13 because things aren't working out then my wallet and I remain friends another day.
For me, average never enters the equation anymore. Before recently, it was a game to take down the #1 spot and average mattered only as it related to performing that specific task. Now that #1 spot is gone and there's no longer a reason for us to continue that behavior other than ego stroking. My average now sits at 61.82 mostly because I've played a lot of multi and 9-hole tourney rounds this month. It's a lot easier to shoot a 31 than it is to shoot a 62, so the average comes down just because I'm playing 9 holes instead of 18. I certainly don't expect to go shoot a 62 every 18 holes, but I can realistically expect a 31 without nearly as much effort. If 9-hole games were counted as half rounds as they should be then my average would probably be a little higher than it is now, but that probably wouldn't change things much. Two front 9's on Bethpage are easier than two back 9's, so the system is still flawed.
I appreciate the comparison to real golf, but what applies in the real world doesn't always carry over to the virtual world. A classic example is Call of Duty. That's supposed to be a war simulation, but yet you can turn friendly fire off. I bet some of our troops over in Iraq & Afghanistan wished they could do that. Sure, that's probably not the best example, but I just used it to illustrate that there's almost always a disconnect between real and virtual. Having the ability to suspend reality is important when watching a movie and in various ways, you have to be willing to do the same thing here. Holes #12 and #16 on Kiawah run in exact opposite directions, but I still must suspend reality to accept that I somehow ended up with a headwind on both holes. It is only a computer game after all, so I try to take it for what it is instead of what it's meant to imitate.
From my experience, I tend to find that the importance of average drops
off immensely as you progress to the top of the player pool. Though
plenty do, not every player is out there to stroke their ego.
Personally, I don't need a number to tell me if I'm any good or not.
Sorry to go on and on, but I wanted to give you guys a different, non-average centered perspective on this. :)