Even Microsoft changed their mind about that several times.

C:\Users\Username\Saved Games\
C:\Users\Username\Documents\Saved Games\
C:\Users\Username\Documents\SavedGames\
C:\Users\Username\Documents\My Games\

And yes, each location is only used by a hand full of games. That's pretty laughable.

Yeah but since Vista there's been what the API calls a "Known Folder Path" for the saved game folder path. All the game has to do is call the function to get the right path (and also provide a fallback for XP+.

Various frameworks even do this for you.

I hate that too. Such blatant paternalism shouldn't exist in IT. Or the OS should ask you during the installation whether you are a basic or advance user. If you select the latter, it should turn off all of those features that try their hardest to protect you from yourself, such as excessive UAC, auto-hiding of critical folders and autonomous write permission control.

But what is the actual reason games can't place their saves where the user wants? I know that in DOS games (and maybe early Windows games) you could select your own save folder within the game via a neat file menu. You could even save onto a floppy disk, which was especially useful since we kids would sometimes visit each other to play computer games, bringing our savegames with us to show how far we've progressed in a particular game.

And is there any way to get around that restriction? Because the user\appdata etc. folder is too deep and too difficult to navigate, not to mention you won't even find it if you don't know how to unhide folders.

It's Microsoft's fault for not having a proper standard, or if they have one, then not enforcing it with an iron fist. Remember when Games for Windows came and every developer rushed for it? That would have been the perfect opportunity to enforce the policy and deny the label to anyone who doesn't conform.

On OS X it's quite simple for the most part: "~/Library/Application support/Game Name/". For the most part at least. But then there are developers who think placing save files in the user's Documents folder is acceptable, like it's some sort of dumping ground. Or even worse, if they dump their stuff into my home directory. The home directory should be considered sacred by applications. And finally, and the only game i know that does that is Hammerwatch, some developers go DOS-style and place their save files within the application bundle itself. They should be banned from ever compiling for OS X again.

One thing I do when I wrap up Windows games with Wineskin is write a relatively simple Shell script that maps all the ave folders and config files to the user's home directory. That way even old games can be made to conform to the modern guidelines.

Yep, I too mourn the good old days of simple save game location. The only thing worst then some hidden folder buried under 50 other folders (I lost my Links 2003 records due to this once) is when save is actually a registry entry like Grargar mentioned (Re-Volt comes to mind). With Steam it all got a lot worse with those ID folders.