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[Nickolaidas]

Backlog.

Such a hated word for any true affectionado of video gaming. A word that any gamer can give a different meaning to.

For some, it means that they have way too many unfinished games. For others, it means they have way too many games, period. And for other others, it means they can't play the games they want to play, because they have other games they need to finish first (especially true for sequels).

I love video games. I love adventure games, I love fighting games, I love strategy games, I love role-playing games, I love side-scrolling shooters, survival horror games, RTS games, turn-based games … you name it, I love it.

Except soccer manager games. Fuck that shit.

But it's easy to get lost in that lovely hobby. It's easy to buy/rent/freebie more and more games, until beating all of them isn't realistically feasible anymore. But you still think you'll be able to play them at some point. You still believe you'll play that awesome game ... at some point.

Until you do some math.

I saw my Steam library, my collection of ROMs from consoles I never bought, my PSN library, my X-box library … and I saw about 1.245 games - not counting the ones I gave or thrown away. And I realized that the more games I had, the more I wanted to beat the older games before playing the sequels and the new ones, the more I would fall behind. To add stupidity to injury, I'm a 'savor-the-flavor' kind of guy. It's really hard for me to game 8 hours in one sitting. I need to take long breaks, which makes my gaming hours all the more fewer. In the end, I don't have a lot of time to spend on video games - and to be perfectly honest, I shouldn't have. Life and all.

And that made me 'stressed', in a way. Stressed that I had to finish game X in order to proceed to game Y. I became more obsessed with finishing a game in order to reduce my backlog rather than enjoying the damn thing. And playing it for a second time? Not even for a joke.

And then it hit me. Gaming had become more of a job for me, rather than a hobby. I found myself shaking my head at my own stupidity - not playing Horizon Dawn because I wanted to play Super Mario Bros on the NES first. Or not playing MK11 because I wanted to play MK4 as well.

So I decided to change my way of thinking. I was through being a backlog whore. I was through buying more and more games just because they were on sale and were games I could see myself playing down the line. I decided to de-tox myself out of this annoying consumerism-addictive line of thinking and made the following changes:

01) Any game that I wasn't 100% drooling over would be removed from my gaming library.

02) I stopped gaming on every system, and would instead only pick two brands to follow from now on (I chose PlayStation and X-Box)

03) I would only play the current game of an IP, despite not beating previous entries (so I said fuck-all to Gears 1-4 and Halo 1-4 and dived straight to Gears 5 and Halo Guardians)

04) I would play all game simultaneously, not waiting to beat one in order to go to the other (which makes me less anxious to beat open-world games, which are great games, but great time sinkers as well).

05) I would refrain from having more than 4 games of a specific genre (i.e. fighting games), in order to have only the best of the best in my library.

Right now I have a collection of about 25 games which I adore and play them little by little. Yeah, I missed a bit on story and lore, but I don't really care. Playing the first mission of Halo 5 was more exciting than Halo 1 and 2 combined, as well as Gears. And I can't believe I wasted my time on Final Fantasy II (mobile) and wanting to play through III-XIII before playing XV. XV is amazing and I love it the more I play it, haters be damned.

So, my advice to you, in case you're like me and have a backlog of at least 100 games, I urge you to say fuck all, uninstall those games, ignore the fiendish little voice in the back of your head that whispers something about diminishing returns and play the best of the best games in your collection, adding few games (about 5-10 each year), in order to replay those you really loved.

I'm a backlog whore no more … and I love it.

 

[LMJ]

I'm currently sitting on a backlog of about half of that, mostly console, I'm also picking up games from the past Wii, Psone, 2 and a select few Xbox games...not to mention the NES, SNES,PS and soon Genisis Classics

I think your post makes alot of sense, and is quite well thought out, but in regards to me (and others I'm sure) as we move forward and systems retain BC, I see it as preserving a library of amazing games for a later date, as a relatively new father time for gaming is scarce, and that may change, and no doubt having somthing to dive into when I'm alone or sick is also a plus...

Regardless, I look at my backlog as a bounty rather than a burden and am looking forward to chipping away at it little by little lol

 

[EverythingsOverrated]

I went through a similar thing about 3-4 years ago and found myself spending too much time on games that I wasn't enjoying that much just to say I finished it.

I started to have a similar feeling of playing a game seemed like a second job, but I've changed a few things as well. Now I play a game until it's no longer fun, move on to something else and maybe come back later. It doesn't matter if I put 1 or 20 hours into it. Life's too short to play games you're not feeling.

Another thing I've done is even if I buy a game at launch, I don't make myself play it right then. I used to do that shit all the time. I pre ordered DQ11 on switch, but I'm playing Secret of Mana right now, I'll probably start playing DQ in a couple weeks or so.

 

[AntiCap]

Congratulations!

This happened to me as well. At some point I realised I will only live so long, and the rate of accruement meant I would not live to complete even half my backlog.

I had a different approach in changing my ways, but it's more or less the same idea. I live a FREE MAN now.

 

[kaczmar]

Ha. I feel your pain. I'm sitting on hundreds and hundreds of games that I purchased and never touched. I like your approach.

 

[jshackles]

I've got a library of around 5,000 digital games that compliments my nearly 4,000 physical games I've collected over the years.

I know that realistically I won't be able to play every game I own, or even every game I want to. About two years ago I had a bit of introspection like you did and came to the realization that the entire concept of a "backlog" was flawed.

My gaming library is just that - a library. You don't go to the library and expect to have time to read every single book. You go and check out what you want, curl up in a nice comfy chair, and enjoy the book you picked out. Don't like it? Story isn't grabbing you? Just exchange it for something else in the library and don't even give it a second thought. Have a favorite book that every time you read it, it always cheers you up? It's okay to pick that up every now and again and read it cover to cover. If we can do this for books, why is it not okay to do it for video games?

I started pumping the brakes pretty considerably on buying new games. I started putting a lot more thought into being mindful of my purchases and ask myself questions like "am I going to have time to play this right now?" and "should I wait til later, when maybe it'll be cheaper?". The result of that is that I have a much better library of games to choose from that have been released over the past few years, as opposed to a few years ago when I might pick up something just because it was on sale and I thought I'd get to it eventually.

 

[SonGoku]

Whats the point of buying a game you have no intention of playing right away?
Special sales deals?

 

[AntiCap]

Whats the point of buying a game you have no intention of playing right away?
Special sales deals?

More or less. When Steam started doing sales with extremely low prices, it was hard not to buy the stuff. In hindsight, it was just the new normal, but there was nothing normal about it at the time.

 

[Nickolaidas]

Whats the point of buying a game you have no intention of playing right away?
Special sales deals?

Yeah. I would see Dragon Age Inquisition for 5$ and would buy it, despite disliking the majority of Bioware games and their chiched storylines.

I also had this disgusting habit of not playing a new game right away because I didn't want to finish it quick and never play it again. I wanted to keep it unplayed, as if it was maturing like a fine wine. As if the rush of eventually playing it was more rewarding than playing the game itself. It was a horrible, horrible way of thinking, and I spent a lot of money which could be used in much, much better ways.

 

[pr0cs]

This past year I changed my habits too. Going through my games, if I find that after 1 hour the game hasn't hooked me I drop it and move on. With having such colossal libraries there is no harm in dropping a game that isn't fun.
The expensive part of gaming now isn't software or even hardware, it's finding the time to play all the titles that interest you.
Be picky, be selective, never preorder or pay full price, never power your way through something that you're not enjoying the core game loop . Your gaming hobby will be a lot more enjoyable this way.

 

[Nickolaidas]

My gaming library is just that - a library. You don't go to the library and expect to have time to read every single book. You go and check out what you want, curl up in a nice comfy chair, and enjoy the book you picked out. Don't like it? Story isn't grabbing you? Just exchange it for something else in the library and don't even give it a second thought. Have a favorite book that every time you read it, it always cheers you up? It's okay to pick that up every now and again and read it cover to cover. If we can do this for books, why is it not okay to do it for video games?

Yeah, I get that. But when I have about 200 euro to either spend or save each month, wasting them on video games which I'll never get to play is something which I now strongly oppose.

Never again.

 

[rəddəM]

Way too many media to consume these days.
Films, books, series, games, music, sports, events...
Life, health, work, responsibilities, family...
You just gotta filter the best/most interesting for you in what you like and go with it*.
Better to be good at/complete a few things than to be mediocre/never complete a thousand.

 

[gundalf]

I stopped caring about playing "the latest games" around the mid to end X360/PS3 cycle - honestly it was for the better and I'm at a vastly better place today.

 

[MiyazakiHatesKojima]

I'm literally OP but without the transcendental transformation at the end.

I still believe I'll play all my games eventually.

 

[Hostile_18]

Things I've learned as a gamer;

- Dont be afraid to give up on a game after even an hour if your not enjoying it your time is too valuable.
- Don't be afraid to buy only your most anticipated games at full price your money is too valuable.
- Only get the season pass after you've completed the game and still want more. The money you will lose by not getting the small discount upfront will be more than offset by all the content you bought in advance and chose not to play.
- Sometimes replaying an all time favorite can be just as fun as playing a new game. Make time for replaying classics.

 

[Hostile_18]

I'm literally OP but without the transcendental transformation at the end.

I still believe I'll play all my games eventually.

A man must accept his fate or be destroyed by it.

 

[joe_zazen]

Whats the point of buying a game you have no intention of playing right away?
Special sales deals?

Heavy, introspective gaf day.

I think many people, including myself, just enjoy buying stuff. I prefer physical because i get two hits, the rush of buy now then the rush of mail day. So the point of buying something is the act of buying and not the thing itself.

But yeah, you reach a point when you’ve got all this shit, and that is what most of it is, cluttering your life and mind, and it becomes painful. At that point, it becomes easy to stop, or at least easier...i guess unless you are a hoarder or something.

This isnt me, btw lol, but there was a thread with some insane pics at the other place: I spent $55k on anime

 

[themidnightsun156]

before i got a switch my backlog was reasonable but now it's getting a bit out of hand, those digital deals feel too good to pass up sometimes, but ill try some of your suggestions op - particularly the first one

 

[DunDunDunpachi]

Preach. I just sold off some already-played games and I'm down to about 500 games across all my systems. I'll beat more games and sell the ones I know I won't replay.

We only have so much time, and I'd like to savor what I have. I already know I won't ever be able to play every "must-play" game.

 

[Ceadeus]

I've quit buying intensively and just buy what I really do want to play, so maybe one game per two months. Then if there's nothing new that interests me I just open my video game box in my wardrobe and pick a game, I've about 200 video game. Sometime I just feel like relaxing playing stuff like fantasy life or some other neat portable game. F2P mmo can also be nice, like neverwinter or dc universe.

All this to say that I don't worry about the game untouched or unfinished. Just like books, it is nice to collect.

 

[Nickolaidas]

I'm having so much fun right now. In one day I played a bit of Devil May Cry V, Halo 5, God of War, Doom, Final Fantasy XV, Void Bastards, Spider-Man … it's amazing. I can't believe that just a few weeks ago I would just have played Castlevania Bloodlines like half an hour and nothing else because I wanted to savor the moment ...

Man, how much time I've wasted on video games I didn't really want to … and how much time I've wasted surfing the net instead of swapping games and play what I really wanted to play.

 

[SonGoku]

I think many people, including myself, just enjoy buying stuff. I prefer physical because i get two hits, the rush of buy now then the rush of mail day. So the point of buying something is the act of buying and not the thing itself.

are you afraid new physical copies will run out, thats why you buy them even though you don't intend of playing?

 

[Nickolaidas]

are you afraid new physical copies will run out, thats why you buy them even though you don't intend of playing?

Nah, it's more of a hoarder/collector kind of thing most of the time.

 

[Herr Edgy]

It's the process of buying that makes you feel good.

I don't have the problem with games, but with marketplace assets from the Unreal Engine marketplace lol.
It's not too bad, I estimate I have spent about 1000€ so far, and it usually has been things I deemed my library to be lacking that I could make use of in the future, but it's still a bad habit because it's assets that I don't intend on using right away or even in the near future. I think "Well, I want to get back to making games _potentially_ and if I'm going to work with competent people, it would be best to remove the trivial but time-consuming parts of development and be able to focus on the core identity of the game. If it's a couch coop game, we might not need to do the music or sounds ourselves, or UI icons for an RPG don't necessarily need to be all that unique, animations can be, for a large part, be recycled (use them directly or tweak them) as well, when it comes to generic anims.
If everything is supposed to be 100% self made, it's still useful for prototyping and to replace the marketplace assets one after another.

A different way I try to rationalize it is by saying that I, as a programmer, can't always be guaranteed to have good artists available, but that shouldn't stop me from creating great mechanics or systems that also look good.

I'm working on a dialogue plugin for UE4 on the side sometimes, and presenting it works best in a proper game environment and not with some basic default models.

 

[CrustyBritches]

I used to have a bit of guilt about only having played half of my Steam account, but when I thought about it most of the games came in bundles, and many of those I own on other platforms so it's natural I wouldn't play them.

My buddy told me that he just plays a game until it's not fun anymore and moves on. It's been helpful to me because I tend to get ocd about shit and turn it into work. I'm such a Peggy Hill sometimes. Probably get that from my mother.

 

[Mochilador]

I'm finally coming to terms with my backlog. I already have too many games for a whole lifetime and I have so little time to play them nowadays.
So right now I'm concentrating in beating all these games before moving forward.

 

[ClanOfNone]

If a game gets the hooks in me I'll beat it, just beat Borderlands 3 this morning. If I buy something and I'm not feeling it, I move on fairly quickly, there is just too much stuff coming out.
Sometimes I'll wander back to stuff during droughts, but I certainly don't stress over it.

 

[joe_zazen]

are you afraid new physical copies will run out, thats why you buy them even though you don't intend of playing?

No. Buying digital is still buying, and hence pleasurable. I just like getting packages, lol.

—————

But i am working on understanding dukkha (suffering), samudaya (craving, desire, attachment), and nirodha (cessation of suffering) through the teaching of ajahn chaah (aka luang phor chaah*). So my desire to buy and play games is as low as it has ever been right now, so i am not doing that. We’ll see what the future brings. But in the past (like last month LOL), whoo boy, could i spend money on gaming.

*Most teachers dont ‘walk the walk’ so to speak, e.g. Trungpa Rinpoche who liked coercing blow jobs from followers and died of cirrhosis of the liver, or Suzuki Roshi and his Zen Center in San Francisco...too much grasping after money and power. But those are the people who write books and become famous, so I end up getting sidetracked as a bit player in someone else's ego dream. Ajahn Chaah did not write books or move to Los Angeles or San Francisco or New York or become rich. We only have his teachings because some of his dharma talks we recorded.

There is something about ajahn chaah’s teaching that grabs my heart. I’ve probably listened to Food For the Heart fifty times and still have it on constant repeat. I haven't been this enthusiastic about my practise in like ten years.

 

[888]

I’m in the same position and have done something similar. One active game per genre. It helps.

 

[SLoWMoTIoN]

Whats the point of buying a game you have no intention of playing right away?
Special sales deals?

Steamtism.

 

[Shifty]

Based on the title, I read the whole OP in a Morgan Freeman voice.

Good job.

 

[That Damn Kid]

My backlog had made me feel stressed too. I actually traded in a majority of the unplayed Xbox 360 and PS3 games I have gotten in the past couple years because of that $5 bonus promotion Gamestop had recently. Actually made a profit on most of them since a majority were purchased cheap at yard sales.

 

[synchronicity]

I like having a big backlog - of unplayed games, but I've been selling games that are less than classics for me that I've already played. No sense keeping them around if I don't really love them.

But in terms of things I haven't played, I don't feel any pressure to get to everything. I just play what I'm in the mood for.

 

[Tesseract]

good thread i'm guilty of this, massive steam library and all i ever play is apex legends

whadda gonna fugging do

 

[TLZ]

are you afraid new physical copies will run out, thats why you buy them even though you don't intend of playing?

I do that only with games I think are obscure and I have some interest in. I don't want to wait until they've run out and are sold for 3x their price on eBay, if not more.

 

[Kadayi]

I reconciled myself to my backlog a long time back. Truth is I love gaming, but they're just aren't enough hours in the day for me to plough through every game I've already bought, especially given when I do play a title I like to take my sweet time with it and explore, try out different things. Case in point I'm balls deep into Cultist Simulator at present with 43 Hours logged and I'm nowhere near done with that bad boy. Probably double that at least before I move onto something else (I won't be 100%inmg it though as to do so requires about 8 playthroughs from what I can fathom...).

As for those games that I will never probably play, well aside from few silly early Steam sale purchases (like the 8 driving titles I own even though I loathe driving ....) generally if I was buying the game then I must have had some interest in it and so the developers are benefiting.

As for purchases now, I generally only buy AAA I have a genuine interest in playing them (which is why I've bought none this year so far). With AA and Indie, I kind of weight it up and assess on the pricepoint.

 

[Z..]

95% of my gaming is backlog stuff but I can't relate to this at all. I play what I feel like playing, it's that simple... the idea of being stressed from something like this feels so foreign to the way I engage with my backlog.

Good for you, I suppose, but I can't understand any of this.

 

[ArthriticZombie]

Man I need to do this so bad but I just can’t bring myself to. I have hundreds upon hundreds of games I know in my head I’ll never play again or play period. I feel like a rat pack hoarder and I know my wife thinks the same thing.

 

[Hypereides]

I honestly don't see a problem with a backlog, as long as it consists of games you definitely intend to play. It only becomes an issue if you just keep buying/adding games just for the sake of it.

 

[Shadowplay1979]

I have about 1600 games on my pc ...long ago my whole view of games changed. Sure there are times ill finish a game or ill go on long binges of a single game..buti realized for me it wasnt about finishing games..it was about the journey.

For me games are just these small pocket universes you can jump into and live in whenever i want ..and thats my main goal with them. the only exception is when i really want to play a game thats in a series chronologically..ill beat the preceding games first.

 

[Tevious]

These days, I ask myself before making any new game purchases if I'm going to actually start playing it now (or on release). If the answer is no, I just wishlist it instead, because by the time I may get around to playing it, it'll probably be much cheaper. In the past, there were games that I bought new for $60 only to not ever find the time to play it and then I'd eventually see it on sale for $20 or less...

 

[Kadayi]

I honestly don't see a problem with a backlog, as long as it consists of games you definitely intend to play. It only becomes an issue if you just keep buying/adding games just for the sake of it.

Indeed. All the people whooping and hollering about the EGS free games thing is kind of like amusing to me. Plain truth is, if you weren't prepared to get it at the time or pick it up when it was on sale beforehand then you probably have a nominal actual interest in playing it, so all you're doing is just adding to that pile of things you're probably never going to play. Just because it's free doesn't mean you need it. Overcome the FOMO.

 

[rofif]

I generally buy new games I want to play on release but... then there are games like Days Gone that are waiting there(on my shelf) for whatever reason

 

[Rodolink]

I feel you man, it sucks to have that feeling. I doing the same but i i solved it differently. I play sequentially old games of only very selected IPs i like like Final fantasy (still have to go through ffiii, v, xii) and I only choose the best ones from old console to"wrap it up" end bury it. For 3ds i only have bravely default and Luigi's Mansion 2 for example.
But it's hard specially for hard long games like nioh and souls i haven't played Dark Souls 1 for that reason :S

 

[Walledhouse]

I wanted to keep it unplayed, as if it was maturing like a fine wine.

I had Valkyria Chronicles in my library for like six years before I played it earlier this year. I kept mousing over it; and sweat would break out on my forehead.

“Do I really want to start this anime JRPG XCOM now?”

“It’s going to be a long game. You won’t be able to focus on other story games until you finish it.”

“You’ll have to go start dinner soon. I bet the intro of this game is like an hour of cutscenes.”

Anyway, game was a bit broken but I enjoyed it. Second hard-mode playthrough? No thanks. DLC chapters? No really, I’m full.

 

[Tesseract]

i tell myself i'm supporting the devs

that's how i sleep at night

 

[KonstructReborn]

12in12 on Reddit helps me as far as tackling the backlog. I have finished more games this year then I have in quite some time. Most of them I enjoyed. I only dropped one from dated frustrating controls/physics and defaulted two titles due to corrupted saves. The only game out of the 15 I have played/finished I absolutely hated was Saints Row 1. Sadly I still want to play the sequel and do actually own 3 and 4........

I own 1000 or so games and maybe played a quarter of them sadly. My fault comes from excessive buying as a way to cope with my shit situation that was going on for many years and is now thankfully no longer an issue. Thankfully I'm still young but my desire to buy new games without finishing what I have needs to end. On top of that I also really really need to drop games I don't enjoy. I have a hard time with this and will battle a terrible game to the end just to feel like it's completed. The problem of enjoying a game but absolutely hating a certain part of it is a tough one. I can't drop it because of a flaw or boring or bullshit section.

Then burn out happens.

Like others I too have the purchase because of price increases (hard to find stuff) , Nintendo priority, buying on sells etc.

I do think I am seeing a bit of a turn around in my buying habits though. I was going to get Trials of Cold Steel 3 this month due to it probably going up in price and wanting to support Falcom. Honestly the demo bored me to tears and I really didn't enjoy it mechanically for some reason plus starting an RPG without story development before hand is kinda tough. I question why I even like that specific timeline in the Legend of Heroes series. I played and finished the first Trials of Cold Steel and only kinda enjoyed it. The older LoH series back on PSP I absolutely love and hold high value to though.

Anyway I decided to completely skip Trials of Cold Steel 3 but then turned around and got the Remake of Links Awakening that I probably won't play for years to come -_-.

I will now never buy Contra Rouge Corps after the demo because the performance and slow ass mechanics make me frustrated. Also it's Konami, piss on Konami

 

[Walledhouse]

Just because it's free doesn't mean you need it. Overcome the FOMO.

So I signed up for the Monthly Humble Bundle for a short time, downloaded everything in the library they offer. More games than days.

Then Microsoft starts doing this Gamepass for a dollar thing. So that’s a few hundred on a timer.

Then my mate links his steam library to mine, adding another three hundred.

Then Ubisoft gives away Uplay+ for a month. A few dozen there.

And yet I still make time to add the free EGS to my library each week. But damn life is good.

 

[Bathtub Fart]

Good for you OP! Feels good to be free!

I said eff it too and now I only game on Xbox and PC. I restricted myself to only games that have great multiplayer or if I will 100 percent finish the campaign (Doom Eternal).

Now I feel like I can focus on life and not feel as bogged down by the mundane while enjoying my hobby way more instead of trying desperately to "appreciate them."

 

[ROMhack]

Interesting post, thanks for sharing.

I actually do the one game at a time thing and it has the opposite effect on me. I usually have an RPG going alongside another game and it makes my life a lot easier.

To be honest, this aspect consumerism is annoying across the board, not just games. I had the same exact thought yesterday with regard to film when I realised it felt more rewarding to finish a movie in my backlog than enjoy the damn thing. It's not a healthy mindset to have and I think it comes from people believing everything needs to be productive.

I know it's unfair to be judgmental but my eyes were really opened when I got talking to a buddy and learned that all he does when he comes home from work is more work. I started to feel like I was doing the same, albeit with media products rather than say creating email newsletters. It's not how it's supposed to be. More to the point, it doesn't need to be.

Gaming critics tend to ignore the actual issues in videogames and one of the biggest for me is the pressure put on us to buy more games than we possibly need.