charlequin
Banned
Welcome to the 1st Annual GAF Rolling Backlogathon!
A little information, in Q&A form:
So what's a backlogathon anyway?
If you're anything like me, you've probably got a bunch of unplayed or unfinished games lying around -- stuff you were enjoying but put aside to play some exciting new release, or stuff you grabbed at a Gamestop B2G1 sale, or a big virtual stack of stuff you bought in the Steam Holiday Sale and haven't even installed yet. The backlogathon is intended to provide a gentle nudge towards playing and beating these games by tracking how many games each poster beats during the month. By setting goals for yourself, seeing your progress reflected in a steady improvement in your position, and even competing with other GAF posters, you can encourage yourself to play the games you really want to play and get a better return from your gaming purchases. Plus this is a great way to put the lie to the silly old chestnut that GAF posters don't actually play games.
In short: the backlogathon is a thread where we gaffers engage in a friendly competition to clear games out of our backlogs.
Doesn't that seem kind of like making gaming into... work?
The first rule of the backlogathon is only do it to have fun.
For me personally, I have a tendency to buy games I know I want to play, and that I do actually enjoy when I get around to playing them, but then leave them sitting around and not starting them. Other times I get in a rut and play like five RPGs or something in a row and get to the point where I'm like AAAARGH HITPOINTS EXPEES FUUUUUU- and I stop enjoying myself. Treating my backlog as a contest in its own right and strategizing about how to approach it has encouraged me to play a bigger variety of games, dig into old games I bought years ago but never got around to starting, and otherwise helped me enjoy playing more than I would otherwise. If you think the backlogathon will be fun for you too, you might as well sign up!
So how's this work then?
Each month on the 1st, I setup a new leaderboard. Anyone who wants to participate tells us the games they've beaten and I'll track your positions on the chart, along with your goal for the month (if you have one); just post to the thread every time you beat something new. At the end of each month, I'll post the final stats along with anything interesting I noticed about that month's performance.
The first monthly backlogathon will run from 12:00 AM EST Feburary 1, 2010 through 11:59 PM EST February 28, 2010 and each future section will run from the first to last day of a following month.
How do I start participating?
Just post in the thread. You don't need to tell us you'll be participating beforehand, just pop in any time. Remember, we're doing this in monthly bursts so let us know when you beat each game you're posting.
New "rule": I would greatly appreciate it if from now on, everyone post each time they've cleared something by listing all the games they've beaten during this period in a single post, with the latest stuff optionally bolded to indicate what's new. This way I can link to a single post for each person to keep track of what games they've beaten.
If you want to tell us more, you can list your backloggery profile or your monthly goals (which or how many games you want to beat) and I'll list them in the thread.
How do people know that I really beat the games I said I beat?
Swear it on your scout's honor. This is fine even if you left the scouts after one year because when your parents bought your uniform they didn't get you a hat and everyone made fun of you as the kid who didn't have a hat and OH GOD THE MEMORIES -- ahem -- like I did.
More seriously, this is only a friendly competition, so just report truthfully, we'll all believe you.
What counts as a "backlogged game"?
Generally speaking, a backlogged title is any (single-player) game that you've purchased and not yet beaten. In general, if it's not yours (you borrowed or rented it), it doesn't count, and if you've beaten it before since you bought it, it doesn't count. The goal here's to play stuff we haven't played before. (If you want to track non-backlog games, though, I'll list 'em for you in the "participants" post, just not in the leaderboards.)
The one area that's weird here is remakes/ports/etc. I'm going to say that a non-content-identical port that you bought to play the new content will count as a new game -- so with something like FFT PSP (with a brand new translation and cinematics) or Secret of Monkey Island SE (with a whole new voice-acted fancy-graphics mode) is fine, even if you beat the original way back in the day.
Obviously, I don't know what you've played before, so it's kind of academic anyway. :lol As always, just use your judgment.
Okay, what counts as a game?
Use your judgment, but generally speaking, if you paid for it, and it's an electronic entertainment product, it counts.
Even if it's part of a compilation?
Yup.
Even if it's something really short like Shadow of Destiny or Spider and Web?
Yup.
And how many points is a game worth?
One.
Even if it's really long and huge like Dragon Quest VII?
Yup.
No fair!
The goal of this exercise is to have fun beating games. Some games are more of a challenge to beat quickly than others. Think of taking on a lot of long, epic RPGs as playing "Backlogathon" in "hard mode."
For me, tracking my game completion rates has helped me mix up my game genres more; now I'm more likely to follow a long, grueling RPG campaign with some short DD title or quick action game. I've found this is a positive side effect, for me at least.
What counts as "beating" a game?
As a general rule, if you've seen the credits by playing the game (not selecting them from a menu) you've beaten the game.
Doesn't that make fighting games hella easy to beat?
Sure, and shmups even more so. Some games aren't really single-player primarily, or are built to be beaten over and over again. As I see it, if you've got a stack of like twenty-plus fighting games sitting around your house that you haven't even seen the credits for once (*koff*Breaky*koff) you deserve the points. :lol
This thread is great, but I want to track games I own and have played myself. What's a good way to do that?
I cannot recommend The Backloggery enough.
Anything else?
Go out there and have fun playing games!
A little information, in Q&A form:
So what's a backlogathon anyway?
If you're anything like me, you've probably got a bunch of unplayed or unfinished games lying around -- stuff you were enjoying but put aside to play some exciting new release, or stuff you grabbed at a Gamestop B2G1 sale, or a big virtual stack of stuff you bought in the Steam Holiday Sale and haven't even installed yet. The backlogathon is intended to provide a gentle nudge towards playing and beating these games by tracking how many games each poster beats during the month. By setting goals for yourself, seeing your progress reflected in a steady improvement in your position, and even competing with other GAF posters, you can encourage yourself to play the games you really want to play and get a better return from your gaming purchases. Plus this is a great way to put the lie to the silly old chestnut that GAF posters don't actually play games.
In short: the backlogathon is a thread where we gaffers engage in a friendly competition to clear games out of our backlogs.
Doesn't that seem kind of like making gaming into... work?
The first rule of the backlogathon is only do it to have fun.
For me personally, I have a tendency to buy games I know I want to play, and that I do actually enjoy when I get around to playing them, but then leave them sitting around and not starting them. Other times I get in a rut and play like five RPGs or something in a row and get to the point where I'm like AAAARGH HITPOINTS EXPEES FUUUUUU- and I stop enjoying myself. Treating my backlog as a contest in its own right and strategizing about how to approach it has encouraged me to play a bigger variety of games, dig into old games I bought years ago but never got around to starting, and otherwise helped me enjoy playing more than I would otherwise. If you think the backlogathon will be fun for you too, you might as well sign up!
So how's this work then?
Each month on the 1st, I setup a new leaderboard. Anyone who wants to participate tells us the games they've beaten and I'll track your positions on the chart, along with your goal for the month (if you have one); just post to the thread every time you beat something new. At the end of each month, I'll post the final stats along with anything interesting I noticed about that month's performance.
The first monthly backlogathon will run from 12:00 AM EST Feburary 1, 2010 through 11:59 PM EST February 28, 2010 and each future section will run from the first to last day of a following month.
How do I start participating?
Just post in the thread. You don't need to tell us you'll be participating beforehand, just pop in any time. Remember, we're doing this in monthly bursts so let us know when you beat each game you're posting.
New "rule": I would greatly appreciate it if from now on, everyone post each time they've cleared something by listing all the games they've beaten during this period in a single post, with the latest stuff optionally bolded to indicate what's new. This way I can link to a single post for each person to keep track of what games they've beaten.
If you want to tell us more, you can list your backloggery profile or your monthly goals (which or how many games you want to beat) and I'll list them in the thread.
How do people know that I really beat the games I said I beat?
Swear it on your scout's honor. This is fine even if you left the scouts after one year because when your parents bought your uniform they didn't get you a hat and everyone made fun of you as the kid who didn't have a hat and OH GOD THE MEMORIES -- ahem -- like I did.
More seriously, this is only a friendly competition, so just report truthfully, we'll all believe you.
What counts as a "backlogged game"?
Generally speaking, a backlogged title is any (single-player) game that you've purchased and not yet beaten. In general, if it's not yours (you borrowed or rented it), it doesn't count, and if you've beaten it before since you bought it, it doesn't count. The goal here's to play stuff we haven't played before. (If you want to track non-backlog games, though, I'll list 'em for you in the "participants" post, just not in the leaderboards.)
The one area that's weird here is remakes/ports/etc. I'm going to say that a non-content-identical port that you bought to play the new content will count as a new game -- so with something like FFT PSP (with a brand new translation and cinematics) or Secret of Monkey Island SE (with a whole new voice-acted fancy-graphics mode) is fine, even if you beat the original way back in the day.
Obviously, I don't know what you've played before, so it's kind of academic anyway. :lol As always, just use your judgment.
Okay, what counts as a game?
Use your judgment, but generally speaking, if you paid for it, and it's an electronic entertainment product, it counts.
Even if it's part of a compilation?
Yup.
Even if it's something really short like Shadow of Destiny or Spider and Web?
Yup.
And how many points is a game worth?
One.
Even if it's really long and huge like Dragon Quest VII?
Yup.
No fair!
The goal of this exercise is to have fun beating games. Some games are more of a challenge to beat quickly than others. Think of taking on a lot of long, epic RPGs as playing "Backlogathon" in "hard mode."
For me, tracking my game completion rates has helped me mix up my game genres more; now I'm more likely to follow a long, grueling RPG campaign with some short DD title or quick action game. I've found this is a positive side effect, for me at least.
What counts as "beating" a game?
As a general rule, if you've seen the credits by playing the game (not selecting them from a menu) you've beaten the game.
Doesn't that make fighting games hella easy to beat?
Sure, and shmups even more so. Some games aren't really single-player primarily, or are built to be beaten over and over again. As I see it, if you've got a stack of like twenty-plus fighting games sitting around your house that you haven't even seen the credits for once (*koff*Breaky*koff) you deserve the points. :lol
This thread is great, but I want to track games I own and have played myself. What's a good way to do that?
I cannot recommend The Backloggery enough.
Anything else?
Go out there and have fun playing games!
