Vapourware Feeling You Have to Complete Every Game You Ever Bought Is a Bitch

[StaticSpine]

TL;DR You create additional work for yourself and get crushed by it. Backlogs are not the problem here, folks.

I know our primitive brains like to checkmark completed things and get happy about it but gaming backlogs just suck all the fun out of gaming and what you care about is completing the backlog, not enjoying the games. I struggled with this shit for years and heck, I even left Codex because of it - I thought I would play more games instead of discussing them. Of course, I didn't start to play more games because I already played as much as I wanted. But that burden of unfinished games that I bought loomed over me for years. And boy, did it not feel great.

There are some nice videos about this stuff. The dude feels it. His takeaway is basically - we play this stuff to find gold nuggets we'll cherish, not to complete all the stuff from the spreadsheet you've made.

 

[Grauken]

we play this stuff to find gold nuggets we'll cherish, not to complete all the stuff from the spreadsheet you've made

Formatting and filling out spreadsheets is the real game

 

[Sweeper]

TL;DR You create additional work for yourself and get crushed by it.

It ain't work retard, you ain't gotta play your backlog.

 

[Inec0rn]

I don't have a backlog, backlogs are usually full of mediocre games.

 

[Sergio]

95% of what I play is a single genre, and gaming is literally my life, so it was never hard for me to keep up. I've managed to clear my backlogs a few times already. The only reason I even have one now is because I'm getting senile with age and starting to enjoy farming pointless achievements.

Curate your choices, don't add every random shit you see to your wishlist, and you'll be fine.

 

[Odoryuk]

Thinking that there are enough worthwhile (to you) games to play that you have to create a list is mental

 

[Losus4]

Relevant - https://rpgcodex.net/forums/threads/you-dont-need-a-good-game-you-just-need-one-game.151410/

 

[Yuggoth]

There's nothing wrong with keeping a decent backlog. Unless you feel obliged to finish every single game you start instead of treating these games as a temporary distraction between other, better titles.

 

[StaticSpine]

Relevant - https://rpgcodex.net/forums/threads/you-dont-need-a-good-game-you-just-need-one-game.151410/

I agree with the idea but this is a different issue.

 

[StaticSpine]

Curate your choices, don't add every random shit you see to your wishlist, and you'll be fine.

This.

 

[Hellraiser]

I ended up with more games than I can remember and I just forget what I got, the tl;dr version is that over the past few years I got and keep getting a ton of vouchers, gift cards etc. from work (sure beats random foodstuffs baskets or whatever the fuck HR sent a few times for Christmas), and the only reasonable purchases I can make with them before they expire are games or books. I had to write the games all down at some point as it was impossible to remember all of them, and thus I ended up with situation where I look at the shelf and get a revelation that I have Morrowind and a bunch of other stuff there.

This actually works pretty decently when I am wondering what to play next, if I already did not have an idea. Seriously can't remember about half of it and title choice is anyway a matter of mood, if I already didn't have a plan.

 

[Gandalf]

I just go with the flow and play whatever I want to. New, old, known, uknown, anything that feels right at the moment. There are some games I haven't touch and those I won't try.

 

[pOcHa]

i clear them from the oldest published date - wish that would mean that they only get better, but not always

that way, the ones that were impulsive buys, or part of a bundle, gift or a freebie/giveaway/whatever - but didn't stood the test of time, i just hide or tag with "ignore"

got rid of a lot of mediocre metroidvanias that way - once they were rare as gold, so you got whatever you could get, but now they are dime a dozen

also some really bad remakes - or cashgrab modern sequels and disappointing "spiritual successors"

the ones that do not require any reflexes or skill, like point&click adventures for example - i tag with "backlog" and leave for the ripe old age, or when the industry (finally) crashes... not that there is much to look forward to already

 

[rumSaint]

It's only natural for humans to categorize and order thing you have. Sorta like cleaning up or putting them in the drawers.

I have a backlog with categorized games, but I play almost every genre, so I grab stuff on a whim and give games a "chance". Sometimes you can find something more interesting.

 

[Tehdagah]

I just bought another game yesterday. It was so cheap...

 

[JarlFrank]

I have a Steam library of over 5000 games.
And then I have several games on GOG that aren't on Steam.
And then I have a whole lot of pirated old games that aren't available on any digital storefront, including emulated games for platforms like Amiga and fucking Macintosh, and old indie games so obscure maybe 5 people played them in total.
Which brings the total number probably closer to 6000.

And I am entirely unburdened by it. The number is so huge I know I'll never play through all of it. But I can if I want. Whenever I scroll through my libraries of games, there's such a huge selection to choose from. Whatever I'm in the mood for, there's at least one game that will scratch that itch.

It's like cultivating a large library of books. If you have a huge amount of books (like I do - probably have at least 1000 of those too, physical copies of course, not ebooks) you're not gonna read every single one of them in your lifetime.

As Umberto Eco once said:

It is foolish to think that you have to read all the books you buy, as it is foolish to criticize those who buy more books than they will ever be able to read. It would be like saying that you should use all the cutlery or glasses or screwdrivers or drill bits you bought before buying new ones.

There are things in life that we need to always have plenty of supplies, even if we will only use a small portion.

If, for example, we consider books as medicine, we understand that it is good to have many at home rather than a few: when you want to feel better, then you go to the 'medicine closet' and choose a book. Not a random one, but the right book for that moment. That's why you should always have a nutrition choice!

Those who buy only one book, read only that one and then get rid of it. They simply apply the consumer mentality to books, that is, they consider them a consumer product, a good. Those who love books know that a book is anything but a commodity.

 

[octavius]

It's only a chore and a problem if you feel you have to complete every game you ever bought.
I play my backlog chronologically, but I skip games in my collection if I don't like them. I used to suffer from choice overload and mostly replayed old favourites.

 

[StaticSpine]

I should rename this thread to:
Feeling you have to complete every game you ever bought is a bitch

 

[Gregz]

Relevant - https://rpgcodex.net/forums/threads/you-dont-need-a-good-game-you-just-need-one-game.151410/

This is wrong in almost every way that something could be wrong. 99% of games are absolute shit. The real task is in identifying something that's worth your time.

 

[JarlFrank]

Honestly at this point browsing for new games is as much fun to me as playing them. I like digging through the depths of Steam's catalog, searching the internet for really obscure games only available on the dev's website or uploaded on archive.org, and finding stuff that looks remotely interesting to me. The more obscure, the better. It's like going on a treasure hunt. I also get more enjoyment out of playing obscure games nobody knows about, than big mainstream hits everyone loves, even if the game's quality is lower. The experience of discovering a hidden gem just adds to the fun of it.

My Steam wishlist contains over 9000 games. I will never ever buy a lot of them, but that doesn't matter - finding and adding them to the list was already fun!

 

[Necrensha]

When you get good at identifying trash, you will have the complete opposite problem.

 

[StaticSpine]

Honestly at this point browsing for new games is as much fun to me as playing them. I like digging through the depths of Steam's catalog

I liked to do that when Steam Greenlight was introduced.

 

[Fedora Master]

 

[Ol' Willy]

The sad life of dopamine addict. He has to buy new gaems to get a hit, makes one run or doesn't even finish the game, has to try the new one because addiction won't help itself...

 

[Humanophage]

I often don't finish even the games I like. I stop at around 3/4 or 5/6 of the game so as to make it more interesting to restart it at some later point. If it's so good, I'll replay it, and the additional bit at the end would further enhance it. Endgame is usually subpar anyway. Does it mean I'm actually not autistic?

Don't feel any pressure at all with the "backlog". It's just a list of potentially interesting games. In terms of buying, I used to purchase games more often before the invasion of Ukraine because they were so dirt cheap in rubles, but now I don't want to bother with the cards and regions on steam.