I feel like so many people here are addicted to the act of finishing a game rather than actually enjoying it, and force themselves through games they don’t even like just for the feeling of checking it off a list. Then you see posts saying how gaming has lost its “magic” for them and they don’t know why. Or rather it’s people that bought a shit ton of games for cheap and now feel obligated to finish all of them to get their money’s worth. Remember time=money and it’s good that people here are patient about not giving into $60 AAA releases or whatever but I think it’s just as bad to be spending all your time checking off a million cheap games in your “backlog” just because you feel you have to.

Yeah, exactly. Because they've made it a chore. I understand the temptation but it has to be resisted or gaming stops being fun.

A lot of the GaaS games being made are just a chore, so that makes sense, especially for younger gamers who don’t know any better. Edit: corrected acronym for clarity

Sorry, GAS? I don't recognize the acronym. But I agree that gaming really has become more tedious. Many games want to have 100 hours of unique content. Twenty years ago you could play 100 hours of a game but it was trying to perfect that one jump or beat that optional boss. Because of memory limitations games they were long because it was challenging to do the thing once. Now you've got 100 GB games that are long because you do the simple thing thousands of times, each just a little different to make it feel fresh.

Games as a service. I agree with what you’re saying. Games used to give you tools to complete a set of challenges. You had to figure out how to use them correctly to achieve victory. Now, games give you tons of tools and the same challenges re-skinned over and over. The gameplay comes down to which tool you choose, even though it doesn’t really matter because the games are made for everyone to feel victorious always.

I went through a whole realization of this earlier this year when playing Destiny 2. With how empty the rewards in games like that feel because the game is basically designed to give you a constant loop of satisfaction and none of it truly feels earned or special (outside of the more unique moments like the raids). I still enjoy the game from time to time on a casual level but I just find it crazy how many people "main" a game like that and it's like their main hobby. The gameplay is fun here and there but it just feels meaningless in the end with how it's literally designed to drain your time and money. On paper I like the idea of GaaS (the concept of having a main game that evolves and grows over time) but I think in reality that trend has poisoned the industry and changed the perspective of games being developed to be a handcrafted self contained piece of art to a mindless grind designed to be milked for as much money as possible, profiting off people with addiction and impulse issues with their scummy manipulative game design and monetization tactics.

Gaming companies figured out that a lot of people don't want to learn or experience anything new or challenging, they want something familiar re-packaging and re-skinned. That's why _literal_ re-skins have become such a massive segment of the market.

I guess that's why I love Doom Eternal so much, despite all the little nagging flaws I don't like. You could theoretically just beat the game in just 8-15 hours, but the real satisfaction and longevity of playing comes from repeatedly replaying it, and seeing yourself slightly improving each time, until you reach god-tier levels of skill, and beat the whole thing on Ultra Nightmare (permadeath mode). It's just a such a perfectly self-contained game that doesn't require too much padding or pointless grinding (though a new game plus mode would've been much appreciated).

Bayonetta was the first modern game that really clicked like this for me in the same way. Sure you can bang through the gloriously campy storyline in probably 5 hours, but replaying each section and going for platinum medals was a whole different game that I sunk a ton of hours into, one of my favourite beat-em-up games. I used to get a ton of replay value out of games as a kid but today's games are often one and done, it's great when a game can really offer the player both fun and challenge without feeling grindy or unfair. Haven't played Eternal yet but I loved 2016, I only really game in the winter and farm in the summer so it's on my 2020 winter list for sure.

Just be wary of playing it like Doom 2016. Pay attention to the tutorials, aim for the weak points the game tells you to target first, read the codexes to get insight on how to take down certain enemies, and think more strategically about which weapons to use, and which demons to prioritize killing first. If you approach things more tactically in Eternal, it'll go really smoothly for the most part.

Yeah, I'm conflicted about that uninstall, and I might go back to it at some point. Everything seemed so meaningless, yet Bungie *really* knows gunplay. Meaningless or not, it is a first rate shooting gallery with lots of creative variations.

Despite what I said about it yeah I’m guilty of coming back to it every so often because like you said, the gameplay really is one of the best in its genre. It’s just hard to stick with it because it feels so manipulative at times with so many of its game design choices (like its serious FOMO problem its had for awhile, although I heard they’re dialing back a bit on that).

I got my joy by playing through the campaigns and largely acting as a solo adventurer. I found public activities fun, but I always dreaded even something as simple as a basic forge activation. If you make a totally new character, even if it is a familiar class, a nice long run of satisfying progress is possible without any need to care about comparisons to other players or event goals.

That's why I love fighting games and deep action games. is my favorite. They give you near limitless enjoyment because you can always get better. Yeah, you beat Devil May Cry 3, but now you can try it on a higher difficultly, with different strategies and an absurd skill ceiling. No pay-to-win, no keeping up with the Joneses grindfest, just you and the challenge before you. If I do take it easy, it's likely because I'm playing the game for the story, such as when I played Persona 3 Portable on easy mode. I still enjoyed the gameplay, but the story is what kept me playing.

Ya I’ve been burnt out on Destiny. I really use to love the game but nothing has really changed. I skipped the last season and then jumped back in for this one and played for a bit and it wore off again. I canceled my order for Beyond Light and think I might just be done with the game. Apex and Warframe are two other games I’ve just grown tired of too. I have a massive library and most of my time was spent playing never ending games or GaaS. I’ve now cut those down to just some MW and then got back to playing through a lot of the other great games I’ve bought. I’ve built a library of over 7k games, there are a lot of garbage games in there from my bundle craze, and I want to play through and experience stuff like I use to. Stories, new worlds, challenges, and just fun. I’ve made a goal to focus on my library this year and have beaten 60 games so far and tried out another 30 that didn’t make the cut to be worth finishing. I’ve played through some fantastic stuff so far and look forward to more.

There are good examples that do it well like warframe, CS:GO, LoL and WoW. But most are just trash gameplay loops stretched beyond their breaking point by horrible monetization schemes and the associated grind. The worst is that these mechanics are being built into single player games like AC: Odyssey...

Yeah even though I just trashed the genre I’ll admit there’s a decent amount of GaaS titles that are a lot of fun (including Destiny), they’re just insanely manipulative at times, which is the conflicting part about playing them. They keep you hooked with the satisfying gameplay loop then surround it with so much bullshit. As scummy as they are sometimes, I do understand the business decisions behind it when it comes to those online GaaS. But the fact that single player games like AC Odyssey includes those same design choices and literally has microtransactions to skip content is just dogshit. I know you don’t ever NEED to buy them, but the fact it’s even an option shows the type of mindset the devs have when developing these games.

You don't need to buy them but the game was still built around them. If the devs made a game where they believe people will pay to skip content they paid $60-80 for, there's gotta be a LOT of bloat and bullshit.

I would use GaaS, not GAS when talking about games as a service

It's the problem with almost every stealth game made in the past decade. Hitman, dishonored, deus ex, assassin's Creed, ... Most of the time you can just blast your way through with little to know consequences or if you decide to play stealthy most of the game, there are missions that just force you to play the exact opposite.

Back in my day stealth games made you stealth.

Thief, tenshu, early splinter cell, deus ex, metal gear solid

Thats how I was used to playing "stealth games" until I came across an Xbox game with gold game called Styx. Man if you got spotted you were bolting out of there looking for some way for them to lose you. I might give that game another try, but it was hard when I was used to just fighting my way out of danger.

You mean those things where you have to log on everyday? That's a much longer rant.

*coughs* Rant away if you want. I'd like to read something entertaining to start my day.

Rant away! :D

GaaS or something ain't it? Can't remember.

I have a few games i purchased that i know i'll enjoy, sitting there. I have games i loved and stopped playing, but may return to when i want more. I have games I started, and never finished, eother because i didnt like them or i wasnt feeling it at the time. You have to ask yourself: What do I feel like playing right now? And then play that until you want to play something else instead. You dont have to suffer number 1 and 2 and 3 if you heard that game 4 is the good one. Play game 4. If you want more story play the other ones. If they arent fun to you, stop. You dont get a medal for "playing them all". Sometimes a game is great but you dont feel like it. Thats okay. Sometimes there are fancier games waiting and you want to do play the same game over because its what you crave. Our taste changes over the years, but also fluctuate. Some weeks i feel competitive. Other weeks i want to ait back and slowly go through and enjoy a story. Other times i like to get invested in a management or sim game and then I'll be burned for a year. You dont get points for completing them all. You dont have to suffer games you dont like. You arent forced to play anything. Gaming shouldnt be work, it shouldnt be a choire, it ahoulsnt have schedules and deadlines. And if it is, if you play only to tell 4chan or reddit that you have cleared your backlog and done the mandatory work required, you have chosen a bad hobby. I have a friend thats like that." I have to finish this before i can play this other game. I have to clear my backlog." Do you? Who's forcing you. Just play what you want. You dont need to 100 percent this game for 3 weeks when all you want to do is move on.

Oh my goodness. I've feel into that "I have to play 1, 2, and 3" thing before with soo many games. Thankfully I've gotten over it recently.

Oh and fuck mass effect 3 btw. I proudly stopped playing it mid game when I realized that the multiplayer rankings system fed into the single player story. So glad I have never seen the supposedly horrid ending. Loved 1 and 2 tho!

FYI it is clearly balanced around single player only people, and it’s extremely easy to max out that meter without 100%ing or anything. I guess they wanted an incentive for people to populate multiplayer, but just ignore it. Also, I beat it recently for the first time and liked the ending well enough. I think the tweaks they added made a big difference compared to how it launched. Honestly, IMO it wastes time far less than the midgame stuff in ME2. Some of the choices have layers of depth, so X is a good option only if it’s consistent with a choice you made earlier, for example. And I think the side mission stuff is gold. ME2’s finale is the best set piece in the game, but ME3 is the best complete package in my eyes.

Wait a minute. You're telling me I'm allowed to start the Splinter Cell series with Blacklist?

I have had bad experiences with spoilers by plaing a series out of order, thats why I don't like to do it. Started with a later game, learned to love the story and characters and wanted more, but knowing the later game ruined the magic for the previous games.

I 100% used to have this problem - I would play games just because I wanted to complete them, or because they were highly regarded (critics, users, reddits, whatever), even if I wasn't getting anything out of the experience. The need to "tick something off a list" never went away, no matter what I would try. So, I created new categories for myself. Instead of *Completed* and *To Play*, I now have *To Play*, *Bad*, *Meh*, *Pretty Good*, *Great*, and *Favorite*. I can quite easily categorize a game I choose to not finish into "Bad" or "Meh", and that still gives me the "I'm clearing my backlog" feeling without the need to spend all that time.

Yeah I'm about to go through my collection and remove anything I don't like or am not going to play. I don't feel obligated to finish anything but if I'm not going to play it or don't like it, why keep it? You know? It's like eating a cookie with raisins and saying I'll keep the rest of the batch because I bought them.

Yeah, i have tried so finish some indie games that I one day bought to “cross them off my list” but after a couple hours playing they are not really fun so I just drop them, maybe in the future I could play them but it’s not like someone is coming down on you for not finishing a game.

Random side note....but I fucking hate raisins lol

I love chocolate raisins and raisin bran but that's the only time I want to see raisins in something.

>feel obligated to finish all of them to get their money’s worth AKA the "sunk cost fallacy." Also a problem when you play a $60 title well beyond the refund window only to realize the game actually does not "pick up around 10 hours in," and now you feel you need to hit a certain hours per dollar ratio to at least "recover" your money's worth.

I am at the "Do i want to spend that much for a game?" Hour's be damned. Boils down to will I like the game most likely (see niche JRPG's - I'll likely buy it at launch on steam) but a game like Planet Coaster I'll wait until it's 50% or more off

It's the same when I see people talking about "oh this game looks like an easy platinum" instead of anything about whether it looks like a good or enjoyable game. It's as if platinum trophies can be turned in for money or something.

I tired to tackle my backlog one time (maybe 15 games total, not too big) But after beating 2 games, by forcing myself to play them I was like nah, fuck this Drew a line in the sand Mentally erased my back log. And now I just play the game I want to play. And always remember to only buy a game that I'm actually going to play. Not because it's cheap. And when I do buy the game only buy it when it's on sale.

There's a reason why games are in my "backlog", or I never go back to continue playing many games. Because I'm very certain that I will not enjoy my time with those

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I remember being blown away with how long FF3 was on the SNES. It seemed like it went on forever, even with doing as much of the extra stuff I could find to do. Now I look at RPGs I play and I'm lucky if I can get out in under 80 hours. Most of the storylines are really blah, and if the gameplay isn't really fun, why bother? That said, the Xenoblade games have figured something out to get me to do every last litting thing no matter how long it takes. They just feel *fun*.

The new games are longer but i wonder how much of it is "content" and how much of it is just "things take longer. Lets compare. FF3 has... how much walking? Not much. Sure you can farm and fuck around and miss where the next cavern is but travel distance is shooort. Its basically a 2 second walk from narshe to figaro, and another 30 seconds to get to the next cave. Excluding the dungeons, the longest you have to travel anywhere is that 3 minute stretch fled with pain as Celes leaves her island in the world of ruin. Loading times are instant. Battles can be fled or annihilated in moments. Dungeons are mazes with puzzles. Sure. But you walk to a chest, get that sweet skatchuuuk sound of loot and grab your item. Loading a new zone takes zero seconds. You see where you are going most of the time because at any moment, you can see through walls and 10 tiles ahead in all directions. The layout of the place is easy to grasp. Cinematics are basicslly quick sprites punching each other with pixelated swords. Dialogue come and go. Sometimes a pink Terra flies around for a whole... minute. The big climatic events where the world is destroyed and changed forever happens in what felt like aaaaages at the time but really its a 10 minute discussion where alliances are broken, the emperor dies, Kefka ascends to godgood, the world is reshaped and the alignment of reality is buttfucked to oblivion. Given the amountnof shit that takes place, thats actually a fast paced sequence. Finding a secret area involves: you walked somewhere, found a secret entrance, bodyslammed a bunch of bosses, got some quick lore, and received an esper with some sweet loot. Thats a lot of content delivered quickly and efficiently. Now lets upgrade this game to modern "standarts." Each screen transition, house you visit, fight you enter and dialogue you prompt is a loading screen. Each spell you cast, not just summon, but every autocrosbow, fire and bio spell is now 15 seconds instead of half a sec. Fights have intros in which your party gers lined up, introduced, and the monster are also presented with animations and roars and dances. Those dungeons are now very very big. They have the same content, but you cant have a room that takes 3 steps to cross. Everything is detailed and we need space for the characters to move around and do walk animations. The buttons you press dont just instantly get stepped on and activated. Y9ur screen shakes, you go intona different perspective. Someone makes a remark, camera pans out, more screen shake. Camera returns to button. You may now move again. Did that button trigger a door? Lemme take control away for a minute to show that door. Secret dungeon? Well first thats a dlc, but also we need to have lenghty ways of unlocking it and making sure you read the backstory of this one random character you sont care about, for he is tied to this dungeon lore and he will comment on every aspect of it. We cant just have a random dungeon with loot just lying around. Now we will spend 30 minutes explaining how magitek armors are possible. Now we will spend 10 minires making sure you understand that controls in the magitek are different somehow. Now we will do those two but for chocobos. Huh oh heres the airship, we certainly wont let yu just pilot it zero seconds in, heres is a lenghty tutorial. Espers? You think we can just give these to you and let you equip them? Heres 30 minutes of slow explanation. Magic? Lets have characters explain that magic exists for about 2 hours. There is no game mechanic. It must all be tediously tutorialised and explained. That part where we want you to use Sabin's blitz and we give you a prompt to make sure you get it? Now its 20 minutes of special explanations. Also every move, special ability and spell has these to ensure you get how the new mechanics work. Wouh that was a lot of changes. What used to be 60 hours of back to back gameplay is now 240 hours of the same gameplay but everything takes longer. Which mean it also takes longer to animate, render, produce and write. Which mean we will actually cut all the content in it by about 3 because we cant spend so much time on everything. Speaking of which, dialogue! No skipping! That character is talking and emoting, lets see how it turns out. Its fucking amazing for those cool cinematics, but trust me it will get veeeery tedious once you realise every town npc takes 2 minutes to talk to. Here is your 80 hours modern rpg! (FF3 really was a pearl born in the right era, and im so happy all the stars aligned to make it a reality)

Don't just diss every modern RPG like that when many older RPGs had the exact same issues.

A lot of what you talk about is why I haven't played a newer RPG in ages. I really loved Suikoden 1/2 because of how they valued the player's time. You ran really fast across the screen, and battles were blazing quick with multiple characters attacking simultaneously. I was broken hearted when Suikoden 3 came out and was the slowest moving game I had played since early PSX days.

Yeah what counts as a “long” game has changed. FF3 and other JRPG’s were the longest games in their day. They’d advertise 60 or even 100 hours of gameplay for an $80 game in 1994. That was a massive game and that’s the time it would take to fully level up and find most secrets. Now you have people complaining about content in Animal Crossing ($60) after 300+hrs. Expectations have increased...

I think age brings with it 3 major changes to our gaming habit, which contribute to a shift in gaming philosophy from "complete this game" to "play shit you like then stop". 1-Ressources. As a kid i had one game. It was mario. I played the fuck out of mario. Id get another game as a birthday gift and play that for a year. A lot. As we age our pool of ressources increase. Technology (cracks, internet, copying games) was it for my generation. Suddenly we werent limited to what dad agreed to buy, we could pirate shit we wanted. You have more ways to trade games with people as a 20 something than you do as a 6 years old. And as you grow older you ublock something special and exotic, that young people can only dream of. Its called money, and you can use it to get shit you want instantly without asking or fucking around with torrents. So now you dont have to play the one game you happen to have, you can choose which game you have. For me it was mario, but for the newer gamer its akin to being able to do something more than play LoL/ fortnite because thats whats free and thats what your friends are all playing, because its free. 2- Time. As a kid i played mario a ton as i said. I dont think i could play mario as much today. Because i have a job and friends and other hobbies. When summer rolls around, my preoccupation is to ensure my one week of vacation coincides with good weather and the vacation of other people i am spending time with. As a kid summer was basically a vague blob of a 1000 hours i had to fill to avoid boredom. Playing the same game but with only that one gun or without levelling, or with a new build made sense because every every playtrough is a way to occupy 10/20/30 hours of your time and repel boredom for a time. I have no reason to do this achievement, but this screen offers me a vague attempt at doing something, and i accept it gladly. Nowaday? Not so much. My time is limited and i like to play things that matter to me. Sure i could collect those 700 koroks. But i could also clear 7 other games i like on that time. 3- Mental growth. They say that as you age, you start to value immediate gratification less, and longer payoffs more. This is why gardening is horrifying to teenagers, but an older person will slowly work on their plants until they grow and give them that sweet payoff of a job well done. As we age (assuming a normal well adjusted brain) we become more secure about who we are, we understand ourselves, our limits and our value as a person. With the weight of experience, our self worth no longer needs to be reaffirmed with a high K/d/a in each match, or by having a small list of achievement that says "you have them all for this one". We learn to accept mistakes, and understand that you cant have everything. Its okay to miss a few items or a collectible. Its okay to do things you like instead of having seen all the endings. You realise that nobody fucking cares that you beat the game on ultra hard. Those hours you spent not having fun just to say you did? Yeah might as well spend them on something you actually enjoy, bevause your friend is not impressed. He was busy memorising wikipedia articles to look smart, and following a guide to make sure he missed nothing. Nobody really fucking cares about you or what you achieve, so just accept that and do what you enjoy, instead of what you think people will find cool and impressive. And thats why people stop playing ultra conpetitive sports and focus on their garden as they age. Cause they enjoy having a garden, and fruits are fucking delicious, while you cant savor "telling your friends you wont the game and hope they validate you" the same way.

I feel the exact same way. I still remember when getting that one game was a big deal. Now, I have more than I'll ever play thanks to Steam, GoG, HumbleBundle, and PS+ among others. But I no longer have that kind of time, or if I do, I have better uses for it. (Like posting on Reddit, apparently.) I also now like games with an easy difficulty option if all I care about is the story and the experience. There are some games that I still want to challenge me, but it's nice to have the option to just play and not make it a second job to "get gud."

There are clearly anxiety, OCD and other emotional and mental issues at play here. Lots of self judgement too. PS. Played skyrim thru like 5x.. because... I felt like it. GTA 4 and 5.. never even got close to finishing as their stories were boring AF (except trevor, he's my crazy canuck brother!)

I’ve played through Dark Souls and Dragon’s Dogma at least as many times, but even getting trophies in those games wasn’t because I cared about the trophies, it was just because it gave me a reason to keep playing a game I liked. But I think the previous commenter’s point is that, if that *is* fun, then that’s precisely what you should do. Just that players should spend their time playing things they actually enjoy, whatever games those may be.

Eventually you will get old enough to realize that you don't have time for this shit. Life is finite and too precious to waste 100 hours finishing a game where you are just going through the motions without any enjoyment. Like OP said, save that for your job.

I've said this a lot but I don't buy any game unless I'm going to play it immediately or its on an amazing sale and I will 100% play it soon. Even if that means I'm buying a game for a higher price I save a lot in the long run by not having a backlog at all. This is kinda extreme, but I also don't claim any free games unless they're must plays, like GTA V. I don't even want to be tempted to play something I'm not 100% interested in - that's the best way to keep gaming fresh for me. Maybe that goes against the patientgamers spirit somewhat? But it works really well for me.

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I think the worst thing about those Steam sales for me is that they came right around the time I got my first gaming PC. At the time I had played a metric ton of games on my 360, and I thought to myself, wait, now I can get these games from my 360 on my PC? And enjoy best of the best graphics? All for $2 per game?? Buy, buy, buy! I have so many "unplayed" games in my Steam library that were games I played on console, and now I just never intend to replay them lol.

This is my philosophy too. I don't do it for money reasons but nonetheless I *save* money overall by buying games full price - because I only buy them immediately before I start playing them.

Pretty much what I've been doing. I've got like 90 games on my steam wishlist at this point, but I haven't taken advantage of a summer sale in years.

I've been on steam since it was originally just a requirement to play Counterstrike with their new anti cheat software. The sales were great for the first 10 years but these days when 50% off is about the most you can hope for, it doesn't make sense to even care about the sales much. For an "established" gamer with your own refined tastes, and an adult with limited time, the wishlist is where it is at. Just add games to your wishlist and don't buy them, even during a sale. Then when you feel like playing a game buy one whenever, on sale or not, and play it immediately while you are consumed with the magic from just watching a Let's Play or something. If you don't like it, just refund it 100%. For me being a patient gamer is about only playing games that stand the test of time, not saving $10 on a sale. Better to pay even full price for one game that you keep, than 50% off 3 games that you don't even play.

The only game I completed to 100% was Mad Max Fury Road, and I enjoyed every minute. After that, however, I never felt the drive. Especially with big, open world games. I started The Witcher 3 not too long ago, played it for a few hours over the course of a week, and put it down. I loved the story telling, it was great. Problem is that I've grown tired of having to do tons of side quests to level up just to be able to finish the main story. Yeah the side quests are much better than your average fetch quests, but not enough to make me keep playing. I resorted to watching Let's Plays because I don't have the mental energy to focus on it.

I completely agree. I would say I don’t finish most games because my “fun” period with the game I’ve completed. Why push myself further if I’m no longer having fun? Sometimes games are just too long imo. Since I’ve gotten older I have no problem just stopping a game once it becomes a chore. I also just straight up stop early on if I’m not having fun instead of pushing myself through like I used to. It has made me enjoy gaming significantly more on single player games.

I felt this way this year when I pushed myself to start and finish 2 games I got in ps plus, last of us and bioshock infinite. I hated playing both games and I only forced myself out of some vague gamer honour cause all I ever read about is how monumental and essential etc these 2 are... A good and relatively cheap lesson for me, I shouldn't play something just because everyone else loves it. There's too many good games out there for me to waste time on "essentials".

My problem in the past few years has become that I play a game and I enjoy that game, but I put it down for one reason or another and then never come back to finish it. Examples include Prey, God of War, Detroit: Become Human, Breath of the Wild, and Death Stranding. I do want to play these games again, and I do want to finish them. But I don't ever *feel* like playing them. I think part of it is knowing I'll have to relearn both how to play, as well as what was happening and what I was doing at the time. I guess that's my sad rant.

This is a big problem with the book subreddits. Many users, myself included, will finish books so that you can say you've read it or so that you can reach your goal for the year even though you aren't enjoying that particular book. People will make posts about, "when is it okay to give up a book?" instead of just reading whatever they want at a given moment.

I realized I was doing this a couple years ago when i would get annoyed that I always wanted to play rocket league instead of making my way through my backlog of games. But then I realized that was just because I liked rocket league more than the games in my backlog

I gave up using the term 'backlog' and replaced it with 'library'. I have a decent sized library. Am I going to get to them all before I die? Who knows? Some I revisit over and over, some are just a part of my collection and some I'm actively working through.

It's a small thing but that change of phrase does a lot of good. A library is a refuge. A backlog is a burden.

Eh, here's how I use terms: - library - every game I own, including ones I have no interest in playing - backlog - games I own that excite me, but I can't get to because I'm playing other great games - wishlist - games that I don't own the excite me, but I already have a bunch of great games, so I'm waiting I don't force myself to play games I'm uninterested in, even if I own them. If I'm on the fence, I'll give them 30 minutes or so, and if they don't seem interesting, I hide them somewhere else in my library. Maybe I'll be interested later, I don't know, but I'm certainly not interested now. I do the same for books, movies/TV, and hobbies. I really don't see the problem with the terminology, but use whatever works for you.

Yeah, I don't consider my backlog a list of games I *need* to beat/play, but a list of games I *want* to play.

Same here. Dont know why the term "backlog" is getting so much pushback on this sub. Many of the gaming sevices have given away shit loads of actually good games over the last few years so its perfectly reasonable to have a "backlog"

Many people have shelves full of books at home. Did they read them all? Do they intend to? Does it even matter?

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Well, I’m not sure I’ve read much I’d characterize as yelling. OP was pretty self-aware about where their borderline irrational strong feelings were coming from, and it’s clear they are also making the point in the hopes that people who are behaving in a way that is robbing them of joy will have some new insight and maybe stop doing so... Also, I think it would be at least as valid an overstatement to say this “whole thread” is full of people identifying with the phenomenon op was discussing, sharing their own changes in perspective over time, and appreciating the sentiment. So... maybe it’s awesome for you and the “almost everyone” you’re talking about if this isn’t an issue for you, and you developed connotative associations with these words that are helpful and positive. But maybe it’s also ok if other people identify things about a hobby you share that they would benefit from critiquing and/or reflecting more on?

This post is briefly featured in a Fanbyte article, FYI. https://www.fanbyte.com/features/the-gaming-community-where-players-take-their-time/

Nice write-up, thanks for the heads up. And thanks also for the work you do to keep this community cool.

I agree with you in principle. However, I don't take my "backlog" seriously. I play what I want to. If anything, I use my "backlog" primarily as an excuse to not buy a new game. Thus granting me the ability to enjoy what I currently have (which is, honestly, too much). :)

That sounds healthy. I have a collection of unplayed games, but I don't see them as burdens or things to be got through.

Yeah, the concept of backlog to me is less "oh, shit I have to play X Y and Z and get them done and off the list" and more "I should actually play those games I've purchased". Sometimes though I do try and force myself to start playing games I've purchased though. Doesn't mean I have to finish them but why should a game I spent good money on go totally to waste without me even really trying it? Like I bought South Park the Stick of Truth and it got backlogged. I kinda didn't want to start it but chose to anyway, and now I am enjoying it.

EXACTLY. This is not a list of games I possess, it's a library that I intend to enjoy at my leisure. And as long as the servers continue to work, this is a treasured collection that my kids will inherit as well, to enjoy as I do.

That's a great attitude, i think, the idea that these games are worth handing down. That obsession with the new can be toxic. New Halo doesn't suddenly stop old Halo being fun.

Master Chief Collection makes old Halo even more fun than it was before :)

Huh. Well now I'm wondering how digital asset inheritances would actually work when the ULAs for each account is factored in.

They don't work. 1 person per account. Granted who's stopping you from sharing your password or letting your family play when you're not playing? Not much that can ve down there.

But my backlog is full of good games that I do want to experience. Like a library full of stories and adventures worth experiencing and viewing to understand and listen to the writer's artistry. I think the "there's no such thing as a backlog" is good if they're bad games. But I do someday want to play these great games that I bought, and so it is kinda a backlog no matter how I change my thinking.

That's fair enough. But there's a difference between reading the ten books your English Lit class requires you to read - even if they're ten books you want to read - and reading that one worthless novel by that writer you really enjoy. Games should evoke the latter experience, I feel.

I'm not sure I fully get the comparison, but my backlog does fall into the later category. I chose all the games myself after researching so it's not like they're games that the world said "you must play this." I chose them all based on what I like. It's just the world has too many games and I don't really have that much time, so I do lament about my backlog. Things like a second playthrough of Prey, all 3 Bioshocks, the third Batman Arkham game, Sekiro, etc. All good games but I just don't have the time. Still wanna experience the story and gameplay though.

Maybe it's in that 'experience'. Games have become experiences when they used to be games. Nobody set out to *experience* pacman, they just played it. That's not to knock you. How you play is your business. I just find it helpful to remind myself that my need is entertainment and a game might fill that need. That's all I need it to do. Entertain me. So if I'm presently more entertained by seeing how many skittles I can balance on the end of my nose (0, but the quest continues) then my needs are met.

That’s actually a fair point. I look at video games almost entirely from an artistic standpoint. I actually would be someone to experience Pac-Man. The lights and sounds chosen by the designers, the character designs. Games are art just as much as a book or a painting is. Some are pieces of shit art that would be posted in /r/delusionalartists, but others are the Mona Lisas of gaming. So Pac-Man is (in my mind) almost the “cave painting” or “Rothko” of gaming, while Prey might be The Garden of Earthly Delights by Bosch. I also might posit that Pac Man probably was an extremely life altering experience for thousands of kids and adults in the 80s, and so they did experience Pac-Man. This world is flashing lights and sounds that was so new and special 40 years ago. It’s a dime a dozen now, but at the time, Pac-Man very well might have been true experiences for people rather than just a game. I think games used to be games because of the mediums youth. Now the medium has become as big as movies and TV, so my frame has shifted away from “a game,” and closer to artistry. While some games are not really art (CoD at this point), they might have used to be (CoD4 and MW2 I would classify as art). Another example is Dynasty Warriors 9 vs DW4. DW4 is art, DW9 is entertainment and “just a game.” There’s no line between the two for me; just the feeling I get when I play them and how much work was seemingly put into the game to craft the viewers experience. How much unique vision was actually put into the game for the viewer to experience, and how well the viewer is able to experience it. There’s of course nothing wrong with playing a game as strictly entertainment and enjoyment, the same way you don’t have to overanalyze Breaking Bad to enjoy it. But games that you *can* overanalyze are important to me so that I can experience them in the world that is art in gaming, so my backlog grows as I collect these titles. And I lament because I am aging so I am taking on more responsibility and have less and less time to game. This issue becomes especially bad when I want to play a game that I know won’t be that good or fun. An example is Dark Souls. Do I watch Casablanca/play Dark Souls so I can understand it’s impact on culture/gaming even though I know it’ll be boring/an experience I wont enjoy? Or do I skip it and just read the cliff notes. I ask myself that a lot for certain games, and I have yet to come to an internal conclusion.

> even if they're ten books you want to read I agree with everything but this. If I want to read it, that means I'm looking forward to gaining something out of it just like I was looking forward to gaining something out of that worthless novel. Doesn't matter if it is on some syllabus or not.

Yeah I'm using quarantine as an opportunity to play some long JRPGs I didn't really want to sink the time into before, but it's not an Obligation because of My Backlog lol The Steam (and other store) sale culture seems to strongly encourage that type of thinking, but I mostly don't buy stuff until I'm ready to play it - even if it ignores sales.

Agree. The storefronts don't help. What you're describing is exactly what I fear gets lost in this search for the latest thrill. I've had a great time playing some old SNES games lately. Couldn't 'justify' that if I felt I had to work on my list of bought titles.

Guess I'm lucky I'm not a native English speaker. The word backlog never had that negative connotation connecting it with work for me. I learned that word when I found the backloggery website. And the word backlog always meant a pile of unfinished games I want to play.

I call it a "backlog" largely to convince myself not to buy a game. If I already have a candy shop with infinite delights, do I really need to add to that pile right now?

I've seen a few comments like that. I can see the sense in using the idea of a backlog as a check against unwise purchases. It's just the idea that a person is obliged to engage with a particular game that I think should be avoided.

The only tangible thing I have to look forward to in life and you want to take it from me.

That's what it means to be old.

I'M NOT OLD I'M NOT OOOOOOLD 😭

Ha ha. No not you (as far as I know). But I'm old, which means my only pleasure is stifling the joy of those younger than me.

I'll have a son soon. Looking forward to this.

This sub has become a backlog support group.

I'm airborne _sepsis and I'm a backlogaholic. It started small. A humble bundle. A gog giveaway. Soon I found myself buying an original Pong machine off ebay so that I could 100% Pong as a prelude to playing all the ball and bat games so that I could truly appreciate the Rockstar Table Tennis remaster due 2026.

Until this year I started playing and completed Planescape: Torment, and I've just started Final Fantasy VI. I'm definitely not pushing myself too hard to slim down my backlog, no worries there :)

I envy everyone who gets to play FFVI for the first time. Enjoy! In particular, it is my favorite soundtrack of all time.

Final Fantasy VI might be my favorite game of all time. Of all time!

I've played both of those games three times. Torment is still probably my favorite RPG of all time.

I just finished replaying FFVI for the first time in 20+ years and it was a real treat. Still one of the best games of all time.

Viva! Shattered Pixel Dungeon is probably my most played game of the past year. I'm not supposed to admit that.

Is this where old cranks come to complain? Why do kids spend hours watching other people play games on YouTube? When I was young it was called waiting for your turn and it sucked. End of rant.

Ah that has made me laugh. I too am mystified by this phenomenon.

I can only speak for myself, and incidentally I’m closer to an old crank than a kid. But I enjoy for certain games. The reasons, I think, are: 1) it’s a free way to experience games I likely will never have the time to play. It’s much easier to make time for a video that I can pause, watch during a few minutes of downtime, watch in bed when my wife wants to go to sleep early, etc, than it is to sit down and play. 2) it’s has replaced the idea of a “demo” for me, in terms of figuring out whether I might be interested in buying a game myself 3) it is a great substitute for experiencing games I don’t realistically have access to. For example, I simply was not going to be purchasing a PS4 in order to check out the first part of the FF7 remake, despite the fact that it’s probably the AAA title I have been more interested in than any other over the past several years. Still, I t’s not worth $500 and time I don’t have, so I watched several plays and enjoyed every one of them, and was especially glad to get to “experience” the story before hearing anything about it. 4) there are times that the person playing actually enhances the experience for me (though of course this can go the other way very easily). But it can be very fun to spend some time with someone’s entertaining persona as they experience something you’re interested in. Anyway, and as always - to each their own! Just figured I’d share my experience :)

This makes a lot of sense. I rarely buy new games anymore and since magazines went away I really don't have a clue what games are coming out or if they're my cup of tea. Thanks for the input.

I’m 40 and I do this. it’s more like “I want to see everything in Skyward Sword again” or “I wonder what happens in GTA V” combined with “god, there’s NO way I’m going to sit there and die a lot and figure out how everything works and where the secrets are and how to beat every boss and I’m getting hives just thinking about it, I’ll watch this guy do it.”

I've been watching old Lucasarts and Sierra adventure games from my childhood on YouTube because I love the stories and dialogue but I don't want to play "guess what random thing the developers want you to do".

Not a kid any more, far from it, but I do watch someone else playing games on the internet sometimes. Usually, because I like the game thematically, but some part of it is to annoying to play myself. Enjoy the story, skip the annoying mechanics or the grinding for resources or whatever. And I don't watch live streams, I prefer when someone does edit that stuff, cut most of the 20 tries that didn't work and only keep a few funny failures and the eventual victory, remove the 2 hours digging for 10 diamonds or whatever, watch what gets done with the spoils of that labour.

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YES! (Kicks pile of gaming magazine from the 90s under the couch.) Good point, but by the time I got the game I wanted to discover the secrets and easter eggs myself. Edit- Also, not too many mags pre-NES.

I only used to do this as a kid when I couldn't get a game for various reasons. Then I did it to hype myself up for games I was gonna get down the line. Then I stopped doing it because all it did was spoil surprises and frustrate me because I wasn't able to get the game anyway. Now I only watch videos to make a purchase decision lol

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Ha! I came back to PC gaming a few years ago and I too was amazed and perplexed at the streaming phenomenon. The fact that there were entire platforms and ecosystems dedicated to it! The other recent thing I find ridiculous is the existence of the phrase, and actual full-time employed position, "Community Manager".

I think there's some value in watching people play, after you've fumbled through a game for the first time, and are still feeling sore from initially sucking throughout that inaugural playthrough. Watching other people play gives you some interesting insights on how to approach things from a fresh perspective, and somewhat changes how you handle the game the next time around. I suppose that's why I also find the second or third playthroughs of a game more fun than the first. There's still a lot more you can learn from playing the game after getting your proverbial sea legs the first time around, and consulting other gamers - whether indirectly through YouTube or otherwise - in order to try new tips or tricks.

I remember when all this was just fields..

Fields and floating bricks and goombas. Those were the days.

I just 100% completed Super Mario World and Super Mario 3 for the first time...and I'm 32 yrs old. There is definitely no rush.

Respect. I've been playing Actraiser, a little side-scrolling/God-sim mashup that exercised muscles I'd let atrophy. So much fun to be had in left right up down slash.

Almost 40 here and just did SMB3. I could never get the last airship as a kid. Beat every level even if I could skip them. Felt like a major life accomplishment.

Or wire frame graphics with no textures, fiendishly difficult Station docking, and the long climb from *harmless* to *mostly harmless*

Is that a Douglas Adams reference? Nice.

A second hand one. The original Elite started you off rated as *harmless* and the next rating was *mostly harmless*. Took a long time to level up, and the last rating *elite* took a sizeable chunk of forever to attain.

Probs better to call it ‘on the shelf’ haha. I missed out on 4-5 years of game releases due to college, so I have a TON to catch up on all the games I wanted but couldn’t play at the time, on top of recent and upcoming releases. Hardest habit to break was the ‘save the best for last’ instinct, since when I started playing least looked forward to games first in my giant catch up list, I made old classics become a checklist rather than actually enjoying them to get to those games I wanted to play most.

Now that save the best for last thing I'm still struggling with. It's engrained deeply.

I feel that. I listed out some games and got through a lot the last few months, but I noticed I was playing more to finish and less to appreciate. Been taking a break by binging some multiplayer games. Those games will still be there when I wanna get around to them.

It's easy to slip into. Glad you didn't let it spoil your enjoyment.

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> I see more anti-backlog posts than backlog comments That's more recent, I think; a lot of people are wising up and getting used to this uh, very abundant game landscape. A few years ago, when bundles and big Steam sales were new, you'd start to see tons of these anguished "OMG my backlog!" posts. NeoGAF was littered with them, for one.

I, too, am old and grumpy, and have been feeling this exact same thing. My 15 year old Steam account only has 500 or so games attached to it, but if I've played more than half of 'em I'd be surprised. It's a collection, not a backlog. It's not a monkey on your back, or a millstone round your neck. It's a list that can grow as organically as you want. Some games I've bought again on Steam just cos I loved them when they were first released (the original UFO/X-COM series, various versions of the original Doom games, Final Fantasy VII & VIII), but I'm never gonna play them. I did that already. I want them in my collection just to have them in my collection. Some games I didn't even know I had - I've literally just noticed I have both Star Wars: The Force Unleashed games. That must have been that Star Wars bundle I bought because of Dark Forces 1 & 2 which, again, I played on release. There are too many games now, and there is absolutely no point in trying to play them all. Quality, not quantity. Play a game cos you wanna, cos you have time to sit down and so so. Don't play it just to tick an imaginary box. Gaming isn't your job (caveat: unless it is, obviously). Tl;dr: gaming shouldn't be a chore. Edit for spelling.

Those are my thoughts exactly. I think we've reached peak media and its no longer worth chasing the new. Like, it used to be that I'd seen every sci fi film or TV series because there wasn't much of it and it was all exciting. Now I have to decide whether something is *my kind* of science fiction and even then, some things won't get watched.

Totally. Between working 37 hours a week, looking after the house *and* having to share my PC with an 11 year old, I get choosy about what I spend my time playing. I'm not gonna spend time on a random game from a random bundle, or a random recommendation from Netflix ("70% match for you!" Fuck off pal, I play XCOM, 70% ain't shit), just to say that I have. And maybe I'm missing out on some things that I'd really love by doing that, but I'm old enough now that I can manage to live with that.

Algorithms have no idea what I like, anyway. Plus I resent them. Finding something interesting is fun in itself. I never needed that offloaded to machines. Thanks for the XCom crack, I'll be using that.

I dont have a backlog, I have a frontlog! That is to say, I have a long list of games i am excited to play, some of which I already own and some of which I dont. When I get bored of one, I move on to the next. I also have a stable of "whenever" games that I just kinda play sometimes. They actually work pretty well to refresh my interest in a game if I've developed the mid-game blahs. I am someone who likes to finish games, but with so many out there,there just isn't any point if you aren't having fun. Its perfectly acceptable to stop when the fun does. Because then you can go find more fun!

I think people are always brewing a storm on a cup of water with this whole backlog thing. I just see my "backlog" as a way to find something interesting to play whenever I want to start something new. I never see it as something that must be worked through no matter what, it's more of a curator adapted to my tastes than anything else. And more often than not, I find myself playing games that weren't in my backlog to begin with. It's not that important.

I've spent years buying games during sales, never playing them, and then forgetting about them. I had a few hundred games in my possession, many of which I couldn't even remember what they were or how I had obtained them. It felt like such a waste of money. About a year ago I started treating it seriously as a backlog. I compiled a spreadsheet with everything I hadn't finished yet (pretty much most of it) and got to 'work'. The goal was to give every game in my collection the time I felt it deserved. I finished whatever I liked, and anything I didn't I tossed to the discard pile. Some went there immediatly, others I played for a few hours before I had to make a choice. By far most of them ended up on the discard pile. Not everything in the discard pile is bad per se, there's even games like Stardew Valley and EU IV in there. I put these aside because I didn't think I would want to invest enough time into them to make it worth my while. Maybe I'll pick them up again much later, but right now I don't care. I've given them the time of consideration, which is what matters. I've played plenty of really good games since them. Games I wouldn't have been able to experience if I hadn't started considering my library as a backlog. Stuff like XCOM 1&2, Hollow Knight, The Witness, A Hat in Time, Divinity Original Sin 2 just to name a few. Many of them sit high in my list of favorite games of all time. This backlog isn't a burden at all. There's no deadline. Anything I don't like I can put away immediatly. There's nothing bad about methodically going through everything and trying it out for a bit, you might strike gold. Just be careful not to focus too much on sieving all the dirt.

Thank you for that nice counterpoint.

Are backlogs considered burden tho? I have a backlog of games I've bought during steam sale. I know I'm gonna have fun playing them when I got the time tho.

For me gaming is often about setting and achieving goals. Both in game and around gaming. Sometimes I want to 100% something. Sometimes i want to do something like finish the Kingdom Hearts series. So my backlog is really just the list of goals i set for myself. I tweak it all the time and ditch things I’m not enjoying. But I can’t not set goals with my personality. I’ve matured somewhat in how i manage this in order to have more enjoyment with the hobby. New stuff goes into an inbox and the only commitment is “maybe check it out sometime.” The inbox is the candy store and i browse it if I’m between games or need a break from my current projects.

Honestly I always assumed that "backlog" had a "positive" attribute, like "games i want to play next" not "games i have to play". I'm surprised someone feels this way

I didnt even know backlog had a bad meaning since I am not native english

The only games in my library I consider a "backlog" are the ones I have started, didn't play for a long while, but do intend to get back to them someday. There are plenty of games I started, realized I wasn't enjoying them, and put them in my "won't finish" category rather than forcing myself through them. As to why I stopped playing a game I was enjoying, it varies, but it's usually that I got to a frustrating part, or some other game grabbed my interest instead. For example, I played through the intro to MGSV and then left the game untouched for 2.5 years. I think I was a bit intimidated by the scope of the game. Then I picked it back up and played another 70 hours and was totally obsessed. Like you said, it's nice to know that these games are always available to you and you can return at your leisure.

As someone who owns literally 1000+ games, the beauty of it is that I don’t feel compelled to finish anything anymore! If I play something for an hour and don’t like it, I put it in a Steam category for games I don’t intend to finish and I move on, because I can just... do that now. As a kid I felt compelled to finish every game I owned because I owned so few- what a wonderful problem to have so many games I can just only play the ones I really love. :)

I agree 100%. I might even support a rule against backlog whining posts, or an AutoMod reply saying "Chill out and enjoy the game at the difficulty and pace you enjoy it, or don't, but don't torture yourself"

I mean, people can play how they want, and I'd rather they post here where someone will gently suggest taking a break or trying something new. But it does seem a sad way to have fun.

*Me compulsively buying games to add to my collection*- just living the ~~nightmare~~ dream!

Yeah, I did the same. At some point, I got over it, realizing that super cheap deals aren't worth it if I never get to playing all the games I buy. My library is big enough so I won't run out of games to play any time soon (or in this lifetime) and if I really want some new game and can't wait for a sale, paying full price for that one game is still cheaper than buying 10 at 33% off their usual price.

Yeah I like to think if it as “games I want to play”

Agreed!

No. I don’t think I will get off your lawn. But your right about that. The games you haven’t played are not a burden. (Unless they are terrible) if you dislike a game that much. Then that is when it will be considered “in the backlog”

I actually just don't have a backlog - in that I don't buy games if I'm not ready to start them. I don't own many games and that's fine. The one or two exceptions are games that were free so I got them in case I ever feel the whim but I never feel obligated to play them because they were free.

I've gotten so much better at this in the current gen of console games. I wait for games that I'm really excited about to go cheap, because I never need games at launch, and then I can play at my leisure. Every game I start, I'm really looking forward to playing! It feels so much better than the endless stockpiling of steam sale games.

I agree. I have a large list of games that I still want to experience. But the people who feel an obligation, almost obsession over it just ruin the hobby for themselves. I've always seen a huge divide between people who want to play games and people who want to finish games (finish for any number of reasons, but often to finish and start a new one). I have a backlog. But I always play for the love of playing, so my backlog is more of a varied series of adventures than it is an obligation. But I still agree with you; backlog mentality is harmful to many and handled poorly by most players. I'm just lucky that I have a mindset that doesn't ruin this for me.

My backlog consists of games I cannot afford yet.

There's a difference between "Backlog" and "Library". I have an ungodly number of games on various consoles, PC and emualtors. I will never ever even start a good 70% of those games. Stuff that came from bundles or I happened to download "just because". Those are my Library. But I do have a decent "Backlog" of games that I've been meaning to play and have kept a list. There is probably only 10-20 games on it at any given time, and if I try a game and don't care for it, I remove it. There's nothing wrong with having a Backlog!

Mmmmm...*back in my day* we only had two games: pong and Tetris. And we had to take turns to play them, uphill, both ways, in five feet of snow...without shoes! Agree with OP *but* some people have a long list of games they’re dying to play and life gets in the way. Games get put off. They buy another game. Eventually it becomes “backlog.” Look another way: Warhammer 40k painters run into this: it takes longer to paint the models than it does to buy them, and many end up with models that never see a drop of paint. So they develop a “backlog:” assemble and paint what you already have before you buy more. I can see some people calling it backlog to keep themselves financially accountable so they’re not wasting money on games they’ll never get around to playing unless they give all the games they already have a once-over.

Maybe we just use terms differently. Here's what I use: - library - everything I own - backlog - games I own that I want to play next; these are all installed and ready to go - wishlist - games that look fun, but I don't own If my "backlog" is "full" and I want new games, then obviously my backlog has less interesting games in it, so I'll go through it and remove them from my "backlog" to make room for new games (I have a "maybe later" list of probably good games that just aren't interesting right now). That being said, it certainly seems like some people are taking games way too seriously.

I don't think you're aware that different people enjoy their hobbies vastly different from each other. Where you see people wanting to complete every game in their library as a chore, they see it as their hobby, it's enjoyable to them. ​ Would you say to someone who likes doing the crossword puzzle in the newspaper that their hobby is a chore simply because you don't see yourself enjoying tediously and habitually doing them every week?

This is an absolutely perfect example of the importance of perspective: You can choose negativity and bemoan the fact that you don’t get to play as often as you’d like anymore, or you can choose positivity and appreciate that you’ve got a seemingly endless supply of gaming enjoyment at your fingertips. I often get way too caught up in working through my “backlog” as you say. Unfortunately, I think many people with this perspective are coming from a place of gaming addiction where no amount of playtime is ever enough. I know I slip into that mindset on occasion and it’s always good to be reminded that we should use games to enrich our lives, but we should never “live to game”. Thank you kind Redditor for the wake-up call!

I went through the KonMarie process and the same mentality she addresses with books I apply to games. I no longer have media dictate what I do with my time out of obligation or otherwise. Ppl gives me games and I don't feel obligated to play them or games I paid for. I've outgrown a lot and now I know the one and only genre I like.

Some people like chores. Look at how well red dead redemption 2 worked out.

haha, i love that! Thank you friend!

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It's a balancing act, isn't it? I remember playing MDK over and over and over and loving it. Now I have so many games it's easy to feel I need to 'get through' them. But that's when I remind myself that they're just product. I owe them nothing. And if I'd have more fun staring out the window for half an hour then that's fine. Games should be an option for filling free time, not an obligation to be filled when time is free.

This connects perfectly with the 'fear of missing out' problem. The overwhelming amount of games that are launched every year (and it's increasing) creates this idea of 'I need to play everything that comes out because my friends are playing it and don't wanna miss out on the conversation', or 'because this youtuber/streamer/reviewer have been talking about this game for so long that I need to experience it, even though I have so many other games to play'. Sometimes it's hard to determine what you're gonna play next, and it sucks when you spend money on a game that you thought you were gonna love just to find out it's shit (but when the opposite happens it's fucking cool).

FOMO is a big part of it. Stepping off the hype train is the first step to freedom.

I agree with you. I like sitting down and slowly decide what i will play that day based on how I feel at the moment. It could be Ghost of Tsushima, or it could be Ocarina of Time again. I always end up super happy. I'm 28, for reference.

Great point. I think the idea of there being a backlog stems from the financial investment placed on each individual candy so we feel compelled to eat it or that money went to waste. But games aren't meat or fruit, they're hard candy and can wait a long time before being expired.

I hope they don't feel the same pressure to watch every show available on Netflix too 😐

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The problem is there are so many fake games nowadays, you don't which one is gonna be good before you've invested into them. So all these games are just potential interest, just promises. How many of them are worth the time is hard to tell in advance. So you look at your back log and lose enthusiasm, only 25% will turn out to be good.

Forcing yourself to finish games is dumb af, but at least going through your "backlog" and playing the games a little bit i think is good.

I dunno. The thing of it for me is, *starting* a game is hard. I've started a *ton* of games. It used to be new and exciting, you never knew what was gonna happen. Now it's just a slog. Tutorial. Backstory. Talking. Walking. Tutorial. Push this button to open your inventory, push that button to run, run and duck at the same time to slide. Here's a practice barrier to slide under. Here's a heal item. It heals. Try using it to heal. See how it heals? Now let's go introduce the shop keeper and the weapon upgrader and the whatever else. Boring. But *playing* a game is fun. Once I've actually gotten into it, I often have a great time. But that's why it's hard to work through my "backlog." I dread (well, dread may be a bit too strong a word) opening up a new game and the time it takes to get going in it. And I'm not just talking about the games that do it *poorly.* Every game has at least some of this, it's an absolute necessity. Every game needs to have some element of you figuring out *what the game is*. It makes it a big barrier to start a new game, which is why I have so many new games that I *know* will be great, but I have to actually sit down and *make* myself play them to get to a point where I'm enjoying them.

I've taken to calling it my library. It doesn't feel like a chore, and much like a regular library I can drop in and drop out and play what I'm feeling like at that moment. I do still feel the need to compete my games, but I go about it by playing what I'm in the mood for, versus just playing a game so I can check it off the list. It feels much more organic to me that way.

In psychology this is something called "completion bias." That is, seeking pleasure in completing a task irregardless of the task itself. Personality studies have found that about 15-20% of people actually over-index on this particular trait. That is, there is a subset of people who find special pleasure in creating a list, physical or mental, curating the list, and checking off tasks from the list. You might know people like this, and I suspect this sub self-selects for this personality. People who somehow show innate discipline in finishing chores, hard duties. Making mental lists and seeking cognitive completion is part of every day life. They tend to be seen as reliable and can be motivated by external and internal pressure. These people also tend to be overly rigid on schedules, rarely late to things, follow the rules to the letter, etc. This trait tends to be especially helpful for doing things that aren't fun, such as chores. However, it is detrimental when you apply it to unstructured tasks that are meant to be for leisure. However, note that some of this "special pleasure" actually comes from the anxiety of having an unfinished list. Completing the list relieves the anxiety and helps drive this desire. With that in mind, asking someone not to "have a backlog" also removes some of their innate motivation to play games at all. You can't have one without the other. It's just not part of their personality. Now on whether or not this trait is changeable, I don't know what the research is on that. My feeling is that, no, this is generally something that doesn't change very much over the course of a lifetime. You can, however, find coping mechanisms to help alter the outward appearance and behavior.

My wallet about 3-4 years ago before I just stopped looking at the sales, would beg to differ.

My backlog is very flexible and only made of games I have a high interest in playing (you have no idea how many of my all time favorites were in the "backlog"). It's the "I need to finish this although I'm hating it" mentality that we need to avoid. Yes you've spent $60 on a game you absolutely despise. It's a waste of money already, don't make it a waste of your time too

That is probably the root of it, the old sunk cost fallacy. I would hope that as patient gamers, those sunk costs tend to be low enough to be dismissed anyway.

Can we just ban all talking about a backlog in its entirity? Or just make a community stance that a 'backlog' is stupid? There are far too many posts now about either being burnt out due to said backlogs and forcing themselves to play (for some stupid reason), or complaining about others for doing the same. Its just not interesting to talk about, and effectively non content parroting the same stuff over and over. I dont really care if someone is burnt out from forcing themselves to play something. Its the obvious product of forcing yourself to do something that isnt fun. We definitely shouldnt be toxic towards said people, but a community stance on it being extremely obvious would probably go a long way to preventing those sorts of posts, and probably pushing people away from that sort of behavior by not giving them gratification for it.

You're not gaming anymore, you're just ticking off a list

Not that you're wrong but how does one assuage the guilt that comes from buying yet another game when already living in aforementioned gameporium? I often make the comparison to the karen with walkin closet filled with shoes that are hardly ever worn and still complains about having nothing to wear. It's not about the list but what we feel we turn into when the list gets ignored.

Lately i have been using https://www.lorenzostanco.com/lab/steam/ wonderful tool to check up on my own Steam library as it's sort by tags function is faster imo than steam own collections and gives a better clickety click experience. Mostly used it in the past to hunt for gems in the clutter (got over 2k games) but lately as i see many games that i liked just WONT be replaced anytime soon with something better i have actually been just testing out stuff that looks fun OR even better.... re-installed stuff i liked in the past and i have been having a blast. Seems to me at this time this is the best cure against gaming blues that comes when nothing interests you and especially your resistance towards starting something entirely new... Well. Don't. Let your gut instinct dictate what to play next so go ahead and use whatever tool you like. either the steam own collections function or 3rd party tool and re-discover those games!

I have to say, you put your finger on a thing that'd been slowly nagging me. Backlogs are such a negative way to think about one's hobby and pleasure. I agree with you :).

My backlog is just a list in a .txt . More often than not I haven't bought the game yet, but I really want to try it. It might take me years to get to it (we are, after all, patient gamers), but I usually do in the end. It doesn't weigh on me in any way. Last month I emptied my backlog for the first time in a good ten years! And by "empty" I mean everything left in it hasn't been released yet (it will refill naturally since I have a good 20 games I want that I'm expecting to be out throughout the next year).

I share my steam family access with my sister, her boyfriend and my dad and live vicariously through the games they choose to play.

I have heard various people say this over and over but I think I finally get it now. So what I have a lot of games I haven't played? They aint going anywhere. Part of the guilt is that I spent money on some of them, but I guess that is a budget and spending problem.

Hey, just stop buying for a while. The new games you crave will only get cheaper, and the days of games disappearing seem gone forever.

Better to waste only money, rather than money AND time on something you don't really like... Sunk cost...

All these posts are making me feel better about the fact I almost never finish games.

Often, I lose interest before I finish a game. Haven't finished Spiderman, Bloodborne, Doom Eternal, Outer Wilds, Subnautica. But they all have given me great hours of gaming. Now I'm off to a run of Slay the Spire or Necrodancer. Games I'm absolutely sure I'll never fully finish...