Letting games go.

So yeah, hey.

I have a lot of games I want to play right now. This is a problem. Although I accept that calling it a "problem" makes me sound somewhat over entitled. First world problems and all that. But you guys know what I mean.

Anyway - I love playing games. I love becoming invested in games and really losing myself to them and enjoying them completely. However, after the busy period of Christmas and New year and all that junk - I have found myself with a fucking OVER ABUNDANCE of videogames and what with my full time job, my girlfriend to think about and generally looking after myself I have come to the conclusion that I need to let some of these games fall by the wayside.

But it's a painful realisation. Very painful. My current backlog of games stands as;

[Dark Souls] - I got pretty far on this, but I stopped playing months ago. I don't expect that I'd be able to go back to where I was very easily, so I'd either need to start again, or dick around in some easy areas until I get the hang of stuff again. but i would *LOVE* to finish this.

[The Witcher 2] - I got this on the 360 when it came out, and I adore it. I absolutely love this game, but again, I stopped playing a couple months ago. Same issue as Dark Souls in the "Difficult to return to" sense. But I really really want to finish it.

[Mark Of the Ninja] - Got this in the steam sale. Played like an hour of it?

[XCOM Enemy Unkown] - Stopped playing a few weeks before the christmas break. Really want to finish it, but it's intimidating to go back to.

[GAMES I GOT FOR CHRISTMAS]

[Halo 4] - I haven't even taken the plastic off the box yet. Very interested in playing the campaign and multiplayer.
[Assassins Creed III] - About 4 hours into the story. No Multiplayer yet. Interested in it though.
[COD Blops II] Played about 5 hours of Multiplayer. Interested in the campaign too, but only played a couple hours of it.

[GAMES I DO NOT YET OWN, BUT INTEND TO PLAY]

[Far Cry 3] - Very very interested to play this one, but it seems like it will take up a lot of my time.
[Dishonoured] - Interested in this ... but.. honestly this is one I might be able to let go.

[GAMES I WANT TO PLAY MORE OF]

[Spelunky] - Love it.
[Torchlight II] - Love it, and I also want to try and get my Gilfriend to play it with me.
[Driver SF] - Sigh. Might drop this one too.
[Total war - Medieval II and Shogun II] - Agggggggghhhhhhhh SO MANY GAMES.
[Alan Wake's American Nightmare] *sobs*
[Diablo III] - *sobs some more*

So. there's no way I can possibly tackle this massive mound of games I intend to play. Especially considering that I am also letting a lot of Giant Bomb content slip away - especially the long form subscriber stuff. There are also a few TV shows I need to catch up with.

My girlfriend is totally fine with me playing games. She usually watches, makes suggestions, asks questions or falls asleep. So, that isn't a massive issue, but I feel like I need to curb it a little and show her that she is important. Y'know.

So, accepting that I am utterly blessed with the time and sufficient enough money to play any games at all, how do I tackle this terrible affliction from which I suffer?

Suggestions on how to go about it, or which games I should just drop from my list and let them fall by the wayside.

Equally, tell us stories of your tremendous backlog and how you dealt with it.

Take a break. I haven't played a game in 3 weeks. Have not listened to a bombcast since I saw them live at Pax. I don't know I still like video games I just have a lot to figure out right now.

My backlog is crazy, i have so many games on steam to finish its getting ridiculous. It bothers me at times, especilly because with these sales i keep buying more but honestly my solution is to just play what i feel like playing at any given time. This leads to me playing through 5-10 games at a time all round robin style but i dont mind as it keeps things fresh. Play what yea want when yea have time and you cant go wrong, if it really bothers you commit to finishing what yea got before yea buy more, but games are like books in regards to having a few for a rainy day.

@BaconBuTTy:

Hah, you call that a backlog?

To be totes legit, how is your week divided up in terms of eating and sleeping and working and playing? Even if you only have 2/3 hours per week to play, if you concentrate and knuckle down on just one game, you'll get through it. Rather than trying to spread your time thinly across several freshly toasted games.

The fact that you have started and then stopped playing several games, yet say you want to finish them, indicates to me that you have issues with staying motivated with or invested in a game. Or maybe you just think a game is shit, you are allowed to cut bad games loose you know!

Not having enough time to play hype video games and not feeling hyped enough for playing any dope video games, are two different things.

I'll have to post my HORRENDOUS blacklog sometime (it goes back to 1991).

Yeah, after the advent of impulse buying my way through Steam sales I've had the sad realization that I may not have enough time in my life to finish all the games in my backlog considering all the other old and new games on other platforms I've meant to play but haven't yet.

@Fattony12000: Make it a list on the site and make it the loooongest list ever!

Step 1: Stop buying more games than you have time to play.

Step 2: Put one or two games away to play through when you have a longer time off.

Step 3: Bump everything down to easy.

And I don't think you need to put away games like Diablo 3, Torchlight 2 or X-COM. Those games are totally fine playing for a short while, leave and come back to later. They're happy to just sit there and be played when you have an hour or two to kill.

@dudy80

I'm with you. The steam sale has recently made things worse. Every day I really want to buy something, but I don't because I know how much I already have to play. But then I regret *not* buying it, because WHAT IF. WHAT IF I SUDDENLY FIND A BUNCH OF TIME TO PLAY IT ALL, AND I LET THAT CHEAP GAME GO!?


@Fattony12000

I work a full 8 hour day, get home around 4:30 pm. I live with my girlfriend and we eat dinner together. To be honest if I push it, I probably have 3/ 4 hours a night I could play games in, but I feel guilty if I spend that much time with them. Weekends I have totally free unless we plan to do something together.

The fact that I stop games before I finish them is a fair criticism, but it's not because I have a hard time keeping focus or because I dislike the games - It's usually because something in my life happens and I get pulled away for a week or so, and then going back to those games becomes harder and harder. I genunely LOVE Witcher 2 and Dark Souls, but they're not easy to go back to, and thats part of the problem.

I am very glad we're in a dry period of game releases at the moment, but I know it's going to pick back up soon, and it terrifies me.

Selling Off my game library, I want to get rid of all the games i wont ever touch. Although the spines are nice. I'm at a point where im getting tired of video games. I thought Halo 4 would get me back, but Halo got Call of dutyied up. Halo is everyone staring with the same weapons and same chances. Gonna start doing other useless or productive shit now.

Really? That's all? My backlog is much, much bigger than that.

A couple of people have said their backlock is bigger than this. I guess in a sense, mine is also bigger - BUT I have accepted there are some games I have absolutely no chance of ever properly playing.

There are games on the original playstation, and even the Megadrive that I still would love to play and finish but I am NOT GOING TO.

My original post was a list of the games which are currently at the forfront of my mind and are demanding my attention NOW. Not a full list of games that I want to play, in the history of games.

If you're realistic about it, I very much doubt your actual, real backlog of games you're actually, really going to play, is really that massive.

That backlog ain't shit, get some amphetamines and man up.

You could play the total war games or you could play everything but the total war games but you cannot play all of those games. Unless you auto battle all the time in Total War but then what's the fucking point. I wouldn't bother with Shogun 2 anyway, I found it the most disappointing of all the series and I've played all of them bar Shogun 1. The map is too linear, no interesting random events and the battles were way too messy for me to ever feel like I had a good handle on them. Medi is fucking sweet though. Maybe skip Diablo 3 ? The big draw seems to be that once you defeat the hordes and hordes of easily killed monsters who all have a bizarre clothes collecting fetish then you can do it all again at a slightly harder setting in the hope of find a new pair of pants... Apparently some people think this is a great thing to do in a game, personally I think it's fucking stupid. If I wanted to waste my time I could spend it trying on real pants.

I also have a similar backlog problem but what I decided to do was a game in game out policy where I only install a new game when I finish an old one and delete it. I've bought about 15 games in the last month and have deleted one, which was civ V cause the fucking cunt glitched on me so that the game wouldn't end even though I had met the of the victory conditons. So that was 60 hours of playing that I could spent playing something better, like Civ iV. So I installed Psychonauts and I'm really enjoying it.

Also, someone suggested putting the difficulty down to easy on all your games, well fuck that. I'm presuming you want to enjoy playing your games and not just finish them. There is something to be said for overcoming a challenge and just wandering into a room, sneezing on all the fuckers who look at you sideways and watching them fall over. If you have any games on that list that you just want to finish for finishing sake then just get rid of them unless you have ocd and are worried you might flip and murder someone.

Don't drop Driver: San Francisco, what the hell.

Not sure how old you are but sounds like you're making a rational adult decision. I've been playing video games since I was a kid with an NES and I totally acknowledge the role that video games represents in my life. At some point I moved away from the idea of being a hardcore/casual gamer, I play for fun, sometimes for achievements, sometimes online, balance paying my bills, going out, going to work. I don't plan to stop anytime soon. That's the nice thing about being an adult, I have a job that earns money, I buy games whenever I want if some fall into a backlog, no sweat. I recently bought all the Stalker and FEAR games on sale, completely on a whim, who knows when I will get to them.

Games are supposed to be fun. At the end of the day if you stop playing a game there's probably some underlying reason for it. Why feel bad? Take a break, go to a concert, do something else. Its not impossible to go back and I find as I get older its actually easier. I have shameful backlog that I won't even bother to print, but I've owned Braid (a game I totally loved when it came out) since 2010, I just played the fifth world two weeks ago. I saw it with fresh eyes and it was awesome, who knows when I will get back to it.

You're not alone in having a backlog and abandoning games. I know that only 10-20% of people actually finish the games they start. With more games coming out faster and cheaper than ever before that mentality won't get any better.

My backlog is pretty bad too. I too have just come to terms that everything I want to play likely won't get played. It's just comforting (that's maybe a bit of a stretch) to know that if I should never be at a loss for things I want to play. I'll also caution you not to burn yourself out trying to get through your backlog. At one point, I felt so compelled to get through as much of it as possible it felt like a job and wasn't having fun anymore. I ended up not playing games for a solid 6 weeks before I gradually started playing again.

I don't have a backlog because I don't lie to myself. I know if I drop a game, I won't randomly pick it back up in a few months. That's just not me, so I don't pretend it is.

Divorce your girlfriend and quit your job. Problem solved.

Finish The Witcher 2, do it for the well-being of humanity.

Backlog happens some ways I've found to battle the backlog issue is purchasing one game at a time and only buying another one till the one your playing is finished.

These posts always get derailed into a "my backlog is bigger than your backlog" pissing contest.

My girlfriend made the comment of "are you almost done with that game?", so its probably time I take a break. Like most people, I have a decent backlog. I recently bought a gaming PC, so its been a jam packed month of gaming. At some points in a year, however, I'll go a month or two without even touching a game.

Fuck I know the feeling. :(

I completely understand. I have a lot of unfinished games right now, but it turns out that a lot of them are games I just don't really like that well, but got them because they were popular here. I played 3 hours of the Witcher 2 before I realized that I just suck at it, and I wasn't having fun. My new vow is to not buy any more games until I finish the ones I have that I like. If I fall for a Steam sale, there's always the option to download it later, right?

1) Stop buying new games.

2) Finish the cool games you have.

3) Buy the games you didn't get to play when they are cheap and save lotsa money.

4) Repeat from step 2.

Nothing wrong with having a backlog. Seems like you're getting too caught up in the need to have every game you own played and finished or gone forever. Just take it slow. Pick one game that you feel like playing and play it when you have the spare time. If it takes a month to finish because of a busy life then so be it. If you can't get around to finishing one then just come back to it some other time. If you try to pressure yourself into having these either finished or never finished then you're probably not going to enjoy gaming. A backlog shouldn't feel like a list of games that you absolutely need to get done. It should feel like a list of games to keep you entertained until your next purchase.

Dishonored & Mark of the Ninja are both rather short if you jam through them. Same goes with Far Cry3, if you try to do everything these 3 will eat up a lot of time but if not then shouldn't take that long to get a good look at them.

Hey, sorry for resurrecting my thread after a couple of days. but things actually got pretty interesting after the initial "My backlog is bigger" shit died down.

I spent the weekend playing Assassin's Creed III and had a great time. I didn't rush, I actually spent a lot of time doing side stuff. Bugs and stuff aside, this is a great game, but more importantly my girlfriend didn't feel like strangling me. She either read her book, or engaged in the game with me, asking questions and stuff and marvelling at the violence and story beats.

I guess my initial concern, which I failed to mention, was my girlfriend had literally just moved in, days earlier. And I was worried about splitting my time between her and my gaming related exploits (including GB). Which is almost a different discussion entirely - as gamers get older, what challenges have they found in keeping up their heavily engaging hobby?

As for my backlog - It's still there and it still bothers me somewhat - But I played about 8 hours of Assassin's Creed III over the weekend, and my significant other was perfectly lovely about it. We also watched all three Nolan Batman movies together, and I didn't feel like I'd lost gaming time at all. I think as long as I can keep the purchase of new games to a reletive minimum over the next few months, I can finish and play through what I feel like I really need to.

Maybe I *can* do this after all.

Saying to stop buying games is easier said than done, IMO. I have a backlog too but that steam sale was too good to pass up. One game at a time man. Try not to get into more than one console and one handheld, although it didn't sound like you had any handheld, at a time. That way you will be 100% attention on one game and the pile will shrink. Also if you're not having a good time on a game it's ok to leave it at a certain point.

@BaconBuTTy:

That's great to hear duder. Try to keep it at that mindset. Years ago there were times where I would get four to five new games in a month (that are still in my backlog to this day) and would only maybe get through two of them. When you see those new releases out think to yourself "Am I going to actually start playing this once I get it home?" or "Is this worth piling up my other games at the moment?" Unless it's just one of those games you know you really want, like I'm buying Bioshock Infinite regardless of what I'm currently going through because that is my most anticipated 2013 release. A back log can easily be looked at as a burden but I don't look at it this way, to me I have a good stock of games to go through on extremely dry periods or have quite a selection to choose from when I'm in a mood for something specific.

By the time you work through some of that backlog Far Cry 3 that you mentioned really wanting might be picked up for a cheaper price or might have more content in the way of story dlc (probably not this game in this instance but I'm just making an example) so just play what you feel, when you feel, at a pace that works for you. Once you see any game in the backlog as a chore or an "obligation" to finish you should probably put it down and try another game or something else. Others also suggested putting longer games like RPG's on the back burner when you have a period of time to dig through them. I don't know if Witcher 2 lends itself well to fragmented playthroughs but usually in my case if I try to come back to an RPG after an absence, I either lose the plot or the momentum just feels gone and I have to start again, which is always a source of personal frustration for me.

Absolutely with you on the RPG stuff. Witcher 2 sticks out in my mind as being particularly bothersome because I loved the story and the characters so much while I was playing it consistantly. But it is exactly those factors that are stopping me from going back. I feel extremely intimidated by it because important nuances like character names, roles, story archs, deaths, etc etc will have slipped away from me, potentially turning it into a watered down, confusing experience. - So, what is the answer? Read a story synopsis until I start to recognise where I left off? Watch all the cutscenes on Youtube? Or the dreaded *START AGAIN*? It's a tough one.

This is also true of Dark Souls. But there it's more about Game mechanics and accumulated knowledge. As the weeks go by though, I am slipping more towards leaving Dark Souls behind. This game was an experiment for me - seeing if I could tackle something so deep and difficult - and it was a successful one. I adore Dark Souls. But I am proud enough of myself for getting so far in it, and what with a sequel having been announced already, I think I can make my peice with having played enough Dark Souls to have been satisfied by it until the new one arrives. I certainly got more hours out of it most games.

On the abstainence of game purchases - I think I should be able to do it, right up until GTA V comes out. That's my most anticipated release of 2013, and it's being played regardless of how my backlog stands at that point.

I guess that's my ticking clock right there.

I'd say finish the games you are very close to completing, get some games out of the way first.

Otherwise, just take a break from video games altogether, come back with a fresh state of mind.

@BaconBuTTy said:

So yeah, hey. I have a lot of games I want to play right now. This is a problem. Although I accept that calling it a "problem" makes me sound somewhat over entitled. First world problems and all that. But you guys know what I mean. Anyway - I love playing games. I love becoming invested in games and really losing myself to them and enjoying them completely. However, after the busy period of Christmas and New year and all that junk - I have found myself with a fucking OVER ABUNDANCE of videogames and what with my full time job, my girlfriend to think about and generally looking after myself I have come to the conclusion that I need to let some of these games fall by the wayside. But it's a painful realisation. Very painful. My current backlog of games stands as; [Dark Souls] - I got pretty far on this, but I stopped playing months ago. I don't expect that I'd be able to go back to where I was very easily, so I'd either need to start again, or dick around in some easy areas until I get the hang of stuff again. but i would *LOVE* to finish this. [The Witcher 2] - I got this on the 360 when it came out, and I adore it. I absolutely love this game, but again, I stopped playing a couple months ago. Same issue as Dark Souls in the "Difficult to return to" sense. But I really really want to finish it. [Mark Of the Ninja] - Got this in the steam sale. Played like an hour of it? [XCOM Enemy Unkown] - Stopped playing a few weeks before the christmas break. Really want to finish it, but it's intimidating to go back to. [GAMES I GOT FOR CHRISTMAS] [Halo 4] - I haven't even taken the plastic off the box yet. Very interested in playing the campaign and multiplayer. [Assassins Creed III] - About 4 hours into the story. No Multiplayer yet. Interested in it though. [COD Blops II] Played about 5 hours of Multiplayer. Interested in the campaign too, but only played a couple hours of it. [GAMES I DO NOT YET OWN, BUT INTEND TO PLAY] [Far Cry 3] - Very very interested to play this one, but it seems like it will take up a lot of my time. [Dishonoured] - Interested in this ... but.. honestly this is one I might be able to let go. [GAMES I WANT TO PLAY MORE OF] [Spelunky] - Love it. [Torchlight II] - Love it, and I also want to try and get my Gilfriend to play it with me. [Driver SF] - Sigh. Might drop this one too. [Total war - Medieval II and Shogun II] - Agggggggghhhhhhhh SO MANY GAMES. [Alan Wake's American Nightmare] *sobs* [Diablo III] - *sobs some more* So. there's no way I can possibly tackle this massive mound of games I intend to play. Especially considering that I am also letting a lot of Giant Bomb content slip away - especially the long form subscriber stuff. There are also a few TV shows I need to catch up with. My girlfriend is totally fine with me playing games. She usually watches, makes suggestions, asks questions or falls asleep. So, that isn't a massive issue, but I feel like I need to curb it a little and show her that she is important. Y'know. So, accepting that I am utterly blessed with the time and sufficient enough money to play any games at all, how do I tackle this terrible affliction from which I suffer? Suggestions on how to go about it, or which games I should just drop from my list and let them fall by the wayside. Equally, tell us stories of your tremendous backlog and how you dealt with it.

Might wanna let games like dark souls and the witcher 2 go tbh. I LOVE dark souls but if you don't play regularly, you tend to forget how the mechanics work and weapon movesets etc. If i take a break from dark souls for like a week it usually takes me an hour or two to get feel of everything back. Who knows how long you've been gone from dark souls, but it maybe tough to go back now. Might wanna just let it go and focus some of the other games and wait for dark souls 2 to come out. I heard mark of the ninja isn't a long game so maybe try and finish that. Games like xcom, torchlight, diablo, the tw series are games you can play for a while, leave and then come back to 6 months later and not feel like your missing something so don't worry about not finishing those, just take your time and play them whenever you feel like playing or have time to play and want to play.

Yeah, I recently went though my collection and started taking games out because I've finally accepted that I'll never play them (mostly PS1 rpgs). Unlike you, though, I found it to be a liberating experience.

Im in a 3week vacation since christmas, havent played a single game and I feel great. Can't wait for GTA5 and other stuff in Spring.

Yea, try to stick with one game at a time. Play Halo 4 and COD and you'll beat both of those fairly quickly(under 10 hours for each, especially COD). After that just rinse and repeat with a couple of other games. Maybe pop in some of the longer games(Dark Souls) every so often for an hour or two while you're playing another one. That's what I try to do. Doesn't ALWAYS work though.

@BaconBuTTy: I'm in almost the exact same boat, but for me, I just like buying games to collect them. If I get to them, cool. If not, well they will always be there (I don't trade them in and Steam sales mean they just collect).

I used to have that anxiety of "oh God, what am I going to play or how am I going to play these?", but you know, if you're having fun playing X-Com, Diablo 3 and so on and not touching the other games, then just play them when you get to them.

When you work it out let me know, lol. With the arrival of our daughter 10 weeks ago, its safe to say my Wife and I have very little time to focus on our hobbies. One game that is proving great however is Lego Lord of the Rings. Ideal little co-op game and each stage is only 15-20minutes. Best of luck!

I had the same problem a couple of years ago. It started right after my son was born. What I did was pare my collection down (which was admittedly painful) and began practicing "Gaming Monogomy". When I start a game, I make it the only game I play until I either finish it or feel like I'm done with it, then I trade it in/sell it. I have found I finish more games now and am far more invested in my experience, along with being pickier about what I play.

Good luck. It is a tough thing to cope with (relatively speaking)

Happens..

With a wife and a kid, I rarely get much time to play..yet I keep buying games. Then when I could play games (like this moment) I post on forums and listen to music.

In two days time, student teaching is going to compress my schedule into waking up at 5 in the morning for work, getting home at 4pm, and going to bed at 10. This is the same semester that is going to see the release of Phantasy Star Online 2, Fire Emblem: Awakening, and Etrian Odyssey 4. Yeah, I'm so very fucked.

I'll agree with the others and say that your backlog is nothing. Just play it one game at a time.

Have you considered drugs to reduce the amount of time you need to sleep per day? I've heard some people get down to 3 hours a day so just so they can get in more frags.