During the two-thousand-sixteenth year of our lord, I have decided that everyday I will play a game on my backlog and blog about it.

Crazy? Yes. Will I go through with it? We will see.

I'm going to set a few guidelines, but before I get to that I want to explain how I got this crazy idea. It was a moment of pure inspiration. The kind of moment I imagine Hemmingway, Shakespeare, and whoever does 'Family Circus' had. After opening my Christmas presents (receiving 'Rise of the Tomb Raider' and 'Until Dawn,' if you must know) and dilagently (obsessively) adding them to my database on howlongtobeat.com, I realized that I had exactly 365 games on my backlog. Once I finished questioning the choices I have made in my life that led me to own 350 more games than I will ever play, I thought:

"What if I played one game everyday? I mean, there's those pointless New Years' resolutions coming up. And, What if I blogged about it? Everyone loves blogs about playing games, right?"

The more I thought about it the more I convinced myself that it was a good idea. Besides clearing away my backlog, this experiment might also help me finish my dissertation. I know, sounds ridiculous. How is playing video games everyday going to help me finish my dissertation? First, I'm hoping it helps me focus my gameplay with a specific goal - 30 minutes to and hour of gaming a day. Second, it will force me to write, and all the "experts" say writing begets writing. I'm going to test if this is true. Finally, I have to finish my dissertation this year. That has nothing to do with this project, but it's probably the primary motivator.

So, guidelines. Alright here are some of the rules I'm going to set for myself.

1) Each day the game will be selected using a random number generator.

2) I will play each game for a minimum of 30 minutes.

3) After playing I will decide whether I will put the game on my "Retired" list or the "Shelved" list.

4) I will write a ~500 word post on my thoughts about the game.

5) Knowing that life happens, I can skip up to three days of playing and make it up with a three game marathon.

6) If I play a game on my list not for this project, I will replace it so as to maintain the magic 365. (I will note when I do this)

7) I will add more rules as I go along, because everyone loves rules.

And, so it begins...