Listening to this week's Bombcast, I was reminded of an increasingly pervasive trend among gamers that I just can't seem to wrap my head around.  The guys were teasing Vinny for buying a bunch of games in the latest Steam sale that he'll never play (though they've all admitted to the same behavior at various points in the past).  While he laughingly acknowledged that he probably will never play most of them, it seemed not to require further explanation.  I frequently hear similar stories from friends and on other podcasts and see them on message boards as well.  As a Mac user, I am new to Steam.  But Microsoft have finally started to see the brilliance of this digital distribution pricing model and have begun offering time limited XBLA sales, and still I've managed not to buy a bunch of crummy arcade ports and tower defense clones I know I won't touch.
 
However, it's not just fire sale priced digital content that is causing this effect on gamers.  One guy I know buys a new copy of pretty much every AAA title for all three of the main consoles at MSRP on the day of release and then consigns a large majority of them to permanent stacks of shrink-wrapped DVD cases on a desk (his gamerscore's in the 30,000s after 5 years of 360 titles).  That's an extreme case, sure, but how many games have you bought (on sale or otherwise) that you "just haven't gotten to yet"?  Just this morning I saw that GoGamer has Left 4 Dead 2 for $20.  I did want to play that one.  And that is a great price.  But I missed it.  And I know if I buy it now I won't be able to play it before something brand new is released that I want to play (nor will I be able to find co-op companions, for that matter).
 
So what am I missing here?  Is it fun just to own a game beyond the enjoyment of actually playing it?  Maybe people think they will eventually "catch up" and dip into their back catalog, but if we're being honest this just isn't likely.  The frequency with which quality games are being released has never been greater.  And while that is essentially a good thing, I think it will necessitate a fundamental shift in our expectations of players' (and even critics') breadth of experience.  We can't really assume that every gamer has time for every game anymore.  So maybe it's time to stop fooling ourselves into buying all of them.