360YOLOL33TNbyNW11001100110011001100XOHasTheBridge12345.

Good luck on another year. This is the sixth year I have done something like this now and it seems to really help me actually finish more games.

@sparky_buzzsaw: lol

add a couple xXX clauses at the beginning and the end and you have a great 360 username

@bobafettjm:

Thanks man! Yeah totally, it's really helped me e more honest with myself about what I'm buying and actually playing. I didn't hit 50 last year, but I had a dozen or so that are either in progress or I put a bunch of time into (that I felt good about). It's also helped me realize when I have time to game and when I don't. I had no idea until I did this that I basically have no free time September-November seemingly every year.

I feel like I tried to do that last year, but fell short thanks to the glut of big AAA open-world games. Maybe I should try again so I don't spend so much time on longer games. It's a hell of a goal. Good luck in hitting it.

I'm starting the New Year by working on clearing Xenoblade Chronicles X.

Shit...

@cav829: I think the truly useful part for me is keeping a list, not the number. It's a nice kick in the pants to keep going and record what I played. I think by focusing on the positive (what I have beat) instead of the negative (what I have left to play) helps keep me having fun and ultimately I play more.

The big downside to the number is it subtly encourages me to play shorter games instead of the bigger ones for the reasons you said. That's not necessarily good either because I like those big ones a lot, perhaps best and I perhaps spend the most money on them.

I think the neogaf thread I linked in the header has unintentionally a very good idea in my mind, in that you can count games flexibly. To me I think clearing one of those Open World games should count more than clearing a platformer. Not because the game or genre is worth more, but simply due to how much time it takes to clear it.

What I'm going to try this year is a use a points system to better weigh that time commitment difference between genres but I don't have a solid rubric yet for what is fair. Here's what I'm thinking

1. 1 point for most games 10-20 hour games
2. 1 point for an expansion (most games don't have one these days but I have some on my backlog like Starcraft)
3. 3 points for an Open World game that has 40hr+main quest. Why three instead of 2? because I never just mainline those things so in practice it's more like 80+. Kinda wonder if it should be 4.
4. 0.5 points for story campaign style DLC that is longer than one hour
5. 0.25 points per episode of an Episodic game. Why not 0.2? Because in my mind those games often end up being longer than a standalone adventure game and require more of a mental investment if played episodically

using Howlongtobeat.com averages to determine where it qualifies. Then I'm going to shoot for 52 points.

What I'm undecided on is whether to count games that I played a big chunk of, but haven't finished and aren't going to finish. Whether that's due to burnout or inability to proceed etc.

What do you think of that?

I think it's great you are playing XCX! I'm jealous man, you'll have to let me know if you like it!

Good luck, you'll need it.

I actually set a similar 53 games in a year goal for myself in 2011, I barely missed the mark with 52 that year, so i tried again the next year, hit 47. In 2013 I finally obliterated the goal with 86. I kind of want to hit a 100, but I'm not sure there are enough games I'd want to play to even consider such a goal anymore.

Your rubric idea is interesting. I've always counted everything as 1 game, and not counted expansions or DLC nor games I've already beaten. I've found it to be simple, and the drawbacks and benefits kind of balance each other out. Maybe I'll consider something similar though if I do want to shoot for a 100.

@morecowbell24: thanks dude!

I'm pretty confident I can do it if i want to, I hit 63 in 2014 and I had 50~ of those by August. The big takeaway I had last year though I want to make sure I make time for the massive games too and that my goal was changing the way I play in perhaps ways that was limiting. Furthermore eventhough it was cutting down my backlog in number effectively, the backlog was now getting loaded with big massive games which is going to be much more intimidating to tackle.

I also felt better about the 40 I beat last year (and got a good chunk done of about a dozen more) than the 63 I played in 2014. By shooting lower it allowed me to play some games like Arkham City, which I really liked, that I probably would have ignored in 2014 due to time constraints.

I call this in my head the Skyrim Dilemma, since I haven't finished that game and am scared to touch it again since I figure it will blow this exercise to pieces.

So hopefully a scoring system should encourage me to play games in a balanced way while still taking a big chunk out of my backlog.

You're right there's something pure and clean about the traditional methodology, I guess it really depends on what you want to achieve.

@slag: That's a pretty good idea. Especially judging it on this year where say I could have beaten like a dozen small games in the time I put into MGS V, So that rubric sounds like a pretty good initial one to try it out with.

XCX is crack. It was also designed by some insane person, as my god I still am not sure I've figured out every system in that game after 50 hours. They honestly do not do the best job at all explaining everything, although there is an extensive manual you can access in-game. The fun is definitely just exploring the world and seeing all the gorgeous monster designs, because there isn't a great deal of mission variety. It's a good podcast game. The soundtrack is fantastic. Maybe my favorite thing is it has a bit of Dark Souls in it where you'll just randomly see monsters in areas way beyond what you can fight at the moment, and you need to sneak around them.

This is a pretty awesome idea. I might borrow it from you for my own personal endeavors as well if that's okay! :D

Good luck, mate!