Poll: Back Log: How do you determine what to play?

[Sigmund Av Volsung]

Levels of interest/how long ago I played it the last time.

To me, I usually buy games that I have seen enough discussion and reviews thereof around it that I know it's going to be good, what determines if I will play it is how fresh it is to me.

So, let's say I have been playing Shogun 2 for a long time, but not so much Fallout New Vegas, I will go for Vegas because it seems more interesting and fresh.

That's about it really.

 

[Eamar]

My backlog is in spreadsheet form. This means I have a problem!

I'm so glad I'm not the only one in this situation. OP, your list is not "one hell of a backlog", believe me

OT: I base my decision on how much time I have available, because I hate having to take a long break in the middle of a game (though sometimes it's unavoidable). Sometimes I can put weeks into something, sometimes I need something I can finish in one or two sessions. Fortunately the size of my list means I have no problem finding something to suit every occasion.

EDIT: Certain rare games (ie ones in whose franchise I've become heavily invested)skip the backlog process altogether and automatically jump to the front of the queue, regardless of how much time I "should" have free at the time. The next title this is likely to happen for is Dragon Age Inquisition.

 

[BarkBarker]

what can I get the most out of in the sittings I play it, no point starting my backlog with the 100 hour plus game, I'd get so little done I'd feel like I wasted my time, alongside that are things like which do I feel I will most strongly enjoy, you never tried that sandbox game you got on PSPlus and you could hate yourself that you have a file you don't want to finish but you've already put in so much effort.

 

[FoolKiller]

I have a spreadsheet to do it randomly.
It does the work for me.
I only alter the results if its a sequel to a game i haven't played yet.

 

[Fishcactus]

Like most people have said, I do it shortest to longest. Gone Home and Limbo before something like Tomb Raider.

I also try to take into account what everyone's talking about now, and what games are considered 'classics'. If I have a gap in my gaming knowledge (eg. I haven't played Half Life1/2 *gasp in horror*) i'll try fill it before I play something newer. And I played Papers Please and Gone Home just recently because i've been hearing/seeing them appear everywhere.

I did once try to go alphabetical through my Steam list, but got stuck on 'A' since Alan Wake doesn't run well on my laptop and there's no way i'm beating Amnesia again just so it's 100%ed on my Steam account. So alphabetical is a no.

 

[tippy2k2]

Like most people have said, I do it shortest to longest. Gone Home and Limbo before something like Tomb Raider.

I'm seeing that a lot in here and makes me feel kind of dumb for not thinking about that in the poll

Live and learn...

 

[Fijiman]

Well if I ever allowed myself to gather that many games into my backlog I would just either pick one at random or pick the one I'm most interested in first.