Poll: I might have too many games...

[caleb451]

So I did some adding up the other day, and I think I might have a problem. I've got 400+ games in my Steam library, which is a lot by itself. But I also have around 420 in my GOG library, as well as about 10 or so older games that aren't available as digital downloads.

That just covers the PC side.

I've also got half a binder full of PS/PS2/PS3 games (probably around 150 all told), with a 640GB drive in my PS3 full of game data and SEN store purchases. I've got a Wii that I mainly use as a Gamecube, but I've only got 20 or so games there, mainly just the good ones, same with an N64. I bought a Dreamcast this summer and have probably 10 or so games there, again just the good ones.

I can't really fathom the 1000s of dollars I've spent over the past 3-4 years or so building this collection. I think the main problem is I'm kind of a media soak, I spend so much time immersed in this media that I'm constantly hearing about games, both in this generation and ones previous that I should check out, so I have an amazon wishlist that I use to keep track of most of them, and there's probably around 150 there as well.

It may be some sort of compulsion, as I've got a wishlist for movies and TV shows that just recently broke 260. Probably 40 percent of my Steam library is stuff I can't even play, because my computer's not up to it or I don't have enough room on my drive for everything. The irony is I could probably afford a decent computer if I didn't keep buying so many damn games.

Do I have a problem?

 

[Malbourne]

I chose the last option, only because it best encapsulated my opinion that YOU CAN NEVER HAVE ENOUGH GAMES. So you're a collector! I like it! Maybe if you're really worried try getting other people to play your games with you, make a party of it, have a roulette for which games to play next. Create a giant ball pit where you dive into video games. Make a Scrooge-McDuck-esque vault and take baths in your collection. Stuff the CDs and prop them up for display. Alphabetize your digital catalog.

You can never have enough games. NEVER.

 

[Frezzato]

Yes, I think you have a problem. You have too many games you can't possibly play let alone finish.


Welcome!

 

[Morgoth780]

I was expecting to come into this thread with you saying you have like 200 games... (I have 170 on steam with a few in other libraries and physical disks)... but I wasn't expecting 1000+.

So yeah. What the hell is wrong with you?

In all seriousness, it sounds like you've been buying games for a very long time. So it's understandable you have so many games especially if you've always bought quite a large number of games every year.

 

[Jason Rayes]

I have 800 on Steam.....also about 50 on console and maybe another 50 on GOG. Plus a couple of boxes of PC CD and Floppy stuff going back to the 80's.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

That depends. Does this compulsive consumerism leave you in a financially difficult position, or do you just have too much money?

 

[Jason Rayes]

That depends. Does this compulsive consumerism leave you in a financially difficult position, or do you just have too much money?

In my case I bargain hunt

 

[Spambot 3000]

Sounds like you have more money than brains to me.

 

[Elfgore]

Honestly, if you have the money, you or others important to you aren't starving, and you don't go without necessities, no you don't have too many. You enjoy collection games, nothing wrong with that.

If I was in your shoes, I'd have no clue what to with all of them. I'd probably put one in, only to be distracted by another almost instantly.

 

[thebludragonwarrior]

I chose the first option not because I think having that many games is a bad thing, but because what you need to do is... you know... play them? I know exactly what you're going through (okay not exactly, I mean jesus that is so many games) because there'll be times in my life where I keep buying things (not just games) and I forget to actually play/read/watch whatever I get. I catch myself doing that stuff often, and I think it's because we get sort of addicted to the sensation of buying so much stuff. I know that might sound weird for some, but don't you feel good when you buy/discover something you really want for a super cheap price?

So my personal suggestion is to make a list of everything you want to play/watch but don't actually buy that stuff if you have games in your collection that are of the same genre or close enough unless it is completely unique to any other game in your library and you absolutely have to play it right now.

 

[Caostotale]

I'm not quite that bad, having cut myself from accumulating new stuff at the last generation of consoles (PS3/360) and never dipping into PC-gaming at all, but I still have at least 4-5 large Rubbermaid containers that are dedicated to a pretty large hardware/game collection. Most of this didn't cost me all that much money, as I've long been a fiendishly-good bargain hunter and, in many other cases, have just been given old systems and games by friends who 'outgrew' gaming after college and knew that I was a weirdo who would gladly take the shit off their hands (this has resulted in me having two original X-Boxes, two Dreamcasts, several 16-bit systems, a dozens of old games). The height of my game collecting was going on a few years ago, when Gamestop was still carrying PS2 and Gamecube titles, most of which were dirt-cheap and subject to the buy-2-get-1-free deal. During that time, I was buying up any and all JRPGs that I saw, all sorts of arcade game compilations (e.g. all those SNK reissues), any shmup I could find, any Atlus release, any Nippon Ichi release, etc...., to a point where I now have about 150 games for those two systems. As well, I was buying tons of handheld stuff for the PSP and DS, systems that also catered to my JRPG and retro-gaming obsessions. Alongside that, I also went through a pretty fierce retro-shmup phase, during which I bought a Japanese Sega Saturn, some rare and pricy games for that console, and a small pile of old Genesis and SNES carts.

Alongside that, I've also got a brutally-large music collection (probably 2,000-3,000 classical and jazz CDs) and countless hundreds of books and music scores. As with the games, I bought a large majority of those things used or at a fraction of their original cost. For over a decade, I've lived in an area that has a phenomenal used bookstore and an even-more-phenomenal used record shop. I wouldn't call myself a media soak or some kind of mindless hoarder, but I'm definitely a fairly focused and OCD collector whose collection has reached alarming proportions.

Honestly though, when I see how some other people in my age group (30-35) are spending heaps of money on conventional things or going into stupid amounts of debt over things that they're not even enjoying that much (i.e. I see this shit A LOT with peers of mine who've spent themselves stupid on houses, vacations, kids, pricy weddings, drinking, gambling, etc..), I can't indulge in beating myself up over this shit. As well, I've recently been making a more concentrated effort (and it certainly requires one!) to throw myself into this backlog, as well as doing a better job catching myself when I'm aimlessly dicking around on Amazon, eBay, or Abebooks. As an example, to catch myself up on that monster record collection, I've gotten myself in the habit of going for long evening walks with my disc player, only returning home once I've listened to the entirety of the record. The books have been a harder thing to keep up with, but I don't give myself a hard time over that.

 

[krazykidd]

Pfft digital downloaded games don't count. You don't really own them. Physical copy or gtfo.

OT: it doesn't matter how many games you own, it's how many games you own that you didn't play that determines if you have a problem.

 

[veloper]

Question: do you have the money for it?
If NO, then you have a problem.
If YES, then do enjoy your massive collection.

 

[small]

its gotten to the point for me i have been trying to follow a rule of completing a game or getting to the point ive enjoyed it enough and then uninstalling and playing something else. hard too when i tend to enjoy strategy games that take weeks to finish.

and i will never complete the grand campaign in pride of nations, its physically not possible for a person to do it and im being serious

 

[caleb451]

Yeah my main problem is I gravitate towards story-heavy games that take 10s of hours to complete, so having a stack of them in queue is more than a little daunting.

 

[EvilMaggot]

-snip-

No you dont mate. Ive only got 280 on steam, but like some people who ONLY play World of Warcraft or Diablo, or anyother game and only play those.. it might be fine for them... But like me and i think maybe like you, you need diversity. And when you get bored you buy a game. I do aswell.

But having a great library of games is great - specially if you played most of them . Got alot of friends coming to me asking after a certain genre of games, like if they ask RPG, i would tell them RPG, if they need futuristic id say KOTOR+community mods.

Also it means that you have alot of experience in games, you've probably tried somee of the best games this media has to offer and probably some of the worst..

in the end.. who can really say no when the games go down to like 80-90% off in price?

You dont got a problom. You are just bored and being impulsive makes you buy games so you can pass the time.

 

[Someone Depressing]

Oh, you have things. I want your things.

You should be happy you have so many things that we mutually love, but you should really stop buying them or you'll wither away into nothing, young man.

No but seriously, I wish I had that many games. I think you should be proud of your ridiculously engrossed hobby, like, as long as you're not skimping on food or heating bills to fuel it. You can basically think of it as a drug addiction, except a little less life ruining.

 

[Frission]

That is alot of games. I remember when just having around 10-20 was a huge collection.

Anyway as long as you have the money it's up to you to decide. It's your life. Hopefully you have the time to actually play these games.