The "Backlog" effect

[LookingGlass]

On the one hand, I love having a huge and varied backlog because it means I've always got something new and interesting waiting for me, regardless of the mood I'm in. I've got unplayed RPGs and RTSes and shooters and space combat games and adventure games, and so on.

On the other hand, it annoys me for two reasons:

1. I'm spoilt for choice and indecisive. I always waste a ton of time trying to decide what to play next once I finish a game.

2. I put off playing long games because I know that, for a while, it won't appear that I'm making any progress on my backlog. I'm yet to start Baldur's Gate 2 or Planescape: Torment for this reason, and I know I'd regret that if I were to die tomorrow.


But I guess the other good thing is that it encourages me to dump games I'm not enjoying (or at least rush through them), because I know I can find better entertainment within my collection.

 

[Mysterious Druid]

I have dozens of games in my backlog, yet nothing to play...

Help me.

 

[teqrevisited]

I've got quite a substantial backlog. Suffice to say that it has Baldur's Gate 2, Chrono Trigger and Secret of Mana in it. They're in a long queue that's being held up at the moment, mainly by Final Fantasy VI.

 

[Dandark]

Sometimes I may forget to play a game when I have a backlog and then just lose interest in it. Somebody bought me Terraria but I have hardly played it at all.
I also recently finished downloading the PSO2 beta but haven't installed it yet due to being busy being addicted to reading the Berserk manga.

 

[surg3n]

Maybe, if you are overwhelmed by the amount of games you have to play through, you should stop buying games.

These days, I only buy games that I'm looking forward to. Mainly looking forward to Borderlands2 and Farcry3, but in the meantime I'll probably buy some indi games. Probably get the expansion for BF3 as well, which will roll out for about a year anyway.

I buy a lot less than I used to - a few years ago I would buy 2 or 3 games per month for the 360 alone, there just doesn't seem to be many interesting games these days. To me, it sounds like your getting that way too, most games aren't holding your attention like they used to. So change things, don't buy every single game that peaks your interest, wait on the must haves - and maybe pick a couple of games and play the hell out of them. Often, it's fun to go back to an old game and 100% it, try and get all the achievements, secrets etc etc. Grinding really, but it's better than throwing money away on a game that will ultimately disapoint you.

Most recently I've been playing Sniper Elite v2 - I want to play Borderlands, but unfortunately nobody else does - so I'm playing SEv2 and trying to get all the secrets. I'm enjoying it, the xray bullet damage thing is a lot of fun too. Anyway, if I got to the stage that I was just ploughing through games without even considering them, let alone enjoying them - well I'd just give up, there's no point in playing games like that, in fact it's detremental to us to have gamer's with that mindset. Don't you think that your exactly what publishers want? - someone who buys every game, and doesn't look closely enough. We need to be more discerning - only buy the totally amazing FPS games, only buy every other version of EA sports games, hold on and wait for GOTY editions. It's the only way publishers will know to stop with the horse shit cookie cutter FPS games.

 

[OrpheusTelos]

I have a bit of a backlog- maybe ten games or so- but since I mainly play RPGs, thats quite a lot of time needed to finish them all.

What i try to do is only buy new games Im really excited for. However, since it often takes me a month or more to beat a game, the backlog expands...

At least I can see I don't have it as bad as some.

 

[havoc33]

Another not so nice side effect of having a long back log, is the fact that I rarely touch the games I have finished anymore. Sometimes I really rush to get through the games to be able to start up another, and as such I sometimes feel I'm actually missing out a bit on what each game has to offer. It is also causing me to forget the game itself pretty fast. I don't know if it is the games that are not as memorable anymore, or if it's just me not paying attention like I used to or not playing them enough, but this is what I'm talking about:

I can clearly remember almost each track of the first three Wipeout games, yet I finished Wipeout HD just half a year ago, and I only remember a couple of the courses. Another example; I have several fond memories of great levels in the old 2D Mario games, yet I cannot remember a single level from New Super Mario Bros on Wii that I finished about a year ago. It's almost scary.

 

[TheSteeleStrap]

I may get a little of that "I must finish this so I can get to the next one" but I try to not let that spoil my fun.

And in the case of Arkham City... I haven't played it yet but I bought it a while ago for $40. Now it's $40 new and comes with that extra stuff. So I guess I get to eat shit...

 

[Derek_the_Dodo]

ive had a bit of a backlog ever since last christmas where we had a ton of awesome games.

I played almost exclusively skyrim until me3 came out which i played for ages and then on to a load of old ps2 games since then.

 

[TehCookie]

I have a huge backlog but it doesn't bother me, I own all the games so they're always available to play and if I don't beat them I can try again later. Even if it's a year or two later. I don't have much of a backlog with newer games since they're shorter than the older games.

 

[Iwata]

For every game I finish, I buy at least five others. I have a backlog of about a hundred games for the PS3 alone. And no, I don't lose the slightest interest.

 

[Irridium]

I don't really have to deal with that.

Being poor kind of limits what you can buy, so I don't buy many games.

Works just swimmingly for me, actually. I'm even immune to Steam sales, since I don't have a credit card and if I want to buy a game on sale I'll need to go to a store and get a pre-paid card. Not that it would matter if I did have a credit card; my internet is pretty crap so it's rare for me to download games anyway.

So yeah, I don't buy many games, meaning the ones I do buy, I finish. And usually beat again if there's nothing else coming out that I want to buy.

 

[Richardplex]

Eh, not really, my anime and gaming backlog are pretty significant, but they aren't in any to-do list order because I play different games depending on how I'm feeling. I'm also totally able to replay old games if I want, play a new game I've just found out about et cetera. So no, no diminishing effect, it just gives me far more versatility.

 

[Shoggoth2588]

No, I'm going to say it doesn't. What it DOES do is make me hate the fact that there's only so much time in a day.

That sounds about right. I still enjoy the games I play even knowing that I have games on the PSX that I haven't beaten in all my years of owning them. What's that Chrono Cross, Chrono Trigger and, Wild Arms? I haven't beaten you yet or indeed, played with you in weeks? Sorry, I can't hear you over Theatrythem.

 

[Wolfram23]

I've been thinking

does pilling up on a list of games "to play" make you lose interest/ruin your enjoyment?

and by that I mean you feel frustrated at "needing" to get through games rather than excited for playing them? where looking at it feels like a daunting task rather than somthing to look forward too?

does it depend on the game and its quality?

recently I I traded in a whole bunch of games, it struck me that I didn't feel the need to hold onto them

some of them I have finished..some of them I didnt and was never going to (dark souls/skyrim)

but thats beside the point

see Batman Arkham city is an awsome game...I loved Arkham Alylum and I loved AC when I started

but of coarse that was months ago and I kept piling on games to my list because the novelty have having a console handt worn off

and now I just am not interested in AC...at all..I mean I plowed through the uncharted series in no time (then traded them all in) started several games..finished some (Deus Ex, Deadspace)

and I've started Infamous 2 which I love the absolute shit out of

but I'm just not interested in Arkham City...its like the "new"ness of it wore off

I think so, to some extent. Generally nowadays I just pick up 1 game at a time, and if I get bored of it or beat it, then I might think of getting another one. I still have games I've yet to properly play/beat as a "backlog", but honestly, if I was that interested in them I would have done it already.

 

[SEXTON HALE]

I kinda know what you mean I bought some games because they were cheap rather than me actually wanting to play them.
Now I feel as if I have to play them rather then want to because I spent money on them and don't want to make it seem a waste.
I learned a very valuable lesson through all that cheap ain't for me.

 

[Mr. GameBrain]

I've been thinking

does pilling up on a list of games "to play" make you lose interest/ruin your enjoyment?

and by that I mean you feel frustrated at "needing" to get through games rather than excited for playing them? where looking at it feels like a daunting task rather than somthing to look forward too?

does it depend on the game and its quality?

No, it actually doesn't. However, do note that as we get older we often thirst for those new experiences both inside and outside of video games. A good deal of people who play video games have a backlog now for some very logical reasons.

1. We are the first generation of gamers who actually grew up with video games and actually can support ourselves financially and that enables us to buy games. Contrasting this to being a child where if you were say had to save up your money to buy a new game(sadly not many kids can rent games anymore and no gamefly doesn't count cause that is aimed at adults as well) the games we bought we finished cause they were the only game in town.

2. The video game industry has only gotten bigger. That means more games and more developers making games for multiple demographics. That does not mean the games are getting better in terms of content but simply that if you see a game you like it is there for the taking.

3. Ease of access. Video games aside from the lack of rental but in terms of ownership has never been easier. With the free to play market now thriving and digital downloads people can easily purchase games without even going into a retail store meaning more impulse buys instead of active research on a game.

So yeah a multitude of factors. Personally if worse comes to worse you can always just collect games and then just sell em in a big collection like that guy did for 1.2 million dollars.

Pretty much explains why I have so many games.
Steam/Indie sales. Hunting games in used areas of stores like GAME, HMV and CEX (well... not the first two anymore...), cheap retail after a few months on Amazon or Shopto.
Strong pound vs dollar, helps get GOGs dirt cheap. (Especially on sale).

Plus I get old games/consoles on ebay as well. (Its just nice to have around when I have a taste for Retro (I play retro games all the time. I was playing Castlevania the other week for quite a bit (just keep dying from that same bit... (damn medusa heads! >:/))))

Worse comes to worse, I'll be able to resell those retro games for the amount I paid for them.
(sometimes more, if I got the title dirt cheap...)

So yeah. I'm kind of a collector. Fairly casual collector. Within some reason. XD

 

[StBishop]

Nah, I like that I'll almost never run out of games to play. I only finished Assassin's Creed 1 this year. I'm still playing AC2.

I haven't finished Bioshock. I haven't even started Red Dead Redemption, Alan Wake, Heavy Rain etc etc.

I play games slowly, and I'm happy to have a few different genres going at once. I am yet to finish MW1. It's a 6 hour campaign apparently but I started it over a year ago.

 

[Owyn_Merrilin]

Man, my backlog of un/played/ games alone is well above 50. My backlog of unfinished games is somewhere in the low hundreds (I don't finish games often, I'm one of the 90% that doesn't see the end.) Obviously I don't feel much pressure to finish them, and don't unless I'm loving every minute of it, but I sometimes have a hard time choosing what game I want to play, which is compounded by the fact that gaming isn't my only hobby, and I've got a backlog of books and movies, too. It can be kind of paralyzing, sometimes. It's a first world problem, but a good one to have.