Sometimes I’ll buy games on sale I have no intention to ever play. Y’know, because of the lingering guilt from the last time I played them but didn’t buy them
I buy games to have a library to pull from when the mood takes me. If I finished them all then I would no longer have that, which seems bad.
The reward for finishing a “backlog” of games is having nothing more to play. That’s like trying to finish a meal in a restaurant quickly to get to the after dinner mint.
I despise treating gaming as an obligation like this. I have a collection of games, not a “backlog”.
I don’t buy anything I don’t want to play right now (or after the current game, and it’s on sale right now), so don’t have the backlog issue, but I need closure. I can’t leave my games unfinished. I can drop a game if I want, but I need to mentally “finish” it. Either by completing it or by dropping it.
Personally, I don’t really go out socially. Like ever.
So once a week or so when my friends go out to the bars and spend $50 on food and beers, I might spend a $20 on a game that’s on sale and get the same or better return on my time and money for it. If I buy a game for $20 and spend five hours on it and never touch it again, that’s about equivalent to a night out with the boys, both in dollars spent and in hours enjoyed.
I’ve built up a collection of indie games on this mindset and I don’t see any of it as wasted. If I get a lower return than $5 per hour enjoyed then I’ll refund the game or not recommend it for others. But I have a ton of games that have kept me well entertained for 3-6 days for the price of a beer and a kebab. I consider that good value.
I have something in the region of a thousand games collected over about twenty years. If the price is good and it looks like I might like it (and I can afford to fritter the money away) then I buy it.
That’s a thousand (ish) opportunities for entertainment, not a thousand (ish) obligations.
I bought all the rainbow six games in a bundle just to play Vegas, got to Vegas 2 maybe a year ago. I might get through the other 5 over the next 20 years.
I’ve always maintained that it’s a library, not a backlog. A backlog is a chore, a task I have to finish.
A library is a catalogue of new, exciting experiences waiting for me to have them!
I also happen to live in a rural area with radio Internet so when I decide I want to play a game it’s many, many hours for it to install and be playable. Heck, sometimes I can order a physical game and it’ll arrive by delivery faster than I can install it.
Also some console games are still physically on the cartridge/disc and it’s becoming more and more of a rarity. As long as the media and systems hold up you can still actually own these games. It’s sometimes worth not sleeping on these because, as I’m sure we can all see, they’re a drying breed. Same thing with (most) GOG games: if you download and save the backup installers you can have actual ownership over titles purchased there.
https://www.doesitplay.org/ is a wonderful resource to find out if a physical game you buy is actually on the media it comes on.
And, unfortunately, some digital games are going somewhere. Delisted games have become a real problem for preservationists. You can find a whole list of them here: https://delistedgames.com/
All that said I support the notion of less consumption and more meaningful consumption when it occurs. Don’t let FOMO get the better of you, be aware that these corpos are not your friend, and take measures to secure the things you wish to have available to you! Host servers, seed torrents, and have backups.
You’re not alone, my 2060 brother. As my build gets further into it’s twilight years I stick almost exclusively to smaller indie titles.
I bought my wife that Harry Potter game a while back and I don’t even want to try it. Even on potato mode it’s like 20fps in outdoor maps. She doesn’t seem to mind the shitty frames, thankfully.
Starfield was maybe one of the last ”modern games” I could run. 1080p and 30fps locked because It couldn’t handle steady 40fps. I havent bought any games made in 2024 or 2025. I mostly just buy older games that are now available -90% or something. My latest purchase was a remaster ed. for a 20 year old game which price was now all time low.
I haven’t tried starfield yet, but it looks interesting and I suspect I could run it at lower settings since I’m pretty sure it runs a modified Skyrim engine and Skyrim runs just fine.
Totally with you on older games on high discount. I picked up Metal Gear Rising Revengence for super cheap last year and that game is almost a decade old. I think the older rig has really helped maintain discipline to wait out the hype till games are older and I can enjoy them at a much lower cost.
There’s literally no reason to buy a game until the minute before you’re going to play it. It’s not like digital copies sell out or takes time to ship. Add games you want to play to our wishlist and buy them when you’re actually ready to play them.
While I do agree with you, unfortunately games do get delisted from store fronts due to licensing deals or for whatever reason the publisher feels like. Like Ubisoft did with The Crew, even removing it from your library if you already owned it.
Income is the reason I will (typically) wait for the big sales to purchase games. I don’t have as much disposable income, so its much easier to justify spending $60 on three $20 games if they’ve been on my wishlist (or seem very appealing to me) for example than it is on one $60 game.
I adopted this philosophy a few years ago and have bought maybe 2 games since. I played them immediately and had fun. Meanwhile I have no interest in playing my backlog games anymore. I don’t have time for them.
Started playing all the games I missed growing up that I really wanted to play, in chronological order.
Just beat the psp version of Final Fantasy. Next up I’m trying to decide if I should play the pixel remaster for part II, or just the psp version of that one, too.
I love the art style of the psp versions so I have settled into that one. So far it’s way more narrative than part 1 and I’m enjoying that a lot more.
I’ve convinced myself to think of the leveling system as more of an elder scrolls game and that’s helped me like it a lot more than I would have otherwise, going in expecting a traditional rpg style system.
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Sometimes I’ll buy games on sale I have no intention to ever play. Y’know, because of the lingering guilt from the last time I played them but didn’t buy them
I buy games to have a library to pull from when the mood takes me. If I finished them all then I would no longer have that, which seems bad.
The reward for finishing a “backlog” of games is having nothing more to play. That’s like trying to finish a meal in a restaurant quickly to get to the after dinner mint.
I despise treating gaming as an obligation like this. I have a collection of games, not a “backlog”.
That’s a very interesting outlook.
I don’t buy anything I don’t want to play right now (or after the current game, and it’s on sale right now), so don’t have the backlog issue, but I need closure. I can’t leave my games unfinished. I can drop a game if I want, but I need to mentally “finish” it. Either by completing it or by dropping it.
Personally, I don’t really go out socially. Like ever.
So once a week or so when my friends go out to the bars and spend $50 on food and beers, I might spend a $20 on a game that’s on sale and get the same or better return on my time and money for it. If I buy a game for $20 and spend five hours on it and never touch it again, that’s about equivalent to a night out with the boys, both in dollars spent and in hours enjoyed.
I’ve built up a collection of indie games on this mindset and I don’t see any of it as wasted. If I get a lower return than $5 per hour enjoyed then I’ll refund the game or not recommend it for others. But I have a ton of games that have kept me well entertained for 3-6 days for the price of a beer and a kebab. I consider that good value.
I have something in the region of a thousand games collected over about twenty years. If the price is good and it looks like I might like it (and I can afford to fritter the money away) then I buy it.
That’s a thousand (ish) opportunities for entertainment, not a thousand (ish) obligations.
I bought all the rainbow six games in a bundle just to play Vegas, got to Vegas 2 maybe a year ago. I might get through the other 5 over the next 20 years.
Oh man I jump around games all the time. I just finished God of War like a month ago after about a year because I’m always trying something new haha
As long as you’re enjoying your gaming time, you’re doing it right!
Optimising the fun out of it is an own-goal.
no way i could ever finish my backlog
all those humble bundle titles.
sigh Have to give up and finish your work instead.
oh look, what an interesting article.
Time to check Humble Bundle.
No
Eh, spend that money on indie games and you’re doing good in the world regardless.
Based
But my favorite macrotransaction casual game is Buying Games Despite Your Backlog.
I’ve always maintained that it’s a library, not a backlog. A backlog is a chore, a task I have to finish.
A library is a catalogue of new, exciting experiences waiting for me to have them!
I also happen to live in a rural area with radio Internet so when I decide I want to play a game it’s many, many hours for it to install and be playable. Heck, sometimes I can order a physical game and it’ll arrive by delivery faster than I can install it.
Also some console games are still physically on the cartridge/disc and it’s becoming more and more of a rarity. As long as the media and systems hold up you can still actually own these games. It’s sometimes worth not sleeping on these because, as I’m sure we can all see, they’re a drying breed. Same thing with (most) GOG games: if you download and save the backup installers you can have actual ownership over titles purchased there.
https://www.doesitplay.org/ is a wonderful resource to find out if a physical game you buy is actually on the media it comes on.
And, unfortunately, some digital games are going somewhere. Delisted games have become a real problem for preservationists. You can find a whole list of them here: https://delistedgames.com/
All that said I support the notion of less consumption and more meaningful consumption when it occurs. Don’t let FOMO get the better of you, be aware that these corpos are not your friend, and take measures to secure the things you wish to have available to you! Host servers, seed torrents, and have backups.
That is easier and easier after every sale.
You’re not alone, my 2060 brother. As my build gets further into it’s twilight years I stick almost exclusively to smaller indie titles.
I bought my wife that Harry Potter game a while back and I don’t even want to try it. Even on potato mode it’s like 20fps in outdoor maps. She doesn’t seem to mind the shitty frames, thankfully.
Starfield was maybe one of the last ”modern games” I could run. 1080p and 30fps locked because It couldn’t handle steady 40fps. I havent bought any games made in 2024 or 2025. I mostly just buy older games that are now available -90% or something. My latest purchase was a remaster ed. for a 20 year old game which price was now all time low.
I haven’t tried starfield yet, but it looks interesting and I suspect I could run it at lower settings since I’m pretty sure it runs a modified Skyrim engine and Skyrim runs just fine.
Totally with you on older games on high discount. I picked up Metal Gear Rising Revengence for super cheap last year and that game is almost a decade old. I think the older rig has really helped maintain discipline to wait out the hype till games are older and I can enjoy them at a much lower cost.
Nothing touches my library that wasn’t discounted 60% or more. I’ll see you on the Christmas of 2030 Ghosts of Tsushima!
No, fuck you.
There’s literally no reason to buy a game until the minute before you’re going to play it. It’s not like digital copies sell out or takes time to ship. Add games you want to play to our wishlist and buy them when you’re actually ready to play them.
While I do agree with you, unfortunately games do get delisted from store fronts due to licensing deals or for whatever reason the publisher feels like. Like Ubisoft did with The Crew, even removing it from your library if you already owned it.
Bring back physical copies. Bring back big boxes.
Income is the reason I will (typically) wait for the big sales to purchase games. I don’t have as much disposable income, so its much easier to justify spending $60 on three $20 games if they’ve been on my wishlist (or seem very appealing to me) for example than it is on one $60 game.
That only holds true if the price doesn’t vary over time.
I adopted this philosophy a few years ago and have bought maybe 2 games since. I played them immediately and had fun. Meanwhile I have no interest in playing my backlog games anymore. I don’t have time for them.
deleted by creator
I’m working on it!
Started playing all the games I missed growing up that I really wanted to play, in chronological order.
Just beat the psp version of Final Fantasy. Next up I’m trying to decide if I should play the pixel remaster for part II, or just the psp version of that one, too.
I think the PSP versions have more content than the Pixel Remasters
I love the art style of the psp versions so I have settled into that one. So far it’s way more narrative than part 1 and I’m enjoying that a lot more.
I’ve convinced myself to think of the leveling system as more of an elder scrolls game and that’s helped me like it a lot more than I would have otherwise, going in expecting a traditional rpg style system.
I like it a lot so far!
I am similar (with some exceptions), currently I am in 2015. It’s nice to get a fully patched version with all DLCs and such a low price.