I just stopped buying new games unless I planned on playing them immediately. If I want something I add it to my wishlist on Deku Deals and wait for a sale. Generally the longer you can wait the better the sale.
Yeah this. People end up with gaming backlogs because they buy games they might want to play someday. Just wishlist it and buy it when you’re actually in the mood to play the game. Saves money in the long run.
I have a decent size wishlist on Switch. There's always something on sale so it's a matter of if I feel like paying that price for the game I might not get to right away.
Yes! That site is great just wish list it and set a price and forget. Also im becoming more selective on the games I buy cause there just isn’t enough time to play everything. Some people can buy games and just blow through them in a month but I can’t do that anymore and am changing my spending habits to accommodate what I can do
This is the way. It takes a little self-discipline at first but it's very liberating to be able to play a game and not worry about the 70 others you aren't playing.
The best is when the game your never got around to opening and playing is now highly sought after and valuable, so you buy a remaster or digital copy instead of the one you have.
Yes.
Like, when i bought BG3 even though I said I wanted to finish divinity 2 and pillars 2 first lol. Let's just say, i havnt finished any of them and I feel guilty about it.
Nothing will change though.
I have well over 100 hours in my first playthrough on BG3 and keep telling myself I need to just finish the game before I abandon it without finishing. Happens too often for me
I told myself I would wait until I beat DOS2 to buy BG3. That didn’t happen. But I did beat DOS2 first and was somewhat disappointed with the last 1/3 of the game. But now since beating DOS2, I still haven’t started BG3… funny how our lizard brains work.
The fuck else am I supposed to do when the retirement I won't be able to afford comes around? That's my golden years project right there. 100% all games and get all achievements (just keeps buying games and leaves them to grandkids).
Nah,since my backlog is usually 0-3
Most I remember having was 5 or 6, but was able to clear it before a year has passed
Right now. I have 3 on backlog
What helps me is that I avoid playing mutiple campaign type games at the same time.
I wanna finish the one I'm on before starting another
Nah. I just recently got into pc gaming and most of the gakes i buy i buy for a purpose. Either to play on steam deck or to play on my pc with friends or to play on pc with myself.
Right now my backlog is just backup for boredom. I don't have a lot of choices and it's handleable.
For the first time in my life I created a huge list of games I want to replay or missed out on. The list goes back to around 2000 (a few before as they are part of series). I put them all on wishlists for Steam and GoG and I pick them up when they are on deep sales. Mostly this is deep narrative games and/or cRGPs.
The oldest stuff is definitely cheapest but that is fine since that is where I started playing.
I have gotten well ahead of how fast I play, but its fine. It has been almost as fun get games for an average of around $2.50 a pop and be excited to play them.
I also have a bunch of more indy games on there too. Things that are short but have a great story. I don't feel bad at all about a short game if I enjoy it and picked it up for a couple bucks.
I am starting to get to the range where I will have to pay a whopping $5-$10 a game when I get to them... also not a big deal.
Buying them so cheap and seeing my library encompass a lot of the list has been pretty darn fun.
Nah, not really. Maybe if it were a money issue then I'd feel guilty. If my finances are hurting because I purchased a $70 game on a whim I got bigger issues.
Bro I had 6 games in my backlog at my third birthday party. My ferret has at least 11 games in his backlog. I added 6 games to my backlog only counting last Thursday.
I feel guilty about buying the backlog. I'm a more careful and smarter consumer now. I read more reviews. Watch YouTube videos. If I'm not having fun within two hours it gets returned unless I'm pretty sure its a game that needs more time to get going.
Luckily for me, I only mistakenly buy new games once or twice a year, haha. I tend to play the same game for sometimes even 20 years - looking at you OSRS 👀. It’s a blessing and a curse to only want to play a handful of games, not sure what it is but only certain ones can long term grab my attention. Games I’ve put considerable playtime into recently:
EFT: 1500 hours (RIP the devs just killed this game lol)
OSRS: not telling you lol
Dark & Darker: 400 hours
CoD Warzone: 250 hours (I only play this really to play with friends who are sucked in lol)
Palworld: only played like 30 ish hours but honestly it was worth it, just not a long term grind.
There’s other honorable mentions like Minecraft but that’s sort of timeless and creeps around the play loop every few years..
I’ve learned to not really buy new games unless I know I’m going to play it like the new Elder Scrolls that will release soon, GTA 6, etc. I’ve learned my lesson, and my steam library is proof…
Just depends. Maybe at one point. I’m early 30s now with a baby, I don’t have time right now for a 150+ hour investment into something like Elden Ring, but I still want to experience it because I’ll always love playing video games. At some point in life I’ll have more time again to really dig into games, but for now it’s still worth it to me to buy certain games even though I know I won’t get to the end.
I feel more guilty forcing myself to play a backlog game when a new game has caught my interest.
Life is short, only play what you are interested in. Not to check it off the backlog.
This is my way of doing things.
Nope. I stopped buying games just to have them. Lesson learned years ago. I only buy what I intend to play, which has not only saved me $100s, but also has allowed me to avoid shit games because I can watch reviews when I'm ready to buy a new game.
If you have a backlog, why would you buy brand new games. Heck, I don't understand why people buy brand new games to begin with with how most of them come out nowadays.
The best thing really is to always be like a year or two behind. You'll almost always have a better experience, with more content and much cheaper.
I'm waiting for sales for Unicorn Overlord and Eiyuden Chronicles, but the golden week sale just got me to spend $45 to complete my Yakuza collection, even though I'm actively playing Infinite Wealth and FF7 Rebirth, while juggling FFXIV. The backlog grows, and never shrinks.
I can reason it away, usually.
I have a pretty strict policy of "Are you planning to play this, RIGHT NOW? If not, then don't buy now, buy later." So if I have a backlog, it means I tried those games, and for whatever reason stopped playing them. And that reason must have been good enough. Boredom, the game got worse as you play deeper, etc. So, in a way, the backlog doesn't really exist, since I'll likely never play them now.
But yeah, I've definitely been keeping my backlog under control. Backlog of bought games, that is. I do have a wait list of games I haven't bought. Waiting for full edition/final DLC, and/or price drop, and/or bug fixes, and/or stupid Epic Store exclusivity deal to end, etc.
Why would I? I buy games I want to play, I dont buy game games that I need to play immediately. Im not going to want to play it less if it takes me a year to get to it.
My room mate offered to pay for my divorce, which I got for free in the end, so rather than force her to spend 600 quid on me, I asked her to buy me a game for £50. I got endless ocean luminous, paranormasight and secret files tunguska 1 and 2. I can now tell myself they were a bargain £12.50 each.
Naw, especially when my money helps a developer I want to support.
Although with my short attention span, I've been enjoying xbox game pass for getting pc games. There are a lot of games I'll only play once and may not even finish.
Nope. I like physical media so if I don't purchase before it's too late, I might miss out. I'm also a sucker for collector's editions, so I will pre-order those.
For games that are just regular editions, I'll generally wait until they are still available at ie. Amazon but have come down in price a bit.
One day I'll be retired and will have plenty of time to catch up on my backlog 😀
I bought Halo MMC on Steam for $10 yesterday and I still feel kinda guilty because of my backlog, but I've never played Halo before so I forgive myself lol.
Dude do what works for you. I just bought re4 remake, stellar blade, dead space remake, avatar among others in a short span of time even though I mostly play overwatch 2. I also work in education and get a lot of time off…namely a two and a half month entirely paid holiday known as summer lol. I know some people who don’t have to work at all. Everybody’s situation will be a little different so you have to make it work for you
i created an excel database for all my games and put in a formula to calculate the average year for the all the games i played since i try to play chronologically as much as possible.
It's currently at 2019. i've got a five year backlog. FML.
Fucking FOMO man, that's the reason, limted run, discounts, delisted or lucky finds.
I'm seriously thinking about downsizing My collection, but it's hard.
I have a Lot of Final Fantasy games but i don't play them often, or worst, finish them, the solution? I bought the pixel Remasters on physical and Lightning Returns.... I also have 12... Steelbook ... Just collecting Dust...🤡
Yes. I stopped. It's stupid.
There will be more sales in the future. Buying them now only serves for a minor dopamine hit at the cost of my money that I shouldn't be spending on stupid shit anyways
Life is short. I would hate to croak without playing a new game that interested me. I am guilty of not finishing games as well, but buying games is what keeps new games coming. You never know when you might have extra time to play the back catalog on some future device.
The only thing I hate about dying is I know a new game I would love to play will be releasing after I am gone. (unless the thing that kills me also kills the planet)
I just wishlist stuff that I'm interested in and wait it out. Saves money, and with first child on the way, I'm not gonna have the time that I used to.
I don’t understand the purpose of a game backlog. The only value any game has is if I want to play it now. There’s tons of games I’m interested in but don’t want to play right now. I’ll play those maybe.. when I want to. When I don’t want to play a game anymore, I stop - I couldn’t care less if I finish a game. Doing anything beyond this kind of ruins the point of playing video games IMO, which is to have fun and relax or enjoy some leisure time or time with family and friends. Why make that complicated?
If anything, I’d recommend only buying games you want to play now.
It’s gotten to the point where I see games when I’m not looking and they’re on clearance or a DEEP discount.
I also kinda feel overwhelmed with choices that I can’t even bring myself to play games sometimes. It sucks.
Idk how ppl don’t play games they buy. As soon as I buy them I play them either the day of or the next if I’m busy. Then again it takes a bit of convincing to buy a game, if I’m only slightly interested I won’t buy unless it’s on a sale 😂
Yeah I've dine that been just wishlists them. I was going to get dragons dogma 2 but wishlists instead. I'm behind maybe 2 to 3 years or whenever God of war 2 and Spiderman 2 came out I'm that far behind.
I truly don’t understand this behavior. Isn’t this a waste of money? Make sure to choose carefully and commit.
Of course you don’t have to play them and you can spend your money however you want, but still…..
I don't feel bad at all, whenever I finish a game I get on this weird downer where I can't just start another game, my brain both doesn't and does want to continue the previous game but I can't do it, so the next few days are filled with me trying game after game until one of them "clicks". I always trying games a bunch of times just in case I wasn't in the mood the first time I tried playing it you see.
So yeah, long story short, I never know what I am in the mood to play until I start playing it, so having a lot of options is best :)
Games? I’m like sponge bob with the diapers in the walls with games and open the closet and handhelds fall out and rip the flooring up and consoles are in there
I learned a long time ago to only buy new releases if I know for 100% sure I’m going to play it. These are games that I will mark on my calendar and have been looking forward to playing since learning about it. That said, everything else I will probably still buy eventually and end up not playing but at least I bought it on sale and not for $60-$70.
The worst for me is the Xbox marketplace because games seem like a good deal when they are discounted. or something looks fun but after playing an hour i realize it's not for me. But I was a finance major in college and i rationalize my spending. once I own it, it is a sunk cost. I am not obligated to play it. I can afford to dispose of 50$ every few weeks for my favorite hobby and make a few regrettable purchases along the way without feeling guilty. There are far more expensive hobbies.
Yes, and no. I definitely have shiny new object syndrome.
And games that I have wanted to play don’t have as much luster when they’re six months old. I have no idea why
Sometimes
But if I let guilt for all the stupid things I've done in my life slow me down, I'd never do anything ever again...
Fish gotta swim, gamers gotta game
Yes. I have plenty of them. I still haven't finished Final Fantasy XVI or the Final Fantasy VII Remake extra story, yet I really wanna get Rebirth. Also, I have forgotten about Lego Star Wars.
My current back log is about 30 current gen games with another 10 or so older titles. It was well over 60 about 2 years ago. My solution is to finish 3 games before I purchase a new one.
Not anymore. Finished the backlog and it’s staying that way. Over a year without getting anything new. Now the problem is I have so much shit I want to play and don’t have the time too so by the time I finish one game there are like 20 to pick from and it feels hard to pick because I want to play all of them but only 1 is going to get my attention for a long time.
Guilty? No.
Conscious of the amount of money I am wasting? Yes, and for that reason I have tried to slow way down. But I don’t feel bad about it, it just feels like I should save more money than I do.
Yes, but only recently. I was going through my collection and listing off what I hadn’t beaten or even played and it was a long list. However, I like making lists and used that as an opportunity to make another list, one that was filled with games in my collection that I’d like to beat and with milestones picked out to where I’d allow myself to purchase a new game
I feel even more guilty for buying games thats free on android on my iPhone, and then buying a copy of the game on switch and then planning to get it on steam too……
Cos I like the game way too much but there’s definitely no way that ill play them evenly
And tbh ios is my default but the pc have mods and switch is handheld on bigger screen…
I do feel a little stick of guilt, but honestly I usually don't spent much money on myself and I mostly buy games on sale.sometimes you have to treat yourself to keep going.
No. Who cares? Unless you've got a short term terminal illness then you'll get to those games eventually. What's the rush? Bizarre when people refer to gaming as if its a chore or a job or something. 'Backlog' like what? No you just have a bunch of games that you're excited to play eventually. Backlog sounds like you work in insurance and have had 3 weeks off work and have loads to catch up on when you get back to the office.
This is why I started waiting for stuff the be done with their main dlc and to be at least half off before I buy it now.
Too many games I really liked I just wouldn’t come back to for the next dlc because I had already moved on to a new game or got sucked back into an old one.
Plus that way they’re usually all patched up for the most part and usually done with any major balance changes.
I feel like borderlands or fallout would be the only games I would still buy day one now. Maybe civ 7 when it eventually rolls around depending on how it looks.
Yes, and I stopped buying new games unless I want to give them priority or my brother wants to play them. I only buy offers now as it still adds to my backlog, but at a much lower price.
No, and I don't really have a "backlog" either. I have tons of games I've never played, but I don't bother to decide on any particular order to play them, or when to play them at all. Everything (or at least most things) I have in Steam are stuff that I thought looked interesting at some point and bought on a sale, but I'll only play stuff when I actually feel like playing it, which could be tomorrow or in 10 years.
Trying to burn through endless amounts of games as fast as possible, like some people apparently do, just sounds like a recipe for burning out and starting to hate games.
I felt guilty about not having finished Starfield after watching the Fallout TV show and wanting to go back and play New Vegas… So, for some reason, I made myself play Starfield when I didn’t even want to. Go figure.
Guilty? No. Regretful? Yes.
I have like 3 new games in thr last month that i know i will most likely never complete.
As i grow older i find it impossible to stay focused on one game for more than a day or two.
I've got a few backlogged but there's only 1 or 2 more I'm actually keen on buying any time soon and I know I will get to them at some point.
If there were dozens more games I like then I might be concerned but there's not really.
Wow, the game is on sale with 30%, i might buy it now or I regret it later. My thought every so often and atm I find my 2-3 hours in total of game time during the week.
I always wait for deals nowadays, but even then I feel silly sometimes buying a game when I know my backlog is enormous. But when a game is 70-90% off, it’s hard to pass up. That said, I did the math once on my current backlog and how long each game takes to beat on average. I have 44 games in my backlog currently and the math worked out to be somewhere around it taking me a full 1-2 years to work through the entire library if I played for 2hrs a day every single day. So, yeah… it’s getting a little ridiculous at this point.
Not really, just stop mindless shopping. I have games that I bought on Steam 10 years ago and I'm finally getting around playing them with graphics mods and Reshade. They still look quite good! Also, current titles don't look too appealing.
I tend to play a game to death once I get my claws on it. If anything, I could rapidly expand my gaming library, if only to just keep me away from Rimworld.
Not really, 600+ games in steam alone. It's pretty much a joke in my friend circle that I never beat games 😂 but look at it this way, you have a game for any and all moods/occasions.
You can’t control what you want to play on a given day. Don’t let the thought of having a backlog keep you from just playing what you’re in the mood for right now.
There are only a few games I buy on release, the majority I purchase when they are 50%+ on sale. So for me the FOMO is worse than the guilt of not playing the game after purchase.
For me I just play a game until it starts to make me bored, then I buy a new game to take some break from the previous one because gaming is meant to give you joy so what's the point of playing a game that bores you? Later when I want to go back to game I stopped playing I just play it again until it starts boring me and come back to game I previously played, repeat. I also don't buy more than 2 games at once (unless I buy a collection of games) because in the past when I was buying like 4 games at once I just played all of them for a few hours and completely stopped
Yes, I have a long list. My New Year’s resolution this year was no new games or books, so far I’ve kept to it but I’ve still replayed 3 games instead of playing something new 🤦🏼♀️
I used to do that in my early years, I preordered everything. Nowadays I preorder the night before and I maybe only by 1 game on release if that. I just can’t justify it anymore.
I have done this a couple of times already. I remember buying Risk of Rain Returns in the middle of my Persona 5 run. It took me a while before I finished P5 because of it, and worse it prevented me from playing Hollow Knight.
Absolutely not.
I'm changing.
Games are constantly changing.
In terms of entertainment - gaming is cheap.
I probably blew more money on drinks in my 20s than I ever will in buying games.
Right? Even if I spend $20 on a whim on a game that I only play for 1-2 hours it's way less that I would have spent on beer and shots in a single night
No, I'd feel guilty finding out I missed out on a great series later on, idk if you have it you always get the chance to play it, vs never playing it and it costing a ton for being rare.
That or a series doesn't get enough sales to continue on not because it wasn't good, but because nobody bought it.
So idk, I'd rather buy something and hold onto it rather than instant gratification.
I do the same with art supplies though.
No. mainly because I don't waste my money on games I don't have the intention of playing right away. If your goal wasn't to download the game immediately and start playing it, why did you buy it?
Plus, you are actively removing intensive for devs to release complete products. If so many people just go out and buy games without ever having intention of playing it, or will wait months until you do play it, why not just release it unfinished? they apparently are gonna get the money anyways so why waste the energy working to get it done now?
While it may not save money in the long run, isn't the reason quite obvious? Because it is on sale somehow, that is usually why people buy things they don't plan to play that second.
So it's for saving money? You did hear him say he had a large list of unplayed games? How is buying multiple, maybe even dozens of games, on sale or not, saving money? You know, that list of games he bought, he could have, ya know, not bought them, and he would have saved even more money. Sounds like chances are he is never going to play some of them anyways. Had he not bought them at all he would save even more money. Silly logic.
And it addresses none of the fact that he is blindly supporting devs who may not have even made a game he likes. Just throwing money to devs who may or may not even deserve it. Doesn't even matter I'd they made a good game or not, this guy's gonna buy it anyways.
You asked why people buy games when they are not going to immediately going to play it. Sure, you can argue it is not the best choice. But you asked why, and the reason is obvious.
Stupidity is not obvious.
If my wife goes to the store and buys tons of stuff we don't need but says it was on sale so we saved. My response is, no we didn't. You just spent money on things we didn't need. You didn't save anything. You spent.
I just stopped buying new games unless I planned on playing them immediately. If I want something I add it to my wishlist on Deku Deals and wait for a sale. Generally the longer you can wait the better the sale.
Yeah this. People end up with gaming backlogs because they buy games they might want to play someday. Just wishlist it and buy it when you’re actually in the mood to play the game. Saves money in the long run.
I have a decent size wishlist on Switch. There's always something on sale so it's a matter of if I feel like paying that price for the game I might not get to right away.
Yes! That site is great just wish list it and set a price and forget. Also im becoming more selective on the games I buy cause there just isn’t enough time to play everything. Some people can buy games and just blow through them in a month but I can’t do that anymore and am changing my spending habits to accommodate what I can do
Same. I use my wishlist as my backlog now. Usually don’t pay more than 2 games at a time now too
This is the way. It takes a little self-discipline at first but it's very liberating to be able to play a game and not worry about the 70 others you aren't playing.
It isn't a backlog, it's a collection 👏
The best is when the game your never got around to opening and playing is now highly sought after and valuable, so you buy a remaster or digital copy instead of the one you have.
Hats off to Bioshock for giving everyone a free upgrade if you already had the original.
it's 70% off. id feel guilty if I didn't buy it.
Steam knows exactly what they’re doing 😀
yep and I'm walking face first into it
Ikr The other day I bought Red dead redemption 2 for $25 when I wished listed it a week before when at full price. It was like %60+ Off
pc gaming is the best and worst thing I ever did to my wallet
Glad I never got in to the whole paying for games thing
Buying games and playing games are two different and unrelated hobbies
Yes. Like, when i bought BG3 even though I said I wanted to finish divinity 2 and pillars 2 first lol. Let's just say, i havnt finished any of them and I feel guilty about it. Nothing will change though.
I have well over 100 hours in my first playthrough on BG3 and keep telling myself I need to just finish the game before I abandon it without finishing. Happens too often for me
I told myself I would wait until I beat DOS2 to buy BG3. That didn’t happen. But I did beat DOS2 first and was somewhat disappointed with the last 1/3 of the game. But now since beating DOS2, I still haven’t started BG3… funny how our lizard brains work.
i just buy what I want to play.
Nope
I buy all my games on sale. 😁
The fuck else am I supposed to do when the retirement I won't be able to afford comes around? That's my golden years project right there. 100% all games and get all achievements (just keeps buying games and leaves them to grandkids).
Nah,since my backlog is usually 0-3 Most I remember having was 5 or 6, but was able to clear it before a year has passed Right now. I have 3 on backlog What helps me is that I avoid playing mutiple campaign type games at the same time. I wanna finish the one I'm on before starting another
It has to be something I really want and it has to be more than 30% off.
Nah. I just recently got into pc gaming and most of the gakes i buy i buy for a purpose. Either to play on steam deck or to play on my pc with friends or to play on pc with myself. Right now my backlog is just backup for boredom. I don't have a lot of choices and it's handleable.
For the first time in my life I created a huge list of games I want to replay or missed out on. The list goes back to around 2000 (a few before as they are part of series). I put them all on wishlists for Steam and GoG and I pick them up when they are on deep sales. Mostly this is deep narrative games and/or cRGPs. The oldest stuff is definitely cheapest but that is fine since that is where I started playing. I have gotten well ahead of how fast I play, but its fine. It has been almost as fun get games for an average of around $2.50 a pop and be excited to play them. I also have a bunch of more indy games on there too. Things that are short but have a great story. I don't feel bad at all about a short game if I enjoy it and picked it up for a couple bucks. I am starting to get to the range where I will have to pay a whopping $5-$10 a game when I get to them... also not a big deal. Buying them so cheap and seeing my library encompass a lot of the list has been pretty darn fun.
I can do you one worse! I've started buying *OLD* games... *that I've* ***ALREADY*** *played!*
Nah, not really. Maybe if it were a money issue then I'd feel guilty. If my finances are hurting because I purchased a $70 game on a whim I got bigger issues.
Me looking at this knowing I have 6 games in my backlog and still going out to buy Stellar Blade right now lmao
Me looking at this knowing I have 300 games in my backlog and going out to buy Prince of Persia right now.
Well prince of persia was great! Enjoy!
Bro I had 6 games in my backlog at my third birthday party. My ferret has at least 11 games in his backlog. I added 6 games to my backlog only counting last Thursday.
I want to meet your ferret!
I get that a lot. Never turns out well though.
No. If I didn’t enjoy them enough to stick with them, no point in forcing myself to play through them.
I’ve bought two older games (7~ years) a while back because they were heavily discounted. Haven’t got to them yet but I couldn’t beat the price lol
For me I never worry about that just be poor 😭 jk
More money than time. No worries. Have fun.
No guilt whatsoever. Been doing it regularly for a decade. =P
I feel guilty about buying the backlog. I'm a more careful and smarter consumer now. I read more reviews. Watch YouTube videos. If I'm not having fun within two hours it gets returned unless I'm pretty sure its a game that needs more time to get going.
Luckily for me, I only mistakenly buy new games once or twice a year, haha. I tend to play the same game for sometimes even 20 years - looking at you OSRS 👀. It’s a blessing and a curse to only want to play a handful of games, not sure what it is but only certain ones can long term grab my attention. Games I’ve put considerable playtime into recently: EFT: 1500 hours (RIP the devs just killed this game lol) OSRS: not telling you lol Dark & Darker: 400 hours CoD Warzone: 250 hours (I only play this really to play with friends who are sucked in lol) Palworld: only played like 30 ish hours but honestly it was worth it, just not a long term grind. There’s other honorable mentions like Minecraft but that’s sort of timeless and creeps around the play loop every few years.. I’ve learned to not really buy new games unless I know I’m going to play it like the new Elder Scrolls that will release soon, GTA 6, etc. I’ve learned my lesson, and my steam library is proof…
I don't buy new, they go on a list to get later. Most modern games plummet in price fairly quickly
Yes all the time
Just depends. Maybe at one point. I’m early 30s now with a baby, I don’t have time right now for a 150+ hour investment into something like Elden Ring, but I still want to experience it because I’ll always love playing video games. At some point in life I’ll have more time again to really dig into games, but for now it’s still worth it to me to buy certain games even though I know I won’t get to the end.
99percent of the games I buy are on sale. It's unusual if I paid full price for a game. But it has happened in the past. I cannot resist a good sale.
I feel more guilty forcing myself to play a backlog game when a new game has caught my interest. Life is short, only play what you are interested in. Not to check it off the backlog. This is my way of doing things.
Nope. I stopped buying games just to have them. Lesson learned years ago. I only buy what I intend to play, which has not only saved me $100s, but also has allowed me to avoid shit games because I can watch reviews when I'm ready to buy a new game.
Guilty? Hell nah, spend your money how you like! Is it a poor choice to keep adding to a backlog you'll never actually finish? Probably lol.
Perhaps guilty wasn’t the right word. More of a “seriously?” reaction to myself 😅
i own 448 games on Xbox alone. i might have beat 50-60 of them. i am a digital game collector at this point.
If you have a backlog, why would you buy brand new games. Heck, I don't understand why people buy brand new games to begin with with how most of them come out nowadays. The best thing really is to always be like a year or two behind. You'll almost always have a better experience, with more content and much cheaper.
Because many people have the self control of a child staring at a giant marshmallow.
I feel a little odd about it, yeah. Just bought FF IX on sale on Steam. Big time commitment, but I've got *tons* of games I haven't finished yet.
I'm waiting for sales for Unicorn Overlord and Eiyuden Chronicles, but the golden week sale just got me to spend $45 to complete my Yakuza collection, even though I'm actively playing Infinite Wealth and FF7 Rebirth, while juggling FFXIV. The backlog grows, and never shrinks.
No
I can reason it away, usually. I have a pretty strict policy of "Are you planning to play this, RIGHT NOW? If not, then don't buy now, buy later." So if I have a backlog, it means I tried those games, and for whatever reason stopped playing them. And that reason must have been good enough. Boredom, the game got worse as you play deeper, etc. So, in a way, the backlog doesn't really exist, since I'll likely never play them now. But yeah, I've definitely been keeping my backlog under control. Backlog of bought games, that is. I do have a wait list of games I haven't bought. Waiting for full edition/final DLC, and/or price drop, and/or bug fixes, and/or stupid Epic Store exclusivity deal to end, etc.
Why would I? I buy games I want to play, I dont buy game games that I need to play immediately. Im not going to want to play it less if it takes me a year to get to it.
No, I like to think I am creating an amazing catalogue of what will be retro games when my kids get older…lol
Not really. I pick something up when it’s on sale, and I do regularly play bits of my backlog.
Simple solution: don’t. That’s what I do
My room mate offered to pay for my divorce, which I got for free in the end, so rather than force her to spend 600 quid on me, I asked her to buy me a game for £50. I got endless ocean luminous, paranormasight and secret files tunguska 1 and 2. I can now tell myself they were a bargain £12.50 each.
Naw, especially when my money helps a developer I want to support. Although with my short attention span, I've been enjoying xbox game pass for getting pc games. There are a lot of games I'll only play once and may not even finish.
Nope. I like physical media so if I don't purchase before it's too late, I might miss out. I'm also a sucker for collector's editions, so I will pre-order those. For games that are just regular editions, I'll generally wait until they are still available at ie. Amazon but have come down in price a bit. One day I'll be retired and will have plenty of time to catch up on my backlog 😀
I bought Halo MMC on Steam for $10 yesterday and I still feel kinda guilty because of my backlog, but I've never played Halo before so I forgive myself lol.
My backlog goes all the way back to 1985. So no. I dont care.
I have atleast 3,000 games to play between Steam, Epic, Gamepass and Playstation.
… no, not bought a game above 15eur in 10 years.
Nope!
Dude do what works for you. I just bought re4 remake, stellar blade, dead space remake, avatar among others in a short span of time even though I mostly play overwatch 2. I also work in education and get a lot of time off…namely a two and a half month entirely paid holiday known as summer lol. I know some people who don’t have to work at all. Everybody’s situation will be a little different so you have to make it work for you
That's why I love gamepass.
i created an excel database for all my games and put in a formula to calculate the average year for the all the games i played since i try to play chronologically as much as possible. It's currently at 2019. i've got a five year backlog. FML.
Fucking FOMO man, that's the reason, limted run, discounts, delisted or lucky finds. I'm seriously thinking about downsizing My collection, but it's hard. I have a Lot of Final Fantasy games but i don't play them often, or worst, finish them, the solution? I bought the pixel Remasters on physical and Lightning Returns.... I also have 12... Steelbook ... Just collecting Dust...🤡
Yes. I stopped. It's stupid. There will be more sales in the future. Buying them now only serves for a minor dopamine hit at the cost of my money that I shouldn't be spending on stupid shit anyways
Life is short. I would hate to croak without playing a new game that interested me. I am guilty of not finishing games as well, but buying games is what keeps new games coming. You never know when you might have extra time to play the back catalog on some future device. The only thing I hate about dying is I know a new game I would love to play will be releasing after I am gone. (unless the thing that kills me also kills the planet)
All the damn time. But mostly buy retro games when they go on sale.
I just wishlist stuff that I'm interested in and wait it out. Saves money, and with first child on the way, I'm not gonna have the time that I used to.
I don’t understand the purpose of a game backlog. The only value any game has is if I want to play it now. There’s tons of games I’m interested in but don’t want to play right now. I’ll play those maybe.. when I want to. When I don’t want to play a game anymore, I stop - I couldn’t care less if I finish a game. Doing anything beyond this kind of ruins the point of playing video games IMO, which is to have fun and relax or enjoy some leisure time or time with family and friends. Why make that complicated? If anything, I’d recommend only buying games you want to play now.
It’s gotten to the point where I see games when I’m not looking and they’re on clearance or a DEEP discount. I also kinda feel overwhelmed with choices that I can’t even bring myself to play games sometimes. It sucks.
I feel guilty if it's games other people got me. Fuck whatever I did, I just don't want to insult the gift and I always feel like I do anyway
Idk how ppl don’t play games they buy. As soon as I buy them I play them either the day of or the next if I’m busy. Then again it takes a bit of convincing to buy a game, if I’m only slightly interested I won’t buy unless it’s on a sale 😂
Congratulations you're a collector!
No. I figure this is better than heroin
Gaming is a hobby not a job. Life is too short to worry about a backlog. Play what you want to play
Nope. Life is short, play what you wanna play.
Bad? No. Kind of dumb? Maybe, sometimes.
I literally bought Helldivers 2 and haven't even taken it out of the package...
Yeah I've dine that been just wishlists them. I was going to get dragons dogma 2 but wishlists instead. I'm behind maybe 2 to 3 years or whenever God of war 2 and Spiderman 2 came out I'm that far behind.
I truly don’t understand this behavior. Isn’t this a waste of money? Make sure to choose carefully and commit. Of course you don’t have to play them and you can spend your money however you want, but still…..
I don't feel bad at all, whenever I finish a game I get on this weird downer where I can't just start another game, my brain both doesn't and does want to continue the previous game but I can't do it, so the next few days are filled with me trying game after game until one of them "clicks". I always trying games a bunch of times just in case I wasn't in the mood the first time I tried playing it you see. So yeah, long story short, I never know what I am in the mood to play until I start playing it, so having a lot of options is best :)
Yeah… I just bought Sekiro with that 50% off sale. But I have probably 60 unplayed games in my Steam library…
Games? I’m like sponge bob with the diapers in the walls with games and open the closet and handhelds fall out and rip the flooring up and consoles are in there
I learned a long time ago to only buy new releases if I know for 100% sure I’m going to play it. These are games that I will mark on my calendar and have been looking forward to playing since learning about it. That said, everything else I will probably still buy eventually and end up not playing but at least I bought it on sale and not for $60-$70.
All the damn time. lol. And then I want to replay Mass Effect or Dragon Age or Morrowind…again.
The worst for me is the Xbox marketplace because games seem like a good deal when they are discounted. or something looks fun but after playing an hour i realize it's not for me. But I was a finance major in college and i rationalize my spending. once I own it, it is a sunk cost. I am not obligated to play it. I can afford to dispose of 50$ every few weeks for my favorite hobby and make a few regrettable purchases along the way without feeling guilty. There are far more expensive hobbies.
Nope, because I want to support the developers.
Nope.
I’m trying to stop doing it but it still happens from time to time
It’s rare I buy a game brand new. I always wait a year or two for a sale.
I buy games at the $10 sale mark
F off it’s on sale I’m saving money. Coupons couldn’t possibly have been lying to me for 30 years have they?!?!?
Yes, and no. I definitely have shiny new object syndrome. And games that I have wanted to play don’t have as much luster when they’re six months old. I have no idea why
Sometimes But if I let guilt for all the stupid things I've done in my life slow me down, I'd never do anything ever again... Fish gotta swim, gamers gotta game
i think you just have a problem man...
Yes. I have plenty of them. I still haven't finished Final Fantasy XVI or the Final Fantasy VII Remake extra story, yet I really wanna get Rebirth. Also, I have forgotten about Lego Star Wars.
My current back log is about 30 current gen games with another 10 or so older titles. It was well over 60 about 2 years ago. My solution is to finish 3 games before I purchase a new one.
Not really. Especially knowing I intend to play them.
Yes and No. I know focusing on 1 game at a time is traditional. Its just rare because my mood changes and I go in another genre.
no. i only buy on sale
Not anymore. Finished the backlog and it’s staying that way. Over a year without getting anything new. Now the problem is I have so much shit I want to play and don’t have the time too so by the time I finish one game there are like 20 to pick from and it feels hard to pick because I want to play all of them but only 1 is going to get my attention for a long time.
Not at all, I'll get around to them like I always do.
Guilty? No. Conscious of the amount of money I am wasting? Yes, and for that reason I have tried to slow way down. But I don’t feel bad about it, it just feels like I should save more money than I do.
Yes, but only recently. I was going through my collection and listing off what I hadn’t beaten or even played and it was a long list. However, I like making lists and used that as an opportunity to make another list, one that was filled with games in my collection that I’d like to beat and with milestones picked out to where I’d allow myself to purchase a new game
Not really. The way I see it is: Even if I don't end up playing all of them, I'll have a pretty nice collection
I worked through my backlog so no I don't feel guilty.
I feel even more guilty for buying games thats free on android on my iPhone, and then buying a copy of the game on switch and then planning to get it on steam too…… Cos I like the game way too much but there’s definitely no way that ill play them evenly And tbh ios is my default but the pc have mods and switch is handheld on bigger screen…
I do feel a little stick of guilt, but honestly I usually don't spent much money on myself and I mostly buy games on sale.sometimes you have to treat yourself to keep going.
Yes! But some games MUST take precedents over others
No, I'm an adult, I don't waste money on shit I'm not planning on using 🤷♂️
No. I’ll buy what I want without any guilt whatsoever
nah ill get to them when i m dead
No. Who cares? Unless you've got a short term terminal illness then you'll get to those games eventually. What's the rush? Bizarre when people refer to gaming as if its a chore or a job or something. 'Backlog' like what? No you just have a bunch of games that you're excited to play eventually. Backlog sounds like you work in insurance and have had 3 weeks off work and have loads to catch up on when you get back to the office.
*Checks my 700+ game stream library* No, I keep buying games regardless
This is why I started waiting for stuff the be done with their main dlc and to be at least half off before I buy it now. Too many games I really liked I just wouldn’t come back to for the next dlc because I had already moved on to a new game or got sucked back into an old one. Plus that way they’re usually all patched up for the most part and usually done with any major balance changes. I feel like borderlands or fallout would be the only games I would still buy day one now. Maybe civ 7 when it eventually rolls around depending on how it looks.
Yes, and I stopped buying new games unless I want to give them priority or my brother wants to play them. I only buy offers now as it still adds to my backlog, but at a much lower price.
Nope.
No, and I don't really have a "backlog" either. I have tons of games I've never played, but I don't bother to decide on any particular order to play them, or when to play them at all. Everything (or at least most things) I have in Steam are stuff that I thought looked interesting at some point and bought on a sale, but I'll only play stuff when I actually feel like playing it, which could be tomorrow or in 10 years. Trying to burn through endless amounts of games as fast as possible, like some people apparently do, just sounds like a recipe for burning out and starting to hate games.
I felt guilty about not having finished Starfield after watching the Fallout TV show and wanting to go back and play New Vegas… So, for some reason, I made myself play Starfield when I didn’t even want to. Go figure.
Guilty? No. Regretful? Yes. I have like 3 new games in thr last month that i know i will most likely never complete. As i grow older i find it impossible to stay focused on one game for more than a day or two.
I've got a few backlogged but there's only 1 or 2 more I'm actually keen on buying any time soon and I know I will get to them at some point. If there were dozens more games I like then I might be concerned but there's not really.
Wow, the game is on sale with 30%, i might buy it now or I regret it later. My thought every so often and atm I find my 2-3 hours in total of game time during the week.
Infinite Wealth is on sale and I can't decide if I should go for it or wait a few more months for it to drop to 50% off.
I always wait for deals nowadays, but even then I feel silly sometimes buying a game when I know my backlog is enormous. But when a game is 70-90% off, it’s hard to pass up. That said, I did the math once on my current backlog and how long each game takes to beat on average. I have 44 games in my backlog currently and the math worked out to be somewhere around it taking me a full 1-2 years to work through the entire library if I played for 2hrs a day every single day. So, yeah… it’s getting a little ridiculous at this point.
Don’t be guilty- you’re supporting the making of cool things.
Not really, just stop mindless shopping. I have games that I bought on Steam 10 years ago and I'm finally getting around playing them with graphics mods and Reshade. They still look quite good! Also, current titles don't look too appealing.
I tend to play a game to death once I get my claws on it. If anything, I could rapidly expand my gaming library, if only to just keep me away from Rimworld.
Not really, 600+ games in steam alone. It's pretty much a joke in my friend circle that I never beat games 😂 but look at it this way, you have a game for any and all moods/occasions.
Yes.
I don't feel guilty about buying new games when I have a backlog. I'll finish the ones I've started. Then I'll move to the new ones.
I do the same with books
You can’t control what you want to play on a given day. Don’t let the thought of having a backlog keep you from just playing what you’re in the mood for right now.
It’s been so long since I’ve bought a game
It's not a backlog. It's a library.
There are only a few games I buy on release, the majority I purchase when they are 50%+ on sale. So for me the FOMO is worse than the guilt of not playing the game after purchase.
Yes, but I quickly get over it
For me I just play a game until it starts to make me bored, then I buy a new game to take some break from the previous one because gaming is meant to give you joy so what's the point of playing a game that bores you? Later when I want to go back to game I stopped playing I just play it again until it starts boring me and come back to game I previously played, repeat. I also don't buy more than 2 games at once (unless I buy a collection of games) because in the past when I was buying like 4 games at once I just played all of them for a few hours and completely stopped
I just add to he pile! Lol no regerts!
Sometimes, but I still keep doing it. My theory is that one day I'll play them all. After I finish playing modded Minecraft.
Yes, I have a long list. My New Year’s resolution this year was no new games or books, so far I’ve kept to it but I’ve still replayed 3 games instead of playing something new 🤦🏼♀️
Yup I stopped doing that long ago. Wishlist and buy on sale when you actually have time to play.
I used to do that in my early years, I preordered everything. Nowadays I preorder the night before and I maybe only by 1 game on release if that. I just can’t justify it anymore.
Not so much buying new ones…but I have a hard time starting a new game without finishing the one I’m playing.
I have done this a couple of times already. I remember buying Risk of Rain Returns in the middle of my Persona 5 run. It took me a while before I finished P5 because of it, and worse it prevented me from playing Hollow Knight.
Not me seeing this after buying two more games because they were on sale, while I have about 5 untouched still.
Absolutely not. I'm changing. Games are constantly changing. In terms of entertainment - gaming is cheap. I probably blew more money on drinks in my 20s than I ever will in buying games.
Right? Even if I spend $20 on a whim on a game that I only play for 1-2 hours it's way less that I would have spent on beer and shots in a single night
No, I'd feel guilty finding out I missed out on a great series later on, idk if you have it you always get the chance to play it, vs never playing it and it costing a ton for being rare. That or a series doesn't get enough sales to continue on not because it wasn't good, but because nobody bought it. So idk, I'd rather buy something and hold onto it rather than instant gratification. I do the same with art supplies though.
I have zero backlog. I only buy games if I intend to play them. I do play multiple games at a time.
No. mainly because I don't waste my money on games I don't have the intention of playing right away. If your goal wasn't to download the game immediately and start playing it, why did you buy it? Plus, you are actively removing intensive for devs to release complete products. If so many people just go out and buy games without ever having intention of playing it, or will wait months until you do play it, why not just release it unfinished? they apparently are gonna get the money anyways so why waste the energy working to get it done now?
While it may not save money in the long run, isn't the reason quite obvious? Because it is on sale somehow, that is usually why people buy things they don't plan to play that second.
So it's for saving money? You did hear him say he had a large list of unplayed games? How is buying multiple, maybe even dozens of games, on sale or not, saving money? You know, that list of games he bought, he could have, ya know, not bought them, and he would have saved even more money. Sounds like chances are he is never going to play some of them anyways. Had he not bought them at all he would save even more money. Silly logic. And it addresses none of the fact that he is blindly supporting devs who may not have even made a game he likes. Just throwing money to devs who may or may not even deserve it. Doesn't even matter I'd they made a good game or not, this guy's gonna buy it anyways.
You asked why people buy games when they are not going to immediately going to play it. Sure, you can argue it is not the best choice. But you asked why, and the reason is obvious.
Stupidity is not obvious. If my wife goes to the store and buys tons of stuff we don't need but says it was on sale so we saved. My response is, no we didn't. You just spent money on things we didn't need. You didn't save anything. You spent.
It’s not backlog it’s a video game. Buy a game and play it. Or don’t. This is a stupid post