My Pile of Shame

 

I've seen a lot of posts on the net recently about managing one's video game backlog, or "pile of shame." The backlog is a result of a consumer culture, where one lives in perpetual fear of missing the next big thing and so purchases commodities that they will never enjoy or even experience. People are addicted to buying shit; gamers in particular, it would seem, probably because almost all video games now are digital downloads, and it's a lot easier to click on a Humble Indie Bundle than it is to drive down to the ol' Gamestop and plop sixty bucks down on a Blu-ray. My PC that I built last year doesn't even have a disk drive. The last game I bought on disk was Dishonored 2, and I still had to download the damn game off of Steam. So I decided to look at my own Steam list and see what games I had purchased but never played, in the interest of accessing my own backlog, and whether I too have the money-burning disease.

What I learned

1. I have almost no unplayed games. Not to toot my own horn, but if you define a backlog as games you've purchased but never played, then I have nothing that fits that criteria other than separate multiplayer modes to otherwise mostly single player games, such as Resident Evil Resistance. There are a couple of Quake expansion packs I've never played, Fallout 2 (I really should get on that), Fallout Tactics, and a bunch of games I've actually played, just so long ago that Steam doesn't remember, such as Portal and various Half-Life spinoffs. So yeah, that's good, right?

2. I have 13 games that I've played under two hours. Well that's not as good. Some of these are titles that I just bounced off of and never came back to, such as Monster Hunter: World (which came free with my graphics card, so it probably shouldn't count) and FTL: Faster Than Light. There was awhile there where I would buy popular indie titles just to try them out, even though I knew they weren't my jam, such as Super Meat Boy (not much of a platformer fan) and Crusader Kings 2 (everyone else loved it; I couldn't figure out how to play). Still, there's nothing there that I spent sixty bucks on, and I've since stopped buying games that I likely won't like. X Box Game Pass for PC is perfect for the dabbler and is a much better option than blowing cash during Steam sales.

3. There are still some games that I'd like to finish. I've spent 3.3 hours playing 2016's Hitman, and I remember enjoying those hours, yet for some reason I moved on to another game and never came back. Similarly, Dragon Age: Inquisition has taken up 3.2 hours of my life, and it was alright, yet I balked at the time commitment a massive RPG requires. I haven't even played LA Noir for an hour, yet it has a really cool setting and concept. Fallout and Fallout 2 are classics that I've hardly touched. I should probably at least give these games another shot before plopping down sixty bucks for another title.

4. You shouldn't feel the need to complete every title you buy; yet you probably should play a game a while before you buy another one. People can do what they want with their money; however, you have to come to terms with the fact that your time is limited and you will never play every video game, watch every movie, read every book, listen to every piece of music, etc. I don't want to spend time figuring out how to play Crusader Kings 2, and that's fine. I'm not much of a strategy gamer. Even games in genres I like, such as the Outer Worlds, I don't feel particularly compelled to finish, even after 18 hours. I think it's fine that I never beat Divinity 2, even though it's one of my most played games.

So in conclusion, I don't have much of a backlog problem, which I knew already. What a fine internet man I am. Stay away from those Steam sales, people. You won't play half of what you buy.