I've written about it a few times here now, but yes, I've found it to be a real problem.
It all came to a head for me with the Steam library overhaul, which made me realize how bad things had become (1500+ games, of which I've only played half and finished a quarter).
It's why I found myself spending more time on the Switch rather than PC last year, because I only have a very small library of games on it - though that has now crept up from five to eleven titles in recent months, in part due to the recent sale.
The main thing is that
you have to play games.
It's all too easy to fall into the trap of spending more time reading about them online, discussing them on forums, or watching other people play games, instead of playing them yourself - especially if you're tired after a long day of work and feel like you don't have the energy for it.
On Steam at least, I have found a solution which works for me, by taking the time to sort games into the following categories:
- Playing now (3 games max)
- Want to play
- Maybe
- Probably not
- Never
The "want to play" list is as the name suggests - it's games that I actually really want to play. Even then, I ended up with about 50 titles in there - though I've got that down to 42 now.
The "maybe" list is one of good/interesting games, but ones that I don't have a burning desire to play. I'll look at those if I ever empty the "want to play" list.
The "probably not" games are hidden, and are games which I'm probably not going to play for various reasons - often because I was interested when I bought them in a sale or got them in a bundle, but never got around to playing it and the time for that game may have passed now.
The "never" games are often "bundle trash" or giveaways which were just cluttering up the library, and will be removed from the account.
This has made it
so much easier for me.
My mood/interest often changes too much to stick with a single game to completion, but I find that three games is enough to have some variety in my "playing now" list without being paralyzed by choice; making it very easy to sit down and play something without putting much thought into it.
I find that feeling "too tired to play games" is often "too tired to decide what I want to play" and limiting choice helps a lot.
Once I am done with a game, they end up in one of two categories:
- Played (finished)
- Played (unfinished)
The "unfinished" category is a list of games I have played to the point that I am satisfied with them, or have no desire to continue and want to remove them from the "playing now" list for something else.
Though I may not have finished them, this is a list of games I'm not going to return to. I make a point of moving them out of the other lists when doing this, so that it's actually being cut from the backlog.
I am also trying to avoid returning to the "finished" games list.
I find it very easy to return to old favorites that I know are good, instead of playing new games which are an unknown quantity, and I might not enjoy as much (or might enjoy more).
That's not to say you should never play old games, but I'm trying to make a point of spending my time with new games and slowly working through the backlog instead of revisiting old ones.
Since implementing this system a few months ago, I have found myself playing a lot more games again, and enjoying my time with them more.
I'm not playing games for 20 minutes and jumping to something else, because once a game is removed from the "playing now" list it moves into the "played" list instead of returning to the list of "available" games. That serves as motivation to actually stick with a game and see more of it before deciding whether I want to see it through to the end, or drop it entirely.
My goal for 2020 is to make meaningful progress through the backlog, and try to resist buying as many games as possible - even if they're a really good deal. Sales come around every few months, and if I
really wanted to play a game, I can afford to pay a bit more anyway. No more buying games that I want to get around to playing later.
If I do buy any new games—and so far, there are four I'm looking forward to in 20H1:
Coffee Talk, Animal Crossing, Cyberpunk 2077, and
Bloodlines 2—it will be with the intent of playing them right away.
