Yeah I have also this dramatic issue with so many games bought yet even not played once. The case is I always loved video games, read about so many of them in the magazines I couldn't play at that time and always wanted to have a go. Then in my country for quite a few years each magazine added a couple of games on their issue DVD, so now it is possible to get a few games for a quarter (literally!). And that's only PC games.

I never head about Backloggery. I just registered, till now was using Google Docs spreadsheet to control what I have and what I still need to play.

From my experience, the most dangerous games for backlog are: MMOs, arcade games (PES/FIFA!) and games-so-great-you-still-want-to-play-them-after-finishing.

As someone that is very numbers oriented, I think it's a good system, provided that you take the right set of factors into consideration.

I think you fail to include in the price/time model the enjoyment factor (which is harder to quantify, but can still be quantified with various degrees of precision).

Obviously, you play games for different reasons then you read books, watch movies or listen to music and that can be factored in as well (them fulfilling different needs), but in the end, for any given category of entertainment, money to time ratio is a factor.

As an extremely example of this, I wouldn't see many people forking 60$ for a game that lasts 5 minutes.

LOL! Good one!
Yes, MMOs are ridiculous time sinks. Well, at the least they sure can be. That was the case for me for about ten years. I could have played probably most or even all of what I own today in that span of time if I hadn't spent it in MMO-land.

I do still have a sub to WoW but I don't log in daily anymore. I'd like to level up some of my alts and enjoy the other classes for fun as well as seeing the revamped old world content in the game. I think once I've done that I'll be canceling and be done. I'm not grinding the end game in an MMO anymore. It just isn't fun anymore to me. The endless pursuit of gear is all it's devolved into and little more. The content is really nothing new even as they churn it out endlessly. It always boils down to the same gameplay with no story.

At this point I'm ready to have fun with games that are more entertaining in terms of story and gameplay. I don't need to endlessly pursue virtual items that really don't offer any entertainment value. I can see how some people continue to have fun with that. My view is probably because I did it for so long, so often that I've just had enough.

Stop buying games. That 75% off game that is currently $5 will be $2 in a year or two, and you'd have a lot more finished games by that time.

You're really NOT missing out on anything, if you don't play it right away (unless that game is a MMO or something similar).

I'm one of those people who use a spreadsheet (though it's a *little* out of date now thanks to the holiday sales...) but I mainly aim to pick a large game from a different genre each time I finish a "major" game -- I'm thinking 40 hour RPGs sort of thing. I then also have indie or casual games on the go at the same time for if I only have half an hour free or if I'm thoroughly sick of a certain section

Hope that helps a little -- my backlog makes me cry with dismay!

That would be the rational side of me speaking, but I'm pretty irrational on a game buying spree like during the last GOG Holiday Sale and those Indie bundles :)

Sometimes I'm glad I'm currently stuck with my crappy netbook so I that I don't go out to grab the newer games at retail price since I can't play them.

Well then, find a way to better organize your budget, or give yourself a lower budget for buying games.

I never even considered my collection to be a "backlog". In fact, GOG is the first community that I've been a part of where people seem continually obsessed with a compulsion to play all their games. I don't really understand this, it's as if people _wanted_ to stress themselves over things that are meant for enjoyment and relaxation. Perhaps this compulsion is based on a perceived need to justify the purchase, but I really don't see any benefit in this whole "backlog" concept.

I've always had games that I didn't play - mostly from buying bundles/collections, or from bulk purchases of very cheap games. Before I learned about "backlogs" here on GOG, It didn't even cross my mind that this could possibly bother me. I simply enjoy the feeling of having hundreds of unexplored worlds at my fingertips. And whenever I feel like it, I check out a new one.

You wish. If they have games from the 80s at 6$, you know that 6$ is their bottom price point.

I'm only assuming that once they exhausted the nostalgia value (there are only so many people that were around whenever any given game was released), they'll create a lower price point.

I'm in complete agreement with you there.

There are far more disruptive spending habits than buying games online, especially if you limit the distributors that you buy from.

Some people spend on their car in a year more than I will spend on gaming for my entire life.

I don't own a car. Hence, I consider myself entitled.

I don't manage it

I decide whether or not i want to play on console or PC and then pick one that i want to play regardless of whether or not i have done so before.

Just like i wouldn't call my collection of PS3 Games a backlog even though i have played none of them, because i am currently playing my way through my all my Wii Games currently - ignoring the fact i have not yet bought a PS3 to play them.

No actual reason to buy a console only for it to stay in the box, i still need to buy myself a new TV first anyway.

I think the backlog is so nagging not because we are maniacial completionists of some kind here or feel particularly bad spending money on things we ain't using at all. I believe in most cases it is connected with being aware that we possess (and still buy more) so many awesome, outstanding games that would be great to experience and beat, yet don't really have enough time for all of them. I could say it's sort of a pleasant-pain ;)

I think you hit the nail on the head!

Agree. Can't wait to get through Gothic series. Why? Because I own all of them and haven't played a single one yet, etc, etc. which is how it is for many other game series' I have.

Just take two weeks of vacation and the mission can be accomplished. :)

Very well said and I agree. It's about wanting to experience all of them for me too. They all look so fun.

I got started on Vampire the Masquerade Bloodlines last night! Fantastic game so far. I think I'm going to really enjoy it. It was hard choosing a clan to play as though! This is one I have a feeling I'll play more than once as there's at least two other clans I'd really like to play as but for openers I went with a fighter type (Brujah).