Getting Through the Backlog

There was just an article on Lifehacker published that outlines a strategy for getting through a videogame backlog that matches what I started doing on January 1st this year almost exactly! Kind of interesting how the ideas outlined there are so similar to the strategy I have been taking.

At the beginning of this year, my list numbered 144 games.

I actually have followed pretty much all of the advice in this article, though I do still browse PSN sales and Steam sales. That said, I've felt the itch browsing the stores--I really weighed buying Hotline Miami 2 last week, for example.

But I made myself a rule: I may not buy a new game until I get through​ five games in my backlog.

And then I made a second rule: I must play a new game that I buy immediately.

When I'm thinking of buying a game, I ask myself if I want to blow my one purchase allocation (based on the fact that I've finished five games) on this game, and whether I want to play it immediately.

This year, so far, I've gotten through ten games: Shadow of Mordor, Fantasy Life, Tales from the Borderlands Episode 1, Dragon Age Inquisition, Valiant Hearts, Wolfenstein: The New Order, Stealth Inc, Stealth Inc 2, The Swapper, Infamous Second Son (just finishing this one).

I did buy my first new game, Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate, last month and I have thus far put over 50 hours into it--I consider that money and time well spent!

Admittedly, ten games in two and a half months means I won't get through my backlog for a couple years. However, it's worth noting that of those ten, a handful of them take many hours (DAI and MH4U are each well over 60 hours for me thus far, and I'm not done with the latter by any means).

I think the most important rules are:

• "Finishing" a game is defined as feeling that I've gotten everything I want to out of it. It doesn't mean seeing the credits roll. It doesn't mean spending X hours or more of time on it.
• ​The "you must play a new game you buy immediately" rule. This means that if I'm super-excited about a game (MH4U, for example), I can buy it but at a cost--it means my gaming time for the forseeable future will be dedicated to this title.
• Make a list of games, sort it in order of interest, and record progress. This is key because otherwise, you'll be lost in a sea of games when you check your system and waste valuable gaming time milling over what to play. With my list, for example, I now know that since I'm done with Infamous Second Son, my next two games are Far Cry 4 and Child of Light.
• Keep a blog of it. This blog, though I don't update it much, is a great way of giving my gaming time a greater meaning. I've been thinking of porting it to Tumblr or Blogger or something, but I do like GB's community.

The last thing I would add is regarding subscription gaming services (PS Plus) and free games when you have a backlog. These services give you a lot, but if you don't really pay attention to what you get every month, they just end up ballooning your backlog. If you aren't playing any of these games, you may want to unsubscribe.

However, I've found PS Plus is a great relief and injection of fresh newness into my list. What I've decided is every first Tuesday​ when we get our free games, I immediately install them and then I try the ones that interest me. For example, this month I tried Oddworld: New and Tasty (meh) and Olliolli2 (so ridiculously good), and I already owned the other free games with the exception of Sherlock Holmes on PS3 that I'm just not that interested in. Olliolli2 immediately made its way into my list toward the top for an upcoming flight. Oddworld I've put aside.

In the past few months, Infamous First Light, Apotheon, and a few other PS Plus games have all made it onto my list towards the top, and I'm not upset about that at all.

So that's how I'm handling those services: I assess whether I want to really spend valuable gaming time on the free games and if so, I add them to my backlog in the proper spot. Seems simple, but it makes a difference because even though it causes my backlog to slowly grow, it also means I'll actually get around to playing those games, and I won't waste time on ones I don't care for.