Last year I decided that I needed to cut down on games (being newly unemployed was an unwelcome aid in that endeavour). I decided that I would buy at most one game a month, or a maximum of thirteen games over the year (the latter condition is not a result of the first; I am aware how many months are in a year). Also I would complete said game before buying another. I failed. Well I largely failed. I failed on the first part, “Buying at most one game a month”. I also failed on the second part, “I would complete it before I buy another”. However I actually succeeded on the implicit monetary issue, I ended up spending ~€65 a month, or the price of thirteen new games over the course of the year. But that’s a different story. Why did I try and institute this policy in the first place? While there certainly was an economic issue the real impetus was my backlog. Ah the backlog, the yoke chained to every gamers neck. The Sisyphean ordeal that is arguably intrinsic to the hobby in its modern form. But before I talk about my new relationship with the beast, and how I plan to vanquish it (snicker, snack), we need to describe the beast. Or in other words, what the fuck is a backlog? Continue reading…
Tag: backlog
The Woeful 108 – Another year of sin
Back over here I covered how my 108 initiative fared over the last quarter of 2013 and took a brief look at the year in total. Now that a new years here its time for a new list. There’s a lot of great new games coming out this year but I want to be a lot stricter with purchases than last year (and I’m sure unemployment will do its best to help me with that). I’m also going to make use of the lessons learned in 2013 (in short unless you are literally going to play it right away buying games Day 1 is for suckers – more or less everything goes on sale) Continue reading…
The Woeful 108 – A year of (backlog) sin
We started here and wound our way through quarterly updates one, two and three. This is quarterly update four as well as a look back on the 108’s first year in operation. To sum it up in one sentence it was a partial success. The goal was to clear my backlog and to cut way down on the amount of money I spent on games. The first goal failed rather spectacularly. As it was almost inevitably bound to. The second goal was much more of a success and didnt waver much even in the face of thanksgiving and winter sales. The key factor in the success of the latter and failure of the former is the same, the changes quality free to play games (specifically TERA, Hearthstone, Path of Exile and Warframe) made to my gaming habits. (FFXIV: ARR didnt help either). Continue reading…
The Woeful 108 – Quarterly Update 3
Now is the gaming quarter of my discontent! I outlined my plan to deal with my backlog here and then I updated it here and here. So how did quarter 3 go? Continue reading…
The Woeful 108 – Quarterly Update 2
I outlined my plan to deal with my backlog here and then I updated it here. So how did quarter 2 go? Continue reading…
The Woeful 108 – Imminent Collapse
I outlined my plan to deal with my backlog here and then I updated it here. There’s another update being typed up in the wings but I happened to look at upcoming releases and I cant help but feel that my will will be tested (and I’m sure regular readers will be aware how well that turns out). Continue reading…
The Woeful 108 – Quarterly Update 1
So back here I outlined my plan to curtail my spending on games and deal with my ever growing backlog. The list of games wasnt a goal, it was a leash. It’s been three months since then so how has it worked out so far? Continue reading…
The Woeful 108
Well seems my decision not to pick up the Wii-U was correct as two of the three games I was interested in have been pushed back to “later in the year”. Pity, the Wonderful 101 looked great. Anyhow, onwards to the main point of this. I have a lot of computer games. Which isnt a problem. The problem is that I havent actually completed (or in many cases played) the majority of them. Yet I still go out and buy new games. So I decided that a change was needed. That change is The 108. Continue reading…
Schedules of the idle poor
I think that everyone who plays even a moderate amount of computer games has a backlog of games that they have yet to play or complete. Some of these will never be completed, they were rented for an evening or borrowed from a friend (or GOD FORBID, pirated) – they didn’t grab you and youre not going back. Other’s though are quality games that came out during a particular glut of such and didn’t get played or completed. Or perhaps you’re a fan of particular genre’s that tend to have massive playtimes (Strategy titles, RPG’s, etc.) and thus exacerbate the problem of an ever growing backlog. If you are reading this wondering what the fuck I’m talking about then you should a) rejoice in not being shouldered with a similar Sisyphean load and b) tip on (or read on, “whatevs” as the cool kids say). Continue reading…