Only ‘real’ gamers finish their backlog
The idea for this post started early last year when I was on Youtube watching a video essay on how to complete your backlog. I felt inspired afterwards so I compiled a list of games I was interested in playing and a timeframe on how long each one would take to complete. Now here I am over a year later only crossing off but a handful of games and adding another dozen or so to the mix. It brought me to the realization that this was something I would not and more importantly could not ever finish. To start with it left me disheartened but then I ruminated on it and I was left wondering why it was even such a bad thing in the first place? Why does this illusive backlog even need to be completed. After all, across the course of that time I had been given some of the best gaming experiences that I have ever had, completing such games as the Witcher 3, Indiana jones and Resident evil village. So lets talk about why I think its such a contentious subject and also the conclusions that I have personally come to.
I do want to preface this by saying that I don’t inherently think that a games backlog is a bad idea per say, more the obsession of it can stop us from playing what we truly want to. Gaming is a hobby at the end of the day, not a second job. So I feel like the games that we want to play in the moment should be organic and not manufactured from a list that we have previously created. There were a few times when I would see a new cool looking game that would come out of nowhere but I would be against playing it because of the games I still had yet to play. Since I ditched the obsession for the backlog I’ve allowed myself to be less considered with what I play and more free flow and its helped me massively. I am able too assess my mood at the time and choose the game that’s best suited to. This means using the backlog as more of a consultant to see what I’ve been wanting to play rather than an ever expanding list of guilt.
A great tool I have been using for this is the website called backloggd which is almost an evolution of the concept. It uses the letterboxd concept for movies and applies it to the gaming genre whilst also allowing for the documentation of journals and creation of lists. Now I only use it on a surface level but you can get as in depth with it as you want. From here I’ve been able to log every game that I remember completing in the last two decades or so, giving it a score from 1 - 5 stars and if wanting to I can also include the game length and write a short summary on it. Not only have I now listed over 130+ games but its also helped me look back over my gaming career and made me realise all of the great games I’ve had the chance to play.
I have always been an indecisive person plagued by the fear of missing out so naturally these things don’t combine for a healthy gaming life but in the past year or so I’ve learnt to take a step back. I’ve chosen the games that are really important to me and not tried to allow myself to feel guilty playing a game that doesn’t necessarily feed into a discourse or have an end goal. Its so easy to get lost in the tidalwave of new releases so instead, turn to the backlog, but next time don’t make it a dirty word. Merely use it as a archive of experiences you are yet to see and I promise you that you’ll get 10x the milage out of it. Now if you’ll excuse me I’m off to go and play some obscure 3DS game from my ever increasing back catalogue.
