The Backlog Watch

I own roughly 475 million unfinished video games, and I have a desire to finish at least fifty percent of those.

I should probably do something about that.

There’s lots of solutions out there for tackling a backlog. Obsessively tracking it to reward yourself. Pressuring others socially to participate alongside you so that you all keep up. Or just forgetting about it entirely because you’re “Better than that,” whatever that means.

For a while I wrestled with the fact that maybe I’d just have to do that last one. I’ve purchased too many games in Steam and Xbox sales, and maybe I just have no hope of ever finishing all of them.

But then I realized that no, I don’t want to deprive myself of that content. People made those things to be seen, not just purchased.

The only method that’s worked for me in the past is to write short reviews of games as I finish them. This skirts dangerously close to “Treating fun time as work time” territory, so I have to be careful that games don’t become a chore. I always generate critical thoughts about whatever work I’m experiencing, and it’s nice to actually share those. That has its own motivation.

Finishing up achievements also really helps me. The rote “get the dopamine hit” nature of watching numbers go up and bells ding is still satisfying to me. But sometimes this can be a drag. I’ve finished most of the achievements in Dynasty Warriors 9, but the ones I have left are long and grindy. I’ve played many more hours of that game than I otherwise might have to try and finish up that list, and I’m not sure I’m going to get there.

Do you have any good strategies for tackling a backlog/focusing on games? Let me know in the comments!