Too many damn games, or too little time...

[RyaNtheSlayA]

Anybody else find the idea that you'll never get to play all the stuff you want to in your lifetime a bit disconcerting? I was thinking about this earlier, and I realized how overwhelming it actually is. I have a pretty large wishlist of games I'd like to experience, and when I was looking at it this evening, I realized how much time it would actually consume to play all of these. I know a lot of you collect games for the sake of collecting games, but, I'm sure you spend lots of time playing games too? Does it ever bother you that you may not actually get to take the time to finish and/or experience all the games in your collection fully?

[8bit]

It bothers me all of the time because I'm now at 1000+ quality games in my collection. Luckily I've taken the time to sample, read about in depth, or view 90% of them at least so I feel like I do have some kind of personal knowledge of the experience inside of each game.

However, it is disheartening that I have a thirst for collecting more games I know I won't ever complete (rpg's mainly) and are money sinks until I ultimately sell them one day (thank god the classics and rare games tend to hold value pretty well though!).

Im sure most large game collectors feel the way you and I do... unless they never leave the tv with a game being played on it...

[o.pwuaioc]

You've got 50 more years to go. I don't think you'll have to worry too much. I only wish I had the collection you had (have? will again have?) when I was your age (well, and a bit younger, but also a bit older), but I'm trying not to start worrying until I'm in my 40s.

[BoringSupreez]

I realized a few years ago that I had the money to buy games at a faster rate than I could complete them, and it bugs me a little. Not too much, though. What I do now is play the most intriguing or widely loved games, while merely collecting the others. I do try to play all Xbox and PS3 games I buy, but for the other systems it's not even worth trying. Especially PC, everytime I buy an indie bundle my backlog grows by 5 or more.

[dsheinem]

Anybody else find the idea that you'll never get to play all the stuff you want to in your lifetime a bit disconcerting? I was thinking about this earlier, and I realized how overwhelming it actually is. I have a pretty large wishlist of games I'd like to experience, and when I was looking at it this evening, I realized how much time it would actually consume to play all of these. I know a lot of you collect games for the sake of collecting games, but, I'm sure you spend lots of time playing games too? Does it ever bother you that you may not actually get to take the time to finish and/or experience all the games in your collection fully?

It actually isn't that crazy to think you can get through most of what you might want to in a lifetime.

Keeping a "Games Beaten" log since 2009 or so has allowed me to catalog beating about 250-300 games across a wide range of genres in 3.5 years or so. Granted, that is a bit excessive - but that puts me on pace to have 1000 games played in a decade. That's something like 2/3 or so of my current collection, which includes three decades worth of games that I want to play (and many of which I already had before I started tracking beaten games). At 1,000 games every ten years, I have no worries about getting through my backlog over time whilst simultaneously enjoying new things that come out.

Hell, even if I were to cut my pace by 60% and only beat 40 games a year on average before I die, that means that if I lived to average age I would be able to beat almost 2,000 games between now and when I die. If I just want to "experience them" I am sure that number could go much higher.

So it isn't as untenable as you might think, if you truly believe you'll keep playing games into your old age. If you plan to stop or die in the next few years, then you might have a problem.

[sabrage]

I realized most of the games I've never beaten, I don't really want to beat. That helped a lot. It helps to be discerning. There was a period where any game that was "generally well-regarded" I just bought if I saw it on the cheap, but I've slowed down a lot from that. I usually stick to 2-3 "mainstay" games that I can play over and over and over and still love (right now, Diablo 3) and a few on the side for when I get tired of that. I'm more or less the same way with movies, music, and books too.

[J T]

I don't finish most of my games. I've kind of become ok with that. I think if I experience the first few hours of a game, I have a reasonably good sample of what the full thing is about. I know there are some games where you really don't "get it" unless you've played all the way through, but if it's not a game that just won't let go of me, then it just won't get finished.

[CFFJR]

I don't really worry about it to be honest. I wish I had more gaming time period honestly, but as for getting to them all, eh. It'll come.

I mean, there's been many times where I went back and played a game I've beaten a dozen times rather than pop in a brand new one, and I occasionally feel guilty about that. But in the end I'm having fun with my games. Good enough for me.

[Erik_Twice]

At first I was heading for the "too many games for too little time" camp but now the list of games I want to own/play won't last me but a few years.

[BoneSnapDeez]

Funny this thread pops up today. Yesterday afternoon I was looking at my RFGeneration profile online. About half of the games in my collection are RPGs. Let's say I can finish one RPG every two weeks (and that's really rushing through it, at least for me). At that rate it would take 13 years to finish every one in my collection (that's assuming I don't buy anymore of course). Never gonna happen.

I'm in the same camp as JT though. I don't finish most of my games. This used to bother me, as I thought I had "failed" somehow, but now I realize that enjoyment comes from simply playing the games. I don't necessarily need to see that ending screen.