How do you actually stop procrastinating on your steam games because I barely play them?
Just pick one, even if it’s a random choice, install it, and give it an hour of play before you allow yourself to move on
I’ve adopted a policy of only buying if I am playing it instantly.
I don’t care if it’s on sale or not, if I’m not playing it in the next hour I’m not buying it.
I’ve never had a backlog since then, and never bought any games I’ve never played.
Most of the time, the biggest hurdle to a backlog is playing the first 10% of the game. Once I do, the other 90% comes much easier.
Early adopters of humble bundle crying in never being able to buy a game.
My Steam backlog is the only thing my kids will inherit. Sins of the father
Just don’t tell Gabe. (Seriously look up the statement steam put out about a father dying, wanting to give his steam library to his kid)
Fuck all rich people.
Steam sales seem great until you realize before steam we owned Physical copies that also went on sale sometimes and didn’t do the roller coaster of 5 year old game still $50 but on sale is $10, the price it should actually be given how old it is.
I don’t ever recall new copies of physical games being widely available for a tiny fraction of their RRP. Sure you could get more second hand games, but they’re nowhere near as readily available.
Rereleased cheaper games were a thing but adjusted for inflation they’d still be very expensive compared to now. I remember buying them for ~£10 which is about £18.50 now. These days they’re generally much cheaper and don’t need manual patching or media. I never got my copy of GTA 2 back!
Fucking physical is a lost love.
HEY! I can stop whenever I want!
Old dude has a bad case of Sigmoid Lip.
Oh it’s not like I’d enjoy myself to force play, I’d rather play what I feel like I’d enjoy.
I made a point to play every game in my library a few years ago. Every game got 2 hours at a minimum (unless they didn’t work). Played some real gems like Torment: Tides of Numenera, Tyranny, and World of Goo.
This is my gaming workflow.
Find game on steam I want to play
Check pricing history
Pirate game to see if it’s worth the current price
If it isn’t, I put it on my wishlist and continue playing until it goes on sale.
If the game turns out to be very good, then I buy it when it goes on sale.
I look at it like tipping a street musician.
The point isn’t to purchase access to the experience. You can get that for free if you want.
The point is to keep their creative outlet going, so I (and everyone around me) get to experience the next cool thing they do.
I support the arts as well.
Performance art, as it were
Oh shit, I literly just bought some on sale games lol this is so true hahaha
What causes that dimming effect at the bottom of the images you post? I know it’s some kind of overlay, I just don’t get what kind exactly.
Facebook methinks
I’ve started rooting through my steam library looking for unplayed games that have steam trading cards and achievements. I’ll install the game and give it a try to see if it’s entertaining. If it’s not, I’ll leave it on the main menu for a few hours to get the trading cards so it doesn’t come up again in my search.
If the steam achievements look easy, I’ll try to break open the game with cheat engine by myself as a sort of game of its own. No doubt I could find some cheat engine trainer that makes the game a single button click but where’s the fun in that.
If you’re even the slightest bit technically inclined and never heard of cheat engine, I highly recommend it. It lets you memory edit running applications like games. Once you figure out what you’re doing you can change in game variables on the fly. The game isn’t the game anymore, figuring out how to break the game is the game. When you install cheat engine you can actually run it on itself, and it is basically a self contained tutorial. Check up in the help menu to get started, the tutorial is AMAZING.
I remember editing memory with an Action Replay on a pokémon cartridge back in the day, possibly my first ever experience of computer programming!
That sounds neat and enjoyable to tinker with. Is there a possibility that using a tool like that will get you flagged and/or banned from Steam? Or do they not care when it’s a single player game?
Yes definitely. If you search Google for ‘VAC enabled games’ you’ll get an easy link to the steam website filtered to just games with valve anti cheat. There’s a search bar on that page you can use to check if a game is on that list. If it’s not there, have at it.
Pretty typically just online games use it. Cheat engine wouldn’t be able to do much anyway, as most multi-player games will keep track of the fun variables serverside instead of on your computer. It’s a jerk move anyway to ruin other people’s fun by cheating in multiplayer.
Edit: Google isn’t showing that link anymore for me. I think this is it, it looks right:
https://store.steampowered.com/search/?sort_by=Released_DESC&category2=8&ndl=1
I have over 1300 games across various libraries (digital and physical)
If I have cash to spend and it fits into all of the following categories I basically always buy:
-80% off or more, or under $5, or its part of a “complete your collection” bundle that compounds its discount with an existing one.
-Its 8.5/10 or better (or is part of a series of games that I want to play through that has a 8.5+/10 within it.)
-in a genre/series I really really personally like.
But this actually eliminates a lot of temptations.
The only other alternative situation is if I want to play the game immediately but that never happens because I’m always playing through a series of games already it seems like. Right now I’m playing through my Tom Clancy collection. Its the last bit of Ubisoft games I intend to play before uninstalling uplay/ubi-connect (probably forever).
The concept of “backlogs” as applied to entertainment needs to die in a fire.
My library of games is there to give me options for enjoyment. Reducing those options to zero would be a rather strange goal.
Aren’t “the options” the entire Steam catalogue available for purchase?
I suppose if money is no object and an internet connection can be guaranteed wherever I might take my steam deck.
Surely money is less of an object if you don’t have to have bought all the games in advance?
80% is very different from 0%.
Yeah, there is an eight out front!
I’ve adopted the policy of only buying a game if I plan to play it that day. Works well.
Also now that I’m unemployed I’m not buying anything. Reinstalled Morrowind (OpenMW) and realizing there’s quests I never even knew were here when I played this as a youth. It’s also super janky, but mods help.
