Addicted to buying Games?

Is this a common issue for people? Lately I've been feeling like I spend way more time hunting for cheap games, talking about games, feeding into the hype etc than I do actually playing games I've bought. I have like 15 physical games for PS4, half of which I've even played at all, and probably 2 of which I've actually finished. It's so bad I finished MKX story mode and that felt like an accomplishment. 

Does anyone have any advice other than the obvious stop buying games? I feel like I'm not getting as much enjoyment out of just playing the games like I used to. It's like i have so many I can't just pick 1 and the second I get at all frustrated with a game I stop playing. Please share your experiences and wisdom.

I tend to split my games into piles. Id than focus on the "going to sell/quick to beat" pile. Than maybe play a "quick to beat/will keep pile" before moving into "long to beat/going to sell pile". This makes your game collection less daunting & you move threw them quicker.

Also ignore collecting trophies, multiplay throughs.
Don't buy games on release, work on your backlog until said game drops to $20ish.

stop buying games you wouldn't pay full msrp for, because if you don't absolute love the game, buying it at $10 still won't make it any more enjoyable & turns to WORK.

This is what happens to pretty much every CAG that comes here for the deals at one time or another. Best you can do is take a break from it all and detox. After 2-3 weeks/months you'll (hopefully) find that you can play games again without constantly thinking of deals.

Hello Kaos!  

I agreed with CaptainJoel and vic_x51.  I feel your pain sir!  Here is an article that REALLY helped:

http://kotaku.com/how-to-beat-400-games-in-4-5-years-1607296068#

What stood out most to me was this: 

"Remember that beating your backlog is a long-term goal.

 
Beating a huge backlog is, in most cases, more of a mental block than a physical limitation.
 
No, most of you will not get through your backlog in 1-2 years. But in 10-20 years? You could make some very serious dents in it."
It's SUPER important to come up with a plan and a perspective.  I was overwhelmed with trying to decide what to play next until I adopted the perspective that it may take me about 10 years to play and beat all the games in my library.  Honestly it may not take that long but for me to see this as a long term goal takes some of the pressure off and it alleviates the feeling of being overwhelmed.  

That plan may vary depending on what's best for you.  I have a backlog of 150+ games and counting with RPGs that are major time sinks.  My plan is to play games from my backlog according to release date and so far it has been working.  The plan helps me to take action and actually play the games.  You will be surprised how many games you have that you think may like and end up not liking and how many games you have that you think you don't like but end up being some of the best games ever.  A good plan will also help you to take on some games that you may think are intimidating.  This is another major area where you will feel accomplished!  I've also found out that once I'm in a game that I like, I don't hardly think of my backlog.

Last but not least, check out the CAG Backlog Support Group:

https://www.cheapassgamer.com/topic/324747-the-cag-backlog-support-group/

I feel the same way I buy games and just let them sit there. May'be play a few of them and not finish. If I do finish one it takes me months. I use to buy games full price and lately starting going for certain games and pricing. I'm really picky now mostly buy exclusive for my ps4 and every other game on my xb1. I use to get so much enjoyment playing games and now I don't.

I just turned on my ps4 after 6 months of it collecting dust to play plants vs zombies advance warfare that I got for free with my nephew and had a lot of fun. When I do get on my xb1 I look at my friends list and log off. I still keep up with news and games just playing is not as much fun anymore.

I actually do keep a list of games I want to buy and track pricing.

Thanks for the input guys I appreciate it. I definitely think that getting GCU has not helped me, especially on new releases with the $10 preorder promo. For instance, I have Dragon Age Inquisition I've barely played at all, yet I preordered The Witcher 3. I played Witcher for about half an hour earlier, got annoyed by how sensitive the running around was and then went to play Ori and the Blind Forest. I got annoyed with that and then came on here to seek help. lol

Only buy games that you don't think will drop any lower in value for yourself, or ones that you want to give as gifts (but that you think will hold value here so you don't come off as a cheapskate).

I do agree heartily with everyone's sentiment. Don't buy unless you know you want to play (i'm guilty as well of needing to follow this more), be weary of indie bundles and other bundles....lots and lots of games and so much is garbage. If you're like me with bundle games (I admit I was addicted and have likely 800+ indie games from these) try to make a challenge to try a new one or 2 everyday. A lot of times they suck and are terrible and you can throw them into a Steam abyss of don't play again classification or something. Sometimes they're fun and you will eventually get through playing them all even if it takes years.

For console games....well buy with the mentality you will play soon. Once you start buying for the backlog....if it's not soon to be played, it's likely not worth it. 

Honestly it sounds like you're burned out a bit on games. Just stay away from CAG and games for a while and you may just get a nice new outlook on everything and then start tackling the backlog. Good luck...we both need it!

I have a backlog like 10x yours and laughed.  Seriously though, I am playing whatever will make me happy.  When I finish that game, the next game I pick will be something from a different genre in order to prevent burnout .  I try to avoid buying games simply because they are cheap; cheap crap is still crap .  Make a wishlist and rank the games you want to buy, and cull the lower ranking games.  I set my buy price at $20 or less; that way I can backlog   3 games for the price of 1 new release.  So far my backlogging kryptonite is RPGs (take forever to finish at 40+ hours ) and PSN flash sales (so much cheap goodness ).  To stop myself from going broke buying games, I try to only spend money I earn from Bing rewards or survey sites.

I think it comes down to having a collection of games, where we can simply look into our collection and play them. Thing is, we tend to see a new game we want and go for that, forgetting about the other games we purchased. 

I am the same way. I have a decent sized backlog of games, but lately I tend to focus on one game. Not sure why. What I want to do, is just set my mind to one game at a time, finish the story, and move on to the next. But that's easier said then done I believe. 

I've been guilty of this. But now I just follow a simple rule. "Don't buy things just because they're on sale." This applies to everything, not just games. If I know I'll play it soon then yeah I'll pick it up, but if I know deep deep down that sucker's gonna sit on the self for months I stay away.

Same with food. I saw a bogo on hot dogs yesterday and thought about picking them up. Then I thought how long is it going to take to eat 16 hot dogs? I wasn't even really craving or looking for hot dogs to begin with. So I passed.

Share the similar pain. Always went out to buy games on sales; end up collecting dust with most of them still have the plastic wrapped.

It just really comes down self-discipline, and strong will to complete the game.

Also if not collecting, I just keep reminding myself after finishing a game, I am trading up for new games. 

cheers

I had this problem. I bought games to have them, yet would not touch them.

What I did was, plotted out a set amount of games for the year I allowed myself to buy, say eight. You mentioned you only beat two, so pick four you know you want to play and pick four you want and may not play that much. At the end of the year when you have only touched two games, lower the number from eight to six.

Oh yeah, that game acquisition monkey is on your back.

But seriously, I love shopping, and games just happen to be the item I love shopping for the most. I generally don't give two craps about clothes, or furniture, or cars, or any of the things that most other people I know usually shop for. I like my media, and I shop for books, movies, and games.

At the same time, I'm getting older, and my schedule fills up quickly. Also, since I'm a collector, I never, ever get rid of any of the games I have acquired over the years. And as my career progresses, I usually have more disposable income accessible to me. And I haven't gotten married or started having kids, so there's nothing really bleeding off some of that excess.

The end result of all these factors is that I can afford to purchase far more games than I can afford to play. I only have X amount of time, and I would need Y amount of time to play the games I own. And Y is way, way larger than X. Yet at the same time, I have no real desire to stop buying games. Buying games doesn't take as long as playing them, thanks to the internet.

It's an interesting quandary.

I won't impulsively buy a game unless it's less than $5 and I know for a fact that it's a quality (if older) game. I just picked up Fable 3 for $2 yesterday. Even if I don't actually play it for 6 months or something, I won't be kicking myself for not waiting for a price drop. Same goes for Gran Turismo 5. Picked that up for $5 at Five Below and it's no biggie if I don't get to it anytime soon because I'm not going to get a better deal than what I did

I do also, but to resell and l keep a few

You don't want to see my collection... all I do is buy games and not even have the time to open it and play it. I mostly only buy Collector's Edition (hence I can re-sell someday in hope to make a profit).

I stick with the rule of only buying games when it hit $20 or below. With GCU at that price - it's justifiable. (I know some people will not buy games unless they are really cheap but for me I only buy new not use games -  I have OCD issues as the game disc need to not have any scratches on it)

I also know some people that have Xbox Live Gold and PlayStation Plus membership will just play with the free games they offer. Once they beat those free games. Then move over to your backlog.

I don't recommend renting games from Gamefly as it's just a waste of $$$. Unless you burn through the game really fast and send it back to get another game to be worth the price. (Take Witcher 3 for example. If you would rent that from Gamefly and don't finish it within a month you just spend $16 that you could have put toward of buying it and keeping it)

Also, never trade in your games. It's a waste of $$$ too. I never understand those who spend $60 and trade it in for $20. You just lost $40. Yes keeping game as part of your collection is just collecting dust. But in the end you own it. (I laugh at all those who trade or sold their 360 games when now the Xbox One is back-ward compatible).

With video games, movies, books and life. There is never enough time for all of it when you become a grown up with family and kids. Life goes on and you just have to pick and choose what your priority is most important to you.

I'm here with you guys instead of picking up the controller to play games...

Good luck to you all.

 

I'm a collector mainly (though gamer as well obvi) and as such I have around 4000 or so games in my collection. I don't even know how many of these I have played but I think something like 3000 of them have not been touched lol. Like others have mentioned I love shopping / game hunting. My buy price is $4, as in, if a game looks interesting and is 4 bucks or less, I buy.

I have pretty much accepted I will never play a majority of my games, I only try to play the really really well recieved ones. Chrono trigger is still in my backlog and I love RPGs so that one needs to be played very very soon.

Buy what your going to play, its pretty simple really.

Funny I don't really care about backlog at all, nor do I see the need to play every game. Unfortunately I feel compelled to buy every game that looks like a cool RPG or series I like or even looks like a cool "CIB."

I think video games are like stamps, only you can lick em and resort em anytime you want.

I do want to work on my organization skills more. I also want to work on learning "value" more.

If you want to be a player, just play. If you wanna collect, then build a collection. But if you are either of the former and you don't play or have any real maintenance on your collection, I think you are just buying, and spending your money just to spend it is depressing.

The biggest tragedy is buying because you THINK something is valuable, only to find that it depreciates. Coupled with increased costs of living and inflation, even a stable price is technically a loss over time, when it comes to investing.

Ed: I'm a big talker but I have yet to properly discipline and hone this craft myself, and most the time I wanna build and organize is spent thinking at work, then I get home and what is the first thing I do; turn on my TV and then...

Ed2: oops sry kinda an old bump but it was on 1st page and this topic is often a demon I fight more than any other.