Many gamers nowadays have backlog guilt. It’s a phenomenon that’s arisen from the inclusion of digital gaming marketplaces like Steam, PSN, Nintendo Online, and other game clients. If you’re someone who doesn’t care for physical media, it takes the hassle of getting dressed to go out to buy a copy or waiting in the mail for your copy to arrive out of the picture. It’s convenient.

If you use any of these digital marketplaces, chances are that your library is full of games, demos, and some personalization software. However, how many of those games and demos have you actually played? Many gamers often download games that are on sale or pique their interest, and don’t ever open them. It starts with one game. Over time, it snowballs and becomes a graveyard of unopened games, and the backlog guilt is born.

Sales

Online sales are the greatest temptation a gamer will fight against. It’s very easy to mass buy games when your credit card information is on file. One click is the only barrier between you and buying multiple games during a 50%-90% off sale.

The rush of buying multiple games gives a sense of accomplishment and excitement for a new adventure. However, finding the time to play all of those games sometimes borders on impossible. There are only so many hours in a day where someone can sit down and play through a backlog of games.

Time

There are so many factors that can affect anyone’s ability to play a backlog of games. Work, school, and other responsibilities take priority while your backlog collection grows. Sometimes you can get bored and tell yourself, I’ll put this game down and come back to it later. Later doesn’t happen.

New games and new interests can also influence this. You can be in the middle of a game, and then you stumble on a new game that takes over your life.

Sometimes we buy games thinking we’ll have fun with them, only to realize we made a terrible decision mid-game. I, for example, bought Akiba’s Trip after watching the anime, thinking the game would be as fun and charming as the show. It was not. After three hours of playing the game, I marched myself back to GameStop for a full refund. However, people who allow games to sit in their digital libraries for months before playing them don’t get that luxury. Despite the monetary loss, these moments become bonding experiences with other people.

Bonding Experience

I’ve met plenty of people who have talked about the games in their backlog. It shows the types of stories and gameplay that catch their interest. I’ve had friends convince me to play games in my backlog because they loved a game I have sitting in there. I’ve also been the friend begging my friends to play a game in their backlog because I loved it. A recent example of this was my friend begging me to play Expedition 33 while I begged her to play Persona 5 Royal. I ended up playing it because of her and had a fun time with her coaching me. She’s now playing Royal. I’m having a fun time coaching her through the game and watching her fall into the rabbit hole I fell into.

We both still have a backlog of games to get through. The backlog guilt at this point feels like a self-imposed Sisyphean punishment. We see a new game that piques our interest; we keep our eyes on it, wait for a sale, and keep it in our collections as the guilt of not playing it grows over time. However, we keep hope that one day we will get to it. One day, that guilt will be absolved, and then we find a new game to feel guilty about. Such is the circle of life.