Introduction
So why am I doing this? I have a massive game library on Steam and other platoforms, as many other probably do as well.
And even tho I have some real bangers waiting for me there I still go back to the same games again and again and again. For me
at the moment that game is Football Manager 24, and I have absolutely no problem spending hours managing my players and stuff like loans
and other stuff.
But why am I not playing the games I find intresting, why did I buy them at one point and never played them since? Or started some and stopped for no reason?
This is where I think a gaming backlog comes into play.
What Is a Gaming Backlog?
In short, a gaming backlog is a list of games you already own, but haven’t finished/played yet.
It should work similar to a roadmap for your gaming journey. Obviously this can change from time to time that’s why
it is really important to build the roadmap around your gaming habits and interests.
Feel free to add games and change the order from time to time, this should be a help and not a strict list you must follow.
Why have a backlog?
- Organize and prioritize your games
- Minimize decision fatigue when choosing what to play
- Sense of accomplishment whenever checking off a completed game
- Having more structure and hopefully fun when trying new games
How to Start a Gaming Backlog
Step 1: Create a list of all games (you want to play)
Start by listing all the games you own across platforms.
Include everything you want to have included, from Steam or Epic Games to XBOX or Playstation, add all the games you own and want to play.
A good starting place for things like that could be Notion or other note taking platoforms. You can even use Excel or a simple paper for this list,
whatever suits you best.
I found some starting templates for Notion that you could use for free:
I used Notion before but I will set up my new backlog in Obisidian and for that I have used the this tutorial
which worked perfectly.
I still need to find a way to automatically export all my games from Steam but at the moment I will have to do it manually.
Step 2: Identify Your Goals
Now that we have setup the fundamentals of how and where we will track our progress we still need to figure out how we want to track it.
Do you want to finish the story? Get all achievements? Finish the game on the hardest difficulty? All that is up to you,
I personally will try to sit down and determine my goals game by game and write them down so I can actually track my progress somehow.
Step 3: Set Up Your System
The last and most important thing is, how you want to order and track your game backlog:
- You could add an attribute for “Story finished”, or “All achievements” and then filter for that
- You can setup different labels for “Status”, like Backlog, Up Next, Planned, Playing, Finished
- Or just go by your gut feeling
Planning Your Gaming Backlog
Prioritize Your Games
This step is completly up to yourself. Prioritize the titles you want to finish first, it could be a series or some
smaller indie titles, but it is important to create some order.
Also when creating your order don’t put all the smaller title first so you make quick progress, this will only hold you back.
Try mixing bigger titles and smaller titles so you have somewhat of variance between the hours played, because after finishing three fast games
you probably don’t have the motivation to tackle a big game and will fall back into old habits.
Create a Realistic Schedule
Don’t aim to complete everything at once. Allocate specific times for gaming in your week if you have the time and commit to a reasonable pace.
Otherwise you can just plan a game for a time frame, like I wanna play game X during Januray and so on.
Keep It Flexible
Your preferences can change, and that is okay. Feel free to pause a game and return to it later on, if you can’t enjoy it it’s not worth the time.
Multiplayer and Live-Service Games in a Backlog
I personally would leave multiplayer games out of the backlog. It depends a lot on other people and can be really frustrating if you don’t have a friends group who play a lot of the time.
I will still set myself some goals for League of Legends, but I will cover that in another post.
Common Problmes
- Too many games: Having hundreds of titles can feel paralyzing, try picking a few out of the total
- Buying more games: Stick to a “one in, one out” rule. Only buy a new game after finishing one
- Guilt because of unfinished games: Your backlog is not a chore, just enjoy playing games
Cool things I found on the way