The Shelf Of Shame

As gamer larva, we generally have more time than money.  When the world was new and I had an NES as my primary console (the 2600 had been mothballed for a couple years at that point), evenings, weekends and school breaks were devoted to my chosen religion.  I can remember an entire spring break lost to Dragon Warrior III (a day killing classic if there ever was one) and more nights than I care to admit squeezing every last bit out of questionable releases like Legacy of the Wizard (the less said about it, the better).   Sixty bucks is a hell of a lot of money for a ten year old today, just think about how much it was back when it was uphill both ways. In the snow.

It didn't really matter if it was good or bad.  You kind of just dealt with what you had, because you couldn't afford anything else.  Allowances, birthdays and Christmases were carefully allocated resources.  Trading and rentals mitigated a lot of this ration-state I was borne of, but by large, I made do.

As I grew older, games took up less of my free time, and less of my time became free.  I was working a part time job, looking for ways to get turned down by girls (or at least, being told by them that I'd make some other girl very lucky some day),  and generally, being a delinquent.

By the time I got my first real grown up job and  real source of income, I was working 13 hour days, 6 days a week testing games and what time I got off, I didn't want to spend playing them.  Dark days indeed.

Round about the same time, Sony had instituted it's Greatest Hits collection.  Best sellers that had been on the market for at least a year, were repackaged at a mere 20 dollars.  Nintendo and Microsoft followed suit a few years later.  Good games had gotten cheaper, and more of them were being made.

These days, Wal-mart will slap an $18.93 sticker on any game that's been hanging around for over six months.  Costco seems to have some kind of overstock buying deal with at least one outlet, because their prices are the same.  And Steam sales.  And free-to-play.  And iOS.  Hell, Sony is giving away 24 games a year for the price of their online service!

Yikes.

My backlog is literally as long as my arm (that's what she said), and the tide shows no sign of turning anytime soon. Games that take longer than 100  hours don't help either (Thank you Roslyn and Jess, respectively).

After coming back from PAX this year, I'd resolved to work through the pile, gradually.  Starting with Twilight Princess, which had been in that sub-set of shame known as "started but not completed", and moving through Metroid Prime 3, I'm making gradual progress.  But what IS progress?  Do I have to finish the game?  Do I have to 100% complete it?  What's the minimum time that I have to spend on it?  What about roguelikes or traditional style arcade games that have no end?

In the end, there's no satisfactory answer to any of these questions.  You simply have to pick your battles and be a part of the conversations you want to be included in.  You can spend all your time getting good at DOTA 2 or League Of Legends, or you can sit back and watch streamers play without ever booting up a game yourself.

Or you can move out into the woods and become a farmer (with an incredibly supportive wife).

Next week, we're starting Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel!  Guess Ni No Kuni is going back on the shelf...