10 Years of Service

I hit 10 years of service on Steam recently. A decade of Steam, a decade of collecting. Going through my Steam Library backlog like anyone else I recoil in horror at how many games I own. Over 500 in total. A seemingly impregnable Mount Olympus of game libraries. In 2016 my PC died a painful death and crashed any time I played a game of mild intensity. What resulted was a hiatus from Steam and a return to my library of PSX games (which I now bounce between regularly). And you know what? I enjoyed myself a hell of a lot more without the weighty pressure of a backlog on my shoulders. As it stands my Playstation backlog sits at a mere 15-20 games. With over 100 completed and on the shelf. 

Eventually I got my PC fixed and realised that I tend to look at my game library, feel overwhelmed, and return to playing a multiplayer game. A game with infinite replayability. typically played well past the point of enjoying the current game. Smite, Counter Strike, DayZ all come to mind. In the time that I spend on these games I could experience dozen games. Looking through my library I've completed, moved on or played through over half these games  (Hibernating, Moved on, F2P). Most of those are lengthy single player games. However, in my Hibernating Indie's 80% of these have taken 6 hours or less to complete. Two thirds of the 200-300 games left unplayed are of this length. If I finished one of these 1-6 hour experiences a week it would take me 3 years to complete 85% of my steam library. A lengthy, but achievable goal. 

Favourites (the pile of shame), A (installed/playing), AA (want to install/play), Benched (waiting to play), Hibernating (played), Moved on (why did I buy this?)

So it begins, the climb to the top. I'm going to finish what I started and get to ground zero for my backlog.  And I'm going to record that journey here. Starting in 2020 with the games I've played so far. It's a good opportunity to practice and reflect on my writing skills too. If anyone's reading this, I would love for you to join me with your own blog that I could follow (but who am I kidding, it's only you future Dan reading this, probably overly critical of your writing and editing it). Simply decide on X number of games you want to reach. Not all games you will want to complete (unless you're a masochist). So I'm calling it the "content" status. Content that it's complete, thoroughly experienced or not for you. But you must post why, regardless. In my quest I'll be climbing from 200-250 content games to 500.

Ground rules - non-negotiable 

• Cant uninstall games until posting thoughts (100 words min) - once content with it
• This is about having fun - if I don't like it nor want to play it, it's moved on into Moved on (i.e. content) 
• Everything content must have been experienced for a minimum of 30 minutes to get a good sense of the game
• Games played elsewhere or before Steam can be content (i.e. for me Crysis, STALKER, F.E.A.R.)

Ground rules - personal (choose your own!) 

• 1 game per week - as long as your games aren't exceeding your weeks you're winning! (i.e. Week 7 - Game 10 = SUCCESS!)
• PlayStation games will be mentioned here as well - some might think why is this in the Steam challenge? Well my backlogs are intertwined as some games I prefer on the big TV. I would have played them on Steam if I did not own a PlayStation console (or it wasn't exclusive).  
• Can only purchase a new game if I intend to play and finish it then - and only bimonthly 

I have hope I can do this, the games at which I add to my backlog have rapidly decreased. Here's hoping come in another ten years I won't have a single game behind me, but a new decade of games to look forward to!