I'm a gamer. Usually, this means that I just have to acquire the latest and greatest in videogame entertainment. However, because i'm also an adult, it means that my time is limited in the actual playing of these games. Right now, i'm also underemployed, so I have to wait for many titles to either drop in price or be given to me as gifts to experience them.


Since i'm now underemployed and blessed with both more time and less money, I've gone back to my collection and have begun dusting off old games (Lunar 2: Eternal Blue is in my system currently, i'm talking OLD games). My backlog pile has begun to shrink significantly, which got me to thinking why we must keep buying the new games before we finish the old ones.

Before CD gaming was the rage, I never had a backlog of titles. This is likely due to the fact that renting games was my chief way to consume them. I didn't have a lot of money, and cartridges were ridiculously expensive, especially for the major quality titles. I might have spent the same amount over time, but I would not have a problem getting $5 for a week or some amount from my local store. I also did not end up buying junk that I ended up not liking because if I rented it, i'd never have the desire to buy.



Then I grew up.

Having an independent cash source meant less time, but more access to buying games. This meant that finishing games became less important because the value wasn't as high to me anymore. I also soothed myself by saying "Well, even if I never finish it, at least It'll be in my collection." The word collection was new in my gaming vocabulary, and it seemed to be an excuse for buying games rather than renting them. Not only that, but CD gaming made me dislike renting games because the disc quality was always sketchy, since most of them were beaten to hell by the time I got there.


I constantly look forward to new titles, even though my time for consuming them has long since diminished. I have a variety of excuses that I use to keep myself believing that my plan is good, "I'll get there soon enough," or "If I don't buy it now, i'll have to spend twice as much someday on ebay for it." Hopefully, with digital distribution models, I'll not end up being fleeced for games that only have limited edition print runs or from companies that are either defunct or have been gobbled up by larger corporations. I know also that companies like GameFly are gaining in popularity, but somehow it's just not the same to me.

So gamers, which is it? Finish what you have first, or feast on every new title? Do you even play all your games? Will digital distribution change the dreaded backlog? Let's talk!