I have TOO MANY video games! How you fight your backlog?

Same, but what's worse is that I've been downloading all my games as well (about 200GBs over the last couple of days) and I still don't feel motivated to play them. :P

its easy to amass games when you only want 1 out of 5 games from bundles

I joined a support group called Backloggers Anonymous.

You are not the only one
404 and counting

Can't say I have any advice as I'm in the same boat. I do collect games and I've managed to amass quite a collection. I've gone back and forth on the issue myself, but came to a conclusion. Lots of people collect lots of different things. Be it trading cards, or old computer, knick-knacks, lawn ornaments, the list goes on. I collect games, it's not hurting anyone, and like many collections, maybe it'll just sit there and never be used, or perhaps it will. As long as it doesn't get to the point where I'm spending money on games when I should be paying bills or something like that, I think it's fine.

I get enjoyment out of collecting games, out of the momentary thrill of pleasure of getting a game I've been looking to get at a good price. I also enjoy organizing my collection in various ways (one example: http://www.backloggery.com/almatarie), as I suppose most collectors do in whatever they collect.

So I'm not going to tell you to stop collecting! But in anything, you just can't do it to excess. If you choose to spend your disposable income on games, that's your choice. Just don't spend past that point. Sometimes you have to say no!

I'm thinking of keeping only one game on my harddrive, after I finish it I move on to the next one, that might be a viable solution.

That's why i mostly spend my money/time on indie games, they are casual and short.

I have the same problem, I've always been a games collector. i've been on steam now just over a year and have 637 games 95% of which are still untouched

Well firstly I have way to many games, and doubt I will ever play them all. Mostly for now I have been playing only the games that I know I will like the most, because I'm running them on a two year old laptop. So my solution was to build my own custom desktop. This will be used for more than just gaming, but it will allow me to actually enjoy the games, other then only have 20 FPS on medium settings.

This is all between study and university work -_-... Plus the never ending bundle count.

I tend to ignore it nowadays.

Created two categories, one of games which I don't play - other, the games I got installed. I like having the option of knowing I can play anything I want, especially if friends say 'Do you have Garry's Mod?' and I can say 'Hell Yeah, let's go play!'.

P.S: Lots of trading cards

I don't really care about my backlog. I'll play the games if I want to. Instead I've turned my attention to the future... as in future purchases. Restricting and limiting those is more important than trying to slog through my backlog since if I keep adding to that list then there's no real point, is there? And the real issue isn't that I acquire the games, it's that I'm paying for them with money I could use elsewhere or just save.

When I was unemployed(voluntarily) I had plenty of time to explore all kind of games and hobbies.......I loved learning sophisticated simulations, the more complex the better it was but now I can't find the time to just play except on weekends. So I'm avoiding complex simulations not because I do not like them anymore but because I can't find the time to learn them......just too much time consuming and I would rather use the time to play several games.

I don't have money, so... no problem :D

I had 92 games before this buying bundles began...now at 156 games. All I can say is that...focus on few games at a time. Try to focus on "less fun" games...easier to burn through them.

You don't. You just ride the dragon.

I had 39 games before indie bundles popped up. I now have 614. I choose to blame them.

Have 94 games on steam, 32 installed (and about 10-15 in origin/uplay and 5 in desura). Completed some that I don't play anymore and I play about 4 or 5 but. I don't think I have enough, I want more, next one will probably be watch dogs.

Get rich through an entirely effortless way after that you will have plenty of free time to deal with backlog and no problems with money.

For the 99,9999999999999% of people who are unable to meet those conditions:

First start by stop any further purchases unless you can surely say "I will download and play this now", if you can't do that and really must buy then buy as gift that way you can giveaway/trade/sell later on.

Second look at the small games you have and see if any interest you, chances are you have some gems that don't really take all that long to play and are pretty good so if your time is limited you will enjoy that a lot more than trying to play long titles and always spending most time/effort in remembering what was going on.

Third don't feel like you 'own' the game to at least try it out. If all you want is play a single title(dota 2, cs:go, eu4, CoD, tf, etc) then do that just never buy any game as you won't be playing them anyway.

There is only one way to fight the backlog. Create a category 'Pile of Shame', put them all in, and keep it minimised. Problem gone. :)

I stop my addiction of getting games through Steam by buying games with their boxes, but just some (My favorites, which I really want to play), not like in Steam that for some reason I want to get all I see. :o

When I buy a boxed game, in my case I felt like I am buying something. This addiction I think started because I didn't feel that I got something really "real" which I could say... It is mine, look I can touch it! (Probably Its just me, maybe I just like boxed games)

When the internet goes away, or in those times in which I did not had internet... I really felt like I had nothing, not kidding, and Offline feels so empty.

I started to buy this boxed games and for some reason that addiction is dissapearing, and I felt more satisfied than virtual games. Anyways I don't say that I don't love my library, I do and I must tell that a lot! :D, but for some reason I understand that getting something real that I can touch in my case its 10000 better :D

But I love Steam, who does not love Steam, and the multiplayer support for games is awesome. Probably is just that I prefer games through box, but I don't have problem with Steam. Just my addiction start to go away when I started to buy boxed games. Not sure, but I should stop of buy any game soon.

Best Regards!

Hope the addiction goes away... I cannot remember how much money I had spent on games, I just know that I have them o.o. Also I have the same problem with the time and gaming o.o. Probably half of my games are unplayed, but my situation right now is not really bad with the time, I should start to see some of them. :]

I usually solve this problem by stretching time.