Greetings everyone.

The truth is that I'm a backlogger. I've been more than 2 years trying to get back into gaming, but all I do is collect lots of games and take months to complete the simplest game. That means that most of the games I've won here have been tested and "played" to some extent, but not really played the way they should have been, when others could (maybe) have enjoyed them much more.

While most of the games I get are from (mostly) cheap bundles, I also enter lots and lots of giveaways here. I'm also keeping an eye on threads and places to get games that are free for a while, get them from promotions, etc. You can imagine.

I've always had this kind of compulsive collecting behaviour, and I know it's roots. Trying to fill a void inside that is never going to be satisfied with this stuff. Once it was books, once it was movies (DVD/BR), and other things. Now it's games. This is neither sane nor healthy.

And much more, it's unfair to many giveaway makers who wish that their games are enjoyed, not just added to an idle library or got for a +1 and cards. Also unfair to the SG members who are really grateful for their wins and play them when they're able. This has also caused me to get out some whitelist, and get in some blacklist; both things certainly deserved.

So before continuing, if you want to get me off your whitelist or into your blacklist, feel free to do so, no hard feelings.

And why all this now? A few weeks ago I took the decision to go semi-inactive in SG for at least one year. I'll also try to buy way less bundles and in general don't make my backlog get out of control. With semi-inactive I don't mean I'm abandoning SG for a year, or more. Just that I'll not enter every giveaway I can. I think only certain games in my wishlist, or whitelisted gibs for interesting games, for example. I've also saved some keys to make one giveaway a week, I have for 6 months and I think I'll be getting enough to cover the next year.

The rest of keys are going to be dumped here and there in various giveaways and threads, most of them ending on October the 1st - that'll be my third cakeday.

I hope this leads me to stop wanting to grow my collection in a compulsive way. I've also started to write reviews for all games I've finished and I'm finishing, I hope that will help me get back into gaming after more than 2 years of trouble with that.

Bump at your own discretion.


Without further ado, the giveaways

I've made a total of 80 giveaways that can be found around SG, if you're in the right groups, or linked directly or indirectly from this post.

First of all, I'm making this train (minor bot protection) for levels 3 to 7, with 61 carts. Most of the keys I have, just reserving some for the weekly giveaway and also the threads and events mentioned below. Unlike other of my trains, this one doesn't contain a section only for my whitelist.

I'm also dropping some in the currently ongoing Community Train 8.0 organized by FiddlerOnTheWeb (carts 1426 onwards).

Also a few ones in the Don't Like Bots thread and in the Positive Thread. Every week I'll put one giveaway randomly in one of those threads too.

I've also gifted 2 keys to 2 friends, saved 2 keys for a group, and made 2 giveaways to the 2 "delete gib if it doesn't work" groups I know of: Lootboy SG and Delete giveaway if key is not working (join freely if you agree with their rules).

Finally, I'll be dropping a variety of other stuff in the Anti-ninjas key drops and Lootboy Related Stuff threads. Coupon codes, in-game objects or currency, some apps, some Itch.io games IIRC, etc.

Oh and the same rule from all my previous trains keeps going for this train and any giveaway I make - winning yet not being polite will be considered extreme rudeness, so if you want to know why you're blacklisted, that's one of the possible explanations.

I guess I'll not become completely silent, but I am going low-profile in other places too, and not entering giveaways in communities I've been part of.

So, see you around.

1 year ago*

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My contributions to the Community Train 8.0 have ended and keys have been sent

You still have two days to enter the rest of the giveaways scattered around.
Thanks for all your words!

Keys might go out late

I'm going to a concert tonight and dunno what'll happen, so maybe I'll not be able to start sending the keys when the gibs end tomorrow around my noon... Or maybe some miracle happens and I'm able.
Once again thank you all who wrote for your words - but albeit unrelated, something tells me this train is going to bring many winners who'll be blacklisted.

All 70 keys sent

And sorry for the generic "congrats and enjoy the game!" messages, I've had a rough week and today brain isn't functioning to write something different or more original. Once again I foresee lots of blacklisting. I even saw someone cheating but I have no real proof except what I saw.
Thank you again and again for your words and the cakeday factory wishes.
As for me, no more spending all points every day. Entering in low profile mode. Cya all around.

1 year ago*
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Enjoy the show!

1 year ago
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I wish you good luck on your quest and thank you for your giveaways and other contributions to this community - past, present and hopefully future.

1 year ago
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If you believe you have a problem, and want to try out a solution, all the power to you. :3

Also, if I may just share a piece of advice that works for me - since games are meant to be fun (or at least most of them, I hope), try to simply pick a game that catches your attention and seems like you'd enjoy it the most at the moment. It helps me stay motivated cause I always play a game I want to play at the time, although, quite awkwardly, I'm stuck playing one game for past couple months (I just enjMP title that I enjoy greatly), so it might not be the greatest advice available out there :p
Still, what I'm getting at is that I wouldn't advice forcing yourself to play any specific game, since that sounds like an anti-fun concept, which literally goes against what games are supposed to be. But feel free to ignore me if you have your own ideas on how you want to live your gaming life. ;)

Anyhow, thanks for the good company on the forums so far (not sure if you're dropping reading the forums, or simply switching to lurking, or stay here the same as always), for the nice giveaways, and good luck in your endeavour! ^^

1 year ago
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Thanks & bump, best of luck in taking control of your life back โ€” you only have one, and it is precious.

1 year ago
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Thank you for sharing, have a bump :)

1 year ago
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This comment was deleted 1 year ago.

1 year ago
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Good luck with your backlog quest, I hope it goes well :)

1 year ago
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Well, I found myself nodding a lot through your post so I can relate.
I hope you do find your fulfillment in a healthy and meaningful way for you and that you drop by every now and then to let us know how you're doing.

1 year ago
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Though my win count is much lower than yours, I feel very similar about my situation. I still enter some giveaways selectively, but given my backlog I try to avoid entering too many games. Recently I have been participating in Play a Game You Won on SteamGifts. It's a fun event to encourage not just winning but playing. I haven't beaten any games due to other priorities (work, family, IRL friends, church, etc.) but it's a fun way to help me discover and play games that have been sitting in my library, sometimes for years.

Given your giveaway history here, I still think you've done a good job of giving back to the community. Glad you're not completely leaving, and I hope you manage to meet the goals you privately setting yourself :)

1 year ago
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i can relate too. it's trying to compensate for something that we miss in our lives.

wish you the best

1 year ago
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Trying to fill a void inside that is never going to be satisfied with this stuff.

View attached image.
1 year ago
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Hope you don't turn your back on us altogether.

1 year ago
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I understand what you're saying way more than I'd like to. Same boat, friend. I hope we're able to get to where we want to be.

Having said that, thanks for the nice train. The higher levels are appreciated.

1 year ago
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I wish you the best of luck with your life changes. Shit's difficult, but I'm sure you can do it!

Thank you for the giveaways, too. I hope those go to someone who will enjoy them. It's what I hope with my giveaways.
I've found that groups like Playing Matters and Playing Appreciated are good for that, so I've been giving away to both from time to time. It's just frustrating that so many games are region-restricted, and I don't like giving that sort of thing away in these groups.

Also, I've had these sorts of issues with compulsive collecting, though it's basically buying bundles from time to time. It's something I need to figure out.

1 year ago*
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Bump!...for now.

1 year ago
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Well, as you can see from the amount of wins I've had, leaving Steamgifts won't help my compulsive collecting as far as games go.
Almost at 4k games now...

A note re gaming - DON'T play overly long games. They will either burn you out, or they will be the only game you want to play ESPECIALLY multiplayer or sandbox games - they will distract you from playing the other games in your collection. I finally stopped playing Rocket League at the end of last year, and I was surprised at how much more time for actual gaming I had.

I also recommend diversity - different genres, different lengths, etc. You played a long game? try a short game next. You played an intense FPS? Try a relaxing puzzle game next.

1 year ago*
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Well, I think there are a lot of people worse than you unfortunately.
You have the credit to play them and try them which is already something.
We can't like all the games and, in most cases, if we win a game here it's because it interests us but not enough to be on the wishlist and therefore not enough to be bought.
Moreover, considering your ratio you are not a leecher either and you participate in both ways.
From my point of view, you don't have much to reproach you ;)
Now if you want to work on it. Let's start to play ๐ŸŽฎ

For the record I had a little period where I felt the same way, I played but didn't go to the end because I looked at my backlog and thought I couldn't afford to go to the end of the games if I wanted to get to the end one day. I would start a game and play it for a few hours and then move on to the next one pretty quickly.
And one day I realized that I didn't enjoy games like that as much because I started it knowing that I wouldn't finish it.
I decided to change, I listed the ones I wanted to play and I started them, with the intention to finish them.
It helped to start with the shorter ones, I felt like I was moving forward.
And I started to enjoy the games I was playing more and more :)
I do the same thing with the games I win here, I launch them all, with more or less delay, some I go to the end because they are good surprises, others not, that's life ^^

And to finish.. Happy early cakeday =)

1 year ago
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Bump!

1 year ago
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What worked for me to start playing games again:

  • abandon multiplayer games xD If it's good - it will consume more time that you want (even time that should be spend somewhere else than gaming),
  • abandon achievement hunting - sometimes it's tedious and time consuming, even if the game was fun - grinding that achievement for 1kk kills or driving 10 miles would take time and change game that once was fun into boring joblike experience. Usually living you after without any will to play any game for a long time.
  • abandon bad games - if the game is not fun - there is no point in wasting your time with it - just mark it as garbage and go to next title that might be fun.
1 year ago
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Thanks for all the generosity. I've had similar troubles getting through my backlog and trying to get all the free stuff or not miss good deals. I even do it for games I personally purchase.

For my SG wins, I decided to put them in a specific category in my steam account to help me prioritize them a bit, because I do appreciate my wins and do want to get through them at some point.

Another thing I had started was timing the playtime of my games. It gives me an incentive to get through my backlog and feel a sense of accomplishment from actually playing my games over just collecting more and more. I use HowLongToBeat to help me do the tracking and seeing the completion percentage go up is nice.

1 year ago
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( Bump ! )
เต  "

1 year ago
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Thanks for the Gas and god luck with this. Must not be easy to fight compulsive habits.
I'd say go for the games from your backlog you think you'll actually enjoy playing, and that have an end.
Best of luck again.

1 year ago
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Bump

1 year ago
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Bumped at my own discretion.

1 year ago
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Yeah, see you tomorrow!

1 year ago
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Closed 1 year ago by JMM72.