Grey Rewired

How I Stopped Game Hopping and Started to Clean Up My Backlog

I have a problem and it leads me to complete less games than I'd like to admit. There are tons of games that I've played but very few I've actually completed. The culprit for this is my tendency to "game hop" an annoying habit where I will be happily in the middle of playing through a game then a different game will steal my attention and before you know it it's 6 months later and I'm wondering why I didn't finish the first game.

While having too much to play sounds like a dream to some, I know for a few people its a bit of a nightmare that can suck up your time and the joy out of what should be a fun hobby. So hopefully my system I use can give someone a basis to build their own system to avoid game hopping.

The Cause

It seems in our ever connected world when the latest game comes out or a game gets an update suddenly everyone is talking about it. When I fire up any feed it's there and people are telling me why I should be playing it.

Combined with the hit of dopamine novelty brings when we start up a new game versus the "effort" of getting a dopamine spike for wading through the frustration of that quest that is dragging on or the puzzle you got stuck on before you quit last time it can be tempting to hop between new games

Store sales make the previously mentioned novelty even easier to access and given how some great games/series go on sale for less than a meal deal its all too easy to pick them up without a second thought leading to the cycle of:

I've just bought it I should give it a go...
I just want to see what happens next...
I'll get back to my other game later...
I've already started I may as well finish...
Oh a new sale is on let me just have a look...

My System

Combined with the usual not buying new games, avoiding following the hype trains online etc I decided I needed a solution to manage my existing library so my backlog could get out the way while I focused on one game and also to make future next game decisions easier when it came to it.

The system I ended up coming up with consists of 2 simple elements which can be managed directly in your game launcher/console without needing third party tools.

1. Game Slots (The Rules)

First of all I needed to lay out some ground rules for myself to avoid any subconscious game hopping. I call these "slots" to reflect the old style of game cartridges filling the slot of a console. In order to put a new game into the slot the old one must be taken out (usually by completing or dropping the game).

There are 4 main slots for me:

As you can see each slot refers to a different context so if I am at my PC I know I am playing my "Main" game, if I'm feeling the need for a break from that I will play my "Low Engagement" game which demands less from me etc.

2. A Tangible List (The Setup)

Next I wanted to have a system to keep my in slot games at the forefront of my library while providing a place for games I want to play to sit out of sight and out of mind without being forgotten until I needed to pick out a new game.

For this I made 6 categories in Steam (You could also use groups on Switch & Xbox or gamelists on Playstation):

In my case I have also prepended them with numbers (so "Playing" would be "1. Playing") to keep the important ones at the top of the list.

The Outcome

Since implementing this system towards the end of last year I have completed games consistently and with a tangible list of games by priority I don't have to think about my backlog until I am physically looking at it which keeps it from nagging at me in my head allowing me to remain present in the game I am playing.

I've also learnt a lesson in dropping games, before I would just move on to a different game if I was getting tired of what I was playing and it would be back in the backlog without much thought. Now because removing a game from a slot is a conscious process I take the time to acknowledge why the game isn't working for me which provides better closure if I remove it from the backlog without completing it.

All in all the process of acknowledging this issue and coming to understand its causes while providing a place to place new games when the urge does come along has allowed me to stop focusing on what I'm going to play next and instead focus on actually sitting down and enjoying the time I have with the game without the voice in the back of my head reminding me about all the games I have to play in my backlog.

  1. For multiplayer I am a bit more relaxed when it comes to games like Monster Hunter's endgame content, R.E.P.O., Super Battle Golf & Phasmaphobia as these are more about spending time with people and less about the game.↩