At the beginning of 2019, I entered the Purposeful Gaming Challenge (PGC) with hope, ambition, and devotion. I told myself I was going to once-and-for-all reduce my backlog of 2017 games while simultaneously playing new games that released this year. I am proud to report I was not successful.
We all have a dreaded and extensive backlog of games we purchased but never played. The majority of mine come from steam sales; those sweet, sweet discounts get me every time. According to Steamdb.info, I have only played 185 out of 345 games that I own. What is even scarier is that over 12 years I’ve played 2,222 hours and I’ve spent $5,045 on games, and that’s just on Steam. That doesn’t include other timesinks like the 600+ hours I’ve dropped on Bloodborne (the time I’ve lost on the Souls series haunts me at night) or my total /played over the 8 years I spent with World Of Warcraft. My point is that while we as gamers laugh when told people to spend an average of 7 hours per week playing games (thanks Forbes), we can’t seem to find the hours to play the unplayed games we already own. And the PGC made me realize that I’ve become the 7 hours a week person (which is a shame because I used to be at least 20 hours a week).
As with any challenge, there are hurdles to overcome and the PGC was no different. My main hurdle was finding time to even play a game. Surprisingly when you’re suddenly 28 with a full-time job, a partner, three dogs, a podcast, and a desire to improve on your art skills while also going to the gym and trying to get a healthy amount of sleep, there’s very little time to spend with games. I found myself planning to play games but never actually playing them. I never returned to the games I played and out of everything I played this year (27) I was able to only finish 9 of them. But hey, 9 out of 27 isn’t bad, and 27 out of 52 games the PGC is supposed to make you play isn’t quite unsuccessful. The biggest challenge was playing them when scheduled. I almost never played the games the week that I planned to play them. Instead, I would go weeks without playing a single game until I had time to play over a large chunk of days.
If I’m being honest, I’m conflicted about the PGC. While I love how it champions mindfulness around time spent playing games you love, I hate how it holds me accountable and blatantly flaunts my procrastination in my face. I’m not here to dismantle or rant about a wonderful challenge, I’m just frustrated with confronting my personal growing pains. It made me feel more like the adult I’ve become, which is a good thing, but also, as Liz Lemon said in an episode of 30 Rock, “UGH!! Realizations are the worst!” The PGC made me realize just how little time I had to myself and the hobby I love. 2019 was a very busy year for me, for all of us probably, and the PGC is proof that I have an issue with time management. I may not have stuck to the PGC faithfully but now I have a baseline for next year and can only improve.
Finished – (8 games/16%) These are the games I truly finished within 2019. This doesn’t include DLC or 100% find-all-the-knick-knacks completion, it just means I saw the credits roll or the official end of the game.
Unfinished – (22 Games/45%) These are the games I spent some time with but didn’t finish. They’re on the ever-growing backlog now. Maybe I’ll play and finish them in the PGC 2020, or maybe they’ll be waiting for me when I retire at the ripe age of 80 (I’m thinking about degrading my hand-eye coordination now, accessibility is important!).
Didn’t Play – (14 Games/29%) These were the games I never touched. The problem was either no time to play or not justifiable to purchase at that time. I definitely want to play these games because they excited me a lot, I just never followed through with commitment.
Previously Played – These are the games that I played and finished it in previous years. I really only returned to one game (Diablo 3). I also played Darkest Dungeon, WHICH I LOVE, but I technically haven’t beaten that game, so it’s labeled as unfinished.
- No surprise here, PC is my main platform and, as I mentioned earlier, the majority of my games come from Steam.
- That said, I’m very surprised that the iPad won over the Switch and the PS4. However, I want to let The Gamers™ know that while it looks like I’ve become a mobile gamer (thanks Apple Arcade), the Switch is still my #1 console with time spent playing games this year.
- Shout out to the one Xbox One game I played (Remnant: From The Ashes) because they don’t allow crossplay between games on Game Pass.
Despite failing to play from my backlog, I must say that I did a pretty great job of playing games within the concurrent year, even if I didn’t finish them—Go me! I think next year I will try to focus more on games from the past (again, my gigantic backlog) and focus less on the releases in 2020.
Greetings From 