Announcing the Tildes Backlog Burner event for May 2024: Shrink your unplayed games list this coming month!
It's almost time for another Tildes Backlog Burner -- the event where you try out games you've always wanted to play but haven't yet for whatever reason.
The Backlog Burner for May 2024 will officially begin in two days on May 1st.
If you're new to the Backlog Burner, check out our previous events to get an idea of what's going on:
Announcement #1: Backlog Bingo returns!
In the 2023 event, "Backlog Bingo" cards were quite a hit. I am thrilled to report that they are not only returning for this coming event, but they will be so much better than last time. @Wes has been hard at work cooking up some exciting new stuff that he can't wait to show everyone!
Announcement #2: Backlog Burner is now a recurring event!
In the interest of making the Backlog Burner as good as it can be, I want people to be able to know when it's going to be happening rather than having it pop up randomly and unexpectedly, as it has in the past. As such, moving forward I will be running two separate Backlog Burners each year during the months of May and November (similar to how I run Timasomo every October).
Let's get ready to burn through these backlogs!
Backlog Burner FAQ
What exactly is the Backlog Burner?
Your "backlog" is all those games you've been meaning to play or get around to, but never have yet. This event is an attempt to get us to collectively dig into that treasure trove of experiences, scratch some long-standing itches, and knock a few titles off our to-play lists.
How do I participate?
Once the event starts on May 1st:
- Choose some games from your backlog and play them.
- Then tell us about your experiences in the discussion thread for the week.
That's it!
Optionally: you can play Backlog Bingo which is a fun way of cutting down the choices you have to make and playing games you might not have normally selected on your own.
Is Backlog Bingo a requirement to participate?
No! You can choose or play games however you like.
Do I need to finish the games that I play?
Nope! Not at all.
There aren't really any requirements for the event so much as this is an incentive to get us to play games we've been avoiding starting up, for whatever reason. Play as much or as little as you like of a given game.
Try out dozens for ten minutes each or dive into one for 40 hours. There's no wrong way to participate!
What's the timeline?
The event begins on May 1st and runs through May 31st. I will post an update thread weekly, each Wednesday.
The next Backlog Burner event will be in November 2024.
Can I make multiple posts in the same topic?
Yes! Each discussion thread stays live for a full week, so feel free to make multiple comments in the topic as you play different games. This isn't considered noise -- it's considered valuable participation in the event!
Do I need to sign up?
No. You don't have to do anything to officially join or participate in the event other than post in these threads! Participate in whatever way works for you.
Do I need to wait until May to get started?
Technically yes but I won't police it. The first official discussion thread will go up on Wednesday the 1st, but feel free to kick things off here if you're wanting to pre-game the month!
I hope this is ok to post here, if not I apologize.
This video changed my life: https://youtu.be/nkgAlnDIPMU
He delves into the idea of a backlog and what it means to work on and finish it. Highly entertaining and introspective. If you enjoyed this I would checkout his follow up a year later also.
TLDW: The gist is, backlogs seem overwhelming because they're all in our heads. It helps a lot of you sit down and make an organized list. I made a spreadsheet like he did in the video and it has helped me immensely. Gives me a great overview of all the games I want to play and stats I'm interested in. You don't have to go this complicated, you can literally just make a list of the titles. But writing down, having an actual list you can look at is immensely helpful and I highly recommend it.
This is me!
Not actually me, of course, but wow was it weird to watch back something that so closely captured my own, separate personal experience. Ten or so years ago I did exactly what he did -- right down to the spreadsheet including HLTB times. I haven't watched Part 2 yet, but I also genuinely did follow through and play through my backlog (though I was much more comfortable with discarding games early than he seemed to be).
That wasn't the only weirdly resonant parallel either. Towards the end of the video, he talks about unfinished games he liked but didn't complete last year, listing Neon White, Metroid Prime, and Axiom Verge. Three games I liked but didn't complete last year? You guessed it: Neon White, Metroid Prime, and Axiom Verge.
The takeaway I had from my backlog journey was moving the idea of my backlog from "obligation" to "opportunity." Like he points out: if you go at it from the perspective of obligation, then the math will simply crush you. There are too many games, there aren't enough hours in the year, and more and more games are coming out on a daily basis, which continually move the horizon of "finishing" ever farther away from you. You will always fail a "completion" goal because the treadmill is already moving faster than you can run.
However, framing it as "opportunity" makes diving into my backlog fun and interesting -- like exploring or going on a treasure hunt. For me, my games library is almost like its own deckbuilding metagame, and events like this are a chance for me to draw a hand and see what I get.
Whenever I run the Backlog Burner, my hope is that people approach it with that same sort of "treasure hunt" spirit: let's all draft hands from our backlogs, play them as best we can, and talk all the while about how it’s going! To me, it's a group exploration of opportunity; we're all looking for that golden experience.
The absolute last thing I want it to feel like is
DEAL WITH YOUR OBLIGATIONS.The other thing I'll add to what he said is that I think it's easy to chase the high of a great game to the fault of others. I recently tried a method where I played the top reviewed games in my library, one after another, thinking that if my gaming time was limited, I might as well play the best, right?
It didn't end up feeling like I was playing the best though. For one, a lot of the games that are well reviewed aren't my type, so I was playing games that I could genuinely tell were "good" games, but they weren't "good" to me. Furthermore, I got a sort of "quality fatigue" whereby, because everything was good, the overall “goodness” was sort of flattened and felt insubstantial.
It helped me realize that playing a lesser game, or a mediocre one, or even an outright bad one isn't necessarily a waste of time. It's often those experiences that act as the necessary valleys to great games' peaks. Additionally, reflecting on why those games are bad can help illuminate exactly why the great ones are so great in the first place. It's made me a big believer in a sort of utilitarian gaming philosophy that the "best" games aren't individual titles measured on any sort of objective traits but are instead specific games that fit within your own personal gaming narrative, journey, and analysis.
That's a big part of why the Backlog Burner, for me, isn't just about checking off games. It's also why I enjoy reading the "What are you playing?" threads each week. I want to hear people think through and share their actual experiences, because that's where the meat of game "quality" lies -- individual appreciation rather than external merits.
Thanks for posting this video. Far from being not okay to post here, it's actually perfect for this topic. I'm excited to dive into his follow-up.
This reminds me of a post I saw somewhere on social media recently that I really liked. It was talking about piles of to-be-read books, and how instead of seeing it as a to-do list it should be thought of like a wine cellar. You collect the bottles/books/games so that you can pull out the right bottle/book/game when the time and place and company are right for you to enjoy it.
I liked the reminder that sometimes it's not just okay but actually good to save something for later, and that when you do work on the backlog it should be enjoyable.
Ah, I've been looking forward to this one all month. My backlog has been growing restless, and I need to give it some attention.
Hope to see lots of new and familiar faces during this event, and I hope everybody likes the changes we've cooked up for the Backlog Bingo web app!
Really looking forward to this! Love the idea of a bingo board. Will probably have to list my shorter games cause I normally play a lot of lengthy RPGs. But hoping to put a dent in my backlog.