TR Forums

I've buying games from Steam for almost two years now and I'm not even slowing down. Every time they have sales going on I go and buy a bunch of games. I got games I haven't even played yet. Have 95 games and spent over $1000 during the last couple of years and the year is still young...

I'm powerless against Steam...

i just hit 200 games myself
i cant even download them all because of horrible download limits in australia, im buying games faster than i can download them and play them
i have a ssd cached (had a spare small ssd so i thought i would try caching) 1 TB hard drive thats dedicated to steam games only and its pretty much full - i have around 700-800gb of steam games downloaded and i have loads more to go.!!

positive thing about it is that whenever i feel like playing something new i always have a game to play

btw the amount we have (95you/200me) isnt much at all i think i read in a TR thread somewhere that some people here have 500+

First world problem if I ever saw one.

Just... don't buy games unless you have a strong interest in them or a large number of your friends will be playing it with you? Not sure what else to really say as I only buy a game on steam once in a blue moon. Been burned so many times pre-ordering that even with pre-order discounts it's better to wait three months after launch and save even more. Assuming I still have any interest in it at all, so many games just turn into flops. Or three months later all my friends are completely done with the game. Games like Civ Beyond Earth, all of my friends that bought it played once or twice online and were DONE, they haven't touched it since. Which sucks because I got it as a multiplayer game, the AI's too bad to be any sort of challenge solo. So I just almost never buy a game at launch anymore.

My personal Achilles Heel would be Humble Bundles and IndieGala bundles. When enough of the included games have steam cards to mostly (or completely) offset the price I can't resist snagging the bundle. I find it impossible to resist the logic that the cards cost about the same, except by buying the bundle I'm getting games with said cards, and instead of Valve getting a large cut from the card sales most of it goes to the game devs & charity. Maybe I should coin the term philanthrogamist? I'll just keep using that excuse, yes...

You know, psychiatrists are better equipped to deal with impulse control issues than random forum people are.

And yes, I have over 500.

Savyg wrote:

And yes, I have over 500.

NICE.!

Just... don't buy games unless you have a strong interest in them or a large number of your friends will be playing it with you?

Well I just spent almost $100 on games during the last two weeks. So I think I'm going to hold off for some months.

Not sure what else to really say as I only buy a game on steam once in a blue moon. Been burned so many times pre-ordering that even with pre-order discounts it's better to wait three months after launch and save even more.

The only game I pre-ordered was Pillars of Eternity. I only did that to make sure I didn't spend the money I put on my prepaid debit card on something else before I had a chance to buy it.

You know, psychiatrists are better equipped to deal with impulse control issues than random forum people are.

I will mention this next time I see her.

And yes, I have over 500

And how many you haven't played yet?

Huh. I'm sitting here and wondering if I should buy a 3rd game (one of them was the sequel to another game that I purchased).

I'm at 120+ I think and in the same boat.
Hard to resist. Although the one way to avoid the issue I have is that I buy games for my friends instead.
Its not as if I am ever gonna play those games anyway, so might as well give them to someone who will.

Ninjitsu wrote:

First world problem if I ever saw one.

Agreed...

BTW, i purchase 2 - 3 games a year...

Burn your credit cards.

Problem solved

Burn your credit cards.

Problem solved

That would cause other problems...

I almost always buy <$10 games, ideally <$5. Now I have over 450 in GOG and ~400 on Steam. This is something like ~$500 per year I think, which amounts to less than a "full-price" game per month. I could afford many times that amount, but I take some pleasure in frequent small purchases like that. Instead of buying one expensive game (and risk being disappointed) I buy many indie or older games every month.

PS Last nice game I played: Battleblock Theater.

Use this simple measurement, that has helped me a lot.

When you see a cheap game, look at what you're currently playing and consider "will I feel like playing this right away?"

Almost always, the answer is no. Then if you really do feel like buying said game, you can buy it at another sale or simply much cheaper price down the road.

Here's the way I buy games from steam. I first look at what I've beaten and what I have. I evaluate the games I'm never going to play because of being disinterested, came with a bundle, etc. I have 88 games and I've beaten about 63 of them. Out of the 25 left I'm not interested in 12 of them. This means I have 13 games available. I will not buy any additional games till probably May or June. Games almost always get cheaper so waiting till the next sale is not a problem.

I'm at around 130'ish, but I've managed to slow myself down significantly over the past few months. Steam has had an amusing side-effect in that it has effectively reduced my hardware requirements. I could probably spend the next 2-3 years simply playing my backlog, and be perfectly happy without needing to upgrade my old 2500k/GTX660. Will that actually happen? Probably not, as I'll likely spring for a new GPU once the right 1440p/IPS/adaptive sync monitor comes around.

Having a backlog also keeps me content while waiting for new titles to drop in price. Hooray for indie games.

Use Linux!

Oh crap.. even Linux is starting to get a bunch of games, even many AAA titles!

WE ARE ALL DOOMED!

I used to buy a fair amount of games during Steam sales as well, but once I realized how many I have that have gone unplayed (and the number is bloated because of Humble Bundles, but those tend to be smaller/simpler games) I just stopped. I *might* buy a single game on sale once every few months if it's super cheap, but otherwise I know the games will be the same or cheaper in the future. You can also just put games on your wishlist, to sort of kind of make yourself feel like you *will* get the game, but don't need to buy it now.

The best way to solve this problem is spend time playing the games you have in stead of looking at sales Also, change the 'favorite window' to your library instead of the store. In the menu: Steam-Interface-Favorite Window. that way you won't see the storefront as much.

Use Linux!

Oh crap.. even Linux is starting to get a bunch of games, even many AAA titles!

Linux already has a little over a thousand games. And I'm a Linux only gamer. Speaking of AAA titles, since we are starting to get more demanding ones I'm considing upgrading my video card. I play at 2560x1600 on a GTX 760.

Games almost always get cheaper so waiting till the next sale is not a problem.

That is the major part of the problem. Everytime there's a Steam Sale I buy something and several somethings at that.

I have the same problem. Thankfully, I'm pretty picky about the content of the games I play, so that has saved me dozens (hundreds???) of purchases.

Still, I have over 300 games on my steam account and currently around 60-70 hidden since I know I'll never play them... either ones I used to play and no longer do, or ones that were part of bundles.

whm1974 wrote:

And how many you haven't played yet?

I played most of them, unless they're part of a bundle or came free with something else (and usually most of those too, but it depends.)

But I used to get some I didn't even play, so I'm getting better about that.

Now if I could stop playing so damn much Warframe, I'd probably do a lot better on playing stuff in general

Now if I could stop playing so damn much Warframe, I'd probably do a lot better on playing stuff in general

I play a lot of "Civ: Beyond Earth" myself.

~250 games and growing, routinely only play two, maybe three of them. xD

I'd love to offer advice, but there is no escape from the Steam Sale. I too, have fallen into its grasp.

Savyg wrote:

:D Now if I could stop playing so damn much Warframe, I'd probably do a lot better on playing stuff in general

Oh, Warframe. I'm pretty much hooked on it, too. The other is PlanetSide 2, and they pretty much make up 95% of what I play these days. My 285 handles both very well at 1440p, so I can't complain

Between Steam, GoG and Humble I probably have about 400 games.

Put the games you actually want on your wish list, and impulse buy those whenever there's a good enough sale. The rest of the stuff has to be bundle prices or skip it.

Give yourself a hard game purchasing budget. $60 per year for example.

Every time you buy a game, deduct that $60.

Of course that relies on you recording that purchase, and willing to stop spending once you the $60 limit.

Give yourself a hard game purchasing budget. $60 per year for example.

$60? **Snort** Really? Even if I limited myself to 80% off games during Steam Sales I would run into that limit real quick and go past it.

UnfriendlyFire wrote:

Give yourself a hard game purchasing budget. $60 per year for example.

Yeah so I'd be over budget with one game? Fantastic.

Yes it's just an example, but heh. No thanks. I don't have so many other hobbies that I need to watch my spending that badly.

Per month is possible, I thought about it but haven't quite put that plan in motion.

I had that issue, then I decided to stop buying games just because they were on sale. Big deal, games go on sale all the time.

My new method is to only buy a game if I intend to start playing it immediately, otherwise it can wait. Two benefits: (1) I don't end up with a bunch of unplayed games and (2) I pay less for each game because prices are always dropping.

I hope you can break your addition. There's really no point in buying so many games.