If you're a gamer and have unplayed games... You have a backlog, some people have bigger backlogs than others, and depending on how big it is, the harder it is to get rid of...

I like to think of it as a diet, because the bigger the backlog is, the less you'll like what you'll have to do...

The order of the tips go in order of how severe your backlog is, the first ones are for people who have it more or less under control and the final ones are for people who will probably die with unbeaten games if they don't do something...

-Shorter games go first!
This seems pretty obvious right? In the time it takes to beat an 80 hour game you can beat four 20 ones, or sixteen 5 houred ones.

But you don't really know how long a game is, right? The genre and era it's from are a good way to make an estimate.

Arcade games are the shortest, specially if they have free play, text adventures are next, followed by most retro games and adventure games...
Action adventure game can take from 10-20 hours, and so do modern platform games, strategy, simulation and role playing games being the longest...

-Drop that MMO! NOW!
I've seen a guy with TWO THOUSAND games in their backlog, and what was he playing? TWO NEWS MMORPGS! I'm sorry, but you shouldn't be playing a game that never ends when you have games that do end...

Are you really going to spend 15$ a month on a game that doesn't end when you probably have enough RPGs that do end and you'll already payed for that will take you less time to beat and actually DO end?

If you have a small backlog, you can simply cut down on the hours you play...

-Don't buy every single game the day it comes out!
If you have a REAL backlog problem, you have at least ONE game that you haven't even played that's now half price or in the budget bin, so...

Play the games you already have and eventually the games you wanted to pay full price for are now ridiculously cheap.... Unless they are Nintendo games, that is!

Your backlog will technical be the same except you are no longer wasting money!

You are allowed to support games that really need it or games that might end up being hard to find, just don't buy every game on it's release date!

-Cut down on multiplayer
You seriously shouldn't be playing a game on multiplayer for hours and hours when you have tons of unbeaten games, you can still plays a few hours with your friends, just try to play more games that actually end and less deathmatches!

-You don't actually have to play all the bad ones, but playing some of them will be good for you in the end!
If you have a backlog, it's highly possible if not probably that you have at least ONE bad games, and if it's a BIG backlog, you probably have a REALLY BAD one!

But you should play at least one of them every once in a while for two reasons:
·It will teach you to be more careful when buying new games.
·It will open up the full spectrum of game quality, and now that you've played a terrible game you'll notice that games that are just O.K. or even not too good aren't that bad!

-Don't try to calculate how long it will take to get rid of you backlog
Technically, your backlog will only be gone when you have NOTHING to play, so don't simply say that because you have 100 games to beat it will take two years, because you WILL buy more games during that period and if you aren't careful you might have even more games by the end of that period!

-Take it easy on easy!
Or at least on normal! Playing games on lower difficulty levels tends to reduce the time it takes to beat them... Don't worry you probably have enough challenging games that don't have difficulty setting to compensate for this!

-Beat it don't complete it!
Beating a game will take "X" amount of time, getting 100% will probably triple the time it takes! Don't try to do it, unless you'll be rewarded with something more than an achievement. If it's a game you really love you can give it a go, just don't try to get 100% on ALL of them!

-Replays are banned!
Why are you playing that game for the the 100th time when you have so many you have even tried? SHAME ON YOU! Remakes are allowed if your backlog isn't too bad....

-BLIND GRIND!
Blind grinding is what I call when you simply grind in an RPG while doing something else, if it's a portable one, you can do practically anything while you blind grind! Read, exercise, watch a movie... it's good to make grinding less tedious!


-USE GUIDES!
Now that we have walkthroughs even on Youtube, it only depends on your skill if you beat them. Most modern games don't really need a guide unless it's for a boss or unlockables, but older games tend to not tell you anything and it takes MONTHS to figure out what the game wants you to do... unless you just look it up!


-Can't beat it? Cheat it!
WHAT!? HOW DARE YOU TELL ME TO CHEAT!
Well... this is for people with a BIG backlog, like over a hundred, because they actually need to do it!

Let's face it, most old school games take months to beat because you need to perfect your gameplay so you can beat them on one playthrough... So what if you... "NOT" got them "elsewhere" and used save states? Or if you are really stuck you REALLY cheat...

Think about it, either you could get good enough at the game... eventually, or you can't, and you can't beat it...

As someone with a big backlog, you can't afford months of training on a game....

How you cheat is up to you and depends on how bad your backlog is...

You really should level skip, unless the game is terrible, or you are terrible at the game...


-Just sit back and watch others do it!
Like I said before, there are many walkthroughs, longplays and let's play on the internet, so.... why not simply watch someone else do it?

I've only done it once for an adventure game I couldn't get to run on my PC, and boy was I glad, it looked SOO BORING!

This is only for people with BIG backlogs and for games that you don't really care that much about, or games that won't work on your PC but you still want to see how they go...

-Play two at the same time?! Why not?
If your backlog is just ridiculous large, you should blind grind while watching longplays or maybe even a game you have cheats on, or if you don't want to be that drastic, blind grinding goes well with adventure games.

You can combine a low action type game with another, or with a game you can't really lose (or one you're cheating on), just don't do it with a one that heavy on action...




Hopefully you won't have to resort to anything on the last part of the list.... unless you're that guy with 2000 unbeaten games who's playing two MMOs...

Hopefully I haven't forgotten any tips...