ℹ️ This post expands on thoughts from this post here about backlogging and the new year. This post is still understandable without it; the linked post just offers some additional context.
time - a Steam case study
For me, Steam's play time tracking might just be its most valuable feature. For reasons I'm not entirely able to put into words, knowing exactly how much time I've spent with a game is really important to me. It documents my experience with a simple, quantitative measure and reassures me that even "wasted" time, like retrying a difficult segment, still contributes to that number. There's also a deep-rooted sense of satisfaction when I scrape my total play hours across all games and see a giant cumulative figure added up.
But recently I've found a new way to use this time tracking via a slightly different metric: hours played per year.
Let me explain.
Total hours played, whether in one game or cumulatively across all of them, is just a simple number that merely counts up seemingly endlessly. There's no context until you tie it to something concrete like a calendar year of your real life. For example, I currently have 200 hours played in Forza Horizon 4. That alone doesn't tell me much until I compare it to, say, 1,000 hours played on Steam this last year. (I picked a nice round number for sake of example, the real figure's probably a bit higher.) Now we know that 20% of my gaming time went to FH4, leaving 800 hours for everything else.
The cumulative play hours feel potentially unlimited, but now when tied to the total, finite number of hours I actually had on Steam that year, the constraints reveal themselves. It's a reminder that these numbers aren't actually abstract--it's a zero-sum game. And it's pit against the number of gaming hours I can manage in a month, a year, a decade... a lifetime.
why 2024 was different
This concept is not new and barely insightful. I've know it since my parents scolded me for wasting my time on video games as a kid. But thanks to my 2024 Steam stats, it hit harder and more tangibly. Why?
One of my 2024 hobby resolutions was to be more mindful about working through my gaming backlog. It wasn't because I wanted to "CONSOOM MOAR" since I hate to treat the media I love as some kind of disposable goop. No, it was because I knew there were cool and meaningful experiences waiting for me, and the only way to reach them was to step out of my comfort zone and put down the mobile games, MMOs, and grindy idlers for a bit.
And it worked! In as successful a way as it could have. In 2024, I played around 100 games across all platforms, making significant progress in most of them and even hitting 100% completion in a few. The success was huge, but it also didn't feel huge enough. "That's it?" I thought to myself.
In prior years, I always had the reliable excuse of "I could have done more if I tried harder, so it's fine: we can experience more next time." But in 2024 I did exactly that. I did optimize my time and focus my efforts, and I saw real results. And yet as impressive as those results were, they also showed to me the limitations of what was possible.
I'm not upset or depressed about this realization, but it is sobering. It was a "step back, put your hands on your hips, and give a slow, thoughtful 'huh'" kind of moment for me.
2024 was different because it showed me, if I set my mind to it, how much I could do. And how little that can sometimes feel.
the bright side - hey, it worked!
But let's also take a moment to celebrate the successes in 2024's approach. I had some of the most fun and meaningful gaming experiences that year because of my decision to leave my comfort zone more often. Some non-exhaustive highlights include:
- Completing Doom, Doom II, Master Levels, and TNT: Evilution, and in the process gaining a new obsession!
- Returning to "chill" games with Coffee Talk, Spirit City, and Frog Detective
- Coming back to thatgamecompany's Flower, a game I sincerely love, after more than a decade and finally 100%ing it!
- Got my heart racing with Awaria, vanripper's latest game (and a tough one at that!), and a rare instance of me playing, and beating, a game shortly upon release!
- Experienced the thoughtful writing of story-focused games one night, hot springs and Three Fourths Home
- Winning every race and collecting every fast-travel board in Forza Horizon 4, then nearly completing its car Pokedex and several of its story missions
- Further pushing my skills in DJMAX RESPECT V with plenty of new PBs and a few Perfect Plays for good measure!
- Blue Reflection total immersion: 100% run of the original Blue Reflection, story completion in the now-defunct mobile game Blue Reflection Sun, watched the anime Blue Reflection Ray, and halfway through Blue Reflection Tie/Second Light
As I reminisce about the above, plus countless others, I realize my takeaway shouldn't be "I could have done more" but rather "I had some amazing experiences last year."
a balanced evaluation
So let's reconcile one reality with another. Last year, 2024, was a benchmark year for me. It showed me just how much progress on my gaming backlog I could make when I set my mind to it... but also how finite my free time really is. Going into 2025, I want to continue this approach as I dust off my other neglected hobbies.
Gaming is in my DNA at this point so I can't, nor won't, stop. But I'd like to be wise with my time, cutting down on moments where gaming is unfun, and replacing them with more enjoyable time with my books, writing, or fun and educational presentations from GDC and Black Hat. Cutting down or dropping gaming for a little bit is an occasional suggestion I see online to avoid backlog burnout, and I agree that it's probably beneficial for me, too.
One unintended consequence of my success from last year is my subtle bias towards smaller, contained experiences that I know I can easily finish and add to my list of wins. This has steered me away from the long-form giants like big novels, JRPGs, and VNs that I know I love. I have to re-convince myself that these experiences are still rewarding and worthwhile in their own way. Any time spent down the rabbit hole, obsessed with one single thing, is not wasted. If I'm enjoying myself, it's time well spent, even if the count of completed things ticks up slightly slower because of it.
so, what's next?
Introspection has no meaning without action! Now that I've ruminated about life, the universe, and time spent on video games, what can I do? Here's a few bullet points on things I want to take with me going forward.
- Be less afraid of large commitments. If I'm having fun, it's worthwhile.
- Let time tracking be a benefit, not a crutch. If I want to spend an hour on Picross DS or reading about oscilloscopes, I should do it, even if it doesn't contribute to my Steam stats.
- Put in the effort and return to those books and lectures I'm afraid to get back into. The anticipation is probably more intimidating than reality.
- Continue to document everything, through personal notes, my blog, and my Bluesky. Writing things down is how I process and remember things, and for the really meaningful experiences, it's absolutely worth doing.
It's too early for me to call this the theme of 2025, but I think it's a good start.
Thanks for reading. Hope you get to do something fun today.
-Lete