216: A Strategy Guide for Your Backlog

Hello and welcome to episode 216 of The Backlog Breakdown. We are a video game podcast where we seek to encourage and equip the church to engage the medium of video games wisely and responsibly. I'm one of your hosts, Nate, and with me today is my co-host, my friend, my brother in Christ, Joshua. Hey, Josh.

Hey, buddy.

What's up, dude?

How you doing?

I'm good, man. I'm good. Uh, we are, as per the usual, we have talked entirely too much, um, before hitting record. But all things considered, yeah. Yeah. If you want, if you want the, the, the, the real meat and potatoes of all that, go listen to the phone call. Um, but anyways, we are here to talk about— we are a video game podcast, so let's just sort of jump in. Do you have anything For the backlog report.

So the things that I have to report on, I did talk about in last week's phone call, but still, still trudging along, trying to think of the right adjective. No verb there. Plotting there. Yes.

Hey, that's a good one.

DDI plotting along in Octopath Traveler 2. Enjoying that a lot just because I like those games and it makes me want to play Bravely Default again and it makes me. Oh, okay. Well, here, let me just. insert this really quickly is that I came across a, a phrase that I had never heard this past week, and it unlocked something from memories of Bravely Default and a pun in that game that I had never understood until now. But one of the main characters—

I'm not going to like this, am I?

No, no, actually, I think you will. Um, have you ever heard of the term noblesse oblige?

Mm-hmm.

Yeah. So I had never heard that before. At least, at least it completely went over my head. But it's the idea that the nobles are obligated to the people whom they serve, you know, that, uh, that you don't just rule with an iron fist, but that, uh, you have— there are certain rights and privileges that, that upper class have, but that they need to protect others.

Here's the inferred responsibility of privileged people to act with generosity and nobility towards those less privileged.

There you go. There you go.

I looked that up.

Hey, that's a nice concise definition for this little rabbit trail that I'm running down. Anyways, one of the main characters in Bravely Default.

Agnes.

Her— Oblige. Agnes, yes. And her last name is Oblige. And in that game, her name is spelled A-G-N-E-S. So I— You know, just reading it, I thought it was Agnes, but the whole game is voice acted and they keep calling her Agnes. So her name is, is Agnes. And I didn't realize, oh, that's why. Because Agnes Oblige is referencing noblesse oblige and this term. And if you understand who she is in the game, you will understand why and what certain obligations she has to the rest of—

Mm-hmm.

the, the characters throughout that game. So anyways, that's just a little tidbit that has some spoilers kind of in it as well. Anyways, I like Bravely Default and I like Octopath Traveler, playing Octopath Traveler 2. I mentioned played a little bit of Splatoon Raiders and having fun with that. I mentioned I picked up Dragon Quest VII Reimagined for Switch 2, so I have to take a +1 to my, my beatdown score for that. But I also get to take away a point. I get a negative one because I rolled credits on Theatrhythm: Final Bar Line. I don't know how many— I mean, it must have been at least 30, 40 hours that I've put into that game over— because I started it like beginning of this year, dude. Um, it kind of hit me of like, oh, I've been playing this off and on for like— yeah, it's July, 7 months now, almost 8 months. Um, that's kind of crazy how long that took, but It's a lot of fun. I like that game a lot. There's, there's still more to do. Um, but rolled credits and got like a, you know, a whole kind of ending sequence, which is, which is fun. So that's what I've been playing. So my score, uh, plus 1, minus 1. So that means it stays the same at negative 6 so far for the year. So how about you, dude?

Uh, pretty much just more Return, uh, Spent a little bit of time in— so Destiny, just like not even gonna really mention it. Been playing that, uh, off and on. It's still in the best spot it's ever been, forever and ever, until they shut the servers down. Uh, so yeah, I've been playing a little bit of that. Uh, like, yeah, fired up some Returnal earlier this week. Uh, I just— it's, it's kind of like I'm kind of in that weird, like, just Trying to get something to stick. But, uh, Tunic, sort of latching on to that. Uh, did fire up some Diablo 4 to sort of like just play around with that. Also did a run of Universal Paperclip, which—

Okay.

And I forgot to mention this during the punk call, but that is a— it's a pretty interesting game. Like, it's definitely a conversation piece. Um, kind of stuff like Mark and I are sort of talking about. Yeah, I definitely think there's potentially a book club episode for Universal Paperclip or maybe like, because yeah, it's like, what was that game that Wes had us play? Like the game dev sim thing.

Game Dev Story.

Game Dev Story is comparable to that. Um, in, I, I think to part of the story of this, of, of the game and how it came to be and sort of what the, some of the things it's exploring. Pretty interesting conversation, I think, to be had there. Uh, it's very much like, it is very much like, uh, was it Candy Box 2 or whatever?

Mm-hmm.

It's, it's very comparable to that sort of like, it's that gameplay loop. Where it's just like, anyways, they're comparable. Not, not beat for beat, but sure.

Yeah. Yeah.

But that's a free-to-play game. I didn't download anything. So I don't know if you could really say like, cause I, I didn't take a point for acquisition, so I'm not going to take a negative point for beating it. I don't know. Like whatever. Um, but yeah, did play that. But yeah, I haven't picked up anything. So yeah, it's just kind of like, eh, I'm, I'm still at +1, so haven't beaten anything.

Nice.

Just, just at +1. And if you guys are wondering, if this is the first time you're, you're jumping in here, well, hey, we're glad to have you. But if you're wondering what we're talking about, the Backlog Beatdown— you're listening to the Backlog Breakdown, but the Beatdown is a meta that we run all year long. And then TL;DR, TL;DL, if you One on this is that essentially it's a metagame that prioritizes playing what you already own. Take negative points for beating games. When you buy games, you add positive points, you know, sort of adding, taking away from the backlog. That's the kind of thing. If it— there's a little bit more to it than that. There are some rules and some sort of like interesting wrinkles and complications, sounds like. not optimal. But like, anyways, yeah, it's a neat little system. You know, dozens of us, maybe a dozen people actually really like— maybe dozens, I don't know. Um, there are dozens of us who play, um, but that we know about active in our Discord, maybe might be a dozen. Anyways, but we like it. Um, we think it's useful, and if it sounds even a little bit interesting to you guys, well, if, uh, feel free to reach out to us or join us in the Discord to check out those rules. Okay, with that being said, we are a video game podcast. We are here to actually talk about video game stuff.

Mm-hmm.

And so the entire premise is last episode we talked about sort of how about Now, why now is the best time to address your backlog, or as I like to call it, you know, the backlog method according to Sheila Buff. Um, so just do it. Just, just do it. Do it now. Don't let your dreams be dreams.

Dreams be dreams.

Dude, just do it. Such a great video. It's—

Yeah, it was pretty good.

Just unhinged. I just appreciate that man. He's an odd duck. But part of that— and so what we wanted to do is take this time to talk a little bit about some of the tips and tricks that we have either used ourselves or that we have come across. So I think one of the most sort of organic places, and this will tie into sort of one of the other recommendations. But I think one of the things that we've done is, aside from the whole metagame thing where it's like you have this point system thing, right? And that's like, make the numbers go up, or in this one, in the case of our metagame, make the numbers go down, way down into the negatives even.

Exactly.

But I think last year we added the locked and loaded rule, which allowed for creating bonuses. And one, there were people who were asking for opportunities to do bonus points and things like this. And so a little bit of it was like a sort of like, okay, we'll condescend. Condescend feels really condescending when I say it like that, but it's like, we will sort of, we'll offer this as an opportunity. But what it really was was sort of this I think to me, and this kind of came from something that you had done, and so what I'm going to say is, for me, when I looked at it, it did 2 things. One, it helped people to think about their backlog in sort of tactical ways in the sense of, I'm going to set a number, and sort of like, so I'm going to set a bit of a SMART goal, simple, measurable, attainable, realistic, time-bound, right? And it, I think it actually pretty much meets all of those, um, criteria. But anyways, it lets you do that, but it also, um, sort of, oh shoot, I think I might've just like, I was going to say it does 2 things, but it lets you think about it tactically, but it also gives you, oh, this is, it gives you a bit of an artificial constraint. Like, and I actually think that those things are really, it gives you a little bit of a form.

Yeah.

But it does kind of like, it's that, that the friction of buffers, kind of like when we were talking, like one of the things I really enjoyed about, it reminds me of like the good old days of when TRG was still around and wasn't just an absolute like, you know, den of chaos and hive.

Hive of Villainy.

Villainy. Yes. Um, but also like it sort of reminded me of like the, the days when like the pub was still kind of cool. Um, yes, I said that was still kind of cool. I know some people still like it.

But I, I don't, I don't think that the Reform Gamers were ever a wretched hive of scum and villainy. I was just referencing Star Wars. I understand what you're talking about, but I don't actually think they were ever that bad anyways. Yeah.

Anyways, but there were conversations about the usefulness of confessionalism and all this other stuff. And basically it was sort of like one of these things where it's like the confessions, one of the best illustrations, and I'm getting there. I know this is kind of all over the place, but that the confessions offer sort of like guide rails and that you don't go outside of those guide rails. And I think that's kind of like the idea of the locked and loaded rule. rule is that in creating sort of like boundaries to a certain extent, it's actually helpful. That's so it helps you to think about it in a way that's like kind of a little tactical, strategic, but also like by creating some limits there, you, it's helpful. You don't go too far afield.

Yeah. Yeah, no, I agree. And, you know, just coming into this conversation, even from talking about the beatdown, it's kind of like, hey, there's the obvious kind of road or thing that we have in terms of tips and tricks for your backlog. It's like, hey, this is what we do. Like, every year we run this game and we found it to be helpful. I know I've personally found it to be helpful. And so We continually do it as its popularity kind of rises and falls. That's totally fine because at the end of the day, I'm not really competing with anyone else. I'm competing with myself because I want to, you know, beat down my backlog. And so I do think as we consider this, there's not really much in terms of like, hey, this is going to be new and revolutionary that we recommend that you do in trying to tackle your backlog.

Yeah.

This is more of like a compilation. It's almost like a greatest hits for us of like, hey, what are we doing right now? What have we found is really useful? And so I'd say like if you boil down the beatdown— well, there's, there's 2 different ways that we can go with this because I completely agree kind of the strategy of some of these things. There's more there that I want to get to in just a moment. But I think if you boil down the beatdown, What it does is it incentivizes playing your backlog. It does also, in the way that we have, uh, compiled the rule set, uh, it does also, um, give some leniency, you know, of, oh, okay, now that you've beaten so many games, like, okay, you feel a little bit, you don't feel as, um, it doesn't feel as much of an obligation that, oh, I like— hey, you can let up after you beat a few games off the backlog. Now you can play, you know, a newer game or something like that. Uh, it does recognize the rule set that we currently have. It does recognize, hey, you're gonna get gifts from friends, you know, you're gonna get, um, other games coming in throughout the year. And that's part, you know, that's part of it. That's kind of how we've tried to balance the point system. So anyways, That is getting into a little bit more of the details, but I'd say again, boiling it down, really what I found helpful is just incentivizing playing the backlog. Um, because my natural bent is, hey, if it's on sale, then depending on the amount of the sale, um, is directly proportional to how much I actually want the game. and how much I think that I'm going to purchase the game. And then that equals out to, okay, let's, you know, click buy or whatever. Let's pick it up at the store. So what I mean by that is if something is on a good enough sale, even if I, I'm like, oh yeah, I've heard of that game once. Hmm. You know, if I have any interest in playing it, if it's on sale for, you know, $2.99, they're just trying to get rid of these. Oh, I'll probably pick it up. That's just my natural bent.

Mm-hmm.

But then if there's a game that, oh, I've been wanting for a long time and it's 20% off, oh, okay. Well, if this is the only time it's been 20% off, like, I will scoop up that bad boy. If it's a Nintendo, you know, a AAA Nintendo game, like, I'll go for it.

If it goes on sale, dude, if you're seeing, uh, Nintendo games go on sale for 20% at any point in time, people need to know about that immediately.

Scoop that up. Yeah. Yeah. Tears of the Kingdom for $50. What?

And I think that's like kind of like how even sort of like the backlog problem starts is because it's like, I'll buy that for a dollar. Yeah, I'll pay, I'll pay $5 for that. Yeah. Oh yeah, $10. And it's like, and it isn't. Yeah, it's like it is almost sort of like the psychology of the deal actually kind of like creates problems.

Mm-hmm. Yep, definitely. And so especially as I've gotten older, as I have a larger backlog, As I've accumulated more games than I've been able to play, and as that continues to— even, even though it's slowed down, it does continue because not every game is created equal. Obviously, Octopath Traveler 2 is a 70-plus hour game. Like, I fully recognize, um, that even at— and I know we've had discussions about, you know, price to, to hours, you know, length of the game is not a great metric. But what I'm saying for the sake of this conversation is we're talking about backlogs is time is a factor as well into what you are able to play. And so even if I have a stack of 20 games on my backlog, if they're 7-hour games, that's a lot more doable than a stack of 10 Huge JRPGs, you know, 60-hour games. That's— then that stack of 10 games is a 600-hour commitment. Again, I recognize that means playing the game all the way through. If it's not a game that, oh, after a while, like, it just doesn't click, I don't want to continue. All that is kind of contingent. That's fine. I understand all that. But for the sake of this conversation about Tips and tricks for actually destroying the backlog that you currently have. The first thing that I've already mentioned twice, I'll mention it again, is find a way to incentivize playing the backlog over picking up a new game. Okay, that's, that's the first part. The second part that is, I think, reflected in the beatdown and that you mentioned as well.

Yeah.

But it is recognizing— and here's where I was going when I said that, that I'm older and that I have these games on my backlog— recognizing the value of your game time and what you can realistically play. So I think that's something that I found a lot of value in as we've added certain rules to the Beatdown, like, like this Locked and Loaded list.

Yeah.

Is it forced me to look at my backlog in, in terms of, oh, how long are these games and how much can I reasonably expect to be playing on a consistent basis? And then when you look at that, like, oh, all of a sudden my backlog of 100 games on the low end here, uh, becomes, you know, multiply that by, let's say, 15 hours each at 100 games. That's 1,500 hours. Really?

Mm-hmm.

1,500 hours. Like how long, how many years is that going to take me to actually play through all of these games? And what that does is that it makes me more picky for the games that I have in my backlog. And byproduct of that, of if I do ever pick up other games, which let's face it, I am still picking up other games. Literally just talked about it earlier in the podcast that I purchased a Dragon Warrior game, which is You know, original version was 120 hours. I believe this one has some quality of life stuff to make it a bit faster, but it's still a huge game. Um, it makes— it has made me, um, reevaluate the games that I play. And what I mean by that is to actually think through how much do I realistically want to play this game? Because there have to be— I mean, frankly, with my backlog where it is right now, Frankly, I'm never going to get to, to like half the games that I own. Realistically, in my lifetime, I'm probably not going to play half of what I have on my backlog right now.

Well, and I think that's, that's an important sort of like also I think step or tip is actually take stock of your backlog. Like, yeah, you and I have both sat down and gone through and by doing this like too, it's like also like Going through that process, I think you and I both talked about— we— I just called, like, I was like, oh, like, I have like 800 games or whatever, you know, whatever the number was available, you know, through all the different things. I went through and I called that number, and I was like, by going through, I, I started asking the question, what are the games on this list that I actually want to play?

Yep.

Like, which was Still an obscene number. Yeah, right.

Sure.

But by doing that, you know, instead of 800, now I've got 300 or whatever the, you know, the actual numbers are. And so I think that's part of it because it's like you said, it's, it's that by taking stock of that, like one, Yeah, you can do some like sort of just like, you know, napkin math sort of like time cost analysis kind of stuff where you can say like, just make the assumption like each one of these is like 15-ish hours roughly. Like how many hours is that? It's like, yeah, like you've got 100 games on that backlog. Each one of them is roughly 15 hours. That's 1,500 hours of game time. Um, and so like when you put it in that framework, it's like, oh, like actually like Yeah, I'm not that interested in X, Y, and Z. Like, I picked this up. And so I definitely, I think that taking stock and actually prioritizing and saying like, oh, this is like, this is something I really want to play versus this is— that just, that's a useful distinction.

Yes. You know, because absolutely, as opposed to, oh, I had some interest in this and it was on sale.

Yeah. You know, and sort of like, if you do that too, that's also gonna like sober you up a little bit in regards to sort of, again, sort of like that impulse, like, oh, this is $5. Like, you know, whereas like you actually pay more attention and you spend more time actually cultivating like wishlists. And it's not just like, I'm mildly interested in this thing, throw it on a wishlist. It's like, no.

Yeah.

Like, is there— like, do I have— like, am I more— like, am I interested in this? Do I actually have an expectation where I will play this?

Yes.

Yeah. Yeah. Or like, at least a desire to play this that is more than just like, why not? Because I think that is one of the things, like, you know, and you even said it too, it's like, as we've gotten older, the demands on our times have, have gotten greater. And it's just like the, like gaming, while it's, it's still like, it's a lowercase priority. It is, it does get bumped pretty quickly. Like, it's like one of those things that like, hey, if I have time for it or I make time for it, great. But also if I have work to do or family obligations or whatever, those take precedence. Yeah. So, yeah. But yeah, I, I think one of the other things too is, yeah, just, and I think I've seen you do this and it's kind of, it's like, but like, do like a realistic, and this will kind of lead into something else, I guess, but like, do a realistic analysis of how much time per week you can actually give to gaming. And again, this is like something I think we've both done too, where it's like, you know, I think even a friend of the show and fellow Play Well Network member Mark Erickson has, has talked about this where it's like, hey, like, you know, the average gamer puts 10 to 15 hours in a game. Do you put more in that or less in that or whatever? It's like, and where do you make that? Like, where does that time happen? Where is it? Where do you make that time fit? You know, how do you prioritize it? All those sorts of things. So like, generate like a realistic expectation for time that you can actually afford to gaming. You can afford to give gaming rather. Because I think that is like one of the things in being a responsible adult. Like, and we've— this is like sort of rehashing old material, but like time is really in so many ways, it's really the only currency you have and how you spend it. You need to be wise with that. Like as stewards, like you're going to give an answer for all the time that you spend. And there are foolish ways to Like everybody wastes time. So like, you know, and obviously you don't want to do— you don't want to do that, but you're going to. But like, it's sort of like, I think one of the biggest things that we've sort of harped on is like, do not— I think one of the most— how about I say it this way? I think one of the most sort of like pressing examples to me is that meme where it's like, you know, it shows the guy holding like the— like it's showing his life and he's holding the block for games. And it's like there's sort of like this like tower in front of him and he's looking at the tower and it's full. There's no more room for the games. And so what he does is what so many of us have done before. I call it the stupid dad rule, where it's like instead of just going to bed and going to sleep, I'm going to do the stupid dad thing. I'm going to stay up and do the thing that I want to do, but I really should just go to bed thing. Like, that's the stupid dad move.

Mm-hmm.

where it's like, just go to bed. So that next, you know, and the thing is, because what happens is you get up the next day and you do more stupid things, but now you do them tired.

Yeah.

But it is like the sacrificing sleep for video games. And that's sort of like, again, that's like the low-hanging fruit one that, you know, is kind of going around. It's like, actually, like, that's, that's really pretty— it's not just foolish. I think that borders on being wicked. Because it's sort of— there's a proper ordering. And you and I have talked about, you don't like sleeping. Well, actually, you do like sleeping. You don't like the time that you feel like you lose by sleeping. And yes, I was very intentional in throwing up those air quotes because you're not losing time.

Right.

You don't like the limitation that sleep puts on you. But I think that that is really helpful because what that does is it actually like by sort of doing that sort of time analysis. And again, even if it's only just like napkin math kind of thing, you know, try to set like a realistic number. You can reclaim a lot. Like, I think there's a lot of time that like, you know, people lose to like smartphones or whatever.

Yeah.

And it's like, you can reclaim a good bit of that. You just have to be more intentional, which sort of— there's a video that I want to talk about a little bit. But, you know, there's a few videos that have kind of been— and principles that have kind of been like shared in the group at different times. And so, but before I get into that, do you have anything sort of else that you wanted to throw out there? You know?

Well, to reiterate kind of what you were talking about there with the amount of time that you can spend in gaming. Well, even before that, talking about taking stock of what you have, I think is, is great. It's, it's worked really well for me in that I just did a simple— I had at one time my games on an Excel sheet. I have not kept up with that, so I have way more than what was on there anyways. Um, I had a row— no, I had a column, excuse me. I had a column for, um, for a rating for the game, but like before playing it. That was basically how much I wanted to play this game on a scale of 1 to 5. Um, and that includes like how good I think the game will be. And I realized after ranking most of my games That I shouldn't be spending time on anything less than a 4. Really, with the amount of games that I have, I wanted to take stock and realistically, because I have so many, I really should focus my time on the 5s and with the occasional 4. Anything less than that, okay, you can think of a one-off. Oh, maybe it's a co-op game that you play you know, when a buddy comes over. Okay, fine. I'm not saying don't play those. What I'm saying is that really my focus needs to be— because if realistically I'm never going to get around to all of these games, then I really ought to focus on the ones that I think are the best. And it also made me judge a little bit harsher as well. You think it would be the other way around. Oh no, everything's a 5 then. No, actually it makes me think like, oh, if I can't get around to all these, Then yeah, maybe this game that I've heard is a cult classic, maybe it's just not my thing. Yeah. Yeah. And I'll push it off. Um, so in taking stock, I completely agree that taking stock with what you have, with how much you want to play it or how good you think it's going to be. And then like you said, also how long these games take. Um, that's a, that's a good way of thinking through if you just have the time to play it because What you mentioned, and this is something that I did at the start of the year, is what's a reasonable amount of time that I could spend playing games? And I thought, you know what, just, just make it— keep it simple and say 30 minutes a day. Because I'll go, you know, 3, 4 days without touching anything. And then, you know, maybe on a Saturday I'll play for a couple hours or something like that.

Mm-hmm.

So really 30 minutes, and then I probably will play more than that. Uh, just on average. But if I just keep it simple to 30 minutes, that gives me 178 hours for the year. That's not that many games, really.

Mm-hmm.

With the amount of games that I have in my backlog, 178 doesn't stretch very far. And again, I recognize it's probably going to be closer to 200, 250 maybe. Um, but, but if I have 178 to kind of throw around to work with. Okay, now where do I slot in the games that I really want, these 5-star games that I've really wanted to get around to, and where do I do it? And then from there you can get granular and think about the platform as well. Because I'm a dad, I play a lot on Switch, uh, because I can be on the elliptical when I'm playing versus something I have to sit down in front of a computer or in front of a TV for. Uh, so anyways, that's, that's further down the road, but I do think That when, when we talk about taking stock, I think how much you want to play or how good you think the game is going to be and how much time it's going to take have been really helpful for me in plugging in, you know, okay, this is my game time. I only have so much. So I want to focus on these particular games and play through these backlog games.

Yeah. Um, I had a thought while you were talking and it completely slipped me, so it couldn't have been that important or that great.

Or taking stock of games, ranking them, and, and checking out how much time, how long it takes to beat the game, how long you have to play.

Yeah, you, you probably— it's gone. You probably said something comparable to what I was gonna say. It's just like, yeah, all that thing, all of that can be Very useful. And yeah, I'm just like, I'm still sort of in the back of my head, I'm trying to like, what was I going to say? There was something in there. But yeah, I think one of the things though too is that by taking that inventory and even coming up with like sort of— you did the 30 minutes or whatever.

Mm-hmm.

Um, I think there was a video that popped up in the Discord and, you know, as a general rule, I would say like, it's, it's one of those that I agree with the principles, but some of the, the, the, the way that he talks about time. Um, but, and I'll just pull it up, but, uh, Clayton, what is his name?

Morris.

Clayton Morris did a video called How to Find Time for Video Games as a Busy Adult. And then within, without the guilt. And, um, and he basically all he does is he talks about like time blocking and he calls it a superpower.

Yeah.

And I was like, well, that's a little insane because I've known about time blocking. I've just been insane. Like, I'm not good at it, but I've known about it for years. But I think his application of it is pretty novel. And one of the things I really like that he did Now, I don't like the way that he frames game time as a necessity. I actually think that's like— I push back really strongly on that and be like, no, dude, this is not like decompression. Like, framing it as decompression is not helpful in a lot of ways. Like, um, like, it sort of puts, I think, the weight of necessity on, on video games, which I don't think they're meant to be. Like, I don't think they're meant to carry that kind of weight. Like, they can be part of decompression, they can be— but whatever. Um, just, yeah, that, that's a distinction there where I'm just gonna like say like, hey, I actually think this— that's not super helpful, sort of like categorizing it using that category. However, I think like his strategy is sound, and one of those things actually means like you actually sit down and you take stock of like the time in your day and sort of different windows. And what you'll find is that if you're kind of rigorous, you probably have more free time. As a general rule, even as an adult, as a busy adult, you probably have more free time available to you than you think. It just means that you have to be disciplined. One of the things is you talked about, you play games while you're on the elliptical.

Sure.

That's like one of your primary. And it's like, you know, and I think that it's like you can sort of do some multitasking, but it's like you can sort of, I think, build in somewhat reasonable expectations for maybe not daily, but like a certain amount of time per week. And that number could be higher. It just means that you have to be disciplined.

Yeah.

in sort of structuring that and building that in, you know. Uh, and I, I think that's— I like— I, I would recommend the video. I think it's like worth a watch. Um, again, I think some of the way he talks about games, again, sort of like almost putting in that sort of like, I need my— I need my video game time. You don't. You just don't. Like, There are, there are things that are needful, and then there are things that are good but aren't necessary. Video games are good but not necessary. Um, so I would just— I think just, yeah, employing like sort of like taking just a, a sort of inventory of time and how you use your time throughout the day, and then sort of like, yeah, building in that time, using time blocking to actually build in times where you are free to do that. That's a useful idea. I think that's actually a good idea. And that's like, yeah, I would recommend that to a lot of people who want to just understand that you are— that, yeah, you do have sort of— you do need to be responsible. And I think Another sort of even comparable to that, all right, sort of piggybacking off this, and then it's when we read the book Minimalism by, uh, or, um, which—

Digital Minimalism?

Not Digital Minimalism. Essentialism. Essentialism. That's what it is. Yeah. Um, not Minimalism. Essentialism by, um, is it McKeown?

Uh, yeah. Yes, Greg McKeown.

McKeown. He talked a little bit, and this is something that as Byron, especially as Byron gets older, and I think this is, you know, especially for kids, like, and just, and I think it'd be useful for adults even, but they have a, he talks about like a token system that they've implemented for their kids in regards to screen time. And there's a whole sort of like hierarchy there where it's like, you know, you get a certain amount of like stock, you get a certain amount of these tokens that can be redeemed for screen time. And then you can sort of earn more by doing extra chores. You can earn more by sort of engaging in what I, what I think Mark Mark Erickson, at one point in time, what is the term he— but there's like basically consumptive type hobbies, which is like, I think that's the term he used, which is like video games where you go in and it's like you're engaging with it, but it's not— it's sort of like you're almost more reacting to it versus proactive or productive type hobbies where it's like writing, drawing. Kind of like reading a book, journaling, whatever, sort of engaging on sort of like— it's still recreation, but you have the 2 different sort of categories of recreation, whereas one is maybe a little less intellectually stimulating or demands less of you. I don't know, but I thought that was a useful distinction. But the whole thing is like screen time costs tokens. and sort of engaging in those other more like sort of disciplined type hobbies, actually you can earn more tokens. But they also, the other side of that is like, again, essentialism has this whole, he sort of lays out the whole system, but like that, those token system is also tied to money, has monetary value. And at the end of the week, they can sort of turn those tokens in to get a certain amount of money. So it's like, it's kind of, you're teaching kids about time management. And I think that even model, like something comparable can be utilized in homes and even for adults can help people to think about how much time they spend in front of the TV, how they utilize. Again, it's sort of like, it's just, this is another little tool for thinking about this stuff as a general rule, like that I found to be helpful.

Yeah.

So time blocking and maybe even like a time token sort of system.

Mm-hmm. Yeah. And assigning these different things. And again, oh man, I feel like I caveat everything. So I recognize, hey, there are times in life, especially as you gain more responsibilities, that like, hey, your days might not work out the way that you planned. Okay. So your scheduled video game time You might not get it. You know, you might have a sick kid. Okay, are you gonna be upset at your kid for getting sick and so that you no longer get to play your video game? No, I think that verges on entitlement. You know, we want to be thankful when we are able to engage in video games, you know, in entertainment, but we don't want to be reliant on it. And I think that's what you were getting at also with Clayton talking about it. I do know that Clayton is one of those people who has a high capacity for lots of things.

Yeah.

He, he does create a lot of content in a number of different fields, not just video games. That's kind of like on the small end of what he does. He's a journalist, you know, a reporter. And so he's doing a lot of stuff. And so I think in his context, he's talking about recreation in general. And he oftentimes, that's video games. And so I think when he talks about it as a need, well, one, he's not a Christian. And so, um, I think obviously stewarding your time is a different concept than just time management. Um, but I do think also, like, I respect him because he has such a high capacity. And so I think if we were to talk about—

Yeah, dude, he's super prolific.

If we were to talk about, you know, deserving video game time, he would be like way up here while I'm down here. You know what I mean? Um, so I, I can let him, you know, have his own thoughts on that. Um, but I agree, it is useful to think about your days. Just, you know, it's, it is kind of basic time management, but it, but trying to assign the time that you have each day, uh, before you get to it.

Yeah.

So you're not just kind of floundering, um, and so that you don't forget things, you know, it's kind of having it again in a plan. Right, right. And so when you do have a plan, then hey, you can tackle all of your responsibilities, and if it all goes according to plan, then you will have time to also play some video games, you know, to— or, or any other type of recreation or something like that. Um, and, and those things you need to, uh, prioritize however it is. So like, I do, and, uh, you know, most evenings, uh, if I don't have anything going on, I will probably watch— be watching a show with my wife, you know, before we go to bed. She just, she really likes that, just sitting together and watching a show. And so I do value that time over sitting in another room by myself playing video games because I know that she likes it and she's my wife and I like her. So I'll kind of— I put that a little bit higher on the priority list than just playing video games myself. So, um, anyways, again, kind of getting into the weeds a little bit, but yeah, time management is, is a huge one, uh, so that you have time. You know, back— maybe back when I was in college, it wasn't so such a big deal, you know. So long as I was able to get my work done, then we're good. Um, but nowadays, as I have 3 kids, you know, a wife, church, all kinds of stuff going on, uh, yeah, yeah, it's, it's a much bigger deal to plan out these things. Yeah.

Yeah, manage your time, or next thing you know, you're just gonna find it. It's like one of those things that if you don't manage it, you will find that it quickly just fills up. Yeah.

It's sort of—

yeah, there's lots of principles that sort of state that.

I think in terms of just purely focusing on the backlog, tips and tricks, a guide to focusing on your backlog because now is the best time to focus on your backlog. I think that's most of what I have in terms of just focusing. I do have another tip that's more about thinking through and kind of checking yourself before you pick up new games. But do you have anything else before we get there just for specifically focusing on the backlog?

So there's, there's 2 things that I sort of wanted to talk about. Cool. One was the, the Rule of 3 video from 8-Bit Joystick. Um, I, I think this is a really just, you know, this is sort of a— this is a full sort of fledged system here that he has kind of come up with where, you know, he basically picks 3 games. And I've, I've actually found this approach to be pretty useful.

Um, okay.

But he picks 3 games to focus on at any point in time, or, you know, and he, he applies it to all sorts of different, like, books and movies and TV and whatever. But I think specifically he limits himself to 3. So he has variety and he picks 3 different types of games to focus on in that time. He keeps— and there are a couple aspects to that. Like, he keeps sort of like physical reminders of those games. So it's like, even like you could, like, if you don't have cases for the games, you could The dude uses figurines and little statues and stuff, which is a little like, listen, I'm not going to judge you, but I'm going to judge you. Yeah. But, but yeah, he uses sort of these like physical objects to sort of stand in and create like physical space reminders, which I think is actually a really useful psychological sort of thing. Like, it's sort of the principle of like setting up an Ebenezer. Like, it's a physical reminder of X, Y, and Z. Like, whereas the Ebenezer is like, or the pile of remembering stones or whatever you want to call them, it's like, it's there to remember the good that God has done. Where it's like, but we are, we exist in physical reality and having that physical touchpoint actually is helpful. So he does the 3. The other thing that he does is he keeps like a little journal and he sort of writes some of his thoughts where like progress in the game and all that stuff. And I think engaging in that kind of behavior actually is also useful as well as I think it's actually cultivating some healthy thoughts and respect. Like it helps you to think more about the games that you're playing instead of just being a mere consumer. So overall, I think that that Rule of 3 package from 8-Bit Joystick is a pretty great resource. Just as far as like, just, hey, I think that's one of the best sort of like comprehensive systems I've seen in a minute. Yeah, I really like it. I think the only other tip that I have, and maybe, and hopefully I'm not stepping on your toes, is like—

No.

If you're playing a game, you know, and there was a video that popped up, but this is also— there was a video that popped into Discord that sort of talked about it. But it's also, it's one of the rules of the Beatdown. If you're playing a game and you don't like it, it's okay to quit.

Mm-hmm.

Like, we have the Solid 60 rule in the Beatdown rules, which is like, it's talking about solid 60 minutes. Like, give a game an hour. But really the spirit of that is like, give the game the appropriate time. And if you don't like it after, you know, sort of like if you're playing like a 100-hour JRPG and you've got like 5 hours into it and you're just like, or even 2 hours, you know, but like you've not just like the flash in the pan kind of thing, but like you've sunk some time in it. You've tried to engage with the systems, you've tried to push through and you're just like, I just can't. for whatever reason, it is okay to just say, it's not for me.

Mm-hmm.

And just kind of write it off and move on. I think, like, we have abandonment as a viable, you know, end state for scoring within the beatdown for this very reason, because sometimes you're playing a game and you're just not that into it. And instead of forcing yourself to, like, sort of beat a game that you just don't want to play, it's okay to just be like, to just be done with it and to just walk away from it.

Yeah. Yeah. No, that's, that's definitely a good tip. Even, even if it's been rated highly, you know, even if it's a game that you've really wanted to play at some point. I— there have been games even within the past year, you know, that we've played for this podcast that I've said This is a great game, but it's not for me.

Or, this is a really terrible game, and it's not for me.

That's true. That's true. We have had one of those this year as well that you have committed to finishing. Um, but—

I am not a smart man.

There have been other games that I, that I recognize, hey, this is great. I don't have the time, the bandwidth, and it's just not— it doesn't, it doesn't do for me what I know it does for other people for one reason or another. So yeah, yeah, it's okay to quit. That sounds kind of funny saying it out loud, but when it's something as low stakes as entertainment, then yeah, I agree. It's okay. The— actually, so you were not stepping on my toes. The tip that I had that has been helpful for me in slowing down the acquisition of new games is the resolution that I have that there is an assumption that anytime I purchase a new game, that I can reasonably play it within the next year. So what that has meant for me, uh, when it comes to the beatdown, the rule set that we have is that for the most part, I will say 90% of the time, maybe 95% of the time, the games that I purchased the previous year are going to be moved into the games that I want to play for the next year. as the beatdown kind of rolls over. There have been games that have fallen through the cracks. I'll be honest, one in particular is, um, Unicorn Overlord, which I've heard is a fantastic game. I did not realize when I picked it up that it's 60 hours long. And so when I did, even though it was in kind of like the first runnings for games that I wanted to play through this year, because I bought it at the end of last year, um, That did not make the list because of how long it was. I didn't realize it when I picked it up. So, um, so that one's kind of floundering around, but for the most part, um, it really helps me to consider, okay, I want this game, but do I really want this game? You know, it might be on sale. It might be a good time to pick it up, but do I really want it enough that I'm making a commitment that I'll be playing this within the next year?

Yeah.

Or, you know, 2 years, you know, depending on the game, whatever. Um, but at least in a reasonable amount of time. And I say over the next year because of our, our Beatdown rule set. So that's, that's the way that my mind has been wired, but it does need to be within a reasonable amount of time. And so having that concrete time works for me really well.

And I think that that's sort of, again, even there, it's sort of like a useful framing. It's like I, One of the things I'm doing this year is I'm not spending— like, I'm spending gift money or cards or trade-ins, but like, you know, but I'm not spending additional money, like money that— like if somebody gave me birthday money, but it's like I'm not spending like money that I earned by working, you know, to buy video games this year.

Mm-hmm.

And it's like, I think even sort of like, because like part of it is like An easy way to sort of address your backlog is to not add to it. So it's like, yeah, it's like you're sort of, you're adding sort of that friction there where it's like, I'm not like, unless I'm planning on potentially playing this next year, I'm not buying it. Whereas like, I think it's actually useful to sort of just like set up to slow down sort of like the acquisition sort of phase there, just like even sort of fight against the idea to just merely acquire things at times.

Right.

But yeah, just sort of building sort of useful and friction points where it's like, for me it was like, hey, not spending any work money on video games this year. It's It's a year long, you know, and it's like, it's, it's a window of time, like, or it's, there's sort of like, there's reasonable markers. Like last year for me, it was like, I'm not buying anything until I hit -10 on the beatdown where it's like, I'm going to beat 10 games or I'm going to address 10 games off my backlog. And then I'll give myself like permission to sort of pick up a few more things.

Yeah.

Yeah. And I, I think that's— I think those kind of like, yeah, again, it's sort of like, it basically boils down to like, be intentional with your time, be intentional with your money. Like, if you do those things, you know, you, you'll, you'll be fine. But it does mean that you have to take stock of stuff. You have to think through these things. You know, there's, you know, and maybe none of these things work for you, but they're, you know, I don't know, then find something that does.

Yeah.

I know. And if you find something that does, then let us know about it so that we can, you know, adopt it. But that sort of, I guess, leads us into like, you know, sort of, yeah, I don't have any, I guess what I'm saying is I don't have anything else. I think just like I said, this is sort of on the more practical side. It's like, hey, here's some things that you can do, like, if you are serious about wanting to address your backlog. Like, also, one last thing, don't do the whole stupid thing that's like, I'm gonna eliminate my backlog in a year. That's stupid. Nobody does it unless it's like 5 games.

Mm-hmm.

And if your backlog is only 5 games deep, then you've got other fish to fry. I've, I've seen probably at least half a dozen videos where people are like, I'm gonna beat down my backlog. And then you see, uh, the video a year later where it's like, I didn't beat down my backlog. And it's like, well.

So, so here's my thought on that is I actually, I think it's actually pretty similar to losing a lot of weight. Okay. In that You have to be— for something like that, you have to be hyper-focused.

Mm-hmm.

When you want to lose weight sustainably, you don't change your diet overnight and change your routine and your exercise routine all overnight and say, I'm gonna hit the gym every single day and I'm only gonna eat chicken, broccoli, and rice. at every meal, that is a recipe for burnout pretty quickly. And I, and so obviously, yeah, it's different. The similarity, the reason I bring that up is because often when it comes to something like focusing on games that you have, like the reason that you've gotten to the place where you have more than you can play is because you have a proclivity.

Mm-hmm.

To accumulating more games. So you take that into account. If you say, no, I'm only going to focus on my backlog, you're not taking into account, oh, I still have this proclivity. Like, I can't just turn it off automatically. Um, and so that's why we have these different rules within the Beatdown. Again, Mm-hmm. I keep referencing that. If the Beatdown doesn't work for you, that's fine. I'm not even trying to get you to to join the beatdown. Yeah. All that I'm saying is this is a way that we've made it work for us. And in it, that's why we, we've tried to balance the score out, because we recognize, hey, there is going to be a new game that comes out that you're going to want to play with your friends, or my case, that I'm going to want to play with my kids, or—

In my case, that I'm going to want to play by myself.

Well, of course, always those. But I'm thinking of ones that are like, hey, yeah, I'm going to be way more lenient with a game like the, the, the Switch 2 sports club game that my daughter really wants that's coming out in October. Yeah. Because she really wants it and that's going to be a fun family game.

Yeah.

Like that one. Yeah. Okay. I'll, I'll burn a backlog point and I don't mind picking it up and playing it when I pick it up instead of waiting till next year. Um, that, those are the things that with the losing weight analogy, like, yeah, you can do chicken broccoli rice for 2 days and then you're going to get sick and, you know, get sick of it and go through the McDonald's drive-through or smash a bowl of cereal or something, you know?

Yeah. And if you're looking for like long-term change, long-term sustainability, it actually requires like dozens of small, smaller steps building towards that with consistency.

Yep.

And I think that's like even sort of in the beatdown. And again, not saying that you have to do the backlog beatdown, you don't. But like even within that, like it is that sort of like, here's some baby steps, like do this, do this, do this. And I think that's like that, that's part of it is like if you are serious about doing this, there are a lot of different tools, a lot of different like sort of tips and tricks and systems that you can implement. But like, the fact is like one step at a time with consistency. Yep. That's it. Yeah. Like, that's it. Just be consistent. Take one step at a time.

And I get that if you want to take the shock to your system approach again with like losing weight or whatever, if you want to do that for a little while, that's fine too. And I think that goes back to my first tip of saying Hey, put an incentive to beat down your backlog. Say maybe, okay, out of all my backlog, these 3 games, I am going to play through these 3 games before I buy anything else. Then you have the freedom to pick up a new game after you beat those down, but you've at least beaten 3 games before you pick up a new one. Not saying, this whole year I'm going to go without buying a single new game. Not recognizing that, hey, you don't know the future. You don't know if the next, I don't know, F-Zero game is going to be shadow dropped on, you know, whatever your favorite video game series is. Maybe the next game is going to be shadow dropped or something, you know, like you take these things into account. You're, you're going to want to play newer games too.

Yeah.

And so build in a little bit of wiggle room while, while keeping your focus. And like you said, yeah, I think that's the sustainable way. to tackle your backlog instead of attempting to change everything overnight.

But yeah, because it's, it's about addressing like long, your long-term psychology.

Yeah. Yeah. But yeah. So I'm just going to run down real quick because this is kind of a tips and tricks episode. The tips that we've, that we've mentioned so far are incentivizing your backlog games, taking stock of your backlog and prioritizing the games you want to play. Creating a realistic analysis of how much time you can give to gaming and how long it would take to beat your backlog games. Clayton Morris's video about time blocking, the video on the rule of 3, which that's going to be in the— both those videos, links for that are in the description or whatever. To take notes, to slow down a little bit while you're playing. is helpful as well. Recognizing, hey, if you're not having fun with a game, it's okay. You don't have to finish that game. You can set it aside and play something else. It's okay to quit sometimes. And then finally, thinking through if you— when— if and when you do pick up a new game, setting a timeline for when you're going to play it instead of just adding it to the pile.

Yeah. Yeah. So there's— and be consistent and take baby steps. Like, yeah, that's the last little, I guess, pointer. Yeah. But yeah. Um, and if we miss something, like if there's something like glaringly obviously, again, so we'll go back to that, reach out, let us know.

Um, yeah, that's right. We'd love to hear from you.

You think you can tell us how stupid you, you think we are. We won't like that that much. We, we—

Not a fan.

Do respond better to affirmation.

Yes, positive affirmations.

We like to be encouraged and affirmed. But yeah, yeah, feel free to reach out to us. And if they want to reach out to us, Josh, where can they get to us at?

That's right, we've mentioned the Discord a few times in this episode. That's probably the best place to go, but for all the places that we are online, the internet, all the social media sites that we're on. Um, check out our Linktree. It's just linktree.com/thebacklogbreakdown. Check it out and then jump into the Discord from there.

Um, indeed. Before we sort of like really just kind of close this out though, um, we do like to give shoutouts to our community. Do you have any shoutouts for anybody in the community?

I'm sure there's things that I'm forgetting, but I appreciated Nick bringing us along with him to his, to his concert for Silversong pickups. That was fun seeing that video.

Hmm. I have not seen that one. That is, um, yeah, Porcho. Porcho is— yeah.

Shout out to you, sir.

I mean, he's— yeah. Shout out to Porcho. Even if you are a scallywag and a descendant of thieves and villains. And you live in the literal sort of like hive of scum and villainy on Earth.

Yikes. Talk about positive affirmations.

Well, he's not Canadian, so, um, yeah, I guess, I guess we'll let him off the hook. Um, that's a pretty good one. I think— I don't know. I don't know. I, you know, everybody's been on fairly decent behavior. Mm-hmm. So I might have to try and find something nice to say about people, and I just don't know how I feel about that.

Once again, positive affirmation.

You know what, just talking about this, I like it when people affirm and encourage me. It doesn't mean I like encouraging and affirming affirming other people.

I'm gonna have to do it to others.

Yeah, but you know what, I think, you know, Paul, Paul was on as well, and you mentioned Nick, who is also a Playwell Network member. But I'm just gonna, I'm gonna sort of like, and it's maybe not so much in the, the Discord per se, but I do want to sort of shout out our, the, the 2 other Playwell Network homies. I'm gonna shout out Wesley Ray, the Henshin Den himself, um, who is just being An absolute G. Not only is he holding down some pretty intense college-level work stuff, like getting more certifications or getting another degree or something, I mean, he's doing something crazy with that. I don't even know. It's like college and me, where it's like oil and water, where just like, nah, nah, college ain't for me. College is not for this guy, at least not right now. So he's doing some college stuff, but he's also like navigating, like, you know, the family recently picked up and moved to be, you know, so they just changed like whole states. And so they've been navigating that whole scenario. But then like, he's also, he's got a family situation going on where he's like sort of like handling that. And it's just like, dude's a baller. Like, you want to talk like we were talking about Clayton and how Clayton has like sort of that very like high capacity. Wesley Ray, the henchman dad himself, is like just absolute unit. Absolute unit. So like, keep it up, Wes. You're just— you're killing it out there. And then, you know, just Mark. I think Mark has kind of been, you know, one of the just the biggest sort of like in the rebrand and sort of like the new direction and sort of all the little things that he does behind the scenes, like you know, trying to figure out what the Substack is going to be used for and how that— what that's going to look like. And just like, he's been, he's been doing like, you know, journeyman's work over there and just really, really appreciate him and his hustle. So yeah, shout out to those 2 dudes there. And of course, Paul, because Paul has been like just an absolute unit of his own. Like, um, not, not like, like, don't make it weird, boys. Just don't make it weird. But like, Paul has sort of like shown up— well, I'm just telling the audience to not make it weird.

Yeah.

Not you. Uh, like, don't make a weird audience. But like, Paul has, you know, like, sort of with the phone call stuff, like, it's been really great having him on those. Um, yeah, and sort of like his willingness to sort of And he just sort of like takes some time and hangs. And also let us know that we're absolutely stupid for just, you know, he's like, I don't know why you guys are doing this to yourselves. And it's like, well, love of the game, baby. Love of the game.

There you go.

Or the games.

Ah, I like that. I like that. You can tell he's been on the ball. He's been on all the phone calls.

You ruined it. You just— you had to go there.

I mean, you punned before I even—

but I did. I think like the sleep deprivation is getting to me. And then you rhymed, I punned. It's like, it's, it's just all— it's coming apart at the seams here now at this point. So all that being said, I think this is a pretty good little nipper of an episode. Uh, hopefully, uh, people like it. And again, they know where to get a hold of us. Even if they don't. And so until next time, what should they do?

Dudes, keep beating down your backlogs and we'll keep breaking down the benefits.

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