To resist it is useless
It is useless to resist it

I have the opposite problem. When a sale like this is so large, I have a tough time picking through the huge list of must-haves to find a select few to buy. So I end up getting nothing. This is apparently called "analysis paralysis."

Lock yourself in the bathroom.

I was going to make the same joke as Barnell, now this post is futile.

You buy the games because they're cheap and seem like a steal. You don't want to lose the opportunity to buy the game and that's the whole point of a sale. However, sales will show their heads again and again and if you have a decent backlog, you'll have enough games to keep you busy until the next sale.

I've used these measures to restrain my spending a bit lately. They are:

1) Realize how much money I've spent. I checked on my Steam settings and I've spent around $200 on games, almost all bought on sales (Steam only, haven't even bothered with GOG ones). True, they were good deals and good buys but what's the point of owning games I don't even have the time to play? The oldest unplayed game was bought on april 2009 and it's gone for cheaper since then. So what i've done is I've taped a sticky note with "$200.00!" written on it to my monitor, so the next time I see a good sale, I'll look at how much I've spent, instead of how much I'm saving.

2) Gave the credit card to my wife. I trust her and she doesn't use it. If I want to buy a game, I'll actually have to ask her for it and she already knows I have a decent backlog, so explaining to her why I really, really want a particular game is a hassle. This doesn't stop me from buying games (it's my card anyway) but it puts a hamper on impulse buys.

3) It also helps to know you have similar games to the ones you intend to buy. Sometimes that stops me from buying sequels of games I haven't played yet, or genres of games I've already got a couple lying around. That way, if I feel like playing a shooter, i'll go to my backlog instead of checking what shooters are on sale.

4) Before clicking the "buy" button ask yourself "Will you REALLY play the game anytime soon? Are you buying it because it's cheap, or because you really like it?" This usually helps me think my decisions twice.

And as a cherry on top, this is a link to a Cracked article. They are a humor site, but I saw myself totally identified with point #3.

Steam Xmas sale starts next Monday. Resistance is futile! Good luck.

Lol yes I learned from my psychology class...too many choices will make you think too much and eventually buy nothing.
I ll just pick up what I wanted most...hopefully :(

Actually I keep a spreadsheet of my games bought since I start to use DD, but it's hard for me to update it since the bundles come in...So far this 1.5 month I bought:

Machinarium (finished)
Bastion (finished)
Darksiders (very laggy cause of my intergrated graphics...)
Amnesia (can't run due to graphics)
Penumbra Full
CS Package
Vampire Masquerade
Alien Breed Full (3 games)
The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
Magicka Full
Orcs Must Die
Portal
Portal 2
Kings Bounty Full
Titan Quest Gold
Heroes 2 Full
Heroes 3 Full
Heroes 4 Full
Heroes Chronicles
SWAT 3 Full
Celtic Kings: Rage of war
NWN diamond
Empire Gold
Lara Croft And The Guardian Of Light
Steel Storm
Just cause 2
Abe's oddysee
Abe's exoddus

GetGame Bundle (5 games)
Introversion bundle (5 games)
Indie bundle 4 (7 games)
IndieGala (7 games)
99%bundle (13 games)

I humbly suggest http://www.backloggery.com

It takes a long time to list all of the games you own, but when you finish and see that you've only beaten a tiny fraction of your games it tends to make you think harder over every purchase.

I'm at something like an 8% completion rate. It makes me kind of sad, but it keeps me from buying new stuff till I enjoy my old stuff.

Find a employer that doesn't pay you. Works great for me, as I'm left crying over the "check-out" button.

Yea and I spend most on steam, then GOG, then GG, impulse, bundles

Buy whatever you like. As long as you get your bills paid it's your money, spend it (or don't spend it) where you want. Buying games isn't a drug habit, you should just stop if you want to stop.

I can't resist. I like to stock up my digital shelves, but only with games with high rating reviews. I'm not actually playing it all soon but I like seeing my shelves full with my favorite games.

This wouldn't work for me. I have my credit card (and debit card) number memorized.

But I look at it this way: sure, the sales will come around again, but maybe not when i want to play a particular game. So I go with the $5 rule: if a game is $5 or less, I'll purchase it, assuming it's a game I want, even though I may not have the time to play it right now.

Of course, this only applies if I have the disposable income to burn on it. But right now that's not an issue for me, so I'll be purchasing whatever games I feel like I'd like to have, if they appear at a good price - even though I probably won't get around to playing them for months.

I follow the same $5 rule (although it doesn't work for GOG very well). If I ever want to play it in the future, and it's under five dollars, I'll bite. Anything higher needs to be something I plan to play right away or something truly exceptional.

I second this. Backloggery is absolutely brilliant. The problem with digital collections is that you can't tell at a glance how many you own; Backloggery solves that.

Also, there's one thing you have to understand: in the current DD world, sales happen all the time, and if you see a game drop to a very nice price, it's not for the last time. So if you don't think you're going to play the game within the next two months or so, don't buy it. (Unless you want to support the developers and couldn't afford the full price, or something like that.) It never is a once in a lifetime opportunity, so there is absolutely no hurry. You're not going to run out of games to play, I can guarantee you that.