After years of trying to play as many games as possible at the same time I decided to manage my physical backlog by putting it into the back of the attic in a sealed box with a big lock on it.

Oh noes! lol

Well hopefully you have some digital goodies to play.

Wife would kill me if I did that, lol. 2-3 hrs a day is all I get trouble free.

Gothic II took me a year and a half to finish :D (well not playing every day of course) and now I'm playing Gothic III since May last year ;)

I manage my backlog very very badly.

I can only agree with people who don't really "manage" their backlogs because they simply play what is fun. Yes, sure I wouldn't mind completing a few more games than I do now but i don't see why I should force myself to complete something that is supposed to be fun and entertainment. Granted most games have their "slow" times and you need to push forward to get to the next good part of it but for the most part I would say that if you're not having fun then the game has failed and if you own 100s of them then simply pick the next one.

With so many new worlds to explore I find it important to keep the magic of each game in focus. Each game must have that magic quality that make it such a joy to be a gamer. If the magic is gone then you are just wasting your time.

Yeah, I started Gothic several months ago, but got caught up playing other stuff. Only like 2-3 hrs played though. I think because of how unorthodox the combat system is in the first 2 games, it really makes it easy to want to play something else. But I'll get around to it sooner or later.

Oh, to further respond on how to control your backlog, stop buying new games. I've put a clamp down on myself until this holiday (or summer if I'm ready to burst), from buying new games. It's already been 3 weeks since I last bought a game and during that time I've only knocked off 2 games from my backlog. I'm currently working on 2 more. That's it. In almost a month! And I've got 100 more in my backlog. Granted I'm not playing that much right now, but still, only two games cleared.

Actually making progress. I had bought too many bundles and DD deals, so inevitably I haven't liked everything I've bought. I've given myself a new rule: each game gets two hours of play and if I decide I don't like it after 2 hours, I move the fuck on. Been at it for a couple months now. Refusing to buy any more games until I get done, no matter what deal comes along. Here's how I'm doing:

FINISHED
A.R.E.S.
Alien Breed 2
Ancients of Ooga
And Yet It Moves
Anomaly: Warzone Earth
Aquaria
Atom Zombie Smasher
Bastion
Batman: Arkham City
Beat Hazard
BIT.TRIP BEAT
BIT.TRIP RUNNER
Blocks That Matter
Cave Story+
Cogs
Costume Quest
Gemini Rue
inMomentum
NightSky
RAGE
Serious Sam: 1st & 2nd Encounters
Shatter
Sonic Generations
Titan Attacks
TRAUMA

NOT FINISHED
Crusader: No Remorse
Darwinia
Dungeons of Dredmor
Empire Earth
Explodemon
Gratuitous Space Battles
Hacker Evolution 1 & 2
Max Payne 1 & 2
Nox
Orcs Must Die!
Psychonauts
Revenge of the Titans
Saira
Shadowgrounds 1 & 2
Shank
Space Pirates and Zombies
SpaceChem
Time Gentlemen, Please!
Uplink
Your Doodles Are Bugged!
Zombie Driver
Zombie Shooter 1 & 2

PS: I'll never buy bulk deals again, I'll never buy bulk deals again, I'll never buy bulk deals again...

A simple list in OneNote that synchronizes on my lappy and phony devices. List includes games that I haven't finished, and the platforms on which I own them.

• GamersGate:
○ Amnesia: The Dark Descent.
○ Gain Ground.
○ Golden Axe.
○ STALKER: Clear Sky.
○ STALKER: Shadow of Chernobyl.
○ Shadow Dancer: The Secret of Shinobi.
○ Volvo: The Game.
• GOG:
○ Beneath a Steel Sky.
○ Beyond Good and Evil.
○ Broken Sword: Director's Cut.
○ Darkstar One.
○ Dragonsphere.
○ Dungeon Keeper.
○ Empire Earth: Gold Edition.
○ Fallout.
○ Fallout 2.
○ Ground Control 2: Operation Exodus Special Edition.
○ Jagged Alliance: Deadly Games.
○ Lure of the Temptress.
○ Neighbours from Hell: Compilation.
○ Planescape: Torment.
○ Teenagent.
○ Tex Murphy 1+2.
○ The Witcher: Enhanced Edition.
○ Tyrian 2000.
○ Ultima 4: Quest of the Avatar.
• Origin:
○ Burnout: Paradise.
○ Crysis.
○ Crysis Warhead.
• Steam:
○ Amnesia: The Dark Descent.
○ And Yet It Moves.
○ Aquaria.
○ Atom Zombie Smasher.
○ The Binding of Isaac.
○ BIT.TRIP RUNNER.
○ Blocks That Matter.
○ Cave Story+.
○ Cogs.
○ Crayon Physics Deluxe.
○ Darwinia.
○ DEFCON.
○ DogFighter.
○ Dungeons of Dredmor.
○ Eufloria.
○ Faerie Solitaire.
○ Frozen Synapse.
○ Gish.
○ Global Agenda.
○ Gratuitous Space Battles.
○ Hacker Evolution - Untold.
○ Hammerfight.
○ Jamestown.
○ Lugaru HD.
○ Machinarium.
○ Medieval 2: Total War + Kingdoms.
○ Multiwinia.
○ NightSky.
○ Osmos.
○ Overlord + Raising Hell.
○ Overlord 2.
○ Revenge of the Titans.
○ Shadowgrounds.
○ Shadowgrounds: Survivor.
○ Shank.
○ The Ship + Single Player + Tutorial.
○ SpaceChem.
○ Speedball 2: Tournament.
○ Steel Storm: Burning Retribution.
○ Super MNC Invitational.
○ Supreme Commander.
○ Unreal Tournament 2004: Editor's Choice Edition.
○ Uplink.
○ Vampre: The Masquerade Bloodlines.
○ VVVVVV.
• Windows Phone:
○ Breeze.
○ Bug Village.
○ Flowerz.

Sudoku.

By not buying the games and only games that I have. That's how I manage the backlog of games. :DDD

It's soooooooo hard, though.

I don't, if I have a backlog it means I already don't have time to play all my games, why would I waste free time "managing" them?

I don't bother using a backlog in the traditional sense because there are some games I buy just to have.

My 'to play' list on the other hand is simply things I feel like firing up that week. It changes constantly with a few games sticking on it like Machinarium and Recettear.

The 'play' list is usually about 5 games I rotate through depending on mood. At the moment it is Fallout: New Vegas, Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning, Alice: Madness Returns, and Just Cause 2.

about a year ago I gave up on the idea of having a realistically manageable backlog. I have about 300 games now
To repeat what I've said in the past, I don't care about finishing all of my games. A lot of the games are bonus games from indie packs, and the vast vast majority of my games were all purchased for $1-$10. A lot of those I'd be satisfied with playing for about 3 hours and never touching again.

I use darkadia, but I don't use it to organize what games to play next or what I've finished. I just like to nerd it up by looking at the virtual shelf. Looking at it blows my mind, it's like walking into a really good pc section in a store. Also it's awesome thinking "holy shit I totally forgot I had * insert really good game that hasn't even been touched yet*"

Yeah, been in the mood impacts what i play at the time too. But it also depends on game controls, I find it annoying to have to re-learn game's with heaps of controls, and it makes me lose appeal for going back to them.

BTW, KoA:R Is awesome, same as JC2 and FNV, something tells me your an open-world fan.