Monday, November 11, 2024

How life solves shelves of shame

 Binging the webcomic Semi-Coop, I kept coming across the concept of the Shelf of Shame, all the games that you own but haven’t played yet. I was already all too familiar with it but the comic definitely brought it back.

Before I was married, it was more like I had a spare room of shame. And the number of games that I only played once was also legion. Looking back, I approached buying games like buying books. But you’re only going to read most books once. Games shouldn’t work that way.

However, marriage and parenthood and moving across the country twice, they helped me solve my shelf of shame. Because all of those things meant I had to cull my game collection. Honestly, the number of games I sold or gave away probably ended up being in the four figures. It took years so it wasn’t like it was overnight.

I look back fondly on games I played and enjoyed but didn’t keep. But games I never played? I’m not sure those are even memories. And the games that I still have? In some way, those are more precious. They made many a cut and are games I still want to play.

The moral of the story might be that I bought way too many games. Or it might be that I didn’t make enough time for playing games. Or maybe it’s just that things change.

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