Did your pile become less of a mountain? - 2011 in review

AUs_TBirD wrote:
Garden Ninja wrote:

[size=25]I THINK WE SHOULD MAKE THIS THREAD THE PILE SUPPORT THREAD RATHER THAN MAKE A NEW ONE FOR 2012.[/size]

[size=30][color=#FF0000]WHAT HE SAID!!!!!#$K@#$!!@![/color][/size]

[size=8] I agree. [/size]

I'd prefer a 2012 thread. It's an online forum, so it's not like we'll "run out of room", and having a clean start to the year would make me feel better about my dismal performance in 2011.

I think a fresh thread that makes us re-evaluate our goals would be best. Lives change, games come out, new release schedules are deployed.

I also think a wrap-up thread about our own performance would be ideal, or we could use this thread for that and then move to the new thread for our lists, etc.

As much as I've grown fond of this old thread, I think a fresh start would be fun. There's just something nice about starting out from scratch that can help refocus thing, which I expect a lot of us will need after the holiday season when we all buy a million things.

I do like trueheart's idea of wrapping up this thread with some posts about how we did this year.

Honestly, I don't have a huge preference either way; I just thought making a joke about being the most vocal would be funny.

On the one hand, while the month threads provide narrow focus that warrant a new thread each month, cutting off a longer term, less focused thread at the year mark seems a bit arbitrary. We could continue plodding away basically unchanged. Plus, I think there are some people who might not want to join a year long thread mid year, but would join an ongoing thread.

On the other, arbitrary isn't necessarily bad, and a new thread would give us a chance to re-evaluate things. It would force us to really think about our goals, collectively and personally. And having a clean slate is nice (even if my slate will potentially have more stuff piled on top of it than last year's slate did).

If we do a new thread, I think we merge the Quartet of Contemplation and Clocky's Addenda into something a bit more cohesive, and think about any additional changes. For instance, it doesn't apply to me anymore, now that I cancelled the service, but I thought the GameFly clause useful. It could be worth doing that even if we stick with this thread.

I propose a compromise. I say we do the end of year review posts, close this thread down, but then go make a new, everlasting thread for long term pile progress. That way, this thread can be preserved to look back upon.

The thing I worry about not doing new threads is that an existing one would just become neglected over time as pile progression gains some momentum from seeing a new thread to join, and conversly, looses some when it gets old and has no end in sight, at least for me. That deadline that is set by the collective and not moveable is a good motivator.

So... if I understand you right:

The options now are

A) Finish the 2011 thread, and make new threads for 2012, 2013, etc
B) Turn this thread into a forever thread

You are proposing:
C) Finish the 2011 thread and make a forever thread.

Is that right? I guess I don't see what the point of that would be.

Garden Ninja wrote:

So... if I understand you right:

The options now are

A) Finish the 2011 thread, and make new threads for 2012, 2013, etc
B) Turn this thread into a forever thread

You are proposing:
C) Finish the 2011 thread and make a forever thread.

Is that right? I guess I don't see what the point of that would be.

I was mostly rambling and didn't end up making a valid point.

mrtomaytohead wrote:

The thing I worry about not doing new threads is that an existing one would just become neglected over time as pile progression gains some momentum from seeing a new thread to join, and conversly, looses some when it gets old and has no end in sight, at least for me. That deadline that is set by the collective and not moveable is a good motivator.

That's why I like the idea of a new thread so much: the renewed enthusiasm and the potential to catch a few more people to participate. It gives people an easy way in as we all start at the ground floor together again.

Forever threads are not something I support. Too many tears. I want to make new, hollow promises every 12 months.

TheHipGamer wrote:

Forever threads are not something I support. Too many tears. I want to make new, hollow promises every 12 months.

+1!

Here's to new, hollow, yearly promises that I won't be able to maintain! New yearly thread, please

ClockworkHouse wrote:
mrtomaytohead wrote:

The thing I worry about not doing new threads is that an existing one would just become neglected over time as pile progression gains some momentum from seeing a new thread to join, and conversly, looses some when it gets old and has no end in sight, at least for me. That deadline that is set by the collective and not moveable is a good motivator.

That's why I like the idea of a new thread so much: the renewed enthusiasm and the potential to catch a few more people to participate. It gives people an easy way in as we all start at the ground floor together again.

Agreed!

trueheart78 wrote:
TheHipGamer wrote:

Forever threads are not something I support. Too many tears. I want to make new, hollow promises every 12 months.

+1!

I never made a new hollow promise I didn't intend to keep until it no longer suited me; therefore I rescind my previous position on this subject.

I'd prefer a new thread as well, we can always link this thread in the new thread's first post.

If we go with the new thread idea -- which I actually think isn't bad for the reasons listed above, could we

a) link to the new thread in the last post in this thread;

as well as b) request a lock on the thread, or something similar? I think when it's officially time to close it down, it may be important to not have to redirect people to the current thread or anything like that. Unless, of course, we think churn will keep this thread down, which might make the point moot, but still, it's a thought...

It also begs the question: do we spend the post-Christmas, pre-New Year's on the 2011 wrap-up? Is that the idea, then?

I think a new thread is also friendlier to others seeking help for their problem. Anyone with a completionist bent will feel at least a little compulsion to read through the whole thread, which is already on page 25, and that may be a bit discouraging.

Especially since half of what they'll read will be me angsting about buying more games.

I'm liking the new thread idea. As long as no one accuses us of not finishing the old thread before creating a new one.

RSPaulette wrote:

It also begs the question: do we spend the post-Christmas, pre-New Year's on the 2011 wrap-up? Is that the idea, then?

It's hard to say. I think a migration period of sorts would be best - some people will have a ton of time to play right through the start of the year due to college, work or other Christmas schedules. I think on Jan 1st we put this into retrospective mode, talk about what we may or not have learned about our game habits, create a new thread, and over the next few weeks, plot goals for ourselves and make declarations of game independence

trueheart78 wrote:
RSPaulette wrote:

It also begs the question: do we spend the post-Christmas, pre-New Year's on the 2011 wrap-up? Is that the idea, then?

It's hard to say. I think a migration period of sorts would be best - some people will have a ton of time to play right through the start of the year due to college, work or other Christmas schedules. I think on Jan 1st we put this into retrospective mode, talk about what we may or not have learned about our game habits, create a new thread, and over the next few weeks, plot goals for ourselves and make declarations of game independence :D

Sounds like the right M.O. for this.

RSPaulette wrote:

It also begs the question: do we spend the post-Christmas, pre-New Year's on the 2011 wrap-up? Is that the idea, then?

A pedantic derail: it does not beg the question, because "begging the question" (despite colloquial usage) does not mean "raises the question". Begging a question is a form of fallacy, where someone arguing a point tries to hide an unvalidated assumption in their line of reasoning. For example, if I were to make the following argument...

1. TheHipGamer is the coolest guy on this site;
2. The coolest guy on any site deserves all the chicks;
3. Therefore, it's time to arrange for a baby poultry shipment to TheHipGamer.

...you would all have to agree. PM me for the shipping address.

TheHipGamer wrote:
RSPaulette wrote:

It also begs the question: do we spend the post-Christmas, pre-New Year's on the 2011 wrap-up? Is that the idea, then?

A pedantic derail: it does not beg the question, because "begging the question" (despite colloquial usage) does not mean "raises the question". Begging a question is a form of fallacy, where someone arguing a point tries to hide an unvalidated assumption in their line of reasoning. For example, if I were to make the following argument...

1. TheHipGamer is the coolest guy on this site;
2. The coolest guy on any site deserves all the chicks;
3. Therefore, it's time to arrange for a baby poultry shipment to TheHipGamer.

...you would all have to agree. PM me for the shipping address.

So, needless to say, I meant it colloquially...

(If you'll forgive my paralipsis while I see your point on the petitio principii. Is that good pedantry, then? :))

I just knocked two games from the backlog, both of which were in the "I got them in packs" list.

I beat And Yet It Moves. It was better than its demo, which didn't impress me, but I still felt like it dragged near the end.

And I gave up on Osmos. I beat most of the levels. The idea of this game is awesome, but the later levels are just too hard. According to the steam stats, only 1.9% of people actually got the achievement for beating the game, so I guess I'm in good company.

So, a, uh, rather embarrassing confession to make here. No, I didn't buy any new games, but I am absolutely terrible at math. See, I'd set a goal for myself of getting the unfinished portion of my pile down below 25% of my total collection before I could buy anything new that wasn't on The List. I sat down and figured out how many games I needed to clear to make that happen and made a roadmap of when I'd clear them and all of that.

Except, I, uh, got the numbers a bit wrong? It turns out that the number I had set myself to clear was actually 25% of my collection itself; not, you know, how many I needed to finish to reach 25%. That number is actually four. Yes, four games, and I'll be at my big, sweeping pile progress goal. That means I can buy a bunch of stuff soon, right?

(Actually, I want to finish six games before the end of the year and clear the pile in 2012. Yes, clear it. 100% finished. Done.)

ClockworkHouse wrote:

So, a, uh, rather embarrassing confession to make here. No, I didn't buy any new games, but I am absolutely terrible at math. See, I'd set a goal for myself of getting the unfinished portion of my pile down below 25% of my total collection before I could buy anything new that wasn't on The List. I sat down and figured out how many games I needed to clear to make that happen and made a roadmap of when I'd clear them and all of that.

Except, I, uh, got the numbers a bit wrong? It turns out that the number I had set myself to clear was actually 25% of my collection itself; not, you know, how many I needed to finish to reach 25%. That number is actually four. Yes, four games, and I'll be at my big, sweeping pile progress goal. That means I can buy a bunch of stuff soon, right?

(Actually, I want to finish six games before the end of the year and clear the pile in 2012. Yes, clear it. 100% finished. Done.)

Really? I don't think I'd like to have a clear pile. While it'd be great to have nothing new to press me to keep avoiding replays of great old games, I just think I'd go crazy without some pile games.

I guess I'd like a pile of two or three games rather than twenty-three.

ClockworkHouse wrote:

I guess I'd like a pile of two or three games rather than twenty-three.

Depending on how you look at it, my pile as it appears on backloggery is 71 games big. But I honestly doubt I'll ever beat Ninja Gaiden (NES), Battletoads (NES), or Punch Out! (NES). But I will still try whenever I get a desire to go back to them, so they remain on the pile of despair.

mrtomaytohead wrote:

But I honestly doubt I'll ever beat Ninja Gaiden (NES), Battletoads (NES), or Punch Out! (NES).

The first two I understand, but the third? You must see it through, Little Mac — Don't give up!
IMAGE(http://images.trueheart78.com/general/littlemac.png)

I am a terrible pile addict. I think I have bought like 8 games in the last 3 weeks.