Growing up, I had heard the term “Pile of Shame” here and there as a term meant to mean a stack of unplayed games one has purchased but yet to play. Such an idea was foreign to me… we never had a lot of money, and when we did get games, there was a simple rule: “play it until you beat it, then play it until it no longer works.”
But now I have a Steam account, and indie developers have made sure to devour my wallet. Now I have a “Pile of Shame” to call my own, it’s in the double digits, and probably will keep growing due to a number of factors:
Time
You know that feeling you have when you buy a new game? All you want to do is sit down and play it, enjoy it, make it think it’s the only one for you, take it on nice dates, you know, the usual. That’s all well and good… but what if, during a Steam/GamersGate/whatever sale, you buy ten games? Or twenty? Or just two? Do you play one to completion, then the others? Do you try to play all at once (game 1 on Monday, game 2 on Tuesday, etc.)? Or you could do what I do and get distracted with a new PlayStation Plus game and return to The Witcher 2 a whole 90 minutes into the game, last played two months ago, with zero clue on what you’re supposed to be doing.
Future Releases
Look at this video for the upcoming Chroma Squad. Just look at it.
Someone combined Real Time Strategy with Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers and The Movies. How could I not buy this game? And let’s not forget to include The Witcher 3, or this possible remake of Chip n’ Dale Rescue Rangers, or the recent Powerpuff Girls game, or this in-development He-Man game, or Secret Ponchos. In fact, why don’t I just have my landlord work out a deal with Valve and be done with it?
Nostalgia Goggles
Notice a theme among some of the titles I listed above? Most of them are about cartoons or other things from my childhood, which happens to be the same childhood these devs enjoyed. Which means they know what I like, because they like the same things too, so they’re likely to treat said things with the same reverence.
The Price
Indie games are usually cheap. I don’t even need to explain. Everyone knows that saving money is good, unless you’re saving money by going to a third-rate dentist or something.
Do you have a “Pile of Shame“? What’s in it?
