1885: Backloggery

I like lists. I like checklists. I like ticking things off and completing objectives. I like quests.

As such, it surprises me that despite having had a Backloggery account for about two years now, I’ve not done a whole lot with it. It is, I’d say, an ideal means of both tracking your game collection and your progress through beating as much of it as humanly possible — although the site isn’t without its flaws.

The main issue with any sort of curation system like this, be it a database you set up yourself (which, to be honest, is pretty much what Backloggery is; the site simply provides an easily understandable front-end for your particular chunk of said database) or a pre-built solution is that it takes time to set things up appropriately. Backloggery, for example, is not at all useful until you’ve manually added each and every game in your collection to your account, a process which is not at all automated, and which requires you to go through, enter the title (without suggestions), choose the platform and any other pertinent details you might want to add.

I spent a bit of time playing around with it today and despite the initially daunting prospect of inputting the games I own and haven’t yet beaten — there are a lot of them! — I actually started finding it quite fun after a while. What I particularly like about Backloggery is the ability to add your own personal flavour text to your database entries: you can add both a “progress note” describing what you’re working on in the game at any given moment, or what you hope to achieve in it, and a review (complete with star rating) for some more detailed thoughts once you feel comfortable enough to express your thoughts about it in a bit more detail. The latter option sensibly has a character limit, so you’re forced to be brief in your thoughts; it’s not a space for an in-depth critique, rather simply some personal, immediate reactions to the game and perhaps a link to some more detailed thoughts elsewhere if, as I often do, you feel the need to write in great depth about something you’ve really enjoyed.

My Backloggery account at present is not complete by any means, but I’m going to work on adding my collection to it piece by piece. It might, then, provide the incentive for me to work through some of these games and share my thoughts on them. And, in theory, the site acts as a sort of social network, too — though I only have one friend I know on there at present — so you can use it as a means of sharing your thoughts on games and perhaps convincing friends to try out some particular favourites you’ve discovered in the course of delving into your own backlog.

As I say, it’s not the perfect solution for this sort of thing by any means, but its presentation is cute and the fact it’s been around for a good few years now without turning into something complete shit means that it’s unlikely to just disappear in a puff of smoke one day, leaving all the curators’ hard work for naught. I’ll be interested to start using it a little more regularly to see if it adds any value to my gaming life. If you’re on there, feel free to add me to your “multitap” via the link above.