Working Through The Pile Of Shame: 200 Games And Still Nothing To Play With

You probably know it. You're sitting in front of Steam and scrolling through your endless game library, but you just can't find a game that currently appeals to you. More than half of the games are still unplayed. But you really don't know how you're going to play all these games at some point. In addition, you are probably drawn to well-known games that simply exude a certain level of comfort. 

There are certainly great titles hidden in some previously unknown games that you are missing out on. Let's take a look at the Pile of Shame, what it is and how you can get through some of the games.

What Is The Pile Of Shame?

In the video game world, a “pile of shame” is the accumulation of more and more games that you buy but don't touch. As a result, they gather dust in your games library and join the dozens of other titles that you haven't played yet.

With so many sales and the general oversupply of games, this phenomenon is actually unavoidable. So many good games were released in 2023 alone, a normal person wouldn't be able to play them all right when they were released. But over time the number of unplayed titles increases. There are also sales and other offers that tempt you to buy directly. The Steam sale is a big culprit, but it only continues to fill the library with games that you don't actually want to play at the moment.

These Three Factors Are The Focus :

• too little time for all games

• an oversupply

• tempting offers through sales

While the heap of shame can be found primarily in the digital realm, some players have it physically at home. Here too, the main attraction is to buy new titles, but then put them on the shelf at home and never touch them again. So the pile is taken literally. And the problem only increases the older you get. University and work take up a lot of time that is no longer used for gaming. At some point you literally hoard games but don't play them.

How Many Games Are There On Average On The Pile Of Shame?

How big the pile of shame is can vary greatly. In August 2022, Statista surveyed around 1,000 gamers from Germany between the ages of 16 and 64. It turned out that around 30 percent had not yet played one to four games. Around 13 percent are currently playing between 5 and 49 games, which is a very wide range. Higher up, the percentages continue to decline, with only three percent having not played more than 100 games.

Overall, this results in an average of 24 percent of unplayed games. That's pretty high considering how much money goes into a quarter of your game library. Surveys from Steam itself from 2016 indicate that around 37 percent of all games in the libraries of all 780 million users have never been started. This number has probably only increased in recent years.

This Is How You Eliminate Your Pile Of Shame

But how do you work through your pile of shame? In the long run, you'll definitely want to play all the games you own, and it's not that difficult. We'll give you some helpful tips on how to slowly work your way through your game library.

Sort Your Games

A good strategy to start with is to sort your games. There are various options here and you can also use websites to help you. Steam itself offers the option of creating folders in the library. If you physically own the games, you can rearrange them on the shelf. We take a look at the ways to sort your games.

By genre: Sort your games by genre so you can later choose exactly the games you want to play at the moment. You may not always want to play a shooter or racing game.

And if all the games are sorted properly, the pile doesn't seem so big anymore. Maybe you even have games in a genre that you never touch, but might turn out to be one of your favorites.

By Length: We also recommend sorting the games by playing time. A helpful website is howlongtobeat.com, where previous players share their experiences and you can see how long it takes you to play a certain game.

Getting the short games out of the way first is a good strategy before you get to a Starfield or Baldur's Gate 3. Some indie titles can even be completed in a day or two. So the number of games on the pile of shame is constantly decreasing.

By favorites: You probably have some games in your library that you would rather play than others. You should play those first and not force yourself to play other titles. After all, video games are just a hobby and are supposed to be fun. And sometimes you'll probably buy games on sale that you'll never touch.

Don't Buy New Games

Steam sales are incredibly tempting, but you should hold back from buying more and more games that will just end up collecting dust in your virtual library. It's better to first play the games you already own. There are probably ten or twenty candidates already waiting to be installed and launched.

Sales happen so often now, you don't have to worry about missing out. In addition, there may be even better offers in a few years. Only play if you really want to play the game in question. Don't just buy randomly just because you think you'll want to play the title at some point.

Don't Always Play The Same Thing

A third playthrough of The Witcher 3 certainly won't help you play your other thirty games in the Steam library. As great as the old evergreens are, sometimes it's not such a bad idea to try something new.

We all have our comfort games that we keep coming back to. But we also have no way of knowing if there isn't one of these games hiding in the pile of shame that we haven't discovered yet.

Conclusion

The Pile of Shame is something that probably plagues every gamer. Whether it's five or fifty games, everyone buys something but then doesn't touch it. True insider tips can be hidden there that you've been putting off for years. Approaching your games strategically is probably the best tip for gradually working your way through your library.