This is a question that I get asked a lot. I have 3 steam accounts, a Desura account, Gamestop/Impulse account, EA/Origin account, and Gamefly account. Of those, the most heinous is my primary Steam account, Tatsuhoshi, which is now only 3 games away from 800 titles. This isn't counting the almost 2000 PC and console titles that I have been buying since the Nintendo era of gaming. Beyond this, I also have a wishlist on my main steam account that contains 200 titles that I hope to someday obtain and add to my collection.
So, back to the topic of this article, is this too many games? In my honest opinion, no, it isn't. Sure, I may have a lot of games, but I've played most of them, and beaten a pretty fair number as well. New games are always coming out, and, quite simply, many of them I will want to own. Having such a massive game library has it's advantages. I now provide a sort of arcade service for smaller conventions, and am trying to expand my hardware so that I can begin servicing larger conventions with one of the largest libraries of games that they will have ever had there, from classic titles to modern.
A lot of people have asked why I have 3 Steam accounts. The answer to this is pretty simple, actually...bundle sales. Let's say you already own a fair bit of games, but a bundle with many of those titles goes on sale, but also has many titles that you don't own. You wouldn't want to feel like a heel buying almost $200 or more of games that you already own, so the simple solution is to make a second account and shunt those extra titles onto there. Now, when someone says, 'Let's play this game together' but they don't have a copy, I can just sit them on the second account and voila, we can game together as much as we please with two legitimate copies of the same game.
So how does the third account fit into all of this? Indie game bundles... Humble Bundle, Indie Royale, Indie Gala, Groupees, and Bundle Stars have always got something going, and I frequently buy what they have to offer. Sometimes they have redundant titles and that means I need somewhere to put them. So what do I do? I start a thrid account for the titles that won't fit on the other two. I could, technically make a fourth or fifth account with some of the extras that I've gotten from these bundle sales, but I feel 3 copies is enough for most things and perhaps it's time to spread the wealth. I either give away thost titles, or I use them as prizes for contests at conventions. Who doesn't want free games?
In conclusion, yes, I do have a lot of games, but I don't feel that it's too many by a long shot and I intend to add many more as I have the opportunity to do so.
As long as you enjoy expanding your game collection and it doesn't affect your life in an especially negative way then I'd never call it a problem. Your willingless to enrich others with your extra copies only gives you an extra thumbs up from me.
Go for the gold :)
Thank you for responding to my blog and showing your support for my statement. It can be a little hard to get the games while they still have preorder bonsues and such, but I do my best to not impact my household's finances as much possible, thus why I've got 200 games on my wishlist, still. I'll get around to it eventually, and hopefully the economy will stabilize soon.