There are a bunch of articles going around right now about the Walls of Shame and the Never-ending Backlog of video games that gamers seem to amass over sales and promotions (the biggest guilt being the annual Steam sales). However, no one ever seems to talk about or even mention tabletop backlogs or “walls of shame” … should that be folders of shame or shelves of shame?
With the .pdf boom of the gaming market and the advent of digital media and the indie scene in tabletop roleplaying games it can be easy to amass a collection you’ll never touch. Add that things like the Bundle of Holding promotions and Drivethrurpg’s New Year, New Games promotion and the potential for large, hard-drive chewing collections is not a far off idea.
I myself have over 100 items in my drivethru library and to be honest I’ve never touched or looked at half of them. As we speak I am looking a “Tokyo Brain Pop” and wondering if I want to drop the money on an anime-inspired RPG when I’m still waiting for OVA to reach my house.
for me the wall of shame is worsened by the notion that outside of my daughter and her 2 friends I have no one to play with. Sure I could introduce them to a new game or system but 1. the like their S&W and Hero Kids and 2. I doubt Edge of Space, Stars without Number would be up the alley of a nine-year-old.
So then community at large, what is your wall of shame? Is it really a wall of shame? And just plain thoughts and opinions on the whole concept of a wall of shame.
