In the much-talked-about Netflix show, Cleaning With Marie Kondo, the presenter uses her signature KonMari principle to help people clean up their homes and organize their everyday life. As is often customary in such reality shows, its format provides for frank confessions from the program participants. As their homes undergo a transformation from chaos to order, the owners of KonMari-cleaned homes share exactly what they had to do to achieve their goal.
The essence of the principle invented by the author of four bestselling books Marie Kondo, according to which a decision is made to preserve or get rid of things, is as follows:Keep only what brings you joy and get rid of items that no longer delight you.“. We thought it would be interesting to apply this formula to games in the Steam library and did a little survey. The participants were asked the question “What would you keep in your library if you had to remove all games except the ones you really like?“.
Contestant # 1: Euro Truck Sim 2, LA Noire, Deus Ex and some more
There are a lot of things in my Steam library that I would throw away right away. Ancient, long-abandoned MMO games that I purchased from Humble Bundles, a huge number of beta versions, demos and other unnecessary junk. I would like to be able to cut a game from my library, but I think that it will be a real headache for Valve to complain about users who uninstalled games by mistake or intentionally, but then changed their minds.
When it comes to my games that cause a real feeling of joy, in the style of KonMari, there are several. First of all, this is Alien: Isolation, it occupies a solid place in my top. I have replayed this game recently and I think I will play it more than once. Also Euro Truck Simulator 2, which I get stuck on several times a year and looks like I will play it forever. I would also stop at Deus Ex, because even now I find new ways to complete missions. And LA Noir is of particular importance to me, since I really love that period of history in which the events of the game take place. As for all the other games on my Steam, they can be packed into a virtual garbage bag without regret, they mean nothing to me.
Contestant # 2: Positive Energy Games
Leaving aside the many, many problems associated with overvaluing immediate joy (especially when it comes to media entertainment), I still think my KonMari Steam library will be dominated by games that offer a sense of childish wonder and delight. Light, friendly games or energetic and positive with brilliant music. For example, Slime Rancher, Burly Men At Sea, Crypt of the Necrodancer, Proteus, L UN E, Megaquarium, Subnautica, No Man’s Sky, Starwhal, Super Hexagon, Portal 2, SEGA Bass Fishing, A Good Snowman and the like …
But I would also find it hard to give up games that evoke much more complex feelings. The poignant story of Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons, the controversial horror stories of Sunless Sea and Sunless Skies, the mesmerizing bizarre My Organic Garden, the tantalizing and intriguing Return of the Obra Dinn, the disappointing Stephen’s Sausage Roll and the emotional whirlpool of the first season of Life is Strange.
I think that the “spark of joy” that Mari Kondo talked about could also mean a thrill. There is a category of games that do not bring joy in the literal, immediate sense, but at the same time give a certain special mood, and I think such games also deserve attention.
Contestant # 3: Battletech and a few others
I have a lot of games installed that I will never play again. It’s been almost a year since I went through the Divinity Original Sin Enhanced Edition, but it’s still on disk, just like the Classic Edition, because I’m just too lazy. Most of my games can be deleted without too much regret. I think I would leave a few games that were fun at the time I played them: Hob, Far: Lone Sails, Cradle, Bret Airborne, Night of the Rabbit, Kentucky Route Zero, Talos Principle. Although, this is most likely a memory not so much of the games themselves, but of pleasant emotions associated with their first passage. But Battletech would probably stay, and I still play it.
Contest # 4: Elite Dangerous, Warframe, and tons of strategy games
I have 859 games in my Steam library, and I don’t even want to think about how many of them are hanging there unfinished, and many even untouched. I try not to treat games as a kind of commitment, so any that I feel under pressure about should probably go to the trash can. The same goes for survival games that don’t give me much joy.
I would like to keep games like Warframe. I know these are real time killers, but the fight gives me real pleasure. I also love the Elite Dangerous space simulator.
There are many games that I have already spent countless hours enjoying an interesting storyline, including Crusader Kings 2, Endless Legend, Stellaris, Sunless Sea. And they still have potential. I like strategies because planning and solving tactical puzzles is quite relaxing and enjoyable, although sometimes they are just as easily stressful.
Seed # 5: Depressurizer
My Steam library is a mess, but it really doesn’t bother me since I’m used to finding the game I want by name. It rarely happens to me that I look through the list, because I don’t know what to play. But for lovers of order and zen, I can give advice: download and run Depressurizer, a powerful organizing tool for the Steam library. The Depressurizer can automatically sort each game in your library by the specified genre or by tags (which is very handy in my opinion). I am using the genre method, but I have also specifically added categories for games with the tags “multiplayer” and “shooter”. You can also create your own categories and add much more sophisticated filters, such as sorting games by release year or excluding the MMO genre from your search. Depressurizer is a real treat for micro-management lovers.
Contestant # 6: Mostly Narrative Games
Most of the games in my Steam library are narrative adventures or some really amazing or scary stories. I am as attached to them as I am to the library of paper books on the shelf in my room. The Vanishing of Ethan Carter, What Remains of Edith Finch, Inside, Pollen, Firewatch, Oxenfree, Life is Strange, Dying Light, Abzu, Soma, Outlast, Masochisia, Alien: Isolation – all of these games affected my emotions in different ways, and I can hardly part with them, even if I never go through them again. By saving these games, I hope to spread the same joy I got by sharing them with others through Steam. It’s like lending a book to a friend directly from my personal library; The game process brought me great pleasure (which is true sometimes mixed with the feeling that you will have an aneurysm if another terrible monster appears from a dark corner), and I will be happy if it can bring joy to someone else.
Contest # 7: Rocket-Powered Battle-Cars and More
If I only keep the games that I regularly play, or plan to play in the near future, my library will consist of Rocket League, Chess Ultra, Ratz Instagib, Slay the Spire, Divinity: Original Sin 2, and Euro Truck Simulator 2. However, I would be sad to refuse the opportunity to play Stalker: Call of Pripyat or something like that, when there is an appropriate mood. I will probably not finish doing it very soon, or West of Loathing, or Rain World or Nier: Automata, but I am comforted by the thought that I could have a nice time with them on some rainy Saturday.
Contestant # 8: Comfortable Singles
I already have so little disk space that I usually need to delete the old one to install a new game, so there is practically nothing extra. If I had to seriously clean up my library, I honestly would have lost a lot. But in any case, I would keep my favorite games, which have already been played dozens of times and from time to time I like to dive into them again. These include various RPGs from Bethesda, Half-Life 1 and 2 parts, Portal dilogy, Far Cry 2, Cities: Skylines, Duskers. There will still be Super Mega Baseball 2 and DayZ, (I know this is a multiplayer game, but most of the time it seems like a single playthrough). Also, I would not want to lose games like Dishonored from my collection, although I played so many in my time that I probably won’t be going through them again soon.
Entry # 9: Tons of addictive simulation and stealth games
Most of all I like games in which there is a stealthy passage of missions and a wide selection of weapons. For example, Hitman, Dishonored, Metal Gear Solid 5, Deus Ex. These are games that I really love and come back to them over and over again. It’s a shame that these genres have gone out of style a bit these days. I guess I’ll have to learn to love open world games and multiplayer shooters. Also I would definitely like to keep some RPG games on my Steam.