I’m curious about so many games, books, movies, TV shows, and even digital games. But I can’t remember them all, so I’m increasingly reliant on lists and wishlists–I appreciate any website that gives me the option of getting a notification about a wishlisted item.
During my livestream last week, I asked people if and why they use wishlists, particularly notification-enabled wishlists. I heard a variety of responses:
- when a product goes on sale
- when a product launches or is first released
- when a product is back in stock
- are intrigued but want to learn more
- potential future gift for you or someone else
- saving for a future consolidated order of multiple items
A few wishlists I regularly use are Steam, Miniature Market, and Kickstarter/Gamefound prelaunch pages. Other people said they also use the BoardGameGeek wishlist system, Giftster, Libby, wedding registries, and Amazon.
At Stonemaier Games, we have a system for notifying people when a product is back in stock, and we also have short signup forms for new product releases (like the revised civ pack for Tapestry and the fan-art birds for Wingspan).
We’ve also explored–but not yet implemented–a more robust, notification-driven wishlist system. I really like how Steam’s system is built to automatically notify you if a game goes on sale, and I think that could be expanded to include the option to “learn more later” and the option to get a gift-related notification before the holidays or your birthday.
What options would you like to see on a wishlist? How do you use wishlists?
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27 Comments on “Do You Use Wishlists?”
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One time I put a ton of effort into compiling everything I wanted into a spreadsheet with charts and graphs to see how badly I wanted things, how much they cost, how much “game” was there, and it was a real fun visual.
But it was way too much effort to keep updating. Every time people talk about all the features and complexity in BGG’s wish list this comes to mind because similarly the different wish list tiers are cool but I can’t be bothered to go in and change the list status.
Having extra features is nice for people that want it for analysis but I think that otherwise the more streamlined a wish list is the more likely it is to be used.
Jev: I keep some lists, but like you, if I make them too complicated, I consistently fail to update them. The simpler and easier, the better. :)
No wishlists here. I try hard to limit my purchases, so general rule is: if I don’t remember it, I won’t buy it. The only thing that I sometimes (rarely) use are release/availability notifications at publisher/store sites.
That’s a really cool idea! but not sure it might work for me, the thing I use to avoid FOMO or impulse buys is saying “If I want it badly enough it’ll be around and maybe cheaper later, and if it isn’t I can live without it.”
Wish lists are a double-edged sword because while it prevents impulse buys on launch I can occasionally fall for a sale so in terms of self-control it’s maybe a net neutral for me. Other self-imposed rules like not buying a game I won’t play “soon” or not buying if I haven’t “savored what I have” make up the difference.
I go old school initially by creating paper lists of games, books, music etc I want that I carry around in my wallet and check when I’m out shopping. But I then transfer these to some online stores to get notifications of when they are in stock and when they are on sale – particularly for those that I don’t urgently need. I’ve used your out of stock and new product release options on your website, which have been useful.
I’d like to see a Wishlist option for genres of games I.e. deck building, worker placement etc, that tracks what you’ve previously bought and gives you options for other similar games I.e. “because you’ve bought this, you might like this”. Some of my local game stores do this occasionally, and it’s helped introduce me to games I might not have thought of.
That’s an interesting idea–tie wishlists into suggestion algorithms.
I use wishlists on a few online stores, but I wish it could be centralized somewhere. I use it to keep track of interesting games that I don’t necessary want to get right now (or I can’t get because everything is out of stock all the time). I can then buy one of those games when buying other games to reach free shipping.
For video games it’s mostly as a waitlist until there’s a big enough discount as I already have a ton of video games to play.
I like to keep a word document. I usually screen shot a game and enter to my document when I have time. If I’m at a game store I will take a picture of it and review it later. I rarely purchase a game on the spot. I have recently backed a few games on kickstarter and also pre ordered Expeditions so I am not as anxious to purchase anything in my list at the moment.
On most websites and apps like Steam and Amazon, I only use wishlists to personally keep track of what I’m interested in. It’s very easy to see an item, click a heart icon, and then come back to it later.
The only wishlist system I actively use as an actual “wish”list is the one from BGG. I keep track of every item I’m interested in, and I use the wishlist level system (from 1 Must Have to 5 Don’t Buy This). I find this “rating” system useful in many ways:
1. It allows me to order my wishlist from most wanted to least wanted, and I have a shortened URL I give to people when they ask me for my game desires. The shortened URL gives the wishlist ordered from 1 to 4 (5 is excluded), and with large icons of the games. It gives people a really nice interface to my wishlist, and I’m sure it’s always up-to-date as I meticulously keep track of my purchases and pre-orders.
2. It’s also useful for myself to gauge my interest in a game. Sometimes I have a feeling I really badly want a game. I try not to insta-buy it but instead put it on my wishlist with priority 1. From time to time, I revisit my wishlist one priority category at a time, and I re-evaluate how bad I want a game. Sometimes games will rise in this wishlist ranking (I thought I only modestly wanted it, but the longer I think about it, the more I want it), and sometimes it will drop (I first thought I HAD to get the game, but the more I think about it, the more I realise I can do without). When a game survives several “reviews” in ranking 1, I will ultimately get it (if nobody else gifts it to me). If a game degresses in ranking, I take it off the list and I’m glad I didn’t impulsively buy it then. Yes, from time to time a game that I ranked as “MUST HAVE” ultimately dissapears from the list.
I love this system and I use a lot of features of it, and would like even more granularity in ranking and keeping data, or having a better interface for the non-BGGers you’re sending it to (like, a better way to display the “Wishlist comment”).
BGG is the database this runs on, but I extensively use the excellent app BG Stats as a front-end.
I like what you’ve described in terms of simplicity (click a heart).
I also like what you describe about the BGG wishlist. Do you wish it had a built-in notification system, or do you check it often enough that you don’t need reminders.
I personally check it often enough. But that’s because I meticulously keep track of my bg collection.
My primary wishlist is Gamepedia, a game database by Bruji (which I also use to track my current game collection). It’s extremely versatile and I am able to prioritize my game buy priorities along with prices and sources. From there, I use wishlists when they are available from those sources.
By the way Gamepedia is extremely easy to use: drag-and-drop game’s BGG url from a browser and it automatically creates an entry and populates it with BGG data. It’s currently Mac only but I’ve heard there are similar Windows applications
That sounds amazing! I’d love a Chrome/PC version of that.
I use the BGG wishlist, my list is long, but I don’t like feeling constrained by the five ranks of how interested I am in something. I basically rate anything that’s an expansion or something I really want as a “love to have” and anything else is “thinking about it” and if my wife needs gift ideas, she’ll check the list.
I also keep a wishlist on Board Game Bliss, which you would think overlaps with BGG but it probably doesn’t. That list is mostly games that I saw in their “new in stock” emails and wanted to look into later.
For Steam, I do have a wishlist of maybe 20 games, but I think if that list was suddenly erased, nothing would be lost. I don’t even remember why half of them are on there. My Tabletop Simulator steam workshop subscription list is more of a wishlist, but those are games I wish I had time to try on TTS and then maybe add to my BGG list.
I find wishlists helpful for remembering things exist, not necessarily for actively anticipating buying them. If I don’t write things down, they disappear from my brain. For example, there’s a computer game I really want to play sometime, where you travel around a game show board game made to look like Japan, encountering monsters and buying properties, and making money, and every time I remember it exists, I have to Google “game grumps billionaire” to remember it’s called Billion Road (just did it) because I can remember the rules for the 300 games on my shelves but not the names of things, apparently.
This “I have to Google “game grumps billionaire” to remember it’s called Billion Road (just did it)” made me smile. Thank you :-)
I can definitely relate to how you use your Board Game Bliss wishlist. I often hear about a game and want to learn more…but maybe not at that very moment. So I save it on a list to look into later.
Yes, I use them as reminders.
Me too! Thanks for sharing.
I use wishlists in a completely different way, which I will only write down here because for sales purposes this is a “bad” thing.
I am a “minimalist” and try only to own things or buy things, I really absolutely want or need.
But like any other person I also enjoy the “thrill” of shopping.
I just do not want to buy more things.
So I add things to a wishlist.
I then use the method of delayed gratification. I do not buy it immediately, I give myself a cool down period.
Usually, I then forget about it. The adrenaline rush is the part where you put it on a list or in a cart or whatever the website offers that you can do with it.
If I end up going back to this list I usually cannot even remember that I added things in a cart, or what it was. And I delete it all. (See, this is bad for sales)
It has been studied apparently, that this is how your brain works.
The thrill is the anticipation. Adding it to your cart. After that the thrill is gone.
Knowing this, websites like “wish” for example make use of this in a reversed way. You get an X% bonus for a limited time.
Anyway, take the info I wrote here with a big grain of salt. I am not the average gamer or consumer because I do not want to own (more) things. But the thrill and the rush part is true in general. And adding things on wishlists automatically gives people a cool down period.
Also,
Another thing…
If I can add only 3 things to a list, I may choose something.
When I can add 10 or 20 things to it, I get overwhelmed by the choice and choose nothing.
I really like the concept of using wishlists to scratch the shopping itch (but rarely actually buying anything).
I use the wishlists on some sites and mainly the Steam Wishlist.
Some sites I use it to ‘save’ products to a list so I don’t forget about them, so it’s more like a shopping list this way. I usually do this when I want to purchase things more in bulk or when it’s part of a larger order.
To give an example I recently upgraded my PC with some parts, I wishlisted the parts on a site and once I decided on all the different parts (which roughly took place over a week’s time) I just went to the wishlist and added it all to my shopping cart.
The Wishlist I use the most by far is Steam’s wishlist, I just add games that seem interesting. Then when I get notified about a discount I check to see if I want it and sometimes I just check my wishlist (even if nothing is discounted) if I’m looking for a new game to play, afterall I put those on my wishlist for a reason.
So in short I’d say notifications about being back in stock or discounted are the most useful for me. Secondary to that would be just to have a list so I don’t forget about products that interested me.
I like the addition of saving products for a bigger order. Do you think a list is needed for that? Typically I just put things in my cart but don’t check out if I want to do that.
Typically I do the same, where I just don’t check out yet, but that’s asuming you will check out within the same web session (i.e. so your cart doesn’t clear out). So for some types of products, especially if they combine into a whole (like a PC), it’s quite nice to have a wishlist which you can turn into a shopping cart later.
I must say I’ve only really seen this feature on tech webshops. If it wasn’t there I guess I’d be saving direct links to the products in a text file.
I think for board games or similar products, it’s not really needed. If I’d even ‘bulk’ order games, It’s not like I’d need to swap out one game for another because they’re not compatible or something like that (which could be the case with PC parts).
If you’re selling all kinds of board game components however, it might be a useful feature.
Honestly for me aside from Steam the closest analog is probably “Watch Later” on Youtube. I know that’s not actually a wishlist but I think the key takeaway is minimal friction. It’s so easy to pop something over there I use that all the time; other places if there’s not a clear and low friction place to add stuff I won’t see or use it.
It’s the same way Steam works – people can direct me to that one spot with low friction.
I love wishlists. I use them whenever I can.
I use a site/app called Reelgood to track series that I’m watching. You can track a show and mark the episodes watched. It alerts you when new episodes become available.
I use the BGG wishlist to track games I want to play.
Another great wishlist is Deku, for tracking video games. It sends alerts whenever a tracked game changes prices.
Thanks for the Reelgood recommendation! I need to try that.
I’m glad you remembered the “Watch Later” list on YouTube. I’ve used it on occasion, but I often forget that I have anything there.