Sometimes a year goes by so quickly, especially when we are caught up in routines that blur one day into the next.
But not last year.
In 2025, I decided to do one thing every day. Every. Single. Day.
Every day for the entire year, the first thing I did after waking up was log into Steam and play a game. Sometimes just for a few minutes. Sometimes for hours. That tiny daily ritual somehow made the year feel longer, more marked, more measurable.
Don’t get me wrong, I love gaming, and I already play almost daily. But last year, it wasn’t just for enjoyment. Logging into Steam became a commitment. A self-imposed rule.
You see, there’s this feature called Steam Replay, kinda like Spotify Wrapped or YouTube Recap, where you get a breakdown of your annual gaming activity at the end of every year, like how many games you played, total hours spent, achievements unlocked, reviews written, and so on. One of the stats it shows is your "Longest Gaming Streak".
And I wanted that 365-day streak.
A full, uninterrupted year of gaming. A badge of honour reserved only for a very tiny percentage of people who either have too much time on their hands… or questionable priorities.
I mean, I've been on Steam for more than 10 years now, I just wanted to get that coveted "365-day streak" just once, you know.
And so there I was, making sure I logged into Steam and launched a game every single day for the entire year, no matter what.
When we had cyclones and thunderstorms, I still went online for a few minutes, nervously praying I wouldn’t be struck by lightning mid-session.
When power cuts lasted for days, I saved my inverter battery just to squeeze in a short play session.
When my broadband line got severed by landslides during the monsoon, I connected my PC to my pathetic, slow mobile hotspot and played anyway.
When I travelled to Pune and Goa, I carried my laptop and logged in from hotel rooms just to keep the streak alive. I did the same when I had to visit Kolasib and other towns in Mizoram.
That’s how committed I was.
Not to gaming, but to the streak.
And so, as December came to an end last year, I was honestly proud of myself.
Three hundred and sixty-five days of continuous Steam activity. No breaks. No excuses. No missed logins. I had earned that freaking streak!
When Steam Replay finally dropped in late December, I opened it with the confidence of a man about to receive his long-overdue medal. The page slowly loaded.
Total hours? Solid.
Total games? Respectable.
Achievements? Plenty.
Everything looked good.
And then I scrolled down to the part that mattered the most.
"Longest Gaming Streak"
drumroll please...
.
.
.
.
51 days.
I stared at the screen.
Fifty-one?
FIFTY-ONE?!
Fifty Freaking One!!???
AAAArrrghhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!
That is not even two months.
I genuinely thought Steam was joking. I refreshed the page. I logged out and logged back in. I checked if maybe there was a hidden “pro version” of my streak somewhere.
Nothing.
Apparently, my streak was only from January 1st to February 21st.
Which is impossible.
I know it’s impossible because I remember the daily rigour of it all. The storms. The power cuts. The mobile hotspot sessions. The hotel logins. The sheer stubbornness.
Even if, IF, I had somehow broken the streak on February 21st (let’s just say, maybe Steam servers glitched or something on that day), the counter would have restarted the next day. I would still have easily crossed 51 days again.
And yet, according to Steam, my grand dedication to a full-year streak lasted only 51 days.
I know Steam doesn’t count a streak just for logging in. You actually have to launch and play a proper game. It also doesn’t count pre-release titles or certain edge cases. So I made sure I was playing solid, mainstream games like Cities: Skylines, Age of Empires, Anno 1800, etc. Real sessions, real playtime.
And all that… for nothing.
That was the moment I realised something important.
Maybe I wasn’t chasing a streak.
Maybe the streak was chasing me.
And it won.
This year, I decided, screw it. I'mma gonna play whenever I feel like.
No forced logins. No compulsion.
Just pure, guilt-free gaming.
Screw you, Steam Recap. :P
No comments:
Post a Comment