When Collecting Begins to Take Over

[Lord Arse!]

Just wanted to share Snestastic's powerful and honest video of why he's chosen to quit collecting retrogames. For one, I don't collect as I feel that I'd end up in a similar plight. Certainly worth a watch whether you're interested in beginning collecting or already do.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nqhgTT7 ... e=youtu.be

[DPrinny]

Only buy what you will play
If you wont play it dont buy it

[Lord Arse!]

Yep. But that's not a collector's mindset. Why have 1 copy of a game when you can have all 46 known versions including the rare Serbian copy with a speeling mistake in the title?

[Antiriad2097]

"I'm not mental, I've just got depression"

How long before he buys more stuff?

[jdanddiet]

He'll start collecting something else now, Blu Rays, comics, figures.
It never goes.

[Lord Arse!]

You may be right. Addictive personalities are always hungry. You could say that at least collecting games is a healthier addiction than many others. Good luck to him, though. At least he's attempting something.

[DPrinny]

Yep. But that's not a collector's mindset. Why have 1 copy of a game when you can have all 46 known versions including the rare Serbian copy with a speeling mistake in the title?

I was once like that and I know someone like that (Buys and puts it in his loft)

If I saw it on the market I bought it even if I didn't need it
Now I can happily walk past stalls with stuff on and not buy it

Im kinda glad of that as I have seen things like crates of Playstations and Xboxes
This was probably due to my time being out of work, teached me not to over spend


Old as censored blogpost on this
http://darkprinny.blogspot.co.uk/2009/0 ... games.html

Currently only collect for PS2/2600 and VHS tapes, but only spend under a fiver on each and no sports games

[ReplayRetro]

It's about setting boundaries and rules to your collection, for example i have a couple of basic rules;
1: No Full Sets - for me personally i've no intention of collecting a complete set of games for any system, partly because when you do that you've gotta buy so many censored games you'd never wanna play, also because some games are just ridiculously stupid but mostly because to me this is the most likely thing to get you addicted as you're counting down that list of how many more games you need for the set. You see people at trade events looking at what they "need", they're not interested in the game, just the fact they "need" it for the set and to me that's not a place i wanna be.
2: No Expensive Games - Again, this is all personal but for me i won't spend real money on an old game, to me it's mad that people are actually willing to drop a few hundred on a copy of Death & Return of Superman when an everdrive or something similar would do the same thing, and yes i know you could easily say why have any games then, just use roms, but we all know that we enjoy the whole experience of taking the box off the shelf and playing the game like we would have done if we were kids, it's just that to me while i'm willing to spend a few quid per game for that experience i personally don't go over a tenner. yes that does greatly limit my purchasing power, i essentially have to find bundles or deals to get games cheap, but that's just the way it is for me and i don't mind. however it does lead to rule 3
3: Enough To Show The System - i basically try to make sure i have at least 3 games for any obscure systems i own so that i can show that system and what it can do effectively, for some consoles that means i may have to break my £10 game price limit, however in those cases i still don't go to silly money and i limit how many games i actually own (for example on my Nuon i have freefall and merlin racing because i got them cheap, but i won't pay £60 -£100 for T3K so instead if i want to play it i use a ROM, and yes i've put that ROM in a case with a cover to make the collection prettier but it's clearly marked as not being real)
4: Ignore Expensive Varients - Now this one i admit i've broken a few times, but generally if i have a system then i don't need a variant of that system as i can already play the games on the original hardware so why get more original hardware just because its a variant? As i said i've broken this rule a few times, especially with the 3D0 (FZ1, Goldstar and Sanyo at the minute) but that's always been because the deal was good and i was genuinely interested in the system (+ i knew i'd always be able to sell it for more than i paid) but i certainly don't buy colour variants (why would i want 10 N64s at £50 a time?) or slight revisions such as the saturn variants

For me, my collecting weakness is obscure crap, i've been called the saviour of censored before because i'm really interested in stuff that failed or is just mega obscure, and this is where i spend daft money and often regret it, so in truth i'm no better than the guys who spend £100 on a SNES cartridge, the only difference is i'm spending it on something like the VictorMaxx Stuntmaster headset or some equally as useless censored

Anyway i've rambled on enough so my basic point is that collecting should always be fun, should never cause problems to your life such as financial struggle and should never start to feel like an addiction, buy something because you're curious, not just because you think you should have it as part of a set or to call yourself a collector

[ReplayRetro]

Currently only collect for PS2/2600 and VHS tapes, but only spend under a fiver on each and no sports games

see, Prinny again has rules, PS2/2600 but won't spend silly money (and there really are some silly money PS2 games out there now) and doesn't want sports titles, so while technically that PS2 collection will never be truly complete, it will be in his eyes if he gets everything apart from Sports titles and having a price limit probably prevents hunting out titles on ebay he knows cost a fortune, good rules for fun collecting

[DPrinny]

There are exceptions to the "No sports games" if its something like Sega Soccer slam or Speedball or anything that is a sport game that isnt like the sport

Still have to get a cheap copy of Fire pro wresting returns (pro wrestling isnt a sport)

Might need to go import
(OK I do own a few Rugby games, but dont go mental for the yearly updates)

Don't want a complete collection, it would mean owning games that I dont want to play,

[Lord Arse!]

Great post, wish I could "like" it.

but i certainly don't buy colour variants (why would i want 10 N64s at £50 a time?) or slight revisions such as the saturn variants

The only reason I'd ever do that is to make some kind of display. But then, whilst it would look amazing, it's a sad state of affairs to know that none of those N64s are doing what they were actually built to do. YMMV.

[DPrinny]

Your missing the two tone controller some shops sold

[sscott]

I've seen his vids before. Even at his peak he never seems to truly enjoy the collecting. Sold some of.my collection and not buying anything more. As he said on the video. It was all about getting short term 'hits'. They don't last long and like any addiction you need more and more to get the same high. He will need to fill this void with something good else whatever it is which is always tough.

[Shinobi]

His collecting seems to me more of a means to an end to get hits/subscribers for his YouTube channel.. So he stops collecting and his hits subscribers go down.. As others have said what's next blue Ray's etc? same thing as any collecting I.e people who collect video's/DVDs and Blu Rays - Lord of the Rings directors cut box set take you a day to watch all them can any collectors honestly say they have time to watch every film they buy..

[Matt_B]

Only buy what you will play
If you wont play it dont buy it

You've pretty much got it there.

About all I'd add is to try and finish a game before you buy anything new.