How has your attitude towards collecting changed?

tubeway

How has your attitude towards collecting changed over the years?



Fifteen years ago: I bought almost anything I found at flea markets and thrift stores, if it was cheap enough. I had libraries of games for probably 20 systems, but they were unfocused and there was a lot of fluff and games that I would likely ever play. Having an "impressive" collection and shelves full of games was something I desired. I wanted people to be impressed when they saw my collection. I spent much more time hunting for and purchasing games than playing them.



Today: I only actively collect for about five systems, and even then, I'm very selective in what I purchase. My "collecting" is more of a by-product of buying games I want to play, than collecting for collecting's sake. My attitude is that the game has to be something I would immediately want to play as soon as I received it, even if it actually just ends up in my backlog. I don't buy anything mediocre, and rarity plays no role in what I buy -- I see no logic in spending my limited income on things that valued only for their rarity, rather than their playability. However, if a game falls into both categories, then that's awesome.

ForlornOutcast

Was trying to get good games, and build a collection. I bought alot of stuff I saw, that was a good price, but didn't have a ton of focus.



Now I have alot of stuff, and alot of it is cool, but I have to trim the fat. It takes up alot of space, and as far as I'm concerned, its money sitting around I can't spend. So I'm selling a few things.



Now I will only but something if I WANT it, and its a decent price, or if its cheap enough I can get something for nothing. Then I can decide if I want to keep it or sell it, but either way It was a good buy.

Laseki

I used to be very indecisive about what I wanted to collect for, tunnel visioned onto a complete SNES set nowadays, don't really actively buy for any other system except saturn and dreamcast, and those are rare.

Other then that, I'm a lot more private about my collection then i used to be i guess.

NostalgicMachine

From 2009 to 2013ish I was buying several games for NES/SNES/Genesis each and every week. Had about 1/3 of each console's games on my shelf before realizing I had other priorities than spending $50+ on used games each week.



Now, I only "collect" what I want to play, and have sold off about 90% of those games.

Ryder4864

I would also buy anything video game that I didn't have. My collection got so big that 75% of it was in my attic. I ended up selling everything Sega, PlayStation, Atari, and 3DO.



Now I only collect NES, SNES, original Gameboy. I have GameCube, Wii, Wii U, and some other Nintendo handhelds, but don't pick that stuff up when I find it.



Looking back, it was dumb to think I could amass a full set collection for all systems. It also turns out that my friend and family aren't really impressed with video game collecting. When they come over, the look at it for about 30 seconds (if they've never seen it before) and then head straight for the pinball machines.

DarkTone

Same attitude. Just slowed down a lot.

nrslam

I've kinda grown tired of the whole collecting thing. I started in 1995 when you could go to a flea market or series of thrifts and quite literally fill up the trunk every week. Now the finds are too few and too far between, the competition is too extreme, prices are unreasonable, counterfeits are everywhere, and ebay has become a cesspit.

TheFinder

I didn't really get into collecting until the end of college and start of grad school. I'd do a ton of research and then try to find stuff on a very limited budget. I bought anything that sounded mildly interesting because I wasn't very aware of my preferences and I didn't really know how to focus.



Now I know what I enjoy, so I am very selective. It doesn't mean I won't go out on a limb every once in a while, but it's much rarer now than it used to be.

Philosoraptor

Same attitude. Buy what's good.

JamesRobot

I have become a crotchety old geezer, complaining about the price of marios and zeldas. Do you remember when marios were so common they could be had for $5 a pop? Pepperidge farm remembers. And another thing, stay off my lawn! Damn kids with their man-buns and skinny jeans need to stay outta my hobby!

GoldeneyeGamer

Right now I don't get a chance to play most of my games with my current schedule, so at this point it's partly collecting for collecting and collecting in hopes of getting a chance to play it sometime soon. It's been like this for a while, so it hasn't really changed to much.

captainolimar

As some have stated above I had collected for a lot of systems that I didn't care about and sold most of that stuff off. Now there are only a handful of games left that I really want across 5 or so systems.



I need to grab a few everdrives and after that I really only want to focus on collecting GB/GBC stuff. Especially hidden jems etc.



Would love to somehow build a consolized GBC...

MrWunderful

I still just buy whatever I want or attracts me, as I always have. I will trim some of it down once I finish my game room though.

VGS_fcgamer

The opposite of most here, I've been picking up more old games when I see them, even if they aren't for systems I specifically collect. The reason is because compared to just a few years ago, things are just starting to become much harder to find over here, sadly, something which occurred probably two years ago.



So I buy what I can, and then sell (or even better yet, trade) to get the items that I still need to fill gaps in my collection.



Also, since my primarily collection is about 95% complete, I am now starting to go back and pick up / collect some other pieces I had wanted to collect before, but couldn't, without being stretched to thin from my primary goals.

empire

Originally posted by: MrWunderful



I still just buy whatever I want or attracts me, as I always have. I will trim some of it down once I finish my game room though.

Seeing your old avatar back feels like a warm hug on a cold winter's morning.

SnowSauce

When I started, I wanted a massive collection. Big and expensive.



Over time I whittled everything down and decided I'd rather have a smaller collection with stuff I actually want to enjoy.

Holy_Ostrich

I've waffled going cart only for the older Nintendo systems so often that it's made my wife get annoyed if I bring it up as a possibility. If I *did* go cart only I'd have an "all killer no filler" SNES + NES + Genesis cart only collection easily by this point. Who knew 15-20 year old cardboard + paper manuals could be so pricey?

Too Beaucoup

Like a lot of people, I've gone to only collecting what I know I'll probably play at some point. If I find really good deals that I won't play, I will pick them up for trade bait at a later time. I'm not a scalper and not trying to gouge people, but if I can use it for a fair trade at a later time, I have no problem picking it up. But, the biggest change is only buying what I will play. I used to want a giant collection, but yeah, when it comes to games, it really doesn't make sense to have hundreds of games I will never play. That's one thing I don't get about big youtubers that have thousands of games or full sets. I get that it's cool to have a full set for a system and believe me, I wouldn't mind having some full sets, but to me, it's become clearer that there's really not a huge reason to have 2,000 games when I'm never going to even probably try out 1,500 of them...

sailorneorune

I have decided that I hate it. If it's not on Virtual Console (or even if it is), people want an arm and a leg for it.

Scott84

My best collecting days were from 2004-11, Tons of places that would just have a set price on games... didn't matter what it was. All nes games were $3, SNES $6. N64 $9. Those were the days!



I would collect for varied systems if it was a game I wanted.



Once retro collecting became cool and the internet was the place to check for prices... it pretty much went south for me. I only really go after titles I always wanted to play. If the game is out of my price range and I want to play it. Everdrive all the way.

AstralSoul13

It hasn't changed much I just don't buy as much as I used to

attakid101

Used to be all over the place. At one point I was collecting for NES, SNES, Genesis, N64, Vectrex, GBC and Dreamcast. I'd pick up anything I felt like playing. Problem was, I never played anything but SNES.



Realizing that, I sold and traded most of it away. I'm now a full set SNES collector but I'm happy to report that I play my games just about everyday.



I'm playing games for a system I love, and I get to scratch my collecting itch by going for a full set. Win/Win.

theonering84

I used to want to collect tons of SNES carts but ever since all the repros and fakes appeared within the past year, I sold most of my SNES carts and only am keeping or collecting the ones that I want to play or used to play as a kid. I also used to want to collect Genesis and Xbox since I own both but now that I have a Wii, I'm focusing on N64, Gamecube and Wii. That's it really. I still have lots of Xbox games but I really only play Halo, COD and Battlefront. Having a limited budget for games puts a damper on collecting as well.

spman

Collecting these days has basically been reduced to getting lucky and purchasing big lots of stuff locally that have one or two games you actually want, and hoping you can sell off the rest to make back the cost. The days of finding big scores (or even small scores for that matter) at Flea Markets, Tag Sales, Thrift Stores, etc. are gone. What few deals that are left at these venues are all scooped up by full time resellers who have far more time and initiative than I do and have no problem wasting it on the fools errand of getting up at the crack of dawn on a Saturday and going to yard sales.



The best I can hope for these days is finding people on local Facebook selling overpriced commons for Gamecube, N64, Wii, etc. and flipping them on Amazon, and then using that to buy the stuff I really want. Yeah, you'll never find any of higher priced SNES or NES titles anymore, but I still have some luck finding $200 worth of Gamecube games for $10 and turning crap into gold that way.

Nesmaster

Started with wanting the NES Mega Man games. In the hunt I found old rental favorites and expanded to those. Then I started buying anything cheap and keeping stuff I thought was worth hanging onto, while trading in stuff I didn't like. After the 2007 selloff, I got interested again in 2010 and focused more on NES and picked up VB on the side. Focused on N64 after that and eventually SNES to a lesser scale. N64 was the only collection I did not sell from in 2007.



No desire for a SNES set at all, but I like adding paper items to the NES/N64 sets now.

Jerbilly

Originally posted by: attakid101

Used to be all over the place. At one point I was collecting for NES, SNES, Genesis, N64, Vectrex, GBC and Dreamcast. I'd pick up anything I felt like playing. Problem was, I never played anything but SNES.



Realizing that, I sold and traded most of it away. I'm now a full set SNES collector but I'm happy to report that I play my games just about everyday.



I'm playing games for a system I love, and I get to scratch my collecting itch by going for a full set. Win/Win.

That's the best one can hope for, dude.

kamakaze_ekun

For me it's always been both knowing what I can flip a game for and picking up only games I'm interested in.

Astor Reinhardt

When I first started out I wanted everything and anything because I was...envious of everyone's amazing collections. So I bought a lot of stuff I shouldn't have. I also didn't know that much on prices...so I paid a bit to much for crap. I also felt discontent towards my collection on a whole...I felt it was tiny and I didn't get nearly enough of what I wanted.



Now I've culled my collections and finally finished cataloging them (now I just have to clean them all...ugh), I feel a lot better about what I have. I didn't know I had so many NES games...but I do. I've sort of slowed down on collecting, due to fears of spending too much money...I need to save money. I've also run into an issue on finding stuff...I think I've tapped out people around me...or I kept showing up too late to sales. So I don't collect as much now. I've also been trying to limit myself and be a little picky about what to buy and what not to buy. Hard but needed.

Ozzy_98

I buy more computer games now that I've seen the light and consider them games, before I never really viewed them as true games. I buy more shovelware now too, if it's interesting (Like the hello kitty MMORPG or that MMORPG about golf) I've finished grabbing all the games I wanted, and I'm actively not trying to start looking for anything specific for a while, since that's what kills you, money\time wise if you're not carefull.

Quaze

Hasn't really changed at all, I think it's my "style" of collecting: Have 1 or 2 serious focuses, and if I happen to come across things I want outside of those areas of focus, I'll grab them too.

ginoscope

I have noticed a pattern for the second year in a row. I tend to ramp up my collecting when there is no football on. Say February thru August I am looking/buying. Once the college and pro football season starts my focus is on watching sports. Early on I decided to stick to a few systems so that keeps me focused.



I also just got a free mvs 2 slot cab with 8 games from a friend for doing him a favor for free. It's not working at the moment but a good hobby project to keep me busy.