Thats my favorite thing about collecting, is playing games.
Last time I said "playing my games" the OP replied "yeah but I'm talking about the collecting of games, not playing!" like they're two totally separate things lol.
I can understand how there might be some misunderstanding on my topics. I guess because this is "Collector's Corner", I'm writing topics with the aim for collectors in mind. I'm not purposefully being ignorant of the gamer amongst us. Personally I still play games myself, but mainly on Xbox360 (Arcade Live games, and downloadables). The games I collect are purely for collection and not to be played. They are to be looked at 99% of the time, and handled 1% of the time (for storing/displaying).
In respect to my favorite part of collecting retro games, I'd say the aspect of building steadily a unique collection and admiring it from a visual standpoint the accomplishment and reminiscing on the nostalgia.
But that's the thing - I consider myself a collector. And a huge part of collecting for me is collecting games that I enjoy, games that I play! So playing the games is a huge part of my collecting, and I cannot personally separate the two when speaking to my own experience. Stated simply, I collect games to play. Does that make me any less of a collector, or my opinion on the matter invalid?
Thats my favorite thing about collecting, is playing games.
Last time I said "playing my games" the OP replied "yeah but I'm talking about the collecting of games, not playing!" like they're two totally separate things lol.
I can understand how there might be some misunderstanding on my topics. I guess because this is "Collector's Corner", I'm writing topics with the aim for collectors in mind. I'm not purposefully being ignorant of the gamer amongst us. Personally I still play games myself, but mainly on Xbox360 (Arcade Live games, and downloadables). The games I collect are purely for collection and not to be played. They are to be looked at 99% of the time, and handled 1% of the time (for storing/displaying).
In respect to my favorite part of collecting retro games, I'd say the aspect of building steadily a unique collection and admiring it from a visual standpoint the accomplishment and reminiscing on the nostalgia.
But that's the thing - I consider myself a collector. And a huge part of collecting for me is collecting games that I enjoy, games that I play! So playing the games is a huge part of my collecting, and I cannot personally separate the two when speaking to my own experience. Stated simply, I collect games to play. Does that make me any less of a collector, or my opinion on the matter invalid?
I'm not sure why you have to go on the defensive. This thread was not meant to isolate collector of any sorts. I might have missed quoting "gaming" as an aspect, but you can always add further to do the discussion, which you have already done so. I had in fact mentioned this on my OP intro, "we all collect for various reasons". I therefore am implying there is no right or wrong way to collect. Noone has the more superior opinion on how best they should enjoy their collecting hobby.
I've been through and enjoyed about all of those phases of collecting, specifically in regard to NES licensed set collecting.
Early on I put what games I had in shelving and spent a lot of time just admiring my games. I had them all in totes prior to that so I was really motivated to expand my collection and enjoy what I already had.
I loved winning auctions or finding good bulk deals, then admiring my new games in person after only having seen pictures of carts online. I loved rearranging the shelves too after every 10-20 new games.
At about 60% through the set, one night I completely rearranged everything and put all the games in their final place with empty sleeves to fill in the gaps of games I didn't yet own. That was fun in its own way because then I had these small milestones of getting every game within a section of my shelf, and also looking forward to getting the expensive games already knowing where they would be placed on my shelf.
I was also tracking games by cost brackets, as well as by letters of the alphabet. Within those categories, I also kept track of which game was the cheapest and which one was the most expensive. That gave me targets to aim for, and it was fun seeing some of these subsets come together once I started knocking off the higher end games.
Now that I've gone as far as I'll go with NES licensed cart collecting, I'm not much interested in fullsets anymore. So I don't get to enjoy those breakdowns and acquiring carts over such a large set. However, I do have one final fun way of tracking these games and that's by beating them. For every NES game I beat for my site, I'm placing a little gold sticker on the shelf underneath the game, so at a glance I can see all the games I've completed. Since it's so early on, it's fun working toward seeing each section of games on my shelf having at least one sticker, or putting stickers by consectuive games on the shelf. Many, many years from now, I'll be completing entire shelf sections and rows of games, and it's gonna be fun seeing all those gold stickers and reflecting on my gaming accomplishments that way.
I like the idea of the gold stickers. Kind of like mixing collector achievements with gamer achievements.
A small thought on the collecting/gaming issue. I'm not a big fan of "pure" collecting (i.e. collecting without the intent to play), but I do divide gaming and collecting for the simple fact that there is no real necessity to own hundreds or thousands of games if you only want to play them. Get a couple of EverDrives and you're done. Anything beyond that and you're collecting in some sense, and it is an activity apart from gaming. Yeah, you probably play them on cart when you can, but you don't have to if you only want to game. That's always been the difference for me anyways, and the one that I have to re-examine every time I make a purchase. I like the act of collecting aside from gaming, otherwise I wouldn't buy anything at all at this point. In a lot of cases, I prefer the ED option for childhood games since that saves me the hassle of replacing the battery.
In some cases, though, I have gone the opposite route and only started picking up things after I have played and beaten them. Japanese RPGs are the big one there, as they are cheap and there is no end to them. I could be sitting on mountains of unplayable games, but instead I beat them, buy them, and then go through the process of making a nice little repro edition to my collecting. No need to do that other than that I like to see the games that I have played on my shelf. That's my reverse gold star.
What I like the most is searching for games in the wild, and when I find them, play them. The fun thing about the hunt is that you never know what you're going to get, and then whether you find a really well-known game or a really obscure title, it's always loads of fun to pop it in and play it to find out what it's all about. The interactivity of games really is a big plus in this hobby IMO
Honestly my favorite aspect of collecting is to take all my games, throw them on the floor and dive naked into em Scrooge McDuck style and rub em all over my body.
I had to give this a proper quote for more notoriety because I love it hahahahahah!
I enjoy all of the aspects that have been mentioned in this thread in various capacities, but for me personally, I enjoy most:
Whether it is playing a game by myself, or playing games with other people, I just love gaming. I know people talk about gaming vs. collecting and separate components, but for me, it is because of my collecting that I have so many games to play and have discovered so many interesting ones.
(2) Friendships, information, discussion. Through my collecting, I've met some amazing people - here on NA, outside of NA, etc., and have been able to connect with other people who have a shared interest, and that has been awesome. I have also learned so much about history, gaming, and aspects of the hobby I had no idea about. I've learned about and become familiar with other people's goals, dreams, hobbies, and ideas. I've beta tested homebrew games. I've helped create goofy NES labels for fun projects. I can't even recount all of the different things I've been able to be a part of thanks to collecting and NA specifically.
I think at the end of the day, what I'm saying is as much as I love all my items and all the cool things I've collected over the years, I enjoy the community aspect and all the conversations and good times, much more than the actual items. But they are linked---as I trade with people I get to know them better and feel like we're helping each other out and learning sometimes.
I know this isn't necessarily what this thread is asking about, but I hope it maybe serves as thought-provoking for some people about what they really enjoy about this hobby, and perhaps an obsession about physical items is tied more to other people or experiences than you may think. Perhaps not, everyone is different.
Thats my favorite thing about collecting, is playing games.
Last time I said "playing my games" the OP replied "yeah but I'm talking about the collecting of games, not playing!" like they're two totally separate things lol.
I can understand how there might be some misunderstanding on my topics. I guess because this is "Collector's Corner", I'm writing topics with the aim for collectors in mind. I'm not purposefully being ignorant of the gamer amongst us. Personally I still play games myself, but mainly on Xbox360 (Arcade Live games, and downloadables). The games I collect are purely for collection and not to be played. They are to be looked at 99% of the time, and handled 1% of the time (for storing/displaying).
In respect to my favorite part of collecting retro games, I'd say the aspect of building steadily a unique collection and admiring it from a visual standpoint the accomplishment and reminiscing on the nostalgia.
But that's the thing - I consider myself a collector. And a huge part of collecting for me is collecting games that I enjoy, games that I play! So playing the games is a huge part of my collecting, and I cannot personally separate the two when speaking to my own experience. Stated simply, I collect games to play. Does that make me any less of a collector, or my opinion on the matter invalid?
I'm not sure why you have to go on the defensive. This thread was not meant to isolate collector of any sorts. I might have missed quoting "gaming" as an aspect, but you can always add further to do the discussion, which you have already done so. I had in fact mentioned this on my OP intro, "we all collect for various reasons". I therefore am implying there is no right or wrong way to collect. Noone has the more superior opinion on how best they should enjoy their collecting hobby.
Apologies if I seemed defensive, I was just trying to further the conversation.
I'd just argue that in my view the collector and the gamer have no separation, and are one and the same. Just different ways of looking at it.
Comments
I like how none of that included "playing".
Thats my favorite thing about collecting, is playing games.
Last time I said "playing my games" the OP replied "yeah but I'm talking about the collecting of games, not playing!" like they're two totally separate things lol.
I can understand how there might be some misunderstanding on my topics. I guess because this is "Collector's Corner", I'm writing topics with the aim for collectors in mind. I'm not purposefully being ignorant of the gamer amongst us. Personally I still play games myself, but mainly on Xbox360 (Arcade Live games, and downloadables). The games I collect are purely for collection and not to be played. They are to be looked at 99% of the time, and handled 1% of the time (for storing/displaying).
In respect to my favorite part of collecting retro games, I'd say the aspect of building steadily a unique collection and admiring it from a visual standpoint the accomplishment and reminiscing on the nostalgia.
But that's the thing - I consider myself a collector. And a huge part of collecting for me is collecting games that I enjoy, games that I play! So playing the games is a huge part of my collecting, and I cannot personally separate the two when speaking to my own experience. Stated simply, I collect games to play. Does that make me any less of a collector, or my opinion on the matter invalid?
I like how none of that included "playing".
Thats my favorite thing about collecting, is playing games.
Last time I said "playing my games" the OP replied "yeah but I'm talking about the collecting of games, not playing!" like they're two totally separate things lol.
I can understand how there might be some misunderstanding on my topics. I guess because this is "Collector's Corner", I'm writing topics with the aim for collectors in mind. I'm not purposefully being ignorant of the gamer amongst us. Personally I still play games myself, but mainly on Xbox360 (Arcade Live games, and downloadables). The games I collect are purely for collection and not to be played. They are to be looked at 99% of the time, and handled 1% of the time (for storing/displaying).
In respect to my favorite part of collecting retro games, I'd say the aspect of building steadily a unique collection and admiring it from a visual standpoint the accomplishment and reminiscing on the nostalgia.
But that's the thing - I consider myself a collector. And a huge part of collecting for me is collecting games that I enjoy, games that I play! So playing the games is a huge part of my collecting, and I cannot personally separate the two when speaking to my own experience. Stated simply, I collect games to play. Does that make me any less of a collector, or my opinion on the matter invalid?
I'm not sure why you have to go on the defensive. This thread was not meant to isolate collector of any sorts. I might have missed quoting "gaming" as an aspect, but you can always add further to do the discussion, which you have already done so. I had in fact mentioned this on my OP intro, "we all collect for various reasons". I therefore am implying there is no right or wrong way to collect. Noone has the more superior opinion on how best they should enjoy their collecting hobby.
I've been through and enjoyed about all of those phases of collecting, specifically in regard to NES licensed set collecting.
Early on I put what games I had in shelving and spent a lot of time just admiring my games. I had them all in totes prior to that so I was really motivated to expand my collection and enjoy what I already had.
I loved winning auctions or finding good bulk deals, then admiring my new games in person after only having seen pictures of carts online. I loved rearranging the shelves too after every 10-20 new games.
At about 60% through the set, one night I completely rearranged everything and put all the games in their final place with empty sleeves to fill in the gaps of games I didn't yet own. That was fun in its own way because then I had these small milestones of getting every game within a section of my shelf, and also looking forward to getting the expensive games already knowing where they would be placed on my shelf.
I was also tracking games by cost brackets, as well as by letters of the alphabet. Within those categories, I also kept track of which game was the cheapest and which one was the most expensive. That gave me targets to aim for, and it was fun seeing some of these subsets come together once I started knocking off the higher end games.
Now that I've gone as far as I'll go with NES licensed cart collecting, I'm not much interested in fullsets anymore. So I don't get to enjoy those breakdowns and acquiring carts over such a large set. However, I do have one final fun way of tracking these games and that's by beating them. For every NES game I beat for my site, I'm placing a little gold sticker on the shelf underneath the game, so at a glance I can see all the games I've completed. Since it's so early on, it's fun working toward seeing each section of games on my shelf having at least one sticker, or putting stickers by consectuive games on the shelf. Many, many years from now, I'll be completing entire shelf sections and rows of games, and it's gonna be fun seeing all those gold stickers and reflecting on my gaming accomplishments that way.
I like the idea of the gold stickers. Kind of like mixing collector achievements with gamer achievements.
In some cases, though, I have gone the opposite route and only started picking up things after I have played and beaten them. Japanese RPGs are the big one there, as they are cheap and there is no end to them. I could be sitting on mountains of unplayable games, but instead I beat them, buy them, and then go through the process of making a nice little repro edition to my collecting. No need to do that other than that I like to see the games that I have played on my shelf. That's my reverse gold star.
Honestly my favorite aspect of collecting is to take all my games, throw them on the floor and dive naked into em Scrooge McDuck style and rub em all over my body.
I had to give this a proper quote for more notoriety because I love it hahahahahah!
I enjoy all of the aspects that have been mentioned in this thread in various capacities, but for me personally, I enjoy most:
(1) Good times. See here for a perfect example: http://nintendoage.com/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=31&threadid=177536
Whether it is playing a game by myself, or playing games with other people, I just love gaming. I know people talk about gaming vs. collecting and separate components, but for me, it is because of my collecting that I have so many games to play and have discovered so many interesting ones.
(2) Friendships, information, discussion. Through my collecting, I've met some amazing people - here on NA, outside of NA, etc., and have been able to connect with other people who have a shared interest, and that has been awesome. I have also learned so much about history, gaming, and aspects of the hobby I had no idea about. I've learned about and become familiar with other people's goals, dreams, hobbies, and ideas. I've beta tested homebrew games. I've helped create goofy NES labels for fun projects. I can't even recount all of the different things I've been able to be a part of thanks to collecting and NA specifically.
I think at the end of the day, what I'm saying is as much as I love all my items and all the cool things I've collected over the years, I enjoy the community aspect and all the conversations and good times, much more than the actual items. But they are linked---as I trade with people I get to know them better and feel like we're helping each other out and learning sometimes.
I know this isn't necessarily what this thread is asking about, but I hope it maybe serves as thought-provoking for some people about what they really enjoy about this hobby, and perhaps an obsession about physical items is tied more to other people or experiences than you may think. Perhaps not, everyone is different.
I like how none of that included "playing".
Thats my favorite thing about collecting, is playing games.
Last time I said "playing my games" the OP replied "yeah but I'm talking about the collecting of games, not playing!" like they're two totally separate things lol.
I can understand how there might be some misunderstanding on my topics. I guess because this is "Collector's Corner", I'm writing topics with the aim for collectors in mind. I'm not purposefully being ignorant of the gamer amongst us. Personally I still play games myself, but mainly on Xbox360 (Arcade Live games, and downloadables). The games I collect are purely for collection and not to be played. They are to be looked at 99% of the time, and handled 1% of the time (for storing/displaying).
In respect to my favorite part of collecting retro games, I'd say the aspect of building steadily a unique collection and admiring it from a visual standpoint the accomplishment and reminiscing on the nostalgia.
But that's the thing - I consider myself a collector. And a huge part of collecting for me is collecting games that I enjoy, games that I play! So playing the games is a huge part of my collecting, and I cannot personally separate the two when speaking to my own experience. Stated simply, I collect games to play. Does that make me any less of a collector, or my opinion on the matter invalid?
I'm not sure why you have to go on the defensive. This thread was not meant to isolate collector of any sorts. I might have missed quoting "gaming" as an aspect, but you can always add further to do the discussion, which you have already done so. I had in fact mentioned this on my OP intro, "we all collect for various reasons". I therefore am implying there is no right or wrong way to collect. Noone has the more superior opinion on how best they should enjoy their collecting hobby.
Apologies if I seemed defensive, I was just trying to further the conversation.
I'd just argue that in my view the collector and the gamer have no separation, and are one and the same. Just different ways of looking at it.