Collector or Hoarding disorder???
I was listening to NPR the other day and heard this story about Hoarding Disorders...
http://www.npr.org/features/feature.php?wfId=1920203
So do ever think you take collecting too far? Do you keep old magazines you don't even like? How many Combat or SMB/DH carts do you have???
I definitely have twinges of it from time to time...
Ben!
I didn't listen to the whole thing, but i think their talking about the kinds of people who can't even through out a piece of paper. I've seen insides of houses on tv where people keep trash from years ago ( i mean trash, like used coffee filters and stuff). You literally would not be able to walk through one of these houses. Rooms are so stuffed you can't see the walls or the ceiling. Anyways, i think it is entirely different from collecting (maybe borderline for some of use tho lol)
I had a friend whoes family was like that. When you went inside their house all you could see were stacked boxes, with paths cleared for daily living areas. In their kitchen they had two fridges, one completely devoted to left overs. It was kinda strange, but you could tell their mother had never thrown anything out, especially if it had anything to do with her children. They had entire bedroom downstair's for "old toys and keep sakes".
I don't have a disorder, although my collection gets rather disorderly at times (Get it? Yeah, I know that was a bad one).
I do keep some things that I dislike, like Gamepro issues. I just don't want to throw them away...
I do, though, trade off games that I don't want. Yes, even that complete copy of Pirates!... I just didn't really have any interest in it.
Egbert, I miss you...
Systematic collecting or compulsive hoarding disorder? There is a very blurry separation line between something "healthy" and "sick," this goes in particular for all areas of psychology.
In the end, it's worrisome or regarded as sick if you 1) hurt yourself or others with your 'passion', 'obsession', 'perfectionism', or 'addiction,' or 2) can't change your behavior although you want to change based on better insight. If you endanger or destroy yourself or others with your collecting (finacially, family, hygene, etc.) then you'll have a problem.
Regarding a passion as healthy or sick is also a matter of social recognition. Most great and famous personalities are obsessed with their profession, and we admire them. Artists, philosphers, scientists, and athletes. Pete Sampras and Steffi Graf were obsessed with playing tennis, put it to the extreme, the never-ending pursuit of perfecting playing tennis and their obsession made them famous, rich, and respected.
I'm not systematically collecting games and game magazines, but even I slip sometimes in this 'collecting' mood. I missed out on a lot of PS1 RPGs, so a couple of months ago I systematically purchased RPGs wothwhile to be played, made a list, and bought around 35 RPGs. (only Suikoden 2 is missing for obvious reasons)
Why do we collect anyway? What's behind there? what makes a collecting mind tick?
At certain points a healthy mind (whatever that is) doesn't like to overeat anymore, you reached a saturation level, and this level is for everyone different according to character and individual prfererences. It's important to set limits considering the neverending flow of games and accessories.
I don't need to have EVERYTHING, I stop very consciously just buying 'stuff.' For me gameplay value comes first, second, and third, and equally important are the condition of the items like the anal retentive guy I am. If I go to a used videogame store, I'm not interested in 95% of the stuff I see. If gameplay value comes first, 'rarity' plays a neglectible role.
At certain points you have to ask yourself, 'why in the hell do I want this and think I need it? Is it really so important to get it?'
Sytematic collecting is indeed a mysterious affair, a love relationship going wild and deep. I think a systematic collector needs discipline, a cool head, clearly set limits and preferences, frugality, and lots of common sense for a passion which is always on the edge of pushing it too far.
Taking two steps back and looking at yourself helps dramatically to keep your feet on the ground. On the other hand, there is always a Pete Sampras, and I never ever threw anything videogame related away, and I never will.
Im pretty sure I have that. I have so much stuff in boxes about 10 boxes of stuff Ill never use again but wont throw it away...I dont know why! I wanna but cant!!!!
Midwest
wait.... they focus their life on it? I dont, I just keep everything like a huge packrat.
Midwest
I've been aware since sometime in my first year of collecting foreign games that I view it primarily in an asthetic sense; most of my free time is spent online, gathering interesting facts, and I do like new games. It's nice to see where the current state of the art has come from, and to look for instances where the old stuff did it better. For the time I've been collecting I still don't really have a good system setup to play on; many of the games I own I can't play for various reasons. Hopefully much of that will change in the upcoming year.
I tend to collect only for a few certain types of thing; as I'm pretty disgusted with soda right now (yes that is Soda, I live in Michigan, too) you can guess I don't pick up many bottles. That "collection" was just something to fill in time and I've tended to feel apathetic enough towards it that I only pick up bottles if they are indeed something astonishing enough (to me), such as bottles I picked up in the British Isles.
I pick up cereal related things: boxes, premiums, and other stuff from my workplace. I even keep old throwaway black-on-colored-paper coupons from my work. I have a small box for that which I'll soon have to replace with something larger.
I still collect coins. In the last two days I've found (in one or two rolls of pennies) two pre-'59 "wheaties" in change as well as my first ever silver dime ('61 denver), and a good number of other coins that were interesting enough to me to pick them up (i.e. San Francisco mint). I'm hoping one of these days I'll get my big break and find a silver quarter or a 1982 no-mark dime :P
I collect computers, and I consider them to be as good for the game collection as anything else. In this area my collection is even more immature than my regular VG collection, but I have my sights set on a number of items.
Of course, if I find something interesting enough I'll keep it. I was given a rather neat zipping personal bag in neon yellow that came from Iberia (Spain) airlines (one of those deals with toothbrush, shaving cream and so on) and have three packages from British Airways in the same vein. I collect things that I don't come across through my normal life; they trigger memories and perhaps someday I might find some value from holding on to them.
Good fun all around. I have very little room to keep stuff in so I'm constantly looking for bigger, better boxes - which in themselves can be collectable! In any case I'm a careful person and doing little things with care has become a part of my life.
Would just like to mention that I have had a personal sort of encounter with this disorder (secondhand); my boss at work was able to get ahold of a lot of stuff for our tractor exhibit (bags, old Sears catalogs and stuff, all looked really good) because a couple (I'm not giving any idea of the relationships or even genders here just because it IS a sort of private thing) had this sort of disorder. We're talking about a big pile of used Depends undergarments outside.
It's obvious to me that my need for collecting is not rational; and it's also true that people make very few economic decisions on a rational basis. It's been estimated that over 90% of purchases made (including at stores) is via impulse, and I really believe that.
The nice thing about living via impulse is that you escape the snare that some folks with a disorder at the other end of the scale have - overanalyzing things for so long that you never can get to a conclusion. One psychiatrist recounted trying to set up the next appointment with a person so afflicted and it became a long affair as the person went through a long verbal explanation of reasons why they might not be able to make it - would the weather be good, how the traffic was - all extraneous things that we can reasonably be expected to filter out. With computers we have a good reason to be completists at times, but in our normal lives it's alright to simply consider the next appointment as a question of looking at the calendar to see if you're working that day.
I am a Pack Rat. I keep just about everything that's not trash. And when I do get rid of something, it takes a lot of thought.
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