Age of Collectors on DP.

[Matt-El]

I've noticed that there are a few people that are collecting that are a lot younger than even me. I'm going to be 22 in August, and I sort of started COLLECTING about a few of years ago.

My collection is alright, containing some okay stuff, near-exclusively all finds in the wild. My collection is currently a Mish-Mash of different systems and games.
I think though, that I could be giving it more thought and concentrating on different systems and Items, which I will try and attemt at doing.

I guess the point of this is, What age were you when you started and what do you think was your strategy in the beginning?

[whoisKeel]

26. I started collecting around 3 years ago. I still had a pretty decent collection for starting (40 or 50 games), just because I didn't really sell too many of my games.

My strategy IS and WAS: Get games that I like to play, games that seem interesting, or games that I played as a kid (even if they suck). I'm mostly focused on NES/SNES. I try to get all the manuals for carts, and try to get complete stuff for CD/DVD games.

I've sold some R4-R6 before just because I didn't think they were particularly good games, and I used that money to buy other more common games that I might play.

I'm on a very limited budget (college) and limited for space, so my "strategy" has stayed the same. Collecting is pretty casual for me.

[Atari 5200]

Well, it all started about a year ago. The past Christmas I recieved a bike from my mother and went peddling all around town since I didn't have my liscense. I went as much as 15-20 miles from my house with nothing but a backpack to carry my finds and wallet to pay for them, on me everywhere I went. Mostly yardsales since flea markets were too far away. (I got my aunt to drive me to the flea markets) Yardsales didn't provide much for my collection, but it was better than nothing. Later that summer I found something that would change my life for ever...a job...with decent pay...I was doing factory work for twelve hours a day, five days a week, and only getting the weekend to look for games. I finally recieved a ford mercury topaz from my father and I was in business. Every weekend I went all over my hometown and around Elkin, Jonesville, and Wilkesboro to find deals. Pawn Shops, Flea Markets, Bargain Bins, Yard Sales, Auctions, Gamestores. I was all over the place and my paycheck was gone by the next monday. I spent about $200-300 a weekend on games. I was addicted. I first started out with collecting Nintendo, then that wasn't enough. Then it went to Super Nintendo. That wasn't enough. Then it was Gameboy. I then was happy with what I was collecting until one day at the flea market I finally ran into an Atari 2600 for $8. Atari 2600, cord cut in two, (something I knew I could fix) AC adaptor, with some common but good games. I took it home and hooked it up. After that, I started to collect EVERYTHING FOR EVERYTHING. Well, up to now I'm up to 930 total games. 25-30 systems, and a whole lot of bad deals from when I first started. That was a year ago, and I am now 19 years old. I'm in college and don't have any money to buy many games. My name is Atari 5200, and I am addicted to collecting.

[max 330 mega]

im 17, and started collecting when i was... either late 14, or very early 15.
at first my strategy was to collect everything possible from all gaming eras, but as time has gone by ive slimmed my collection, and my collecting habits down to only specific systems that i like the most.
i have also moved alot more towards online purchases versus thrift stores and pawn shops, partially due to not being able to find many games in my area that are worthwhile and decently priced, but also because most of the systems i focus on now are things like neo geo and import saturn titles, so obviously i cant just walk in a store and hope to find games for those.
that isnt to say that if i do find rare games in the wild, i would turn them down because they are for a specific system i dont collect for, i buy up anything rare regardless of the system, and hope that if i dont need it, someone here on DP will want it for their collection.

[Raedon]

32.. Started collecting a long time ago. Can't remember when I started at DP but it's been over 3 years.

I'm currently on hold until I buy a house as my collection is just huge and the thought of moving any more around doesn't appeal to me. Plus I got all the common, uncommon games for all systems and anything else I'd buy would be rare and not local anyway.

[DKTheArcadeRat]

15 years old (man, i am saying that a lot lately) started actually collecting a few years ago. Started playing when I was 3 and beat my first game(SMB) when I was 3 or 4.

My strategy, go to stores and flea markets to look for games I don't have. If they are cheap enough or I want it bad enough I usually buy it, I prefer cheap though as I don't have a job. But I have set a goal and that is to get every US released system + the games I want. So far I have well, just check the sig.

Dave

[DKTheArcadeRat]

15 years old (man, i am saying that a lot lately) started actually collecting a few years ago. Started playing when I was 3 and beat my first game(SMB) when I was 3 or 4.

My strategy, go to stores and flea markets to look for games I don't have. If they are cheap enough or I want it bad enough I usually buy it, I prefer cheap though as I don't have a job. But I have set a goal and that is to get every US released system + the games I want. So far I have well, just check the sig.

Dave

[GaijinPunch]

I'm 31, but I don't collect per se. I generally keep games that I will play again (in theory), or at least have the desire to play again. Basically, something I really like. My room of doom is very unimpressive by most standards, but I have had my greasy paws on well over 1000 games over the last few years, as I used to locate them for people.

[Haoie]

20 and a half, and I began almost 3 years ago.

My first game? Technically it was Need for Speed: High Stakes that came for free with my PS, but it's really my FF8.

And the first game I got online was of course, Silent Hill, which was kind of the whole point.

[Poofta!]

ill be 21 this july. i started when i was 19 or so. i first started doing only rpgs but soon narrowed to just the games i like for only a handful of consoles (atm, im trying to get all the games i like [to play] for genesis, ps, xbox, gba and kinda snes). i have about 250 games and am about 70 games away from completion.

[Simply Dave]

28 and I've been at it a long time

[MarkMan]

23 years old.

Started collecting seriously a few years ago, but I've been gaming since I was 4 or 5 !

[keiblerfan69]

I'm 17 and I have been collection since I was 14.

[kainemaxwell]

28 now, gaming most my life. Really started actually collecting after the DP Survivor game of a few years back actually.

[Jumpman Jr.]

20
I started collecting when I was 18, and haven't looked back yet.

[Fighter17]

16, and been collecting since October.

At October I was able to get money to buy a lot of games. Also in October my friend gave me a free Genesis Model 2 with games, and thus my collection began. I used to own a Genesis before, but my father force me to get rid of it. Since I'm order now, my father understands my hobby. I go to flea markets time to time just looking for games that I want to play. Most of the time I just look on the internet to find games that I'm looking for (with great luck). I have a list on this computer that tells me what games I want to buy for the Genesis/Sega CD. I use emulation to see if I like the game or not. If I like the game, well I buy it. As of right now my Genesis/Sega CD collection is over 30 games with five Japanese Megadrive imports and some rare games.

[BrokenFlight]

I'm 19. I've been collecting for a year now. I started with a Megadrive with 7 games, and a PS2 with 15 games. Now I've got over 220 games for 11 systems.

I mainly collect Megadrive games. I have over 70 of them. I usually buy whatever is available, if it's cheap enough. I'm thinking of selling the crappy games. I don't play them all too often and I sort of need the money.

I get questioned a lot by my cynical friends, who say it's a waste of money. I think the way I collect games is a bit of a waste, in that I don't just buy games I really want to play.

My collection is in my sig (When the site is back up) or a nearly complete list in my profile.

[Bratwurst]

I can't tell anyone my true age but I have been gaming for over 987 years, my earliest memories being a participant of the tribal dance of the M'tok Kunu in the dust plains of north west Africa. I have rolled the bone dice of the Leopard King in the Rhino's Horn and played tag with chimpanzee in the rolling woods of Tanzania.

[Iron Draggon]

I was 24 when I started collecting for the Genesis, which was in 1992. I'm 38 now. My strategy then was the same as it is now. I just try to buy games in "mini collections" whenever I can. Like all the games in a certain genre, or all the games in a certain series, or all the games by a certain developer. That way I always have something to be proud of along the way, which keeps me encouraged to continue collecting. It is way too frustrating to just get any old game here and there. That is why alot of young collectors give up on collecting, because they don't feel that they have really accomplished anything along the way. They just have a bunch of random old games. But if you do it with some sort of "mini goals" along the way, instead of just trying to attack it all at once, it becomes alot less intimidating and alot less discouraging. You can look at your mini goals and say to yourself, I can do that, it is not so many games. Then when you achieve one of your mini goals, you can be proud of your accomplishment and move on to the next one. And in the meantime you have something to show for it that you can be proud of while you work on the next one.

[kentuckyfried]

I'm 28 and have been collecting, selling off the whole thing and collecting (rinse, repeat), since I was 19.