Do you still collect the way you did when you started?

[blue lander]

Back when I started collecting years and years ago, the main way I got stuff was through thrift stores. So I learned to buy every videogame I could find for a cheap price, even if I didn't like the game or if I didn't have the system. Because I might get the system some day, and maybe the game might be rare even if it isn't good, or maybe my tastes in games might change at some point. But most of all, each game I got meant another game on the shelf, and it made my collection look that much larger. I'd even store a game's cartridge and the box itself seperately so it'd look like I had more than I really did.

These kinds of habits continued to when the thrifts dried up and I started buying online. I'd rather pay 10 bucks for 100 crappy games I'd never play rather than 10 bucks for a masterpiece that I'd play to death. It got even worse when I started importing. Since shipping was more expensive, it seemed better to buy a bunch of crap games in bulk than a few good games because the game cost to shipping cost was better.

Then I started obsessing with rare and obscure games. I'd happily pay 100 dollars for 10 crap PC-8801 games on disks that probably were bad in the first place, and I'd pass up terrific Super Famicom games just because they weren't obscure enough.

My method was all well and good if you were looking to build up a large, exotic library of games, but what about when you sit down and actually want to play something good? And while it looks impressive, sometimes I wish I could use the space some of my more useless games use up for something more practical. So only now am I finally buying games because they're good, not because they're cheap or exotic. I might spend more money, but at least I have something worth the money I spent on it, and something I can actually enjoy.

Do you find you still have the same collecting habits over the years, or have you shifted them once you've had more experience?

[Scream And Fly]

Thanksfully, I have most of what I always wanted, so I'm much more casual about collecting now. I think I enjoy it more this way too :)

[neogamer]

Thanksfully, I have most of what I always wanted, so I'm much more casual about collecting now. I think I enjoy it more this way too :)

No. I am more selective. I have always only bought new, so that was never a problem.

I do like imports a lot more than US games lately. The Sega Ages series for the Playstation 2 (Japanese) is a great series and has made me a true beleiver in Sega again!

I have two 10X10 climate controlled storage units filled with my collection and yet I still collect. Everything is MINT like new in the box. Most of it was only played once, then gently placed in storage.

Over the years I have become more of a collector than a gamer. I think this is because of CD based games. I used to play cartridge based games more, because you didn't have to worry about condition. Now, since all I collect are mint games...

I'm more of a collector...sounds crazy I know....

[erehwon]

I'm still collecting the same way, though I've only been collecting for a few years. I basically collect RPGs for any system and any other quality games. I like to find the best and most fun games a system has to offer. The only thing that has really changed for me is that I'm not finding much at goodwill any more, which is the only type of thrift store in my area. The only classic stuff I get is from garage sales.

[FlufflePuff]

My story started very similar to yours. When i first started, I would snap up any game at a thrift/pawn store just to ad it to the collection. This caused my collection to balloon massively at first. I passed 1500 games very quickly, when I suddenly realized that I had a bunch of games I never played, and was mostly playing PS2 and Gamecube games because all of the classics I had were crap. Only recently have a toned it down and focused more on the great games that are expensive, and the few games that I've always skipped over to complete collections. For example, I never wanted to pay !100+ for Spiderman on the 32x, but it's the last game I need and its high time I wrap that one off. So now I buy less games, more online, but tend to play them more.

[TheDomesticInstitution]

Well, I have always hated paying 50 bucks for a game. I have done that less than 10 times in my life. It has to be a game I really want to play, then I'd shell it out. I have always bought a new system a year or two into its lifespan, fter it has come down in price- which is why the latest systems I have are XBOX and GC. I like to buy games that are below 20 bucks- so I go to pawn shops and such looking for them. In the past I have also sold games after playing them, so I could afford to buy new ones... Fast forward to several months ago... I still don't pay over 15 or so dollars for games, but now I keep the games I get- as I have become aware of the rise of lucrative prices for older games, now I hold onto the ones I buy, or rebuy ones that I loved to play that I sold. I do not want to have to pay someone 60 bucks for a common game that I once paid 10 bucks for, in the future, for someone looking to make a quick buck. I have always liked to collect things, and usually hold on to those collections- I have rarely ever collected something in hopes of reselling the item. So I'm slowly buying back those old games I used to love, so I don't have to pay out the ass for them in the future, when I want to play them again. Right now I'm taking advantage of all the awesome sales on the previous gen systems, for games I might want to play down the road.

[PapaStu]

Not really, but thats because i've gotten older and have bills and other things (saving for a house, children) that are much more important to worry about. Yes I still buy good and bad stuff with great regularity, but i'm not doing it for nearly as many systems as I used to.

[Pantechnicon]

I've been collecting since 1995 up until fairly recently I've been a regular thrift store hound. But in the last year or so I've gotten away from thrifts in a big way. My new job affords less free time to browse. Additionally, if I do go, the finds simply aren't there. This thrift store dearth is due, I think to a combination of the competition from early-bird Fleabayers and what I imagine is a shift in second-hand console distribution, i.e. - Nearly everybody who had an Atari 2600 or an Intellivision to give away to the thrift has already done so. Regardless, it is increasingly not worth my time to go thrifting anymore.

I'm not a big supporter of Ebay either, so I guess from here on out most of my finds are going to come from the two local shops I frequent, shows like CGE (where this year I still only spent 1/3 of what I budgeted), or plain dumb luck. Who knows? Maybe I'll spend more time frequenting B&S here at DP.

Whether by choice or circumstances, "Less amassing, more playing" will be my general gaming philosophy for 2008.

[Aswald]

Excellent question.

The answer, sadly, is no.

The reason is simple: when I had renewed interest in the ColecoVision in 1993, it was possible to find much in the way of ColecoVision stuff in garage sales and second-hand stores with a decent chance of success.

But as of 2001 (and this is stretching it- the find was instruction booklets), things have all but dried up. Perhaps this has to do with a time window for collecting old game things, and the Colecovision's time has passed.

Or maybe it's where I live- Central New York.


If any of you ever happen to be going through here, let me warn you about something- never, never, EVER believe someone who says "oh, yeah, I got some games for that, I'll bring them (whenever)." If it's not right there, where you can buy it then and there, don't believe that it exists.

Two weeks ago Saturday I was going through town after working on a house. There were several garage sales. At one, I mentioned collecting for "NES or earlier." One of the people there said they had some old ColecoVision games (he brought up the name; I never mentioned it) at his parents' house, come by later.

So, since I was passing by again, I did.

"Oh, uhhh, we got them, they're in a box right on the table, but, uh, she forgot them." So, get them later.

Next day, I was going through again. All of the stuff from the day before was there, but there was no sign of any of them. Odd- anyone could just steal anything- and did I hear something in the house?

Having lived around here for 14 lousy years, I was able to guess what had happened- the Moped makes a distinct noise, so they heard me coming.

So, I went up the road aways, and stopped for some ice cream. After about 10 minutes, I went back, coasting down the hill, but with lights on (so I wouldn't get a ticket). Call it "stealth mode."

LO AND BEHOLD, there they were! Golly, what a surprise. Too late they saw me, and so...even though they had started to get up (all of them?)...

"Look, do you have them, or don't you? Really."

"Uh, yeah, we do have them."

Several phone calls later (they have my phone number, but never used it), the last being a few days ago, it just continued.

Normally, I give up after the second time, but I just wanted to hear the endless excuses. Rather than just admitting that they were (most likely) Atari 2600 games, they just keep this charade up.

In the mid-1990s, a slackjaw in a trailer park had PAC-MAN for the ColecoVision (right). I was going by the next day she was there, and...

"Uh, I didn't bring it, because it's broken."

"So? It would still prove that it exists. I'll still pay for it (as if I didn't know...)"

"Uh, I can't get it now."


This is typical for this area. So again: if it's not right there, do not bother going back. They don't have it, and will not just admit it.

[smokehouse]

Meh…I haven’t changed much…possibly I’ve slowed down a bit. When I first started back around 1996 you could find GOOD (and I mean good) NES titles at most local area pawnshops for $2. I clearly remember getting River City Ransom and Final Fantasy for well under $10 for the pair. SNES games were a different story however…

Anyway, after realizing that most “rare” games are often not fun to play…I stick to what I really want. I don’t buy for numbers and for the most part, I don’t care if it’s a “R8”…

Most collection with 1000’s of titles are rarely played, I play my titles often (it may take me some time to get to the but I’ve played every game I own).

I buy slowly and get the big stuff. When I started it was the NES, SNES, Genesis, Master System etc...now it';s the Neo Geo, PC Engine, etc...

More spending cash = more costly systems.

[blue lander]

Same here. Better to save up and buy something good or at least unique or noteworthy rather than nickel and diming yourself to death by buying cheapo NES games every other day.

I really miss the thrift store scene of the mid 90's. You could go to the same thrift store every weekend and find a new stack of Atari or Intellivision games for 25 cents a pop. Granted they were mostly Pacman and Combat, but you could almost always go to a few thrift stores and come back with a stack of games you didn't already have. I can't even remember the last time I saw a pre-NES game at a thrift store that I didn't already have.

I'm actually more suprised when I find a stack of RCA Studio II games or something at a thrift store. Who would hold on to those games for 30+ years and then suddenly just give them away?

[Aswald]

Probably forgot they even had them, and stumbled on them when clearing out the house. They then just got rid of them.

[tritium]

I've never had a lot of luck at thrift stores. Since the major chains no longer carry older games pre ps2 it's been really hard to get older games. So I generally only get the ones I really want to play. So collecting has indeed changed quite a bit for me. Even for dreamcast, what I primarily collect has almost come to a halt due to lack of local availability. Having to order each individual game sucks.

[Aswald]

You do wonder where exactly most of the old games end up. Landfills? Hidden in some dusty old cardboard box in basements?

[Arasoi]

I used to collect local when I first started, 8-9 years ago. But where I was at the time did not have a lot of game stores/shops that had reasonable prices, or stock of older games.

When I started collecting the import titles I pretty much had to go online to get what I was after. Nowadays its more or less all online transactions for me.

[VACRMH]

Things have changed quite alot from when I started collecting years ago, but I think I mentioned some of the details in another thread.

Anyways, back then I bought anything I could that was videogame related. I was going for full collections, variants, who cared.

But then I looked around and realized that so many of the games I owned were total crap that I was never interested in playing, and I started getting rid of them. Selling a few crappy games usually ment I could buy a good game, it was a nice trade. I don't have the room, money or desire to own something i'm not going to play (or watch and listen - Movies and CDs).

Maybe someone is enjoying my old copy of Battle Monsters for Playstation, but I sure wasn't.

[Slate]

It's changed for me. Back then I bought and kept about everything. Now I don't buy very much, It's all about playing the 360 now.

[cyberfluxor]

I change my habits all the time.

In the beginning it was buy every game under $10, loose or complete, that I had played before at a friends house or heard from others is a good game. This didn't take my money far but I played the hell out of those first Genesis and Nintendo64 games I bought with my own hard-earned minimum wage job cash back in 2003. :D

Almost 2 years later I finally discovered thrift and pawn shopping, as for some reason I never thought about buy games or other things from there. Man was it great to actually find another place besides Game Stop or EB Games to puchase videogames! It took awhile to figure out what places weren't worth a damn to visit and the others that had good, cheap finds and began to just buy into random games I'd never heard of because what's $1 when you find a new gem to play? If it turned out to be a real stinker, oh well.

Now we're in mid/late 2005 and I started to adventure into independant game shops and finding their prices high however they had games I'd never seen and REALLY wanted. I didn't buy into much however there were new places to dig and chat with fellow classic/retro gamers.

In winter 2005 to spring 2006 I decided to look at eBay for bulk Saturn auctions to beef up what I had. I won several decent auctions that booted me to over 70 games on the system, which was a good position. It died down because it appeared more were bidding for the Saturn and prices per game weren't becomming practical. I now just buy them singularly whenever they show up locally.

Today, I'm trying to only buy CIB cart games (but I can't pass up on supurb loose deals) to try and slowdown on the ever growing eyesore of stacked loose carts. CD based games are easily found complete so right now those systems are getting the most expansion. Also, my taste of buying has changed to where I'm not looking for bulk random buys, instead games I know I'll like or others have suggested, much like earlier on. I'm alright with spending the few extra bucks but I'm not about to add top-dollar items at the moment.

[RJ]

My folks bought all the games back then, of course- Xmas/bdays were key, & other times during the year I guess, w/ a bit of begging. ;) I had no collecting drive then, I saved the boxes initially but tossed them out eventually, though I think in the back of my mind I knew I wasn't ever quitting video games.

Years later I KNEW this was my ideal hobby & once I had income/buying power, bought what I wanted (not necessarily everything I saw.) I'd been an ATARI fan(boy?) & never thought I'd own Nintendo, Sega or Sony products, but when someone offered/I found them used, I bought them. Got a bare SNES for $4 at Goodwill, & my Playstation, Genesis, & 2 VCSs & various games from co-workers.

Not long ago I saw I had too many games. Adult life "interfered" & I started selling/trading back. I had a sizable purge last yr but did buy a Colecovision & Yobo (keeping those collections small), & now (w/ unavoidable upcoming life events) I'm in constant downsize mode, but I still visit local shops & buy a game or 2 but rarely binge & I WILL NOT buy games over $25- even $20 seems high now! I always think about what games to keep & which I won't miss. Ideally I'd keep 10-12 games for each system I have, but reducing my 60+ PS2 games is gonna be tough.

Lately I'm thinking what games are kid/family-friendly, & keep/get those. Start out w/ the ol' Atari & work up to PS2, just like I did. Current-gen consoles be damned. Yep, I said it. Right now it's all about classic gaming magazines.

[Nate Nanjo]

Not really, but thats because i've gotten older and have bills and other things (saving for a house, children) that are much more important to worry about. Yes I still buy good and bad stuff with great regularity, but i'm not doing it for nearly as many systems as I used to.

Same boat I'm in. Since my son was born, it hasn't been the same.

I'm still buy here and there for my 3 collections. But I dropped trying to collect for every system I had. I was trying PS2, DS, SNES, PS, Gamecube and N64. Now its only for SNES, PS and Gamecube.

[ubersaurus]

I always had a certain method to my madness. If there were a lot of games cheap, I'd get em. If they were pre-NES games, and I didn't own them, I'd snap them up in an instant. Lots of games from that era I'm not familiar with, and wanted to try out. Everything after that, I was pickier; I'd only get the games I wanted. Part of it is a space concern, part of it money. Rarely would I go online to buy stuff.

Nowadays, it's mostly the same. Still don't like shopping online. Most of the classic game sources around here are dried up, even for NES, Genesis, or Playstation era stuff. As such I simply don't spend as much as I used to, but I still hunt the same way.

[Kid Ice]

Nope.

There's this movie called "Major Payne" where Damon Wayans is this crazy army dude, and he gets discharged because there are no more wars to fight. He is told "Sorry Payne, there is no one else to kill...you've already killed everyone".

When I first started collecting I thought "Man, I've got to get me some of those Coleco tabletops! And an Astrocade! And a Vectrex 3D Imager! Boy I could really use a PC full of old arcade games!"

Check check check check. Every game I've ever wanted I already bought. I'm looking at a list of 50 or so games I need for collection purposes. Then I'm done.

[cheshire191]

I pretty much collect the same way I always have.

I really enjoy the research alot more than the physical collecting. I really like to learn about the systems and the games and the go 'on the hunt' and see what I may or may not find.

I also like to learn the value of things.

case in point, I was at an auction and picked up a lot box of genesis stuff for 8 bucks, anyway I was able to turn a system and a few games over on ebay for 30 and can now use that money to pick up a rare game or two I want for my private collection.

dunno if that makes me a true collector or just a video game pimp :) but I've always worked it this way.

-chesh

[blue lander]

I've also changed my outlook on buying games online. When I started, hunting for games by going to flea markets, thrift stores, and used game shops was just as central to the hobby as playing the games themselves. The hunt was what was important. If you went to a dozen thrift stores every week and eventually found a super rare game or system for 3 bucks, you actually earned it. If you spent 100 dollars to get that same game/system on ebay, you were cheating and you weren't a true classic gamer.

... But then I got a job. While I was in college I could spend a couple hours a week going to thrift stores between classes, and it paid off. But when you can only go on weekends, your finds tend to dry up. Plus you'd have to get up early if you wanted to find anything at all, and that's the last thing I want to do with my saturday (especially if I was out getting wasted the night before). I realized that buying a game on ebay wasn't cheating because you have to work damn hard to make enough money to pay ebay prices. And while digging through thrift stores is fun, working isn't.

[Single Player Gamer]

I started by buying everything I could for the systems I owned. Right around 700 or so I slowed down in a big way when the local game shops closed and rhino was bought out. No place left to go to get games in my area.

Now I have decided that I will save my money buy all the consoles I want since they tend to be the biggest up front cost and work on playing all my games. I pick some games and try to play through the series. If I dont own a part I buy it online. An example being Cardfighter clash....I have the SNK version so I played it but before I play the DS Version I will get the capcom one and play it.

I just have slowed way down on colecting for the sake of playing and instead of having complete collections which is very difficult, I want to try for complete series (us release only).

I'm sure in the future I'll change that up too.

[otaku]

always bought my games based on what I like to play and whether I had the system or not (or could get one) and usually bought online or at a local game store (not branches really)

[Barbarianoutkast85]

I collect basically the same, when i see something I want I buy it. I dont get anything on the internet, only if I find something in the wild, or a trade.

[TheDomesticInstitution]

And while digging through thrift stores is fun, working isn't.

None truer words spoken... I hate work.

[CreamSoda]

I have just recently changed my "collecting" style. When I first started collecting videogames(in the Summer of 2002), I would buy up every game/system I could find. This went on for about four years, and then I finally realised, I had plenty of games laying around, but very few that I actually wanted to play.

By the beginning of 2007, I was pretty much burned out. I got to thinking that I missed the fun of gaming, not the "thrill" of collecting.

My current goal is to downsize my collection by over half I am getting rid of all the games/systems that I do no play or enjoy. It feels good to be a gamer again, and not just a "collector"

[ConsoleFreek]

I never realized I was a collector for years, I would just buy games I wanted and would never sell them I would just put them in a box in the garage.

Then one day I went to a garage sale and the guy was going overseas, he wanted to get rid of all his N64 games, all 60 of them, I bought the lot for $14 AUS.
The single best buy I have ever had. They where all ex rental, no boxes but is was a steal.
Ever since then I have keep my eye open for bargain consoles or games and I mainly buy from garage sales or markets , I do keep going to ebay these days so I can complete my N64 collection.
I used to just buy the games I like but since I now have kids I buy a lot more stuff to suit them rather than myself.

I also teach my kids gaming history so maybe one day when I give my collection to them they will continue collecting.

[Griking]

When I started collecting I would pretty much picking up everything that I'd find. Of course this was before eBay was what it is now and things were a lot cheaper in the wild. Nowadays as my collection has grown and my game room basement is filling up I find that I'm much more selective and pass on things that I would have bought in the past.

[mailman187666]

when i started collecting i was making a lot of rookie mistakes like paying to much for stuff or think something may be worth more than it really was. But now since I've learned a lot, I don't buy as much games. I still go into shops and flea markets when i have a chance though. I used to spend entire paychecks (minus what i needed for bills and essentials) on classic stuff. I've mainly been buying newer games though lately. Blue Dragon, the daxter psp, then today i will probably buy eternal sonata. I am also currently moving so I haven't had the time to go on the hunt lately. Once I'm all settled, I'm going to see how much room I'm gonna have at my new house and decide whether or not buying shit loads more games will destroy me or not.

[BydoEmpire]

It's totally changed. I used to pick up boxes of Atari stuff at garage sales, and occasionally drive out to the Mom & Pop used game store a couple towns over. Now it's either ebay, another online retailer, or an occasional trip to Flea World. And now I end up buying specific items, rather than super cheap boxes of random stuff. :)

[TheDomesticInstitution]

Isn't Flea World out in sanford? Ive been there a few times- I went to the daytona one last weekend and its a horrible place for collectors... I see 49.99 dirty SNES systems, and horribly inflated game prices at the two game stores there. Is it the same at flea world? I haven't checked there lately. Flea Markets sure have changed in the past years haven't they?

[BydoEmpire]

Isn't Flea World out in sanford? Ive been there a few times- I went to the daytona one last weekend and its a horrible place for collectors... I see 49.99 dirty SNES systems, and horribly inflated game prices at the two game stores there. Is it the same at flea world? I haven't checked there lately. Flea Markets sure have changed in the past years haven't they?Yep, that's the same one, but I've had good luck there (granted, I only make it out a couple times a year). I got a working 2-port 5200 w/ working joystick and a couple games for $35. Game Trader's usually has a good selection of Sega CD games cheap (CIB Lords of Thunder $10, sealed NBA Jam TE $0.99, etc). I've gotten good deals on loose 2600 games, too. NES and SNES games seem to be on the high side, but Genesis stuff has been fairly reasonable. I've gotten some good DC deals at another dealer... I forget the name... Cybertronix? There was a 3rd dealer that has cheap ($0.25-$1) loose Genny games, but they weren't there the last time I went.

[Haoie]

I've kind of exhausted this country's [NZ] supply of games I want and are still available, so I don't buy things nearly as often as I used to.

Mind you, if I see something I want, I still get it, but now I hardly ever see something I want and don't own. Just stuff I don't own and don't want.

[108Stars]

I didn´t buy old games till two years ago. However I always kept every console and all games I owned in their time.
Now I´m buying cheap games to let my collection grow, along with a few more expensive ones every once in a while.

[Dark_Sol]

Well as for me i've been collecting since 1996.
We always had VERRYY few original stuff here in Russia. But i was always addicted to it, not to numerous chinese boots.
I had very few titles but noone else had em. And an original genny that a friend of mine bought whoknowshowlongago in japan.
Then in around 1998 i turned to PC stuff, sold all my sega "collection" and bought software titles like Diablo etc...
Hehe. I never thought i'd start buying all this again. But with internet, job and more funds it all went on like a crazy ride. I knew i always was addicted to videogames like noone else or very few here in Russia....Well since then i started building my collection from scratch. I opened the gates of ebay and they swallowed my brains. LOL
At first i was like madman buying stuff "i thought was rare". Well. Everything was RARE for me! Years later i realised it was not that rare. I got experience and i know prices and rarity for every thing i need. And really buy only the most interesting stuff.
I still buy a lot. Even more then years ago i guess. However now it's more directed buys. Things i need do not pop all the time and it's a nice hunting process.

[108Stars]

@Dark_Sol
Today I am after bootlegs and find them cooler than originals!

[Dark_Sol]

@Dark_Sol
Today I am after bootlegs and find them cooler than originals!
haha!! yearh. But not for me because they are everywhere i go! LOL

[Zebbe]

I've decided to only collect the rare or expensive stuff from now on. When I'm done with it, I'll go on to the cheaper games.

[Rogmeister]

I don't buy games like I used to...I just can't play all the games I have now let alone more. So lately I've only been getting games for two systems, one console and one portable and I haven't been buying that many for those. Of course, I don't have any of the newer consoles or I might be buying more...

[neogamer]

Yes, one thing I do wish is for more time.

I literally have boxes full of unopened games! I buy them and don't even get a chance to play them!

Worst yet, is when I order new import games from NCS and Play Asia, and don't even have the time to open the boxes to verify the contents!

It has gotten so bad, I have been getting two boxes a day via UPS and can't keep up.

I guess I should slow down on my collecting, but one thing about buying imports is that once their gone, they are hard to get. This is especially true when you only buy NEW!

I generally then, open the game up, play it once, and it gets put into long term storage. Crazy, huh?

I have a lot of great games though. It was hard to put down the controller on both Yakuza (American version) and Radiant Silvergun-when I bought that new for $65.00 many years ago!

[Promophile]

I guess my old mentality was "gotta catch em' all". Then I realized I didn't have any interest in 100 different madden games. I thought about collecting every release for certain systems, but got burned out on that because I realized just how much of every system's library was crap, and how much I'd be spending on said crap.

My current mentality, which I'm pretty sure I'm sticking with, is to collect for quality and condition. I want mint complete copies of GOOD games, or games that interest me for some reason.

[blue lander]

I thought about doing the "every game for a system" thing, but that can get pricey even for systems with small libraries. Most systems have at least one super hard to get game you'll spend too much time and money finding. And since every system has more bad games than good games, all your efforts net you far less enjoyment then if you just go after good games.

Back when I was in highschool, I'd just save up enough money throughout the week that I could spend $20 once or twice a month at thrift stores. I could almost always net a dozen or so Atari 2600 games I didn't already have for 50 cents each, and I could take the money I had left to Funcoland and get a decent NES game or two. So if I took a chance on buying a 2600 game I've never heard of and it turned out to be crap, all I'm out is 50 cents. These days with shipping prices and E-bay fees and whatnot, Even taking a chance on a really cheap game means you wasted a noteworthy amount of money.