Anyone else overwhelemed with their collection?

[calgon]

I recently re-organized my collection and realized that the majority of what I have is games that I will never have the desire to play/play again. I used to collect the games I just wanted to play, and by no means am I a completest. After going through everything I realized I have way too much "crap" for lack of a better word.

Anyone else feel this way?

[fcw3]

Yes and I don't know what to do about it. Cleaning out things, because I have so much, just seems daunting.

[Nebagram]

Indeed, but I can't bring myself to part with anything- even the stuff I know I'm likely to never play. I'm a compulsive hoarder- and proud of it. :p

[DragonmasterAlex]

I'm new at collecting videogames, so everytime I look at my collection I feel that everything I have is necessary. (Except maybe for those Japanese rpgs I'll never play...)

[JustRob]

I had this same problem a little while ago. I looked at my shelves and thought to myself "I have no desire to ever play this game" or "This game sucks too bad for me to ever want to play it again". So, why keep shit I don't really want? Sure, a wall of game cases is beautiful to behold, but games were meant to be played, not displayed. Pretty box or cart art is fine, and I'll keep those around for aesthetic value, but keeping walls full of games for the sake of having them is stupid for me.

So, I decided to start over. I'm liquidating everything I have but don't really want, and I'll be starting over. First, I'll reacquire what I had as a kid, at least the good stuff. Then, I'll go after the games I always wanted to play as a kid but never got the chance to. But I'll be doing it focused and one by one. That way, I can actually enjoy the games. Either for play value or aesthetics, in terms of artwork. The point is to only own what I want around me.

[DefaultGen]

.....

[Jorpho]

No, what saddens me is that so much of what I have is not crap at all, but it's probably going to take me years to get around to playing it anyway.

[coreys429]

My problem I was a collector/seller. Right now I have a bunch of stuff that I just want to sell. I might be filtering a lot of it through here. I don't have a lot of rare stuff but I do have the unique items that I just don't want anymore.

[ianoid]

After going through everything I realized I have way too much "crap" for lack of a better word.

Anyone else feel this way?


Every single goddamned day.

[snes_collector]

Your not alone, this a problem that most(if not all) collectors have. I know I have it aswell for sure. It also seems the more you get the harder it is the find something to play. It's overwhelming.

[Jackattack]

So, I decided to start over. I'm liquidating everything I have but don't really want, and I'll be starting over. First, I'll reacquire what I had as a kid, at least the good stuff. Then, I'll go after the games I always wanted to play as a kid but never got the chance to. But I'll be doing it focused and one by one. That way, I can actually enjoy the games. Either for play value or aesthetics, in terms of artwork. The point is to only own what I want around me.

I'm sure you know just as well as everyone else that sometimes memories are better left as just that. Too many games don't stand up to the test of time but I do see your desire to collect them and am certainly not advising against it... just making some conversation. I personally have found that most of the games I played as a kid are still great, but at the same time I didn't have too many to begin with.

Anyway back on topic, for me I don't really think I would use "overwhelmed" to describe me and my collection, it's more behind. I only have about 300 games and of the ones I sorta care about I only have like 25 that I need to beat... that sounds much worse than it is. The problem is that I can't ever resist not buying the new games and their seems to be an endless supply of games come up. Plus all the old stuff that just seems too large sometimes to even try to play them all. It's fun though and I don't see myself stopping anytime soon! Good luck everybody!

[calgon]

Your not alone, this a problem that most(if not all) collectors have. I know I have it aswell for sure. It also seems the more you get the harder it is the find something to play. It's overwhelming.

Exactly. I have this problem all the time, with the exception of a few quick pick-up-and-play games.

[Mayhem]

I got a lotta stuff here... more than some, less than others. But it comes from not having sold anything I've bought since 1984. That's a long time. It just keeps increasing :p

[pookninja]

i have also realised i have to many games,and that i most likely wont ever get around to playing a large percent of them.plus with all the current gen systems and all the virtual console/downloading,i have sold alot of classic games and figure if i want to play them again i could always download it on wii/xbox360/ps3.for example,i recently sold my complete copy of castlevania sotn,and then downloaded it for pretty cheap on my ps3/psp.

[NES_Rules]

I felt overwhelmed when I had my collection in my bedroom, but after moving it all into a separate room, I am happy. Sure, 80% of it is stuff I won't play for more than a couple minutes, but I just love collecting this stuff.

[Trebuken]

I find that it all has value. I don't just play games, or collect games any more, I examine them. I have started paying more attention to level design, graphics, and the general evolution of games. Popping in an old sports title, playing it for a few minutes then playing subsequent versions allows me to see what has changed - trends, etc.

[Kejoriv]

I did feel overwhelmed, until I sold 99% of my collection. I kept only my 360 and original xbox for emulation purposes. Sold everything else and made a small fortune. Haven't missed it yet and my credit card bills are almost gone!

[Streetball 21]

I sometimes look at my collection, but never look at it as crap. Maybe I dont have enough of it yet lol. But for some reason I dont see my self getting tired of collecting. Maybe until I run out of room or something.

[josekortez]

It's overwhelming for me space-wise. I moved into a smaller apartment last year when I relocated, and it makes it tough for me to find places to put games. Then, I find and buy more and don't play them right away. It gets to the point that I'm always running out of room for them. I even fall asleep with PS2 cases on the bed.

I'll be glad when I can move in the fall...

[Videogamerdaryll]

Yes....And I'd like to get rid of most of it...I just don't want to take a dump on it.

Thinking about it,looking what to sell first..

I just looked through a box of NES,SNES,GENNY,Atari,INTV etc manuals..Maybe 100-200 in the box..that I've been putting together for years..
I have a lot if the carts for the manuals but matching them up to them would take so long.:mad:
I'd like to get rid of the whole "heavy" box just taking up space but I know I'll take a huge loss on it...To ship it would be murder too....I started to spread them out to try and see what I had,take pictures and I don't have the room to do it..I'd have to take pictures of them in sets.
..taking the time later to match them to the games then selling the games with the manual may be more profitable though....Both ways is just a pain that I don't have time to do but I hate taking a loss on them..but then again them may not even be worth much all together.

[Ed Oscuro]

Yeah, I've got too much crap. Need to put together a sale sometime - if stuff doesn't sell and it's crap, I need to give it to the thrift.

[digitalpress]

Try looking at it the way I do.

I "maxed out" years ago. There is simply no more room to put stuff. Since the day I realized that (a day which you have also seemingly reached) I no longer ADD to my collection, I simply upgrade it. So when you get something really cool, add it to your collection and drop something else.

I'm pretty systematic about it, too. If I get a cool/collectible/minty PS1 game for example, I take it home and evaluate what I've got. If it's cooler/more collectible/more minty than something else in my PS1 collection, I remove something from my collection and add the new thing. The old thing then goes back to the store.

It's worked out really well for me, and I no longer have to worry about how much space I have. Try it!

[c0ldb33r]

I "maxed out" years ago. There is simply no more room to put stuff. Since the day I realized that (a day which you have also seemingly reached) I no longer ADD to my collection, I simply upgrade it. So when you get something really cool, add it to your collection and drop something else.
Great idea - this way you'll end up with a truly amazing collection. Personally, I'm much more impressed with quality over quantity.

[j_factor]

I am overwhelmed with my collection, but in a different way. I have too much non-crap. If I glance at any particular game, I'll think, yeah, I want to play that sometime (or I want to play it again sometime). But in aggregate I know I'll never find the time to play all of it. Even if I completely stopped buying games right now, I know it would take me several years to play everything I already have. So why do I keep spending my money?

I'm kind of embarassed about the fact that I have over 1100 games for 24 different systems. It's just way too much. In the presence of non-DP type people, it's socially awkward for me to admit to having so many videogames. But since I've been pretty good about only getting games that I'm actually interested in playing, there's not much crap to take out in order to slim it down. I mean, there's a few here and there that I could do without, but not enough to put a dent in my collection. The only way I can see for me to bring it down is to drop a few systems. But then I can't decide what systems to get rid of. Plus, the process of bringing it together, packaging it, and putting it up on eBay totally smacks of effort.

Sometimes I think I should just sell it all and "start over". But then I think of what a waste it is to sell off a game just to buy it back again (not to mention the net loss in money). Past regrets about selling off games have probably contributed to some sort of psychological clinginess. I also have a little bit of stuff that is very uncommon and would be difficult to replace should I miss it.

Actually, in my mind, I think of my having a vast game collection as being analogous to the personal libraries of yore. In old times, those who were well off (nevermind the fact that I'm not) would collect/keep a personal library of books. It wasn't necessarily a collection of books that had been read, either. But they were kept for when the desire should arise (or when needed for reference). My game collection is kind of like that. No, I haven't come close to playing even the majority of it. But I have the luxury of being able to say, "right now, I feel like playing Game X" and then just going over to my shelf and getting it. It's pretty cool. Is it worth it considering the money, time, and effort involved? In a word, no. But since I've already gone down that path, it's hard to stop.

[Tron 2.0]

My problem I was a collector/seller. Right now I have a bunch of stuff that I just want to sell. I might be filtering a lot of it through here. I don't have a lot of rare stuff but I do have the unique items that I just don't want anymore.
Ditto best way to go about it fliter out what your not playing any more and sell it.

That's how i go about it these days,let some body else get use out of the game then letting it collect dust.

I just sell it and it doesn't matter to me if the game is rare or common.

[strassy]

i think if you are finding that things are overwhelming, it's time to get rid of some stuff.

[Steven]

I'm a one-system man. Sure, there are limits, but it keeps things simple, and I'm at peace with what I have. I think that is the key. Being at peace with this hobby, by however means you gotta do it within legal and sane reason. One system is easy to focus on and keep the fire burning. With multiple systems it just gets too hard to pick out a game because you also have to decide which system you want to play. Having one system naturally narrows your choices and focus. Personally, I rather milk the shit out of one great system than trying to enjoy 10 systems. Too much clutter for my sanity. Don't get me wrong, I also play Saturn, Dreamcast, GBA and PS2... but very rarely do I these days.

[thetoxicone]

I didn't realize how much stuff I had around until my wife and I decided we are going to move in July and I must say it does feel real good to be cutting out a lot of the extra stuff that I don't touch in my collection. I can't wait until the weather warms some more and we have our garage sale with the items that we don't want to sell online (either for lower value items or bigger items that would be a pain to ship). So I guess what I'm trying to say was that the collection wasn't overwhelming to me until I thought about moving things 3000 miles and then having to set them reorganize them and that just didn't make sense for many of the items that have been sitting in boxes since I moved last.

P.S. go to my selling thread and buy my stuff.

[klausien]

See my sale thread in Buying and Selling...

My collection was just over 1500 pieces before I listed approx 500 of them last Friday. I am just trimming back a bit by selling what I know I never play, and will probably never play in the future. It's a nice refocusing, and I also am trying to raise some money in the process (obviously). I have really been maxed out in terms of space for the last year or so. It was getting out of control (though it only ever looked that way to me because I am so incredibly anal about my stuff), so I wanted to get a little breathing room in there.

It can be very overwhelming when deciding what to play, and clutter creates a situation where systems get neglected because there is $hit displayed in front of the games on the shelf. My NES is the perfect example. I know I would play my NES so much more, but I have my boxed/complete copies of Zelda, Zelda 2, Links Awakening, A Link to the Past & Ocarina of Time on display stands on my NES shelf. There's simply nowhere else to put them but I want to display them. I have to move them to even browse my NES collection. I really need a dedicated room of doom at this point, but that's not happening for a couple more years unfortunately.

As for the hobby, I love it and will never sell it all unless I am in dire straits and must. I have generally avoided buying crap for the sake of adding to the collection in general (i.e. I don't have a single sports game outside of a couple of tennis titles and the two NES Tecmo Bowls), but it still got to be a bit too much for my space. Joe's idea of upgrading is a good one and makes a lot of sense; especially from a collectors' standpoint. I might need to try that in the future.

[jhd7]

After amassing 771 NES games, the idea of playing them all became overwhelming. A few years ago I began selling them at the rate of 20 per week, keeping only the games I might actually play. The current collection stands at 150, mostly RPGs and classics. I've done the same thing with Coleco Vision... reducing the number from 143 to about 60. All of my SMS and 7800 games went out the door long ago. The only collection untouched: Turbo Duo, which is 2 games (Magical Chase, Dynastic Hero) from a complete US set.

The only collection that's growing: SNES, but the focus is on a select few. When finished, I'll have about 100, mostly RPGs. If I can only develop some time-management skills, I may actually play them all.

jeff d

[Jorpho]

I'm starting to wonder how any of this stuff can be sold at all, except at a very heavy loss.

[Bojay1997]

I'm starting to wonder how any of this stuff can be sold at all, except at a very heavy loss.

It depends. As someone who has sold items, and only then when I had another copy or the same system, I can tell you that the most difficult items to sell are low end items and very high end items. By this I mean junk systems you bought at a thrift years ago or at a swap meet in order to get the collection of games it came with, etc... Mostly, I either give them away or donate them back to a thrift since they aren't worth much and shipping and the hassle of shipping makes it not worth the time and effort. Similarly, items that are very rare, somewhat valuable and only a limited number of people collect are very hard to sell. It can take months to get a fair price and even then, I don't think you make a fair rate of return unless you got the item literally well below fair market value or at a time when people weren't collecting it. It seems like the stuff that you just assumed everyone already has is what has become the most lucrative and valuable nowadays (sealed games in mint shape starting with the NES era through the PSOne).

[Ed Oscuro]

I'm starting to wonder how any of this stuff can be sold at all, except at a very heavy loss.
Them's the breaks. Garbage in, garbage out!

[carlcarlson]

Nope, not anymore. Before I got my job I moved back in with my parents for a couple months. During that time I went through everything and sorted out all of the junk. I had over 600 NES duplicates, tons of random cords and accessories for different systems, and just a bunch of stuff. I've still got a lot of dupes left (it takes time to get rid of that many), but at least they're sorted out. I'm sure there will be another culling once my parents make me move all of my stuff to my new place, but that won't be too bad because I've realized that quality is really what matters.

[jhd7]

I'm starting to wonder how any of this stuff can be sold at all, except at a very heavy loss.

A bit of a brag...

I lucked out. My NES collection was built in the late 90's by scouring Funcoland, flea markets, and local newspaper ads. I'd also buy big lots on eBay, which made the price per game relatively low. Funcoland gave away boxes and manuals, which was huge in making 769 games complete.

I took losses on selling the SMS, 7800, and Game Gear sets. I may break even on Coleco Vision, tho I plan to keep 60 games. But I came out WAY ahead on NES. In fact, the profit on 600+ NES sales means I could give away everything that remains... 160 complete NES, 141 Duo, 90 complete SNES, and 60 CV... and still be several thousand dollars ahead.

I never intended to sell those NES games. In fact, they're in my will. But the thought of playing them all became so overwhleming, I had to cut back.

jeff d

[VitaminX]

QUALITY over quantity guys, Quality over quantity.

Something I have always failed to understand. Why do people BUY CRAP. There are literally hundreds/thousands of great games out there of which you will never have the time to finish if you played through them all. So why go out & buy CRAP when watching paint dry seems more pleasurable to the human eye.

My entire collection puts huge emphasis on Quality over quantity. These guys with massive collections brings no envy to my eyes at all. 2/10 games, poor games, Nein Danke.

[s1lence]

QUALITY over quantity guys, Quality over quantity.

Something I have always failed to understand. Why do people BUY CRAP. There are literally hundreds/thousands of great games out there of which you will never have the time to finish if you played through them all. So why go out & buy CRAP when watching paint dry seems more pleasurable to the human eye.

My entire collection puts huge emphasis on Quality over quantity. These guys with massive collections brings no envy to my eyes at all. 2/10 games, poor games, Nein Danke.

Then the question asks itself....why are you posting on a collectors website???

[zemmix]

I'm definately overwhelmed by the amount of crap I've managed to collect over time. Moving three times in the last 5 years is what really did me in. The last move I put everything in a 10x10 storage room which pretty much sealed the deal for me to sell it all. Now selling it has become a daunting task as well! And I have to have it all sold in 10 months. Oi vey!

Great time to be a buyer!

[Amnion-Chorion]

Oh yeah, I know I have been. I buy tons of games, but I only buy those which seem worth playing to me. Of course, I know I'll never get around to playing every one. Therefore, I've decided to sit down, go through my list of games, and try out each one that I'm not certain is worth keeping, and make a decision: keep or sell.

I really think that's the ideal way to trim down an overwhelming collection.

[bangtango]

I've gotten rid of close to half of my collection in the past 12 months. This includes systems and games. The feeling I had was one of relief.

Previously, I was left with two choices.

1. Either concentrate on two to three dozen games at the same time, which means I make very slow progress in all of them.

2. Concentrate on just two or three games I need to finish while I have a pile of other games (i.e. the two or three dozen mentioned above) just sitting around and collecting dust.

I used to have to force myself to play stuff, just to justify the time or money I spent to acquire it. So I sold a good portion of it off.

[RadiantSvgun]

I'm running out of room in my apartment. I need to get some DVD racks to put the more modern stuff, and leave the shelves for the older stuff. Why did ps3 and blu-ray have to come in those odd cases?