Had to vent

[KHELVIN]

I realize I'm not well known here so let me start by saying I've been collecting for nearly 20 years and had to vent to some people that may understand.....

I have this non-collecting friend who less than a week ago called me up and said, "Think I'm gonna collect for the NES" Great, I said and told him local places I go and whatnot to find games. He calls me less than an hour later with a list of games he picked up, one of which is a minty fresh Bubble Bobble 2.....with manual... for 16 bucks. Of course I'm jealous, but tell him the games value and rarity and congratulate him on his find.

Two days later he calls and tells me he has a co-worker that he mentioned his new found passion for, and said co-worker replies, "Well I have a ton of games I'll sell you" At...a dollar a game. When he rattled off the titles I again cursed the nintingods for mocking me.... Fire and Ice, all 6 mega mans, all 3 Lolo's, Contra 1, and 2, and about, FIFTY more, with almost zero commons. Well again I try to hide my green eyes, and relate that many of his games are indeed good buys, not that you can really go wrong with a dollar per game. So now I'm trying very hard to not be a D0uchebag and tell him he's a p00pie head, as I'm lucky to score "Finds" like this once per year or two, and I look almost daily. Anyhow I really am happy for the guy, but still,... I needed to vent.

[Richter Belmount]

Bad place to do this boy , instead of complaining try to learn how he got that stuff easily himself. Dont just sit in your chair all passive agressive.

[KHELVIN]

He bought the BB2 at a game store I was at the day before, and as for the others, sheer luck? I guess I kinda feel like someone who plays the lotto every week for years, only to have a friend win on the first ticket they buy. Sorry about compaining, but when you work at something for years and see someone succeed easily and near effortlessly, you can't help but feel a bit slighted. As for complaining here, I apologize. I have no retro gaming friends in the real world, (minus the new one mentioned) and the other friends I have can't understand why I want old games I could just download for free... I really am happy about it, as at least it was a friend and not some nameless whomever, and perhaps with his early luck he won't drop the idea of collecting and I'll finally have a friend that I can discuss my passion with. Thanks for the reality check, and again sorry about posting about it here.

[Steven]

It's all about where your heart lies. And your perspective. Instead of feeling jealous or even slighted, just be happy for the guy. He is your friend. He just happened to be at the right place at the right time. I had a guy who once congratulated me on a holy grail-esque eBay win, an auction in which he was watching but forgot all about. I posted my 9 month journey story on it, and somehow he happened to read it.

He was genuinely excited that I won it.

It comes and goes. Be happy with what you got, and never get jealous at what others have. You'll only end up being miserable (and possibly even jaded).

[KHELVIN]

You are of course right, I'm quickly becoming embarrassed by my initial jealocy. Thanks for the perspective

[Cornelius]

Right there with you Khelvin. That'd be really frustrating.

[megasdkirby]

Things like this happens everyday.

For instance, at work I attend the customer entering the department, when I realize he/she won't buy anything. During that time I am attending (and trying to hurry up the process to attend someone that will purchase something) I almost always have the bad luck that during that time, someone that WILL purchase something arrives, and I attend them because I'm still attending the one who won't purchase anything. Argh...

Same thing with games, actually. My friend can find a nice, cheap copy of a rare game while I am still looking for it desperately. What's worse is that said friend later sells the game because "he got tired of it". Argh...

Not much you can do, unfortunately. Just try not to let it get to you.


It comes and goes. Be happy with what you got, and never get jealous at what others have. You'll only end up being miserable (and possibly even jaded).

100% agree. Things happen for a reason, I always think. If you lost an oportunity to get a game, don't worry as it will eventually come back...maybe even cheaper! :)

[Arkhan]

look all you have to do, is rob your friend blind while hes sleeping and never tell him about all your "newly purchased" rare games.

:-D

seriously though, there will be more raers to go around for everyone. I wouldn't fret toooo hard.

some of the games could be broken! Optimism!

[cityside75]

If you have games he wants, why not propose a trade. Isn't that one of the benefits of having another collector nearby?

Also, if you aren't sure he's in this for the long haul, then you may get a shot at them when he moves on to another hobby.

The glass is half-full ;)

[BetaWolf47]

While I agree you should be celebrating his luck, I too would feel extremely jealous of him.

[ottojello]

I never give tips to "friends" on where to look for games, did someone tell you about all the good places to look or did it take you years of trial and error to find the best spots. Someone asks me, I tell them to check Ebay.

[Hari Seldon]

Shit happens. Anyway, look at the bright side, once he tires of collecting you can easily buy his collection.

[kaedesdisciple]

If he went when you weren't planning on going anyway, someone else would've snatched them up and you never would have known they were there in the first place. Get some good collecting karma and be happy for your friend. At least you know they're going to a good home.

[GameBoyGeek]

Though I agree with what most people are saying about being happy with the fact that your friend is finding such great deals I completely understand your frustration. I mean its like....Ok I collect hotwheels care and since January 5th I've been looking for the Hotwheelse ecto 1 and have had ) success. If a fellow hotwheels collector called me and told me he was going to start collecting hotwheels today and goes out tomorrow and finds 6 of those cars plus treasure hunt cars as well then yeah id be totally frustrated. Another example is I...never mind I don't think that is going to be appropriate....:monkey:

[Shadow Kisuragi]

If it makes you feel better, I decided I'd start collecting again and a week later found Cheetahmen II for $3.

...no? I tried.

In all seriousness, ask if your friend would like to trade some of his games or offer to pitch in on some of his finds so that you guys can split it. Instead of making it competitive, make it a co-operative effort.

I've done that with a couple active collectors in the area. We'll keep in touch about various different games we're actively looking for in our collections and notify the other if we find it or pick it up. Craigslist finds are also another effort - someone was looking for boxed NES games and a Craigslist ad was mentioned about NES games. He went and got 45 boxed NES games (all uncommon) for $100. I hate him for it (good find), but I also know that he'll kick back some of those games for me that he doesn't want for his collection.

[lagartija_nick]

Lets face it, this hobby is all about luck. Most of us want that extremely rare game for a low price.

You can put in all the work you want and never come across what you want. You have to learn to enjoy the hunt or you will be way to frustrated.

Just be happy for your friend. He is your friend after all. Friendship is more important than any game.

Somewhere along the line you will scoop up things other people want and they too will feel jealous. Its all relative.

[Gameguy]

Maybe he's just making it up as a joke? If it's all true, it's still ok. You can't always get all the best finds. You'll find some really cool stuff too, just be patient.

It's kind of funny, a few years ago a co-worker of mine who also was into older games said he had a copy of Bubble Bobble Part 2 that he would just give to me. We just were talking about rarer games and I mentioned a few, and he said he found that for $5 at a flea market and didn't know it was valuable(I told him it was worth quite a bit, but he didn't care about the value). It was packed away in a box of old gaming stuff so he couldn't get to it right away, but I ended up changing jobs before he could get to it. We haven't really stayed in touch so I probably missed out on it, these things happen.

I also missed out on a craigslist posting a few days ago. It was a Sega Saturn with several complete games all for $50. A few of the games were pretty good.

The games were;
Virtua Fighter
Virtua Fighter 2
Daytona USA
Virtua Cop
Dragon Force
Skeleton Warriors
Iron Storm
Independence Day

[Steven]

I also missed out on a craigslist posting a few days ago. It was a Sega Saturn with several complete games all for $50. A few of the games were pretty good.

The games were;
Virtua Fighter
Virtua Fighter 2
Daytona USA
Virtua Cop
Dragon Force
Skeleton Warriors
Iron Storm
Independence Day


4 years ago, when Game Crazy still carried a decent selection of SNES titles, I went to the Game Crazy's 45 minutes from my house, hoping to find some gems. When I came back I checked CL and saw a great ad for several games for a good deal. Emailed him but was too late. It wasn't a steal or anything, but it was a good deal. I remember kicking myself especially after NOT finding anything at those Game Crazy's. So I wasted gas for nothing AND missed out on a good CL deal.

I was kicking myself for at least a few days over that, but eventually bought those same CL games on eBay for good prices individually.

It's all about luck, patience and perseverance indeed.

[Ed Oscuro]

Arasoi and I often steal game auctions out from underneath each other, it's a good way to create the lolz. Actually I think we both have PCBs the other person wants more too.

I've had people mention they had some old NES games before but I let them keep 'em (didn't ask what they were though) and just mention some of them are valuable. That way they at least don't get dumped and lose all the value (assuming somebody's mom doesn't do it eventually, that is).

I'd be jealous about Fire 'n' Ice though. I want that one. COOLMINT ISLAND TO CALM THE FIRES OF JEALOUSY

[retroman]

hey, dont hate. be happy for the guy.

[skaar]

http://media.fukung.net/images/3029/AngstyMcAngst.jpg

[Soviet Conscript]

Khelvin, don't listen to all these hippies

LET THE HATE FLOW THROUGH YOU

[DuckTalesNES]

Get pissed when he tries to sell them to you for a ridiculous markup.

[KHELVIN]

Small update, he called today to tell me he picked up Blast Lacrosse, for 5 bucks. He did say he'd sell it to me as he doesn't collect playstaion, we will see how much he "Marks it up"
Also I showed him the the thread here and we both had a laugh about it

[Arkhan]

if he sells for > 5$, I say you find a new friend!!