"Tiers" or categories of collecting?

[WelcomeToTheNextLevel]

I know everyone's collecting habits are different, but I'm just posting my personal experience, more or less. I've noticed that for some types of general video game collecting (one who collects for a wide variety of consoles) collecting can be organized into five "tiers". Speeds at which collectors will progress will vary, and some collectors won't reach some tiers. Collectors of all ages can reach all tiers - heck, I was tier 3 at age 13.

I started collecting on January 7, 2006.

Tier 1 - Common Stuff

You're getting the common stuff, such as Atari 2600, NES, Genesis, SNES, PS1, N64, and Dreamcast (which is borderline Tier 2) and common games (R1 to R3 primarily). Remember, consoles from one tier can have higher-tier games: Air Raid for 2600 is a prime example, a Tier 5 game in a Tier 1 console. Collecting at this stage is inexpensive (typically <$40/console, <$10/game) and easy. Little or no online collecting needed.

For me this stage lasted from January 7, 2006 to March 2006 and ended when I got a Master System.

Tier 2 - Moderate Stage

You're still collecting things from Tier 1, but you've probably got most or all of the consoles you want from that tier. Less-common consoles such as the Intellivision, Colecovision, Master System, Turbo Grafx, Sega CD/32X, Saturn, etc begin to appear. You may need to go online some. Games may be up to about R5, and span Tier 1 & 2 consoles. Consoles tend to be $25 - $60 here, and games range up to $25 or so.

Tier 2 lasted from March 29, 2006 to July 2006 for me, and ended when I got a 3DO.

Tier 3 - First Tastes of Rarity

Tier 1 and 2 collecting likely continues, but now consoles such as 3DO, Channel F, Jaguar, CD-i, Virtual Boy, Arcadia 2001, Odyssey 2, Neo Geo Pocket, etc start coming in, as well as games that may be up to low-end R7 for tier 1, 2, and 3 consoles. The internet will help here - though a good amount of Tier 3 stuff is still findable in the wild. Consoles are under $100, and games can run up to $50-ish.

Tier 3 lasted from July 2006 to between 2008-December 25, 2011 for me - the Vectrex would have been Tier 3 when I got it, but is Tier 4 now. I got a Sega SG-1000 II on December 25, 2011 putting me into (low end) Tier 4.

Tier 4 - The Big Leagues

Tier 1-3 collecting likely continues. By now, you will have hundreds - or thousands - of games and probably 20+ consoles. Consoles here include Vectrex, Odyssey 1, Astrocade, SG-1000, Neo Geo... anything that can be found on eBay most of the time (in limited quantities), and no "holy grails" yet. Games are up to Rarity 8. Consoles can be up to about $500; game prices can be up to about $250 or so.

With only about 700 games, just a couple games worth over $100 and only two Tier 4 consoles (SG-1000 and Vectrex), I would be considered low Tier 4.

Tier 5 - The Holy Grail

We all dream of being Tier 5. The sky's the limit. Stadium Events, RDI Halcyon, NWC 1990, the stuff us Tier 4's dream about at night... it's all here. Collectors will usually have over 1,000 games and 30+ consoles. Tier 1-4 collecting will likely continue. Tier 5 stuff is rare and/or very expensive. Some Tier 5 games cost more than my car. :above me:

[davidbrit2]

For me, there are two main categories:

1. Buys games to play them.

2. Buys games to have them.

In other words, is video game collecting simply a means to an end, or an end in and of itself?

[treismac]

For me, there are two main categories:

1. Buys games to play them.

2. Buys games to have them.

In other words, is video game collecting simply a means to an end, or an end in and of itself?

I agree. I fall solidly into the first category, but, deviating from the two main categories, I do enjoy snapping up variants of favorite carts which fails to further the overriding objective of my collecting of video games (although there is a small text deviation between the Super Mario Bros. 3 cart variants). For the sake of historical appreciation I'd prefer an actual Nintendo World Championships cart to a repro, too, but not by too much.

[Zing]

I buy only to play. A game being rare or expensive means nothing to me. If I want to play it, I will buy it. I do not collect for the sake of collecting, although I do ensure that any game I do acquire is in collector's condition. I collect what I play.

[Robocop2]

For me, there are two main categories:

1. Buys games to play them.

2. Buys games to have them.

In other words, is video game collecting simply a means to an end, or an end in and of itself?

That sums up nicely my view of the hobby. I have an interest in classic gaming but for the enjoyment factor of playing them. I own a few uncommon games but I own them for the game, not for the rarity.

Besides I'm far too diversified in my system ownership to ever feasibly attempt completing anything except maybe the Jag but that more because of its relatively small library. Though there are a lot of games in its library I have no interest in so....no reason to throw money at stuff I'd never really enjoy just for the sake of looking at it.

[davidbrit2]

I'm mostly type 1, but I dabble in type 2 from time to time. I'm not spending $300 for Little Samson, but I've got a pretty nice Famicom kusoge collection going. (Though I have actually played and beaten Bokosuka Wars.)

I don't go out of my way for the really exotic stuff, in any case. I don't care to chase down protos or FDS gear. It's also pretty rare that I'll pay more than $30 for a vintage game.

[SEGA_Queen]

When I first started collecting, I would buy stuff just because it was cheap, or looked interesting without doing proper research. However, after a while I ended up with a lot of games I never touched. I just had them for the sake of the collection.

After being unemployed/underemployed for several years, my goals/perspective changed drastically. I now collect games that I know I want, or that I can sell to buy the games I like.

This tactic has saved me tons of money in the long run.

[Atarileaf]

Well I've been up and down and all over these "tiers" over the last 20 years like a bad game of snakes and ladders. I was the "buy anything and everything" collector for the longest time but over the last two years I focused on games I actually want to play and have some nostalgic value to me. As such my actual "collecting" is a lot more reduced and my playing and enjoying the collection has increased which, I think, is the ultimate goal in this hobby.

[Rickstilwell1]

For me once I sold my childhood stuff because of emulation and wanting systems that hadn't been quite as worn, I went straight for upper "tier 4" system collecting and skipped the games. I had decided whatever games come with my system lots would be the ones I'd start with. Then I went straight for Tier 1 games in the wild because of Game Crazy's liquidation. Then I got mad at myself for buying so many bad games and sports games and decided to sell what I didn't like. I got jack back from them. Then I started having to sell some of the good games and I think those started to make up for all the bad games I wasted money on. At my peak I had just over 1700 games.

Now I'm all about gaming, gaming, gaming.

[goatdan]

I can't say I went through those phases... I did...

Phase 1 - What I currently have. I had a 2600, got some stuff that looked fun. Then got a NES, same thing. Then SNES, ditto.

Phase 2 - Really interested by a few consoles. This coincided with Phase 1, which continued with the N64 and Xbox, but I also got fascinated first by the Jaguar and collected everything for it, and then by the Dreamcast and did the same thing for it... Phase 1 never really stopped though, as I still would pick up a couple games for those older systems that I liked... but nothing too major.

I ended up with a few random things along the way - a Colecovision really cheap in the mid 90s that I got just to check out, some hand held systems, etc - but with the exception of the Jaguar, Dreamcast and most recently PS1 longboxes - which I don't even understand why I started collecting them, as I never owned a PS1 until a few years ago and haven't played 95%+ of those, while I have played 95%+ of my Jag / DC collection... but anyway, with those three exceptions I only get stuff that I got to play, and then only expand them if I find something else I think is really cool.

I have a few "ultra rare" things, but I got them thanks to sort of just running across them - Star Fox Competition Cartridge comes to mind.

I will admit that from time to time when I get mythical free time, I will sometimes loan a console and a game out of the GOAT Store to play, but it's VERY rare that I feel the urge to keep those things. People joke with me because for instance I love Earthbound, and my copy of the game is all beat up... but it is MY copy of the game, and although I've had dozens of opportunities with the GOAT Store to replace it with a nicer one, I want MY copy of the game from when I was young and found it.

I guess all of this is to say that I think people really collect with totally different goals in mind. I did it for interest more than anything else. If you did it to chronicle more, then that is awesome. If you do it to load up on as many games as possible, more power to you. If you do it to make an amazing display and never even hook up a console, then that is cool too. Nothing is wrong, but I think that there is a LOT of diversity amongst gaming collectors and their collections :)

[M.Buster2184]

I know everybody has different experiences, but for the most part I'd say the Tier system was similar to me. I started off getting stuff I remembered from my childhood or stuff I wish I had when I was younger. Then as my interest grew and realized there was a culture of collectors out there, I started to collect more and discovered systems I was never aware of or couldn't afford. I remember getting my turbografx, neo geo and virtal boy in about a 6-7 month time span. Currently, I'm pretty content with the gams I have, between 400-500, now I'm more interested in tracking down the less common games.

[123►Genei-Jin]

I don't really know where I fall into these tiers.
I already had a Japanese Saturn since 97 with a bunch of imports, a launch japanese Dreamcast with a bunch of imports as well and I already had some imports for my PS1 and PS2 during their time and I also kept most of my tier 1 systems either from childhood or from people simply giving them away to me.
So when I started collecting I went straight to Super GraFX, PC-Engine DUO, X-Eye, Neo-Geo (MVS in my case), Twin Famicom and Master System, basically things I remember reading about on magazines back in the day that I had already tested out using emulation and had decided I wanted to have.
As for games, I normally try to get the games I really want to play and don't care if a game is rare or not (unless the game is too expensive, in which case I don't mind using a flash cart or back-up rather than emulation).

[mb7241]

As one mentioned earlier, I collect what I play...but I do have a penchant for finding and collecting rare stuff and playing it, too. I did actually play my Stadium Events cartridge (only once!) when I had it. I'd fall somewhere between Tier 4 and Tier 5 on this scale, I think. I have more than a few games that cost triple digits, and a couple I know I couldn't replace for less than 4 digits, if I could replace them at all (Dragon Warrior IV factory-sealed, and then some protos). I have three games pending in right now, in fact...one of them is definitely low-end (Donkey Kong Country...hey, a friend of mine wanted it :P ), one is a very obscure upper-level rare variant (although it's a known series...this being a copy of Persona 2: Innocent Sin for Japanese PS1, "the Best" version, of which, according to an official list leaked by Sony Japan (IIRC), only 3470 copies were sold), and another one is a somewhat less-obscure extreme rarity (and is considered a "lost" part of an extremely-well-known series...this being Radical Dreamers for the Satellaview). Of course, there are still commons missing from my collection...then again, I consider almost anything R5 and below common, with high-end R7s being the border between scarce and rare. After 10 years of collecting, though, and amassing a large enough collection of games, if you're in good standing with the collecting community, you begin to realize just how easy it is to get about any game out there (well, of course, money talks, but still...). Suddenly, that R9 that comes up on eBay three times a year tops becomes a bit more accessible. This is how you transition fairly easily into the upper crust of collectors. But I will also say this...we as collectors aren't here because we're all Tier 4 or Tier 5 collectors...we're collectors, ultimately regular guys that get enjoyment from collecting and/or playing video games. As with wine, some of us may get our kicks with $5 stuff, others $50 stuff, still others $500 stuff. But we're all collectors here, each of us with our own experience. It's not about in which tier of collecting you fall, it's the journey in getting there that defines you as a collector, and gives you the information to disseminate to fellow collectors.

...I'm rambling a bit, am I not? It's 4:15 AM, and I haven't slept yet. Oh, and it's my birthday... Time to sleep :P .

[buzz_n64]

According to this tier system, I started off as a tier 3 collector with a Commodore 64 and a couple other unique systems, then within a year I had tier 4 stuff like a Virtual Boy, x*Eye, 32X, 3DO, Jaguar, and continued jumping back and fourth from tier 3 and 4. I have never reached tier 5 in systems, but own about a dozen games worth over $100.

As for the collector type, for a long period of time I was the collector who collected to play. For the past 3 years or so, I have become the collector who collects just to collect.

[Tanooki]

By your chart I think I never got beyond Tier3 with a toe dipped into Tier4 despite having well in excess of 1000+ games perhaps over 1500 and around 20systems or so. Lost most of it to hard times, rebuilt some, rethought and got or ditched some (selling even some now over at NA) and I'm down around the mid 400s as far as total games go now. I still think it's too much but it's just too hard to part with a few things. I do qualify for tier2 though still seeing I have some oddities like the Coleco Tabletop Pacman w/ac plug, a few G&W's, a Master System, and some other goodies.

I just don't have the cash, time, or interest to carry a heavy load anymore given I've got a baby and bills, plus like doing other stuff too, and really I don't have the space for a hoard anyway. I hate to see stuff rot and go to waste too. I was around 510~ but now I'm offloading and sold off some already from all my GB/GBC games, some SMS, and a few more modern systems/handhelds titles too.

[mailman187666]

I owned a lot of the Tier 3 and 4 stuff when i was younger and they were available in stores still (32x/cd, 3DO, Saturn). Whenever a new system would come around, we'd hold onto all of them and put them away. When I got older and really started getting into collecting (a little before the 360 came out) I had a pretty decent head start and prices weren't quite as insane as they are today on some of the good uncommon games. So technically, I'd say I'm a collector and a gamer and pretty much stick to Tier 3 and sometimes 4.