Have your buying habits slowed down or sped up?

[Atari7800]

After years of blowing wads of cash and amassing a pretty big collection (not as big as some of you hard-hitters, but still pretty ridiculous) I've found myself in a curious predicament....

I've run out of stuff to buy.

I've finally managed to stop my E-bay addiction (closing down that PayPal account certainly helped) and now I just look for things in the wild. The quest to complete my Saturn collection has ground to a halt as there are few Saturn games to be found in the wild, and I don't have any of the new systems beyond the Dreamcast. I'm reduced to picking through PSX, DC, and complete N64 games (of which there are few.) I hit Half.com once in a while and I'm waiting for the last wave of DC import shooters to come out, but nothing else seems to be forming as my next "collection du jour."

I went down a stretch of highway last weekend where there are 4 game shops within a five mile radius... two EBgames, a Gamestop, and an overpriced SwapUSA store that sometimes has some cool stuff. Back in the day, I could have easily spent $200 on that road. Last time I spent $21.

My credit card is almost paid off. I'm not living from paycheck to paycheck anymore. I have most of my games with me, back out of storage. I play my Dreancast fairly regularly. I just don't feel the urge to buy that much anymore. Anyone else experiencing this bizarre change? It's almost like menopause I suppose... feels weird.

X_x

[youruglyclone]

I find myself buying a lot of stuff I ultimately don't use. many gimmicky stuff silent scope is one of the more recent things, and weird obcessions with preorder gifts...think soul calibur 2 or the weirdest one final fantasy crystal chronicles.

ultimately I need to find a week, sit down sort through my stuff and figure out what I want and what I can hawk or trade off at gametz

[gamegirl79]

I've slowed down on buying just a little bit because I finally realized that I have more games than I have time to play them. I've bought a lot of good games in the past couple months that I'm dying to play but haven't touched. I want to sit down and play them rather than just keep buying buying buying.

[Captain Wrong]

Since I've switched to mostly buying stuff I actually want to play, it's slowed waaaay down.

Actually I've sold off a ton of stuff in the past 6 months.

[Kejoriv]

About the same. I am into Gamecube games now. I dont really buy to collect. I buy to play.

[Oobgarm]

With the exception of the binge I took a couple of weekends ago, I've slowed down considerably on buying. I bought so much stuff between last Sepember-December it's not even funny, and now I'm looking to play through some of it, and even put some money I would normally spend on games towards some projects I hope to complete this year.

Those of you that know me outside of the forums are probably laughing to yourselves right now. LOL

[tynstar]

I have slowed down. I am trying to only buy Sega stuff. Mostly Genesis. After my Credit Card bills are paid the I will start to buy more. Plus I want to get a new house next year.

[kai123]

I have slowed down mostly because I am unemployed. :(

[MarioAllStar2600]

I used to spend like 20 dollars a week on games (summer, oh man I miss working). Now I will buy a Game cube or Atari game here and there, but have been saving up my money and buying BIG. I'm not talking about rare carts either, I mean arcades. Then when CGE comes I will buy system based stuff. Carts, Discs, etc. I like this cycle cause I feed into both sides of my collection. :-P
The only problem is money flows like water at CGE, spent $800 last year. :o

[Reverend JagDiesel]

I've been selling/trading more than buying lately. I have about half a dozen Xbox games I havent even upwrapped yet. Plus, I have come to the decision to get rid of my Intv collection as it has sat for almost a year collecting dust. I am only buying SNES, Xbox, and Odyssey2 stuff now and havent found jack in the last 4 months of thrifting. I may end up cutting out my Saturday thrift ritual all together and maybe just hit the community yard sales that seem prevalent here in the valley...

[Raccoon Lad]

My collecting habits have remained at the same slow-constant pace for the last 2 years.

[christianscott27]

big slowdown this winter! the cold has been pretty brutal this year so that means less chances to buy things at the flea markets and less motivation to go out on often fruitless thrift hauls. on the money front it just seems like an easy area to slow down on, with travel, christmas and car repair expenses recently its a good idea. i havent had much luck with the thrifts lately, the stuff still turns up but the prices have gotten silly ($5 for gennysports games and $20 for PS games) so i just leave it. i still have some "sure shots" at my area gamestores where i know i could find stuff if i'm willing to pay market prices. so mostly i'm focused on the 1 year to 6 month old PS2 games that i really want to play. with any luck i'll get my usual 20 or so games at the next trademeet and then the sun will shine again...and i'll be back at my flea market scooping up the goodness. if its not cheap, its not fun anymore!

[digitalpress]

Let me put my analogy in context with this thread. Everytime I hear a collector is hitting the brakes I step on the gas.

Right now my speedometer's needle is pinned.

My house is crammed with stuff but I don't see an end to the collecting. I still have an FM Towns Marty library to fill and loads and loads of imports to track down. As such, if you want to be one less competitor on the ultra-busy eBay highway, I'm not going to talk you out of it.

Just remember that when you merge back onto the supercollector freeway, look both ways carefully. I'm not yielding.

[ClubNinja]

Weirdly, everything has seemed to pick up lately. I've been buying a ton more stuff to sell and trade than I used to - mostly because I've trimmed down exactly what I want to collect/play and what I don't. Then, I've been turning all that around into profits specifically to buy or trade for loads of things that I do want. Over the past two months, I've been averaging about 2 or 3 MVS games (among other things) each week, yet the net amount of money I've spent is $0. The cycle has been churning lately and I sure hope it doesn't slow down.

[bargora]

I have been slowing down generally, but I will now make every effort to corner the market on FM Towns and "imports".

[SegaTecToy]

More. I got a better income, paid some debts and have no extra expenses, so all my extra money are going to my collection. :D

[Ze_ro]

I definitely buy less than I used to... mostly because I hardly ever find games I want anymore. Everything that shows up locally is usually stuff I already own, and I try to stay off of eBay, because I always end up spending more than I want to (Not usually because of over-bidding, but because the "real" costs end up including all the shipping, CDN exchange, PayPal fees, and what have you... it's annoying when you win an auction for $5 and end up paying $15).

--Zero

[ianoid]

I've sort of gotten some of my out of control spending under control and filled out alot of collections.

I pick up goods when I can, but mostly in bulk from friends rather than piecemeal from eBayor game stores. the problem is, one $1000 load of goodies takes me a month or two of eBay sales to make up for (those purchases no longer come from regular paychecks.) I mostly stay within my allotted in the wild local flea market/game spending of $350 a month otherwise, substantially less than previous years where I wasn't even making much money. Does that budget seem like alot to you guys? It was alot less than I originally thought I could live on.

How I differ from Santulli in his analogy is that I'm wearing a seatbelt. In fact, for alot of systems that most of the DP forumites love, I may be hitting the eject button. It will all depend on how much space I can get when I move again. My goal was to have a gigantic space for my collection so I could get whatever I wanted. The problem is that we decided to move to the bay area, where space is at a major premium, since the cost of real estate is sky high.

[Cmosfm]

About the same, I get very little hunting time, and I need to get more! I've been in a crazy mad buying mood lately and I'm not going to resort to eBay for stuff I can get out in the wild

[sniperCCJVQ]

In the last few months, i decided it was time to trimmed and "cuting the fat" where it need to. The only thing in my collection i will never touch it's the NES stuff. So some SNES, Genny, and such have left out, helping my NES collection to grow and still going strong to the 400 games mark.

I did alot more sales and trades and stop buying stuff, which have help very much my wallet

[Kroogah]

Slowed WAAAAAAAY down....sold off my Neo Geo CDZ (snif), Saturn and Dreamcast for a Japanese PS2 and all kinds of neato Bemani stuff...

HOWEVER, now that I've come down from my Beatmania/Pop'n high I'm going back to collecting everything. Got my Saturn and DC back at least. Though Pop'n 9 might make me high as a kite again...

[PapaStu]

Im about the same... though without a job currently it is a bit slower but in quantity its just about the same (just more really cheap 3-5 dollar games as compared to a new 40-50 dollar game)

My in the wild hunting isnt really any different, i still am hittin my usual places, but not buying as much becuase of the general lack of funds on my check card.....
I have been weaned from ebay for almost a year, but with the discovery of this site, ive actually been buying online again (game-lord.com, and some buying in the for sale board here) so i dont know, im trying to be a good boy...

[Phosphor Dot Fossils]

I've slowed down quite a bit too. As a new homeowner, I've gotta prioritize some of my spending at least. Also, I've gotten into the arcade cabinet thing, and...you just can't do that like you do cartridges. I think I have room for one more, and I have a deal pending for that one more, so it seems reasonable to me to suspend the cartridge-based collecting for a while. In fact, I may lay off of console collecting for the remainder of this year, at least until CGE - and the thought's occurred to confine most of my collecting activity to CGE and any other shows that come down the pike. I'm getting into a mindset where I'd much rather be playing what I've got, admiring what I've got, and maybe finally getting around to showing it off to others.

CGE and OKGE last year, plus my first coin-op purchase, have had more of a seismic effect on my video game collecting than I expected. And I don't mind a bit.

[The Clonus Horror]

I basically look for games that I will play or that I think I will play. I haven't bought a game in over 3 months, and I own nothing newer than a Dreamcast. I'd love to pick up a PS2 solely for Devil May Cry, Ratchet and Clank and Smackdown: Here Comes the Pain, but I'm waiting for the price drop or when they redesign it into the PSTwo.

[Ikari Warrior]

With Gamestop phasing out the DC and older systems I've been buying much more, since it won't be around much longer. Also the Buy 2 Get 1 Free and Buy More Save More sales that have been going on so much lately, I've been buying just as much recent stuff too. Eventually though I'll hit a point where it will be new releases only that are left, kinda like what happened to me with DVDs.

[Ed Oscuro]

Just remember that when you merge back onto the supercollector freeway, look both ways carefully. I'm not yielding.

/me sets tire spikes out on the highway in hopes of catching the DigitMobile

Funny that somebody would still use that '90s phraseology, lol, thought that had disappeared for good LOL

[§ Gideon §]

Two factors have contributed to my decrease in game purchasing:

1. Running out of good games to buy. This one is good, but I'm not really gloating about my collection. Rather, I have refined taste.

2. Getting greedy. For some reason, I find it difficult to part with money these days. Think what you may.

[Flack]

I've been spending a bit more than usual lately. As PDF said and many of you all know, collecting arcade cabinets is expensive. Last week I dropped about $900, so that's more than I spent the last six months or so combined. That's not normal spendage by any stretch of the imagination.

[jaydubnb]

My game buying has dramatically fallen off. Dramatically. The main reason being that for the first time in my life, I really do -not- care about any of the current game systems. In years past, I wouldve been purchasing a game a week for my system. But now....?

In addition, I already have most of the games I want, save for my Neo Geo and DC, and the acquisition of a Saturn.

Alas, my collecting days may be coming to an end soon...

[Atari7800]

It's funny... I'd love to have a "room of doom", but I simply don't have the space. I live in a 600 square foot studio (that means one room with everything in it... kitchen, living room, "office", and bedroom with a separate bath tacked on) and I don't want to appear like a super-nerd with over 1000 games lining the wall, so I have everythihg stored in such a manner that you can't see any of it. I have games under my bed, in the wardrobe (I have no closets), on top of the kitchen cabinets, and in the chest of drawers. The only thing you see is a Dreamcast on the coffee table. I actually have room for a bit more stuff, but I could never hold onto the loads of crap I have at Mom's... system boxes, dupe systems, etc.

:D

[RJ]

I binged recently, got at least a dozen games w/in the past month, but at 1/2 price or less. I know I gotta slow down, but this stuff seems to just jump out at me lately! My wife suggests I join a 12-step program...

[Kroogah]

Here's a fun analogy.

Started: NES, SNES, Genesis, PSX

High Point: NES, SNES, Genesis, N64, GBC, NGPC, TG16, Saturn, Dreamcast, Game Gear, Sega CD, 2600, 7800, Colecovision, SMS, ~500 unique games (200 of them NES)

Low Point: PS2, JPS2, NES, <50 unique games

Currently: PS2, JPS2, NES, SNES, 2600, Genesis, Sega CD, Saturn, Dreamcast

In the last few days I have bought/traded for: a few dozen 2600 and NES games, a Game Boy, and a few Saturn imports.

So they dropped down in the past few months but in the last month or 2 they've really been picking up again. And I feel like I'm home. ^_^