Do you tell others you collect or are a game addict?

[TheScaryOne]

Me, no. I don't really collect, but I am a hardcore gamer. I don't tell many other people, besides my friends.We don't talk about them at school that much but at home we do.A lot.

[Videogamerdaryll]

Do you tell others you collect or are a game addict?

Oh yea!!
I'm very well known to be a collector-gamer by many...

[-hellvin-]

If the topic ever comes up with people I work with having to do with hobbies or that aren't close friends I always tell em. "I collect old video games." It's not like their head is going to spin around 8 times and snakes pop out of their mouth and eyes right before they blast your head off with the sonic blast of God. Just tell em. They may even offer to sell ya some of their old stuff, ;).

[Sibs]

I only tell a couple of my closer friends, but anyone who comes into my room will already notice my huge collection of games.

[Nez]

While I don't walk around like that guy from the cherios comercial telling everyone I lowerd my colesterol but if they ask I say I play games and collect what interests me. Besides at my work (Hotel Desk clerc) they ask some questions and I tell them straight up. The other day me and a coustomer talked about games while he was a new gamer he still knew some gems from the past. But as far as reactions like the one hellvin described I ve only come close and thats when I told a old gal of mine that video games were better then sex. THEN I felt the sonic blast from god. :oops:

[optic_85]

They may even offer to sell ya some of their old stuff, ;).

EXACTLY! you never know who is gonna have a garage full of Atari or NES carts :D


....And i think eveyone who knows me, knows that i am very into old school games....But it's not like the first thing i tell someone when i meat em' is "Hi. Im bryan, and i have an obsession with old video games!"

[Phosphor Dot Fossils]

I just about wear it on my sleeve, literally. Intellivision 20th anniversary jersey tops, the official Phosphor Dot Fossils t-shirt, the dupes of certain 2600 boxes lining the wall in my office...yeah, there are a few signs here and there. ;)

And I can talk anyone's ear off about classic video games who wants to listen, though I tend to lose people of a certain age group because I'm not really that steeped in NES-and-afterward lore. Give me someone in their late 20s or early 30s at least, though, and I can distract them from getting anything done indefinitely.

I evangelize classic games. And you can take that just about any way you like.

[PapaStu]

For me its one of those some do some dont. My keys have been on some sort of game strap for the last 3 years (First it was an XBox live one, now its a Nintendo "Know Your Roots" one). A subtle hint. My backpack has a little button on it that says Nintendo. Ive got a couple of game shirts that get worn semi frequently (The original Nintendo "Roots" shirt, an Atari "Represent" and a PS Dual shock controller shirt that is like the Shorties logo from Gameskins.com among other Hot Topic ones). My pajama shirts are all Promo Shirts for games. If I dont know you all that well, I most likely wont say how deep my rabbit hole goes, because it can be kinda overwealming but will answer the questions they ask. I'll drop hints, but not reveal my hand.

My close friends know that I collect/buy like crazy and often ask my opinion of games and systems. For a select few (currently only one person, the "Fake Girlfriend") I will actually get them games (and the occasional system) that I know they would enjoy. Some friends look out for stuff for me and bring me cool things home from the thrift stores and stuff (almost got an arcade machine for free last week cause of this). They all know me well enough to know that this is a part of me and dont seem to really mind ALL that much. I dont let it get in the way of our friendships or my responsibilities and sometimes they even have fun going out on the hunts, or haulin something in themselves for me.

[RJ]

Just about everyone I know/have contact with knows. If they ask what I've been doing or what's new, it's usually game-related, & I say so. This weekend my wife & mother-in-law got some great deals at garage sales for me, including a DC w/ 16 games.

I think it pays to let people know- just don't be TOO fanatical about it! 8-)

[charitycasegreg]

Most of my freinds know. I tell people just so maybe they would offer me stuff. As far as girls go, most of my freinds know I do and think its cool because they use to play mario or something. Telling people is good because it may eventually score you that complete stadium events , or a nwc cartridge. My dad knows but I dont want to tell him to buy me stuff, I dont want him paying too much. I got up too early...Im gonna go get some more sleep.

[tholly]

people that know me well, know that i collect and will let me know what they have / have seen and usually will just throw it my way or give it to me very cheap.

for ppl i dont know, if video games comes up in the conversation, then i let ppl know, or if someone asks what my main interests are, like in a recent get to know your group thing i had to do, i said that i collect video games.

the one thing i hate is telling someone you dont know that you collect, and then they try to sell you something they have at a crazy price. like i have been offered a loose 2600 for like $150, way more than anyone would pay, so that is the only problem of lettting ppl know. but, letting ppl know i collect has gotten me a lot of promo stuff from EB.

[PitBullNYC]

Here is my story on this... Im a new poster, I've been only lurking for a couple of months..

I was a hardcore gamer in my teens until I got to college in 1995. Then I just sort of stopped playing for a bit, miss out on a LOT! I was a hardcore gamer before my teens when I think about it. I got an atari from someone like the year before the NES came out and was in heaven. Then my grandparents (who adopted me) bought me a NES... after first giving me a fake gift (a pair of ugly rollerskates with, i kid you not, a toys r us logo on them... like the jeffery guy or something) I was like WTF. I asked for a NES. Then they gave me the nes with the powerpad and stuff after I was moping around about the stupid rollerskates. It was nice. ANyway, ugh. I've had two 40's today and my mind is kind of wandering! hehehhe.

Oh yeah, people who know you... Got my train of thought back! Okay, so about a year ago I thought to pick up a gamecube... Then i got back on the joystick again. I picked up an n64, dreamcast, and started to dust through my collection of NES and SNES. My genesis, gamegear, tg16 collection was stolen by my uncle when I went away to college. He sold that shit for drugs. He probably got a f-ing dollar for it all. It still pisses me off to this day. He is still in prison today though for theft, drug charges, etc etc etc. mostly skipping out on court appearances... but it's the one thing that keeps me seperated from my grandparents (my adoptive parents) When you get a collection stolen from you, it fucking STINGS. right? And it being a family member? even when I brought it up to my grandparents they tried to make him seem like he didnt do it. Ugh. He lived in my room when I went away to college and I stored my collection there because I didn't want to bring it with me. I knew I wanted to keep all that stuff, but I knew that I wouldnt play much in college. Anyway, enough bitterness about that.


a few months ago I sent an e-mail around at work (only to people I am friendly with) about collecting old video games and got some pretty nasty replies. Maybe it's because of the type of people i work with? Well they are nice and all... i work in nyc in a fine art archive. i should have known that none of them would reply kindly back hahhaha... but now I can't live it down at work being called a video game geek!!! not that I don't mind it. I'll own up to it. But sometimes you have to be careful about telling people you collect. ! well maybe not... i said I love video games! maybe i should have started out saying I collect old video game systems or something. ugh. but kudos to all of you who get this great stuff out of putting out the word. sometimes that is all you need,. just putting it out there... but i tried and wound up being called a geek at work hehehehe. oh well! i dont mind.

this board has actually been pretty great to read, and the few people that I did PM things about have been extremely helpful and so nice. it's good to know there is a community out there that is just. well. helpful? and nice and not sarcastic.

illl end this here.
rob

[charitycasegreg]

welcome pitbullnyc! That sucks about your encle taking your stuff. How much stuff did you have fpor those systems? ANything rare?

[VACRMH]

Just about everyone I work with knows I play old games, I usually don't say that I "collect" them, because then someone will try and say "Oh man, this game is rare as hell! Want to buy it for $50?"

[jdc]

Well.....I used to do the videogame thing for a living, so everyone knows that I'm into video games.

Now that I'm not earning a paycheck with it, I'm more selective as to what I play. Everyone knows that I LOVE the N64 more than any other system, but no-one knows that I collect both NES and Genny except the guys at the local pawnshop.....they stash all of the cool Genny and NES stuff so that I get first dibs on it. I owe them alot....they've found me some incredible scores. This past week it was an extensive collection of SEALED and complete NES rpgs that someone no longer wanted.

[Rev. Link]

All of my friends and most of my family knows. They usually give me stuff, so it works out great.

I have one friend, though, who also collects games, and I kinda wish I'd never brought it up to him. He gets real competitive about it, to the point where he makes up stories about the stuff he has. It's annoying as hell.

[Dr. Morbis]

Whenever I meet new people of my generation or older, I will 'casually' steer the conversation towards old videogames. I try to get a feel for their point of view about gaming before I, as an earlier poster put it, reveal how deep the rabbit hole goes.

[Arqueologia_Digital]

Of course!!!, why not???, i´m a collector and a gamer and i love it!!!

[RCM]

I won't deny that i'm a hardcore gamer but I don't exactly go out and advertise it. It's annoying sometimes when people find out because they start asking all sorts of questions about gaming. "Will I like this?" "Playstation 2 is the best system right?" SHite like that grinds on me.

THE ONE, THE ONLY- RCM