Do You Collect Because It's a "Fad"?

[jp]

No... I'm just obsessive compulsive. I didn't even realize collecting was that big until a few years ago. LOL

[Moon Patrol]

I found this site a while back, and finally realized I wasn't the only one buying old games anymore and collecting for my systems. It sort of stunned me to see people with 3000, 4000 and more games in a collection! I thought my measly 100 or so was a shit ton, but DAMN, I can't imagine walking into one of those rooms and not being shocked and amazed at the same time.

[Jasoco]

Everyone who has walked into my room since I started this thing has had that reaction. It's quite a feeling.

[VG_Maniac]

I don't really call video game collecting a fad. I consider a fad to be something that is so popular, just about everyone does it...and I personally don't know anyone who collects video games.

Video games themselves are a fad...but not collecting them as a hobby. I collect video games because I have always loved playing them and they bring back so many memories of my childhood.

[Cmosfm]

I don't really call video game collecting a fad. I consider a fad to be something that is so popular, just about everyone does it...and I personally don't know anyone who collects video games.

Video games themselves are a fad...but not collecting them as a hobby. I collect video games because I have always loved playing them and they bring back so many memories of my childhood.

a fad is something that's popular for a short amount of time and then dies out, never to be spoken of again, like Pogs, Pokemon cards, Beanie Babies, etc. etc.

You called Video Games a fad, that offends me.

And while collecting hasn't become a fad in the sense of "it's so popular that everyone is doing it", it's become a secluded fad that's popular with the Hot Topic kids, and even then, not ALL of them do it. It has become a fad, a really...really...annoying fad.

[tarheelsnipe]

i didn't even know people collected video games when i started a couple months ago, so i don't think it's a fad on the broader scale. None of my friends collect this stuff. My girlfriend just shakes her head when the mailman shows up at the door with a half-dozen packages a day.

One day when my nintendo and sega collection outvalues my sports memorabilia collection, my 'junk' will be accepted in the mainstream hobby.

[Ulticron]

I guess I've always collected, it was just there on a subconscious level at first. Several yrs back when Gamestop, Software etc.,and EB games had loads of NES and SNES games in dump bins I decided it was time to get the better titles. For years I had shunned these games simply because they had no box and no manual, but then I realized if I was ever going to enjoy them NOW would be the time to get them or I would never get them. My collection was modest before this, but it's gotten considerably larger. I didn't stop w/NES and SNES either. I decided to beef up all my classic consoles. Some I'm more picky about the condition than others. Saturn, 32X, and Sega CD games must be complete. Genesis games should at least have the case, I can live w/o the manual, but that doesn't mean I love it, same goes for Master System. I don't really see it as a fad, I've been buying video games since I was 12 and I'm going to be 29 soon, and I can still see myself doing this at age 40. It's definately a hobby, one that I love very much.

[Enixis]

Got into collecting when a group of friends got me a dreamcast for my b-day. Now i'm trying to complete my PAL DC collection.

[§ Gideon §]

Well, I've read a lot of the responses, and I've gotta say... I think it's a little bit of both for me.

Collecting is a label, really--nothing more. If you consider yourself a collector, then you are. Before I found out about DP, I played games. I was smart enough to save boxes, manuals, etc. because I liked videogaming enough to cherish more than the games per se.

Then, I stumble upon the Rooms o' Doom. It's one thing seeing collection stats in a magazine, along with a postage stamp-sized snapshot. It's another thing to talk with the owners--get inside their head and see their collection up close. I saw that collecting games is fun in itself. I also realized that I had been having fun at it for years, albeit on a small scale.

It is the difference between a table and a wooden plank with legs. As for people "collecting as a fad", that's just a bunch of wooden planks who changed their name.

[Apossum]

ummmm...what fad? I don't know any other collectors personally.

i've been gaming since I was 6 (24 now) and just started "collecting" last year, pretty much out of boredom. If I see a super rare game, system or accessory, I pick it up, clean it, have a look around on the inside, dust it, and if it turns out that I don't want it, I sell it to buy something I'd rather have.

[CYRiX]

I collect because of so much I take from the Video Game Industry I think I should give some back.

[Whiskers the Wonder Cat]

Fad? No way. I collect because it's like a katnip addiction.

[exit]

I collect to catch up on the stuff I missed out and because it's oddly exciting, you never know what you're going to find.

[Avenger]

i dont know anyone who collects games the way I do, and hell I'm in school taking a Game Art And Design class! Its actually kind of sad to think about it, but most of the guys there only play Halo and Halo clones...Damn i talked to one guy last week who had not even played Super Mario 64 before!

It is quite obvious which students will make it and which won't. A few weeks ago in Life Drawing we were working on drawing hands...One guy traced his hand and gave that in for his homework...

forget sad, its down right depressing. You guys need to help me save the next generation of gaming from these 'designers'!

[Tanis178]

a good analogy for the "fad" of it is when celebrities and other media personalities come to these launch parties, and award shows and talk about how they played pac-man and pong "back in the day" or like last week when i was scanning the news headlines and i read "paris hilton buys a 360" if she sells as many 360's by deeming it cool as she has bling-bling cell-phones and chihuahua's then M$ is gonna be
sitting pretty for a while :roll:

[Tanis178]

bea arthur? is there some reason p.h. is a banned name or something? lol

[Lady Jaye]

It's a long story... but yeah, it's a word filter. :)

[briskbc]

I have been a collector of something since I was 5. It started out as rocks, then Hardy Boy books, then comics .... and so on. Now, I may a prime candidate to say that I am a fad collector but hear me out on this one.

Collecting video games satisfies many interests for me. So much more than anything else in the past. I enjoy the artistic, business and online community aspect to game collecting. My favorite part (aside from playing which should be obvious) is the hunting. If you collect sports cards or comics the chances of finding anything good and cheap in the wild are slim to non. Everyone understands there is an established market for these collectible. Now if you tell someone a couple of their old Atari games could be worth $50 alone they will look at you like you were speaking chinese. This is the sort of attitude I hope remains.

I expect to be doing this for a long time. I just hope it stays under the radar of the mainstream for as long as possible.

[Rob of the Sky]

I don't collect video games because it's a fad. I collect because I like to play them. I started collecting about 2 years ago when I hooked up my SNES that was sitting in my closet for years. Then I got an NES that Christmas. Collecting brings back memories of my childhood, as my first system was the NES. I also like to collect things, also. So, I guess it was only natural to start collecting video games, since I have play them all of my life.