Ignorant Question for people with really big vg collections

[Atari Addict]

I just saw a thread at another forum, which was gawking at a site with some pictures of game rooms with really big collections. It wasn't the "Game Rooms" page here, but the same idea.

Anyway, my question is "What happens when you have to move?". Do you think it's worth the hassle to pack all that stuff, or would it be better to sell some of it and only keep the stuff you play? I ask this question hypothetically, but my collection isn't exactly small, so I guess the answers might help me at some point, too. Or you could just ignore me instead. :/

[Chunky]

MY question falls into this group. Do you guys have your collections insured?..i would take it most of them fall on the high end outside of normal renters/owners insurance.

[Keir]

What happens when you have to move?

When I was apartment hopping in the late 90's, I never collected anything for pretty much that reason. What little stuff I did have I kept at my parents' house and on occasion I did sell or give away stuff when I moved. Now that I own my own house, I just let the stuff pile up. I have no intention of moving now! If I had to for some reason, I would pack it up and move it. It wouldn't really be that big a deal when compared to all the furniture and other crap I'd have to move anyway.


Do you guys have your collections insured?

Uh.... no. I know some other people on this board do though.

[maxlords]

I haven't checked into insurance yet, but I plan to as soon as I have a bit more money. As for moving...I moved cross country with my collection a year ago. I left about 3 or 4 big boxes of gaming stuff back in Oregon, as well as most of my books, my comics, and all my arcade stuff. I brought most of my collection and it pretty much filled my entire car :) And I only have about 550 games, and only had about 500 then! If I had any more, I'd have to have rented a UHaul to have moved everything. Moving games is a pain in the ass when you have more than a hundred or so. I wouldn't have even considered selling it off just cause I was moving a couple thousand miles.

Thanks for the reminder about insurance, Chunky! I need to check into it. I THINK I remember asking and being told that it wasn't possible without paying big $, but I'll check again. I'd have to have mine insured for at least $35,000.00 Cdn. I think it's worth around $21,000 US currently.

[Charlesaway]

A benefit of being employed with the government here is that they will pay to move my stuff if I am moved somewhere else.

For the 2nd question, I don't have insurance on my collection, but am seriously considering it, or at the very least raising my current coverage. My coverage is at a woefully inadequate level of $40,000. When you consider all the electronics I have, computers, video game collection, coin collection, books (over 5000 pounds worth as is, with almost $10,000 in gaming/rpg books) I really should get more insurance. :)

[IGotTheDot]

If you sell, you would just have to pack it up anyways.

Insurance? We don't need any stinking insurance. What good is the money without the games? Half the fun is the hunt for cheap games that are worth more and the other half is playing them.

[Atari Addict]

If you sell, you would just have to pack it up anyways.


True, most of the time you'd end up packing it. But you'd also get rid of the stuff, and the less stuff you have to move, the easier. And there might be space concerns if you're moving into a place that's smaller. Damn, I shouldn't have made this topic because it's forcing me to think too hard about what I'm gonna have to do when this question isn't hypothetical anymore. :-D

[IGotTheDot]

Is it a big collection? I could come pick it up and store it for you for a few hundred years. I'll give it back on my Bicentennial birthday. LOL

[stonecutter]

Semi Automatic = Good insurance

[Charlesaway]

I have a feeling a semi automatic doesen't do much good against a fire or tornado... ;)

[wberdan]

i think the hassle and expense of insurance is only for the TRULY hard core (50k+ collections)... and even then, who is to say that the insurance company would pay out a hundred dollars for your destroyed 'chase the chuckwagon'... i seriously doubt if the insurance company would even pay out $ 10 on an old video game (no matter how rare), if anything.

... and then think of the pain of cataloging and photographing all the possesions for the insurance companys file... plus, the last time i knew, you had to have collections appraised by an independent party for their file also.

i agree that it would definetely be good to be paid if the collection was destoyed or stolen, but how realistic is it that would even happen if you WERE covered? which brings another good question:

**Has ANYONE ever been reimbursed by an insurance company for a video game related item that is more than 5 or 10 years old? **

willie

[Arcade Antics]

He shoots, he scores!

Not good news, but Willie makes an EXCELLENT point.

[Charlesaway]

The fact that this is, as far as I am concerned, just as legitimate a field of collecting as records, stamps, or coins should be reason enough to push the issue. With legitimate collectors value guides that are well established (such as the Digital Press guide) I think perhaps more collectors should be thinking about insurance.

Just because the insurance company laughs at you the first time you ask about your video games doesen't mean your collection isn't valuable or insurable. Try another insurance company. Show them the collectors guide. Hell, log them on to eBay one day and point to your copy of Stadium Events and say "hah, you see that? It sells routinely for $200 + dollars."

I'm about to call my insurance company to get supplementary insurance for all my collections, as I'm about due for a valuation renewal anyway. I only have an insurance policy for $40,000 contents insurance. I believe I mentioned before that my gaming books alone would cost over $10,000 to replace. As it stands I would be very short of being able to replace everything 'replaceable'. If they don't want to deal, I guess I'll get a new insurance company.

As well, maybe I'm abnormal, but all of my video games are catalogued already. No, I don't have pictures of all of them yet, but I do have a big giant list (a la cart commander) of what I have. I've done the same with all of my DVD movies, all my VHS movies, my RPG books, my computer software, etc. Maybe it's because the last time I moved the moving company needed an inventory, but I have it. I update them all every few months. My eventual plan is to catalog everything onto a CD-R and store it in a fireproof safe for retrieval.

The point being, many people don't think about insurance or think it's a hassle, but when it comes down to it, how are you going to feel when your $5,000 video game collection when it burns and melts into a little puddle of plastic and they throw you a cheque for $100 dollars?

[Dobie]

My regular homeowners insurance covers things like collections and such for up to $2500. Right now, I'm probably over that in terms of total value, but nothing in my collection is entirely "irreplacable," so I'm not too worried.

[wberdan]

my family has gone through similar things in the past, insuring fine art... i fear that you will find it very difficult for an insurance company to come through on the video games...
ANY insurance company.


willie

[Atari Addict]

**Has ANYONE ever been reimbursed by an insurance company for a video game related item that is more than 5 or 10 years old? **

I think a friend of my brother's was reimbursed for a Sega Genesis console a couple of years ago. Couldn't have got much for it, tho, and I barely even remember if my understanding of that situation is true.

[yiearkungfu]

Im moving tomorrow, and my collection is one of those shown on the game room page, but its not the biggest by fat. I have tons of boxes stacked on top of each other in my living room. Moving them shouldnt be too hard since im paying people to do it :)

[Ed Oscuro]

Personally, AA, I'm all for "High Quality, Low Quantity."

Though a picture of my room would, once again, be somewhat like a roadmap for VG thieves.

[Ed Oscuro]

My regular homeowners insurance covers things like collections and such for up to $2500. Right now, I'm probably over that in terms of total value, but nothing in my collection is entirely "irreplacable," so I'm not too worried.

I'm probably a good fraction of that with just my Neo Geo console.

And for "irreplaceable," well, I don't own the only copy of Akumajo Dracula x68000 in the world, but I had to get mine from Spain.

[slurpeepoop]

Someone mentioned having a semi-automatic as insurance, and a couple of posts above this one said something about video game thieves.

That got me to thinking, are there criminals that focus on video game theft? My home was broken into a few years ago, and they took the TVs, stereos, computers, and other normal items that initially catch a thief's eye. They took my PS2 (back when it was just released), but my boxes of comic books, baseball cards, and older video games were left untouched. Maybe they didn't have the time neccessary to go through 2 rooms filled with boxes, but they got away with a few grand worth of electronics, as opposed to many tens of thousands of dollars of almost impossible to track video games, etc.

I have always had special insurance for my collections, as most insurance companies offer protection against valuable collections for only a few dollars more, but I've always been concerned with fire, flood, act of god, etc., and have never really thought of theft as the way I would lose my collection.

I'm sure a person who is knowledgeable about the value of video games might be more inclined to pass by the 80 pound TV (with a serial number) when robbing a house and go straight for the game room, but is that really a probable situation? Personally, if I were a criminal, it would seem logical to me to go after those with big collections, as (at least for most people, I might be wrong) people consider their video game collections to be a hobby, and usually don't take the neccessary precautions that they would take if their house were full of Picasso paintings. Have video games finally reached the point that a large collection is deemed valuable to the average Joe, like a stamp or coin collection?

I might be crazy, and my opinion might be just my own, but I don't see the general populace stand in awe at a room filled with shelves of video games (most of the people I know think I'm a nut) like they would if those same shelves were filled with more common and accepted collections. It also seems to me when a criminal breaks into a house, they will go for just about everything else, while leaving your 5 top-loading NESes sitting in plain sight, and would grab your XBox instead of snagging a box full of Atari games, although there could be 50 games in the box worth more than the XBox.

What do you think? Am I just screwy?

Am I wrong

[Charlesaway]

slurpeepoop - I don't think you're wrong for the most part. I agree with much of what you have said. But when I show people my collection, I get 1 of 2 reactions... either

a) The inevitable 'your crazy', 'freak', 'what the hell?', 'grow up'
etc.. group of responses, or the

b) 'wow', 'that is so awesome!' etc.. group of responses.

Maybe it's just my group of friends, but I've had split about 50/50 results so far. So my point is, I don't think that video game colleting is at that level now where it is readily recognizable and as acceptable as other traditional forms of collecting. But I don't think we are too far from it either.

And I agree my primary concern for my video games is not theft, but fire or natural disaster or (heaven forbid) my basement flooding. :)

Later
charlesaway

[ianoid]

I have moved my collection, which I assure you is bigger than just about anyone who's replied.

It was very costly and I did pay someone to do it. I think it weighed about 3 tons, maybe a little more. I put it all in storage (a climate controlled 10x20- PACKED) and I've left it far away until we buy a house for permanent (or at least 5 years) of display. It's not worth moving that hulk much.

And it is all insured. It's not theft I worry about. The signature of such a collection would be obvious- too many unique items- and the only place you could sell such stuff would be eBay- I like to think. It's weather and fire damage you have to worry about. Think back to Sean Kelly's tragedy of a a flooded basement. I could pretty much sell the collection and have a healthy college fund for my kid. So it's stupid not to insure it.

And yes, you can claim stuff like that (at least I like to believe so.) People have precious items aside from jewelry and they have to insure it as well. You think pezasshole doesn't have insurance on his 40k worth of toys? You better believe it. And the insurance companies have to accept that they could have to pay for it if something happens. This, of course, depends on being able to prove you owned all the stuff.

That alone is impetus to create a website with pictures of everything you (or I) own. I'd like to do this, and it would certainly help such a cause, though hopefully my collection will never burn to a toxic crisp.

[Chunky]

I always thought that if Lloyds of London would insure people legs, someone somewhere could get insurance on game collections.