I don't play games but I own almost every system...WHY ?

[jonjandran]

I used to play games...... A lot.....

But for the last 10 years I have found myself doing something that some might consider quite strange.

I buy every system. It seems I have to have them. I love to get them and check them out and even play a few of the more popular games on them. But then I just wind up putting them on the shelf and never touching them again. :hmm:

And also I have to have every new handheld that is made, including the Imports. I get every one and then I don't wind up buying hardly any games for them. I just hack them and put emulators on them, mod them with fron-lights, etc. :hmm:

And I also have to mod all my newst Nex-Gen systems. My Gamecube , Xbox, and PS2 (plus my Saturn, and PS1) , thay all have mod-chips and are modified to play copied games. But then I don't D-load or copy any games. I just like the fact that I can if I want to. :hmm:

Well I guess just like anything else it's just a Hobby. But maybe I should seek some Professional help. :hmm:

Just thought I'd share that with you guys. Been bothering me lately. LOL

[Graham Mitchell]

Are you ENJOYING buying and collecting the machines and modding them? Or do you seriously feel that the amount of money and time you spend with this doesn't provide you with the satisfaction it would if it was spent in other ways?

I guess a lot of people who get satisfaction with seeing things organized in neat little rows and columns (like boxes of games, maybe?) are candidates for obsessive compulsive disorder or Asperger's syndrome. But it sounds like that's not going on with you.

If it's no longer fun for you, you should stop. If you enjoy what you're doing, and you don't find that you're unable to make social, occupational, sholastic, or financial obligations because of your hobby, then I don't see any reason for you to not continue doing what you enjoy. :D

[§ Gideon §]

Hey, thanks for putting that out in the open; it took balls. I hope that people will recognize that and be respectful.

Anyway, if it helps you feel better, what you describe isn't all that uncommon--and it's definitely not restricted to video games. People build cars and don't drive them. People hoard albums and don't listen to them. It happens with a lot of hobbies.

There is only one important question to ask yourself: Are you maladapted? In other words, do your habits of collecting impede your life more than they enhance it? This is a question only you can answer.

[sharp]

As your doctor I can only make one conclusion. Your obsessed with games. You need proffesianal help like all the members of this forum as they all are obessed with videogames.

The always drunk Doctor has spoken.

[jonjandran]

It really doesn't affect my life much.

I only get a new system once in a while. I buy the stuff for it online and wait for it to come in without obsessing about it.

Then I spend a couple of hours modding it and testing it. And then I update it once in a while.

But I don't really know if my hobby (habit ? ) enhances my life or not.

And it is Expensive but not at a detriment to myself or my family.

[Lemmy Kilmister]

Seems to me if you injoy modding and tinkering with your systems more then actually playing them then maybe you sould start selling your mods and turn your supposed problem into profit.

[jonjandran]

Seems to me if you injoy modding and tinkering with your systems more then actually playing them then maybe you sould start selling your mods and turn your supposed problem into profit.

But then it becomes more of a job and less fun.

And I don't need the money , I have a great job.

Does anyone else here do this sort of thing, or do most people here actually PLAY games and collect also ?

[max 330 mega]

sounds like me 6 months ago... i got to a point where i was buying games, just because it was an impulsive thing to do, and unlike most people here, who just continue to do so , i managed to break myself of it, and have sold almost my entire collection, from 400 games to 100 games, and now from 19 systems to around 5. its actually lot nicer to have a few good games, and not a library of shitty stuff youll never play. so , i sold it all, put the money to very good use, and have since been using it to fund my band, and its a hell of alot more satisfying than games on a shelf.

[Lemmy Kilmister]

[But then it becomes more of a job and less fun.

Well if it starts becoming more like work then fun, then yeah, I'd stop. I mean what's the point in buying systems for hundreds of dollars just to have them lined up on a shelf? Seems kind of pointless really.

The only reason I mentioned that maybe you start selling mods is because you could probably get all your money back be selling your modded systems and then buy more to screw around with.

[nate1749]

::shrug:: I do the same thing, although I normally don't buy the system until I can mod it (mod chips are never out immediately). I probably play 1% of what I've actually got, if even that.

Our hobby is just like other hobbies, except you can do more with them. What I mean is, if you collected say coins, you just collect coins, it's not like you're out playing quarters on the weekends with your favorite coin or something. So you collect games, it just happens that you can play them if you want - it's not required though.

Nate

[CreamSoda]

Hey man, it's your money. If you enjoy buying/collecting the systems then go ahead. I myself do find that pretty odd(no offense), but if you have fun with it, by all means go ahead. :)

[ozyr]

sounds like me 6 months ago... i got to a point where i was buying games, just because it was an impulsive thing to do, and unlike most people here, who just continue to do so , i managed to break myself of it, and have sold almost my entire collection, from 400 games to 100 games, and now from 19 systems to around 5. its actually lot nicer to have a few good games, and not a library of shitty stuff youll never play. so , i sold it all, put the money to very good use, and have since been using it to fund my band, and its a hell of alot more satisfying than games on a shelf.

Now this is what I've been thinking of doing for some time now. I don't have all the systems (newer ones), but I've spent enough on games in the last few years that is really just too much. And as has been discussed here, I really don't play much of it. I've been wanting to sell off what I just don't play anymore, but am finding it really hard to part with the stuff. Why? I really don't know, I just feel attached to the systems and games for some reason... If I could narrow it down, I'd clear up a lot of space, make some money (so-to-speak), and probably be better off in the long run.

[VACRMH]

Does anyone else here do this sort of thing, or do most people here actually PLAY games and collect also ?

I know plenty of people who do what you do. Personally it bugs the hell out of me. But oh well.

For me, I see no reason to buy something if i'm not going to play it eventually. When I finally play it for awhile, I can say "Yeah, I got my money's worth out of this"

After throwing so much cash into this hobby, I better do something with it :)

But I had the same problem you had, I would buy buy buy... and then never touch it. I started wondering why I should even bother buying it if i'm not going to use the item for what it was intended for.

If it bugs you that you don't play them more often, just try sitting down with a game you've always wanted to play. Don't think too much about it, or you'll be overwhelmed (Happens to me when I'm trying to find something new to play, too many choices)

I had to get this off of my chest actually, good topic to rant :)

[suppafly]

For most collectors it isnt about the having, its about the getting...

[Kamino]

Does anyone else here do this sort of thing, or do most people here actually PLAY games and collect also ?

I know plenty of people who do what you do. Personally it bugs the hell out of me. But oh well.

For me, I see no reason to buy something if i'm not going to play it eventually. When I finally play it for awhile, I can say "Yeah, I got my money's worth out of this"

After throwing so much cash into this hobby, I better do something with it :)

But I had the same problem you had, I would buy buy buy... and then never touch it. I started wondering why I should even bother buying it if i'm not going to use the item for what it was intended for.

If it bugs you that you don't play them more often, just try sitting down with a game you've always wanted to play. Don't think too much about it, or you'll be overwhelmed (Happens to me when I'm trying to find something new to play, too many choices)

I had to get this off of my chest actually, good topic to rant :)
It also bugs the hell out of me. I'm trying to get these carts to play them! YOU'RE ON MY TURF!!!!:angry: LOL
It's your money, do what you want...
But On a personal note, I dove into my cart bins today, and played 5 games i'd never played before. It was pretty damn cool. I swear I'll work thru this pile.....

[AlexKidd]

I seem to have a similar problem with both my video game and music collections. I buy and collect way more than I actually play. I do enjoy playing video games and listening to music but I'm very into acquiring more stuff. If I'm playing a good game on my cube or listening to a good pink floyd cd i'm enjoying it but at the same time i'm thinking about the next 5 cube games/floyd cds I want to buy. I continue to do what I do because I enjoy it but I am considering selling my non-nintendo systems and games with the exception of maybe my turbo and my 2600. I could also sell about 100 of my cds.

[Bluteg]

I know what your saying Jonjandran, I go through the same thing. I spend many more hours hunting, searching ebay and talking about games than I do playing them. It seems I have to almost force myself to actually sit down and play a game. Usually when I do find a game I am totally absorbed in it but they are few and far between. Last three games I did this with were Tales of Symphonia, Star Wars: KOTOR and Dues Ex 2... all shortly after their respective release.

I also play games and get marginally interested in them enough to get right before the ending and then quit... so many RPGS and current gen games I cannot even attempt to count them. I have probably loged in at 6 hours of game play in May and June so far... I am far more interested in the gaming society than the damn games themselves...

[max 330 mega]

sounds like me 6 months ago... i got to a point where i was buying games, just because it was an impulsive thing to do, and unlike most people here, who just continue to do so , i managed to break myself of it, and have sold almost my entire collection, from 400 games to 100 games, and now from 19 systems to around 5. its actually lot nicer to have a few good games, and not a library of shitty stuff youll never play. so , i sold it all, put the money to very good use, and have since been using it to fund my band, and its a hell of alot more satisfying than games on a shelf.

Now this is what I've been thinking of doing for some time now. I don't have all the systems (newer ones), but I've spent enough on games in the last few years that is really just too much. And as has been discussed here, I really don't play much of it. I've been wanting to sell off what I just don't play anymore, but am finding it really hard to part with the stuff. Why? I really don't know, I just feel attached to the systems and games for some reason... If I could narrow it down, I'd clear up a lot of space, make some money (so-to-speak), and probably be better off in the long run.
it was pretty hard for me at first, i would kind of mope around, and see that empty patch on my shelf where 5 or 10 games used to be, but then i started getting the money, and as the collection got smaller, i got to keep reorganizing my games into a smaller and smaller area, and now i just have one glass case entertainment center with my games in it, and its soo nice to have the money, and the TONS of extra room not occupied by bookshelfs and other things.

[SkiDragon]

I guess a lot of people who get satisfaction with seeing things organized in neat little rows and columns (like boxes of games, maybe?) are candidates for obsessive compulsive disorder

Thats me.

[nate1749]

I am far more interested in the gaming society than the damn games themselves...

I never thought of that before, but I'm the same way. I read gaming magazines, visit 2 gaming message boards, read various other stuff on games and systems... in fact for every hour I spend dealing with the gaming society (shopping, reading, whatever) I probably only play a few minutes.

[y-bot]

I almost never play games except when I am testing out stuff to sell/trade. I probably have about 50 systems and 1000 cartridges in my collection and I can't remember the last time I played a game purely for fun. Also all of my games are put away in boxes so I can't even look at them. I guess I get enjoyment out of hunting things down and trying to complete collections. I keep telling myself that someday I will play them.
y-bot

[Nesmaster]

I know what your saying Jonjandran, I go through the same thing. I spend many more hours hunting, searching ebay and talking about games than I do playing them. It seems I have to almost force myself to actually sit down and play a game. Usually when I do find a game I am totally absorbed in it but they are few and far between. Last three games I did this with were Tales of Symphonia, Star Wars: KOTOR and Dues Ex 2... all shortly after their respective release.

I also play games and get marginally interested in them enough to get right before the ending and then quit... so many RPGS and current gen games I cannot even attempt to count them. I have probably loged in at 6 hours of game play in May and June so far... I am far more interested in the gaming society than the damn games themselves...

DING DING DING! you descirbed me word for word, sans the last 3 games part.

I cant count the amount of times i force myself to play games, or get remotely interested in a game, play through most of it, then give up. I have become more collector than gamer...

suppafly mentioned its about getting and not about having... I can partially agree with this. i died for 4 years to get flintstones 2, and when i finally did get it, it wasnt that big a deal. BUT, having it is just as important as the years wanting it... i spend more time looking at the cart and thinking "finally" then i do playing it...

still, the thrill is in the hunt. I'll continue to buy games that i'll clean (i love cleaning) test, and then shelf, and forget completely that i own the game. But you know what? i LOVE doing it!

[Sylentwulf]

Does anyone else here do this sort of thing, or do most people here actually PLAY games and collect also ?

Honestly, I don't play the classics much at all. I have my MAME arcade for arcade games, and I play my PS2 a LOT. But as far as my non-current-gen games and systems go, I buy them, I look at them, I poke them, then I leave them. I don't play them much at all, BUT..... If I didn't have them, I WOULD get the deep-seeded NEED to play them. That's what got me collecting to begin with, was NEEDING to play certain games from the past, then once I got them, I barely played them at all, but I didn't feel that need anymore, so it works for me :)

[TeddyRuxpin]

I kind of do that too. But not so much on purpose. I buy things as cheaply as I can. Since NES, 2600, N64 carts are so common they end up at thrift stores a lot more often than TG16, SMS, Colecovision, etc. So that leaves me with Systems with few games, or just one as with my TG16 an VirtualBoy.

With my Colecovision, I've only bought one extra game that I specifically wanted since I got the system last year. I've had the VirtualBoy since 2003 I think, and it still only has the game that was in it when I got it, Mario Tennis. I was lucky to find the Jaguar that I did, for the price I did ($40 for system + 9 games!) or it would be another TG16 or VBoy.

Overall, the system I play the most out of everything I have (list linked in sig) is N64.

Gamecube probably comes in at #2 . I really do neglect the poor Gamecube. I have 2 games I bought last year on sale at Target that I still haven't even opened. Pisses me off I can't finish Luigi's Mansion too... :angry:

Dreamcast comes in at #3, despite being a CD-R enabled model.

[gepeto]

I experiance the same issues. I believe the reason I collect is because it takes me back to a time in my life where gaming was pure fun no bills minor problems. I enjoy wacthing the young ones play more so than me also I think that as an adult my attention span is alot shorter. When we were younger and we bought a game we were usually stuck with it because it is all we could afford and we would play the game to its completion crappy or not. Now with more money we get spoiled and move on quickly. I do enjoy pulling out a rare old game and play from time to time ex tyson punchout. Will I beat lunar 2 complete I don't know but it is there to be beat:) I get my fix and put it back. But to balance out my crazyness I often think of all the people that have bought played traded in games for 10 plus years. and now have no games where did the money go? I grew up in the arcade era. gaming will be in my blood until the end.

[Graham Mitchell]

I'm real busy right now with school, so I definitely buy more than I play, especially for the NES because a)the games are cheap, and b) you can't save or take passwords on many of them so you'd have to play for hours to make it worthwhile, which I can't.

I do try to only buy games that I'm interested in for one reason or another, as with music. Doesn't mean I play them all, but they are of interest to me. It's like having a library. If I read something interesting about a game, it's there for me to investigate further and experience firsthand. I like following the history and progression of games, so it's interesting to me to have access to a bunch of games from different eras. It's pretty cheap to do so since most of them are old, but if I actually sat down and mastered everything I owned on a regular basis, my life would be in the toilet.

As for your situation, Jonjandran, I wouldn't worry about it. Like I said before: if it's not fun, stop. If you enjoy it and it's not impeding your life, keep at it!

[Alex Kidd]

My dad has a warehouse with quite a few cars in it that he's bought and customized, which he wholey appreicates.
And most of those don't get driven more than 100 km a year!

You don't have to use something to death to make it appreciated. I like to refer to it as the Dragon's blood, when you have that craving to just HAVE a lot of stuff and not really use it. but that could be a mix of the D&D and the pot and the whnatnot...

Alex Kidd

on a side note, there is a post above by one "Alex Kidd", and at first I thought, 'Is that me?' and after I read it I thought it WAS me until got to the end about having a Turbo... i don't have oine unfortunately... and then I seen the avatar was different. And all this time I thought I was the only Alex Kidd here!

[buttasuperb]

Who knows, I sold most of the stuff I don't play at least now and again...

[shvnsth]

i am the same way, i have shitloads of old games, but i play the newest games with glowing reviews first. trying to get back into some of the older titles i own, but it is very difficult with splinter cell's and resident evil 4's just waiting for me to beat.

[SlayerOfFurbies]

what i can see is that your a console collector. there is nothing wrong with that. heck samuraismurfette collects consoles(and games when they are cheap). as for me i've been playing my game cube and n-gage and all off my older stuff is sitting collecting dust on the shelves. for me i think it is because my collection has grown so much, 600 titles over 4 systems, that it is hard to find time to play old stuff. In time i think i'll sell the whole lot and start fresh, because at the beginning everything got played!

[demen999]

I experiance the same issues. I believe the reason I collect is because it takes me back to a time in my life where gaming was pure fun no bills minor problems. I enjoy wacthing the young ones play more so than me also I think that as an adult my attention span is alot shorter. When we were younger and we bought a game we were usually stuck with it because it is all we could afford and we would play the game to its completion crappy or not. Now with more money we get spoiled and move on quickly. I do enjoy pulling out a rare old game and play from time to time ex tyson punchout. Will I beat lunar 2 complete I don't know but it is there to be beat:) I get my fix and put it back. But to balance out my crazyness I often think of all the people that have bought played traded in games for 10 plus years. and now have no games where did the money go? I grew up in the arcade era. gaming will be in my blood until the end.


WOW! I thought I was the only one that was feeling like this lol
So there are a bunch of us that the hunt gets more excitement, than the game we play. So weird.....

Now I am thinking about selling a bunch of my stuff, cause I want to get a DS ( always a nintendo fan). But I always said my future kid will ge tmy collection, so I'm having a hard time selling things too lol

[Goblin]

I used to play games...... A lot.....

But for the last 10 years I have found myself doing something that some might consider quite strange.

I buy every system. It seems I have to have them. I love to get them and check them out and even play a few of the more popular games on them. But then I just wind up putting them on the shelf and never touching them again. :hmm:

And also I have to have every new handheld that is made, including the Imports. I get every one and then I don't wind up buying hardly any games for them. I just hack them and put emulators on them, mod them with fron-lights, etc. :hmm:

And I also have to mod all my newst Nex-Gen systems. My Gamecube , Xbox, and PS2 (plus my Saturn, and PS1) , thay all have mod-chips and are modified to play copied games. But then I don't D-load or copy any games. I just like the fact that I can if I want to. :hmm:

Well I guess just like anything else it's just a Hobby. But maybe I should seek some Professional help. :hmm:

Just thought I'd share that with you guys. Been bothering me lately. LOL

I feel for you and understand your compulsion. I'm very much the same way. I have a closet full of systems that I've modified. I'll obsess for a few weeks, with the new system and then get bored. Once I hit that stage the system goes away until something else comes out that I want to try.

I don't feel I need to own every system out there, but when I do think about buying one, the ability to modify it weighs heavily. This even transcends game systems. I recently bought a DVD recorder, and I made my final decsion based on which one had the ability hack the firmware.

I like having the ability to do other things with the consoles. It's the engineer in me wanting to make things go further. I finally had the opportunity to try a PSP, and I was extremely impressed. I was tempted to immediately go out and get one, but then I decided to research the hacks and saw many only work with a 1.0 firmware. Now I'm going to wait to wait a bit. Probably for the best since the time I wait will lead to what I hope is a drop in price and maybe and improvement in quality (dead pixels, sticky buttons).

I've even bought some things I normally wouldn't have just becuase they could be modified. Case in point the C64 DTV system. I didn't have a C64 as a kid, but just knowing that I could add a keyboard, and disk drive was enough to get me to buy one. This was a low cost example, but after about 5 hours of playing it too went in the closet.

I have been trying to get better and actually play some of the games I own. Maybe we should start a support group.

[loporjai2003]

For most collectors it isnt about the having, its about the getting...

Hit the nail on the head for me there .... it seems it is now more the thrill of the hunt, finding that "hidden treasure".

Afterwards, it sits there on a shelf or in a box .. still got a suitcase full of stuff I got on a trip to Japan sitting there and that was almost 2 yrs ago ! @_@

[Anthony1]

This is a very interesting discussion. It reminds me of an internal conflict that I have going on between me and my games.

I first started off as the type of guy that didn't give a rats ass about old games. I only wanted the newest most state of the art stuff. I would sell off my old systems, and buy new systems and never look back.

Then a few years ago, I slowly got into retrogaming. At a certain point I was a full blown retrogamer, so much so, that I didn't even touch my XBOX or Cube for like 8 months.

All I would play is old school.

Then I got back into the new consoles. So for a few months all I was playing was the new consoles and that had me somewhat worried about all the money I had spent going retro and acquiring all the old stuff. Was my brief stint with retrogaming just a fad? Had I spent several thousand for a brief fling?

Luckily, that wasn't the case. I got back into retrogaming, and now I play a mix of retro and modern. The key thing, is that I don't really spend money on modern games. I mostly rent games or buy them when they are dirt cheap. So the only money I spend on modern stuff is the hardware, for the most part.

Which leads me to the Next Gen. After going retro, I thought, "Wow, this is going to be the first time that I haven't been an early adopter and bought a system the day it came out. I have no need to buy the new systems right away, because I'm a retrogamer and now I can wait".

Well, I thought that way when I first got into the retro stuff, but now that I play both modern and retro, I found myself getting excited about the next generation. And now I have a $50 deposit on a XBOX 360. So this November, I'm going to add a new member to the family.

I'm curious as to what effect it's going to have on the amount of time I spend on my retro games. Thing is, I still very much have a passion for my TG-16, SNES, Genny, Jaguar, etc, etc, but there are only so many hours in which I can play.

So I find myself buying lots of old school games and only playing them once or twice. The good news is that I'm a cheap ass gamer, so I don't spend big bucks on complete or mint stuff, and I feel like if I ever completely get out of retrogaming, I can recoup about 70 percent of what I originally spent.

So I'm cool where I'm at.

But definitely one of the biggest problems that I face on a daily basis is, which game for what system do I play? I have so many systems and so many games, that it actually becomes a very difficult decision, and then once I start playing that game, how long do I just stick to that game. I mean so many damn systems to play and games to play, that I find it hard to keep playing the same game for a long enough time to really get "into" the game.

I've thought about forcing myself to play just one specific game, until I've complete finished it, but I haven't been able to convince myself to do that.

Oh well. Life goes on. The daily dilemas of a retrogamer nonwithstanding.

[bizbiz]

I spend much of my money, sometimes all of it on old video games that I will never play or make use of. I collect games, yet I hate playing video games. I guess I do it because it is fun. Not everything has to be straightforward. Man A who mods systems for no reason is no different than someone who likes to play video games. Its simply a way to have fun and forget about your other worries in life. I know when I am thinking about what games to buy and looking at my collection, I completely forget about my surroundings - which is a good thing for me. And think about it, here I am collecting games, spending money, wasting time, but I never play games, I literally hate video games. So, be proud of your achievements in modding systems. It sounds fun and challenging - if you enjoy it, that is all that matters.

[Kamino]

I spend much of my money, sometimes all of it on old video games that I will never play or make use of. I collect games, yet I hate playing video games. I guess I do it because it is fun. Not everything has to be straightforward. Man A who mods systems for no reason is no different than someone who likes to play video games. Its simply a way to have fun and forget about your other worries in life. I know when I am thinking about what games to buy and looking at my collection, I completely forget about my surroundings - which is a good thing for me. And think about it, here I am collecting games, spending money, wasting time, but I never play games, I literally hate video games. So, be proud of your achievements in modding systems. It sounds fun and challenging - if you enjoy it, that is all that matters.
I can no longer control my temper this time.
I HATE YOU.
Please. go collect stamps, or coins, or action figures, or something that people don't USE. PLEASE. Some of us here are building collections to PLAY games. If you HATE video games, why do you collect them? By your description, you could collect ANYTHING, and probably get the same 'feeling'. It's a methodical method of elimination. You've got a big ass list of bricks to buy to build a wall. WHY VIDEO GAMES? YOU HATE PLAYING THEM.
I know it's "your money" and theres nothing I can do to stop you, or anyone else here who piles up assloads of games and doesn't play them. It's just REALLY FRUSTRATING when the people holding the copies of Aero fighters snes, or Radiant silvergun for Saturn, or any other kick ass grail you can think of, haven't even played them, and never intend to.

[s1lence]

I spend much of my money, sometimes all of it on old video games that I will never play or make use of. I collect games, yet I hate playing video games.

What?!?! What are you doing making a interesting wall piece. Its your right to spend your money as you choose, but on something you HATE? Thats like going to the dentist because you like to have your teeth drilled.

[Crush Crawfish]

Good topic.

I'm a collector, but I only collect to play. I own over 900 games, and I can confidently say that at least 95% of them are games I want to sit down and play through someday. There was a point in my life where I bought lots of games that I never had the desire to play, but I eventually realized how much I hated having crappy games around that I only really owned for the sake of simply owning them.

So, I knocked my collection down from Its former 1200+ games to its current 900 or so. Nowadays, If I own a game I dislike, I simply sell/trade it away. Hell, I've even just given some games away to friends just because I felt like it.

Simply put, It's your hobby. There's no "wrong" or "right" way to collect games/systems. All that matters is that you enjoy what you're doing. :)

[GrayFox]

I spend much of my money, sometimes all of it on old video games that I will never play or make use of. I collect games, yet I hate playing video games.

What?!?! What are you doing making a interesting wall piece. Its your right to spend your money as you choose, but on something you HATE? Thats like going to the dentist because you like to have your teeth drilled.

That Bizbiz quote is killing me.

Why collect games if you hate their intended purposes. Seems extremely ridiculous to me. Games like Snatcher might not be played by some gamers, just because they're outbid by people on ebay by people that just 'want' the damn discs.

I'm not trying to be a jerk, but 'HATE" video games? Seems so futile to collect then. I mean, I don't game as much as I used too, but I find collecting as a way of reliving the past and creating a certain sense of nostaglia for myself that I love to experience. That's why I like to collect.

Oh, I also like to collect to play the games.

[boozi2]

I think I have the same problem.. Well, not the exact thing, but a similar one. For example, I wanted to own all of the shining force 3 series for quite a while. I was able to achieve that last summer. I didn't play the games in a long time, and I have no idea why @_@ I guess I'm spending too much time online. Gotta play more games! This summer's gonna be full of games! Hell yeah! :D

[Qixmaster]

I almost never play games except when I am testing out stuff to sell/trade. I probably have about 50 systems and 1000 cartridges in my collection and I can't remember the last time I played a game purely for fun. Also all of my games are put away in boxes so I can't even look at them. I guess I get enjoyment out of hunting things down and trying to complete collections. I keep telling myself that someday I will play them.
y-bot

amen to that. I too only find myself (just in the past year and a half), only playing games when i test them out to sell. I collect NES like ebola spreads, but when it gets down to it, i never play the games. I too tell myself that one day i will get around to it... ha... one day when i have some free time, right?

Oh well, i love it, but lately it has been taking over my life and i go through spells where i just want to rid myself of it all. But then i wake up early (instinctingly) on a saturday morning , wondering why i am up that early? Of course! I must get the newspaper, find the best sounding garage sales and find the shit that i don't really need, but must track down (sorry for that run on). Maybe one day i will sell it all and put my money towards something that will motivate me more so then buying that last color dream variation mint and complete.

wow, good thread :) I am glad i am not the only one out there.

-Josh

[Zadoc]

I used to play games...... A lot.....

But for the last 10 years I have found myself doing something that some might consider quite strange.

I buy every system. It seems I have to have them. I love to get them and check them out and even play a few of the more popular games on them. But then I just wind up putting them on the shelf and never touching them again. :hmm:

And also I have to have every new handheld that is made, including the Imports. I get every one and then I don't wind up buying hardly any games for them. I just hack them and put emulators on them, mod them with fron-lights, etc. :hmm:

And I also have to mod all my newst Nex-Gen systems. My Gamecube , Xbox, and PS2 (plus my Saturn, and PS1) , thay all have mod-chips and are modified to play copied games. But then I don't D-load or copy any games. I just like the fact that I can if I want to. :hmm:

Well I guess just like anything else it's just a Hobby. But maybe I should seek some Professional help. :hmm:

Just thought I'd share that with you guys. Been bothering me lately. LOL

It seems perfectly fine to me to enjoy collectiong things. People collect coins, cars, stamps, sports cards and video games.

Let me ask you this, though?

Are you spending money on video games and systems and mod chips when you should be spending that money on other bills? Also, are you buying these items with credit?

[aaron7]

I as well collect and no longer play. I use roms and my NES controller converted to USB. That keeps me happy!

[vulcanjedi]

Wow

In the 25 years that I have played and collected games I have come to a few conclusions. The most memorable experiences related to games are from when they were new.

Having come through the generation when atari, intellivision and coleco games were on the store shelves, there is a different perspective on the retro aspect of the first gen systems. Trying to decide which coleco game to spend $30 on and if it was worth it to buy a few games for $5 used. Now anybody can get an instant collection of any first gen system for less than the original cost of 2 or 3 games. And what does $30 from 1984 equal today?

With few exceptions, the playing experience shifts to a collecting experience as more used games become available.

My oldest and step kids had every first gen systems but do not collect or play any of them today. My second family and 3 young kids now do not play anything older than a Sega Genesis. The idea of saving things for them seems pointless as even their older brother couldn't be bothered with anything 8-bit.

I would not go as far as saying I hate games. I don't know why I continue to pick up old games at yard sales and flea markets though. Unless I become more active in trading rare older collectibles for things destined to become collectible in 10 years :)

Sigh.

[bizbiz]

repeat post..

[bizbiz]

I spend much of my money, sometimes all of it on old video games that I will never play or make use of. I collect games, yet I hate playing video games. I guess I do it because it is fun. Not everything has to be straightforward. Man A who mods systems for no reason is no different than someone who likes to play video games. Its simply a way to have fun and forget about your other worries in life. I know when I am thinking about what games to buy and looking at my collection, I completely forget about my surroundings - which is a good thing for me. And think about it, here I am collecting games, spending money, wasting time, but I never play games, I literally hate video games. So, be proud of your achievements in modding systems. It sounds fun and challenging - if you enjoy it, that is all that matters.
I can no longer control my temper this time.
I HATE YOU.
Please. go collect stamps, or coins, or action figures, or something that people don't USE. PLEASE. Some of us here are building collections to PLAY games. If you HATE video games, why do you collect them? By your description, you could collect ANYTHING, and probably get the same 'feeling'. It's a methodical method of elimination. You've got a big ass list of bricks to buy to build a wall. WHY VIDEO GAMES? YOU HATE PLAYING THEM.
I know it's "your money" and theres nothing I can do to stop you, or anyone else here who piles up assloads of games and doesn't play them. It's just REALLY FRUSTRATING when the people holding the copies of Aero fighters snes, or Radiant silvergun for Saturn, or any other kick ass grail you can think of, haven't even played them, and never intend to.

Right.. I hate PLAYING video games. I like COLLECTING video games. I like the nostalgic feeling of collecting and finding old and valuable video games. I played games since I was 5 years old and spent many years at the tube playing non-stop for what seemed like hours and hours a day. Frankly, I am sick of playing video games, so much that I can't sit there and play them anymore.. it has become hate to play games. However, I can't help but profess my love for completing my game collection. The game companies made the games for profit. People like you buy the games for fun. I buy games for collecting purposes. Everyone has their own reasons - show a little respect and try to keep your hate to people you know!

What people like myself do (collect games without the intent to play them), is no different than someone who buys old and expensive paintings to hang on their wall and look at or show off. We are idolizing the past. We are preserving for the future. We are admiring the artwork, the rareness of that item (many old video games in their original box in pristine condition is like a piece of art). I don't hate the people who have pissed and shit all over their old video games, wiped snot on the case, threw away the box, ripped up the manual, cracked the shell, etc. - I'm one of the people who buys these games, cleans them, and restores them as much as possible to their original conditions.

I don't hate ALL video games, but it seems like the ones I collect and spend the most time looking for are just garbage when I finally get the game. I play all games I buy at least 1 time to test it, to see what the game is like. There have been so many games in my past that I spent years looking for, and when I finally get the game, I play it and it SUCKS! Lemmings for NES, is a VERY GOOD EXAMPLE! General Chaos for Sega Genesis is another.. I couldn't even play the game it was so awful. And all those years, I thought it looked so cool from the pictures and reviews I read! Things like this fueled my hate. After owning so many games, you begin to realize that good games are harder to come by. However, I can't say I hate all video games, because some of them I could play forever (e.g. SMB 1, Family Feud, or Tecmo Bowl).

[GrandAmChandler]

A wise friend of mine once said:

"If I work more (Assume 40 hours a week) then I have more money to do the things I want, however I have less time to do them"

Is time an issue? No time to play? It happens to me quite often being a Network Admin, being on call, and going to grad school..

[drwily008]

Does anyone else here do this sort of thing, or do most people here actually PLAY games and collect also ?

I've gotten pretty bad about it to. I hardly play games...at least not even close as what I used to. My collection swells, but my spare time does not.

I also collect albums like someone else in this thread said and I do listen to them, but not all of them.

It's a sickness, but a good one and I enjoy it. :)

[VACRMH]

Right.. I hate PLAYING video games. I like COLLECTING video games. I like the nostalgic feeling of collecting and finding old and valuable video games. I played games since I was 5 years old and spent many years at the tube playing non-stop for what seemed like hours and hours a day. Frankly, I am sick of playing video games, so much that I can't sit there and play them anymore.. it has become hate to play games. However, I can't help but profess my love for completing my game collection. The game companies made the games for profit. People like you buy the games for fun. I buy games for collecting purposes. Everyone has their own reasons - show a little respect and try to keep your hate to people you know!

What people like myself do (collect games without the intent to play them), is no different than someone who buys old and expensive paintings to hang on their wall and look at or show off. We are idolizing the past. We are preserving for the future. We are admiring the artwork, the rareness of that item (many old video games in their original box in pristine condition is like a piece of art). I don't hate the people who have pissed and shit all over their old video games, wiped snot on the case, threw away the box, ripped up the manual, cracked the shell, etc. - I'm one of the people who buys these games, cleans them, and restores them as much as possible to their original conditions.

I don't hate ALL video games, but it seems like the ones I collect and spend the most time looking for are just garbage when I finally get the game. I play all games I buy at least 1 time to test it, to see what the game is like. There have been so many games in my past that I spent years looking for, and when I finally get the game, I play it and it SUCKS! Lemmings for NES, is a VERY GOOD EXAMPLE! General Chaos for Sega Genesis is another.. I couldn't even play the game it was so awful. And all those years, I thought it looked so cool from the pictures and reviews I read! Things like this fueled my hate. After owning so many games, you begin to realize that good games are harder to come by. However, I can't say I hate all video games, because some of them I could play forever (e.g. SMB 1, Family Feud, or Tecmo Bowl).

Just thought i'd throw a few comments into this fire :)

Yes, the game company gets the profit for a brand new game that comes out, but not the older used games. I guess it depends on what you buy there.

There is a big difference between buying a game to look at, and a piece of art to hang on your wall.

With the artwork, you're using it for its intended use - To look at. You don't buy a TV just to stare at, you turn it on and watch some shows.

Some of us here are dying to try plenty of games that are out in the wild, we hear storys of amazing games, and we are determined to find them. Imagine if a friend of yours finds a great album you've always wanted to listen to, and they say "Oh, I just bought it to own it... i'm never going to listen to it"

It's just disturbing.

[Aussie2B]

Took the words right out of my mouth (or rather, fingers?), VACRMH.

The painting analogy just doesn't work. A better analogy would be someone who buys a painting just to immediately cover it up or lock it away, resulting in no one being able to view it. The purpose of a painting is to be available for viewing so you can appreciate its beauty and meaning, while the purpose of a game is to be played, regardless of if the publisher just wants money (painters get money for their work as well, but they sure as hell aren't painting for the purpose of acquiring cash).

I think a lot of the time collectors start to forget that behind every game there is at least one person, if not a huge staff, that toiled away on the project for possibly years. Every aspect of a game takes a ton of work, especially programming. As a programmer myself, I'd take offense if I created a game and someone came up to me saying "Yeah, I bought your game, but I don't feel like playing it". If it sucks, fine, don't play it all the way through, but at least TRY it (and not just to see if it works or for 5 minutes).

And as a gamer and a collector, what really gets me is the idea of all these potential great deals out there at the places I shop at on games and systems that I'd love to buy, bring home, play the heck out of, and worship that may be lost to people who snatch them up when they KNOW they don't care to ever play them and all they're going to do is brag about another system/game added to the list, shelf it, and completely forget about it.

I admit that I don't play games a fraction as much as I should be considering the size of my collection and the numbers of unfinished games I have, but that's only because I too often get too wrapped up in life and get stressed out about so many things that I can't get myself to relax, sit down, and truly focus on a game (and since my favorite genres usually demand a lot of time to complete, it makes it even harder). I always have games on the brain, though, and I have enough control to not buy that many games during the school year when I have no time to play. In the summer I play a lot more, but that's when I buy a lot of games too, so I never catch up. :P

[bizbiz]

What's more disturbing is how you are acting like people like myself own the only copy of a game. There are thousands and thousands of every game out there. Why blame someone like me if you can't find a game? I spent many years searching for the games I own and I am not going to feel guilty because people like you are 'dying to get them'! Video game collecting is not the same as video game playing - many people here can't seem to draw the line between the two. I don't cover my games up and hide them. They are on display in my home and I show them to my friends and guests whenever they ask to see them or if they enter the room that they are in. On top of that, my games are always ready to be played, the systems are hooked up, I lend games, and I sell them if the price is right. Really, at this point the entire topic is being blown out of proportion..

[VACRMH]

What's more disturbing is how you are acting like people like myself own the only copy of a game. There are thousands and thousands of every game out there. Why blame someone like me if you can't find a game? I spent many years searching for the games I own and I am not going to feel guilty because people like you are 'dying to get them'! Video game collecting is not the same as video game playing - many people here can't seem to draw the line between the two. I don't cover my games up and hide them. They are on display in my home and I show them to my friends and guests whenever they ask to see them or if they enter the room that they are in. On top of that, my games are always ready to be played, the systems are hooked up, I lend games, and I sell them if the price is right. Really, at this point the entire topic is being blown out of proportion..

No one is being blamed for someone not being able to find a game. But in my mind (And some others i'm sure) the game is being wasted.

Collecting can be very much the same as playing. I collect quite alot, to play.

And the reason why this is "being blown out of proportion" is because of your statements, and the fact that alot of other people are doing the same thing you're doing. Buying and never even consider playing because they're a "Collector" I must admit you were caught in a crossfire, i've been ready to jump into a discussion about this for quite awhile.

[le geek]

I can no longer control my temper this time.
I HATE YOU.
Please. go collect stamps, or coins, or action figures, or something that people don't USE. PLEASE... (something about doing it for Padme)

Only a Sith speaks in absolutes! LOL

Anyway,
I guess I'm much more the gamer than collector these days, I was going for a complete NTSC 2600 collection, but I realized that some of the stuff is SO RARE that really only about 10 people would be able to do it. So I parred down my stuff to a more reasonable level (still have over 700 games).

Part of this is due to economics as I bought a house and haven't gotten my ass in gear to look for a higher paying job.

And part of it is wanting the play through and beat the good games (I'm trying to beat two games before buying one new one...)

I dunno man if it feels good (and is legal in your state or province), do it!

Cheers,
Ben

[tritium]

usually I'm to busy, or too overwhelmed by a single game to be able to give all my systems and collections the proper treatment.

I try to only collect dreamcast stuff, and try to budget myself. I'm just a college student. But I get the same feeling I did from collecting baseball cards as a kid.

As for Genesis stuff, its about having the stuff I always wanted as a child, and never had.

[ianoid]

Kamino, did you drop the Krazy? You're sounding Krazy these days...

I NEVER play any of my games.

By never, I mean that I spend less than 2 hours a week out of 154 playing games, and I play less than 0.05% of my collection on any given week. So, I never play my games. C'mon Kamino, come and get me!

Collecting is as important as gaming is to me. I'm a big hunter. It's a huge source of enjoyment and satisfaction for me. If some day I have to stop hunting, or I run out of stuff to hunt for (yeah, right), I'll be pleased to be stuck playing those games from all eras. I almost wish I could stop hunting and start playing some more. Ah, here comes winter.

I love to play games. And dammit, once I unpack them, perhaps I can play a few more of them and submit some reviews of one or two of them. Perhaps. I play alot less than I anticipated when I started collecting. Sometimes it's just about potential.

If you just like having the potential, sometimes that just as valuable as actual use. If that potential wears out its welcome, maybe it's time to move on. Or just put it all carefully in the garage to revisit in a few years.

[Poofta!]

Seems to me if you injoy modding and tinkering with your systems more then actually playing them then maybe you sould start selling your mods and turn your supposed problem into profit.

But then it becomes more of a job and less fun.

And I don't need the money , I have a great job.

Does anyone else here do this sort of thing, or do most people here actually PLAY games and collect also ?

i Play games, a lot. but not the games i collect. i almost never ever play any consoles at home. i cant remember the last time i did. i play PC games non stop though, but i dont collect any of them and most of them i get off usenet anyway. the only time i kinda play console games is during school when i have my xbox w/ me at my dorm. thats it.

ive though about why im buying all these games and frankly i like having them. chances are ill never play most of them, but i enjoy having them and buying them. maybe ill slow down (or stop) when i finish all my To Get lists. someday i hope to have a entertainment room with all my dvds and games there, so i can play them if i wanted.

[sickdrummer420]

i pretty much do the same samn thing jonjondran does. i have all my systems modded but hardly ever play em. seems like i have more fun modding than anything. love to collect all the old classics also.

[pooch]

I used to play games...... A lot.....

But for the last 10 years I have found myself doing something that some might consider quite strange.

I buy every system. It seems I have to have them. I love to get them and check them out and even play a few of the more popular games on them. But then I just wind up putting them on the shelf and never touching them again. :hmm:

And also I have to have every new handheld that is made, including the Imports. I get every one and then I don't wind up buying hardly any games for them. I just hack them and put emulators on them, mod them with fron-lights, etc. :hmm:

And I also have to mod all my newst Nex-Gen systems. My Gamecube , Xbox, and PS2 (plus my Saturn, and PS1) , thay all have mod-chips and are modified to play copied games. But then I don't D-load or copy any games. I just like the fact that I can if I want to. :hmm:

Well I guess just like anything else it's just a Hobby. But maybe I should seek some Professional help. :hmm:

Just thought I'd share that with you guys. Been bothering me lately. LOL

I totally feel for you man. I guess I am sort of sick. I enjoy seeing my games lined up on the shelf. I even get more excited when I see brand new sealed games lined up. That's how I started to collect sealed games. I also collect as many brand new systems as I can. I never intend to open them or play with the system but I feel happy enough just to hold them in my hands. My father is in the same boat. He has over 10,000 CD and LPs. He can never listen to all of them but he just keeps on buying more and more music.

I think as long as you are enjoying yourself and that you are not doing harm to anyone. I think you have all the right in the world to continue to do what you are doing.

As a matter of fact, I see a psychologist on a regular basis. I told him I buy games but I don't play with them as much. He actually confirmed that it is some kind of sickness. I'll ask him more about it next time I see him.

[idrougge]

Does anyone else here do this sort of thing, or do most people here actually PLAY games and collect also ?

I recognise it somewhat. I stopped playing games ten years ago. My interest in games is mostly theoretical. I like to look at them and research them, and for that purpose, I need the hardware as well. And since I'm against emulators, I need to modify my hardware. I usually don't modify things just in order to make them look cool, but I like to remove region coding and add 50/60 Hz switches and such things. If a modification makes my life easier, I will do it. I rarely play games, but like you I want to be able to, be it one single Japanese game. But I regard it all as laboratory equipment to help me in my research. =)

[Daria]

I can understand the collector who has drifted away from playing their games. It happens, sometimes you go through phases where you just don't feel like stting down to play. But I'd like to think anyone who was passionate enough to collect was doing it because they ultimately really liked games whether they have the time to play them or not.

But jesus, to systematically hunt down a collection and hate gaming? Talk about cold. Why bother? Sounds like a waste of space and money to me.

[idrougge]

That Bizbiz quote is killing me.

Why collect games if you hate their intended purposes. Seems extremely ridiculous to me. Games like Snatcher might not be played by some gamers, just because they're outbid by people on ebay by people that just 'want' the damn discs.

Thank you for saying the thing I have been thinking ever since I noticed that people were "collecting" games just for the hell of it. They drive up prices and in the end they aren't even interested in the games as games. I don't count people who play games, but to be outbid by someone who will let the game rot in a display case (hoarders) gives me ulcers.

[Radiac]

I find myself in this category. For me it boils down to games being derivative and not holding my interest anymore. As with most of the people here games have been a huge part of my life since I was very young. I have many fond memories of playing late into the night trying to beat some old platformer or shooter. Most of my games from those days were sold or lost before I knew the value of them.

As I transitioned to newer consoles games as a whole started to lose their appeal. The neverending sequels and copycat games just don't draw me in anymore. For every Katamari Damacy or Rez, you have to wade through thousands an thousands of uninspired crap games.

So I started buying the games from my past. Sadly most of them don't hold up too well nowadays. After playing the great games I remembered, I started buying games for old systems I didn't have when they were new. My search for great games ended up with me having many games I 'll never play again. Funny thing is that I realized that the gaming culture is much better than most of the games themselves.

Which brings me to where I am now. The only games I buy anymore are the ones that really seem to be original, or are the absolute cream of the crop in their genre. As one might imagine this means I don't purchase many games. I now focus my collecting efforts on game paraphenalia (kiosks, displays, devkits, signage, etc) and older games that I truly enjoy playing.

For me the nostalgia is better than the actual gameplay experience that 90% of the games (new or retro) provide.

[Iron Draggon]

I definitely collect games way more than I play them now. But it's not that I don't want to play them anymore. It's just that whenever I do, more often than not I reach a point where they become too difficult and I get pissed off at them, so it's less stressful to not play them very much.

I would play all of my games alot more often if most of them didn't become so impossible to play at some point. It's like reading books that you can never finish because some of the pages have been torn out. You can only get so far in the story, and then you can go no further to find out how the story ends. That becomes very frustrating.

Oh just use a cheat device, you say. Well that works fine for the games that allow it, but many times the code that you need to finish a game doesn't exist, and cheats often don't exist to unlock the unlockables that remain locked if you're unable to perform the requirement to unlock them.

Plus having to cheat to get through a game takes away most of the point of playing it in the first place. When I do try to play my games, I much prefer to get through them without using any cheats than to cheat just to get through them. But that just isn't possible with some games. There are many games where it is obvious that they were never intended to be completed without cheating. There may be one person in the world who can do it without cheating, but that person is most likely one of the programmers who created the game. Everyone else will never be able to do it.

Now as for people who collect games without any intent of ever playing them, to me the sealed game collectors are the worst offenders. I only collect sealed games myself, but I collect them to open them and play them, not just to put them on a shelf and look at them all sealed up in plastic.

So if you really want to hate a fellow collector for what he has, hate all the ones who have nothing but a bunch of sealed games that they will never open and play. They are the true hoarders. It's one thing if you also have duplicate copies of every sealed game you own that you do actually play, but it's another if you're just collecting nothing but sealed games that you never intend to play. Especially if you own multiple copies of a certain game beyond one to keep sealed and one to play, unless they are variations.

Like the guy who buys every single copy of Game X that ever shows up on ebay, no matter how much it costs him and everyone knows that he does it. Those sort of people should be banned from ever buying Game X on ebay again.

Now with all that said, for me it all began with playing every game that I bought, and playing them all often. But I just reached a point where I had more money to buy games than I had time to play them, so I began to focus on just buying them more often than actually playing them. And I always said that at some point I would stop collecting them and just enjoy playing them all whenever I had more time to play games than I did money to buy them. But now that I do have more time to play games than I do money to buy more games, I still enjoy buying them more than I enjoy playing them. I guess because now it's even more of a challenge for me to get more games than it used to be.

I still like to think that at some point I will stop buying more games and start trying to play through all of them though. I'm really not very far away from "completing" most of my collections, as far as I'm concerned, and once that happens then there won't be anything left to do with them all but to play them or to sell them, and I seriously doubt that I will ever sell them. So I'll have to start playing them all again.

But for now it is mostly buy game, open game, test game, file game for storage, remove game from want list and add game to owned list. If I become interested enough in it during testing to want to play it some more, I may play it some more later and actually try to complete it. But the other thing that I've found that makes me tend to avoid actually playing all of my games is the amount of time that actually playing them consumes. And it's true that I have nothing but a bunch of time to kill now, but that time still seems much better spent looking for more games to buy or going through my want lists and my owned lists than it would be to spend all that time actually playing my games.

I also prefer to interact with others far more than I enjoy interacting with a game all by myself, and I have no one nearby to play all my games with me anymore, so that is a big reason for why I don't play all of my games more often too. When I first started collecting, I had several friends who were gamers themselves, so we always got a big thrill out of all the games that I bought together. We played every chance we got. But eventually they all moved away and left me with no one but myself to play with. And there are many games that just weren't designed to be played with just one player. You need a friend to help you get all the way through them. So those become very frustrating to try and play them by yourself too. It gets very lonely.

So just play them online, you say. Well, that is an option, and it is a very enjoyable option too, but when you get into that then the game begins to become your life and all you ever seem to do is play that one game. And when you try to stop playing it, your friends come looking for you to play it with them. So it becomes a vicious cycle. I spent three years of my life playing a series of games that weren't even designed to online multiplayer games, but there was an online community for them, and you could trade your own content with others there, so all I did was make stuff to share with others and give feedback on what others made. And it became extremely competitive and ruined alot of great friendships in the process, so I try to avoid playing online games now. There are a few that I would like to play online, but I still have yet to dive into their online waters.

Nope, hanging out here on DP and on a few other game related communities is about as close to online gaming as I really wanna get. I like to talk about games with others alot more than I like to play games with others, at least online.

So I'm still mostly just buying games and talking about them alot now. Making lists and searching ebay and the rest of the net for more games. I very rarely play them.

But someday I still plan to do nothing but play games, all the time. And once in a while I do get really into a certain game and I go on a binge of doing nothing but play it until I complete it. But it's very rare that I do so. I just like to have them and collect them and talk about them alot more than I like to actually play them anymore, for some reason.

Oh and for the record, when I do play my games, I even enjoy playing all the crap games I own that most people hate playing, so I do actually play all of those crappy old rare games that are only rare because they're so crappy, and all of those crappy old games that are just plain crap.

[gum_drops]

I have the same problem, I buy an excessive amount of games, way more then I could ever play. With many of the titles I buy them mainly to collect. Not that I don't have a "desire" to play them but with over 1000 games I realize I will not get around to every title.

Although with some systems like saturn imports, I only pick up titles I want to play as many are rather expensive and I cannot afford to go bananas trying to get every one.

I find it harder to get into games like I used to when I would spend hours trying to beat sonic 2 for the 10th time, or playing MK II over and over just to practice fatalities. Although its still fun to pop in golden axe II or splatterhouse 3 and bash some heads.

And titles like metroid will never get old, just listening to the music for that game get me pumped to play it :)

[Kevincal]

I have almost 20 systems and about 500 games. I find it is usually more fun and exiting to hunt for games on Ebay and finding good deals. It's also fun to enter snipe bids at the last second and barely win the auction. It's actually a little adrenaline rush if it's something you really want and win the auction. It's awesome when you refresh the page for the last time and see "You have won!" :D I find myself having days go by without playing any games. Then one day I'll have a marathon and play like 10-20 games. Overall it's a fun hobby and even though I've spend hundreds even a thousand or 2 on it, I could easily get most if not all of the money back by selling it. Which is cool. It's an investment.

[mailman187666]

videogame collecting is an investment in more ways than one. I personally have been sticking to playing a lot of the new xbox 360 games lately (Oblivion) but have towers of older games that span across over 20 different systems. When I collect stuff from the flea markets and what not, not only am i investing the money in hoping the value of the game will go up in the future, but I'm also guarenteed to be able to play those games 10 years from now if i wanted to. You think the NES brings back memories now, wait until its considered an antique and becomes over 50 years old. Thats what I'm trying to do with my collection. Hold onto them in case i want to show my grandkids what it was like and be able to think back to when i was a child playing these games. I may not always have as many games as i do now if i were to run into finacial problems, but i will never sell the games i've had since I was 4. Flea market finds and ebay stuff I'd have no problem getting rid of. But I'd make myself sick if I were to get rid of the first Mario game I owned. The way i look at it is it better to have them and not need them, than need them and not have it.

[mezrabad]

I understand collecting and not playing, and I wouldn't be shocked to learn that people who collect cars don't drive all of them, either.

I play games, but I buy them faster than I can play them though I rarely buy them new or at full price. Consequently, I miss out on the gems that never go down in price (Like Disgaia, to misspell just one example). This gap between having and playing really gets stretched when there's a sale (Like the one recently at Circuit City) and I get half a dozen games suddenly. I may play half of them a little bit, but some are going to stay wrapped for years and it has nothing to do with trying to collect sealed games, I just don't get around to them.

I play games because I enjoy them, but mostly because I'm curious about them all, even the ones I'm fairly certain I won't enjoy. What I've enjoyed doing over the past year, is playing games in chronological order from the "beginning" (1972) and blogging about them. It gets any curiousity I had about them out of my system and I can "move on" from them never to return. Well, not never to return, but at least never to return to the ones I'm no longer curious about and know that they suck.

[ROBOTNIK666]

I do the same thing with my board game collection. I have over 75 of them, half of which I've never played.