Business Idea

[felix]

As you all know, the market for vintage games has gone up insanely in the past 10 years. People have been buying games not only as entertainment, but also as collector’s items.

I have collected comic books in the past and have seen universal grading companies who repackage them in protective casings and also issue a "grade" signifying that it is a valid/original item also grading the condition of the item.

Example:
http://www.hillcity-comics.com/graphic_novels/grade_guide.jpg

I think it would be a GREAT idea to do this for videogames. I am talking to one of my friends who owns a videogame store and he is going to see if he can hire some people who have expertise in classic games, conditioning classic games, professionally cleaning/restoring classic games and people who have a lot of experience in packaging methods (being able to see the difference between a true factory seal and a bogus one).

Anyways, I told him I would get on and get some feedback about if anybody here would be interested in this kind of service and if anybody here has the background who would be looking for a good job/ starting a new business. We have already started to clean and restore game, but we are looking to expand and hire a few people who have knowlege of 1st generation home games (Atari, Adams, Coleco etc).

[THATinkjar]

Interesting ideas, there.

Firstly, I'm not convinced about having a professional cleaning service for games. I enjoy the cleaning/restoring aspect. It's part of the whole collecting package as far as I am concerned. I set myself high standards for my collection, and I want to reach them myself. No one part of the collecting process should be handed over to another party. Where is the fun in that?

Secondly, I don't think grading an item's validity or condition would work particularly well. Anyone serious about collecting would have their own methods of ensuring a game's authenticity and rating its condition. One man's mint is another man's waste, ain't that right Caut? ;)

Those are just my opinions.

[poloplayr]

And...the rather low prices of even pretty rare titles do not make it economically feasible to pay X amount of dollars/pounds/euros to have them categorised, etc. Not yet at least. I mean, comic books and action figures can go well into the USD1000s/USD10,000s.

[Oobgarm]

And...the rather low prices of even pretty rare titles do not make it economically feasible to pay X amount of dollars/pounds/euros to have them categorised, etc. Not yet at least. I mean, comic books and action figures can go well into the USD1000s/USD10,000s.

Well put. Games aren't quite into the level of collectibility $$-wise yet. Now, if someone was to grade what DP would consider R8-9-10 games, I could understand that since there is usually a large monetary value attached to the title. But until games reach such a level on a broad basis, I just don't see it.

Comic boooks were not 'collectibles' as they are now, particularly back in the silver and gold ages. Just like baseball cards. Those things weren't widely 'collected' by everyone and their brother until somewhat recently, I'd say within the past 20-25 years or so. Comics used to be bought to be read, toys bought to be played with, games bought to be played and enjoyed. Until the videogame market either clears out or people start massively collecting games, they aren't 'collectible' in that sense. Our community is kinda niche, as most hardcore gaming communities are. Most people who buy games buy them for playability anyway, collecting is just an 'added bonus'.

Furthermore, cards and comics are more printed matter, so there is a possibility for more flaws-hence the need for grading. Games don't quite have that margin of error. Perhaps you could look at the packaging, but with the current market, you'd really be spliiting unnecessary hairs by going through 50 copies of of the same game, just to find the 'gem mint one' rather than grab one that looks good by your standards and has no visible damage. Of course, as I said earlier, more rare titles may warrant high scrutiny, but a large bulk (like 80% or more) of them do not. Games that are ruined with marker, torn labels, discoloration-things like that will sink to the bottom. No one wants them, neither for playability of collecting.

You think that a perfectly centered, glossy, crisp Super Mario Bros. on NES is going to fetch a premium price over on that saw use in someone's childhood collection? There are some hard-nosed collector types who are very picky about condition, but it's more often a 'holy crap I found one' kind of hobby. What about sealed games? How can they be graded? What if the inner contents of the box aren't perfect? How could we possibly know without opening it?

Your idea about a professional cleaning/restoring process does hold some merit, but I do think that one of the great aspects of collecting games is the personal time one gets to spend with their stuff, cleaning it and other such things.

[sharp]

As prices of videogames are much lower then some comics, I think there is no market for this. The only system I can think that woul be viable for this is the Neo Geo AES. And from what I heard the guy from www.neo-geo.com already control the expensive carts if it are real copies. So no I won't think there is a market for this.

[The-Bavis]

This might work if you artificially inflate the value of all of the games being graded. It's done all the time with coins, like this guy does: http://www.forbes.com/business/forbes/2004/1227/156.html

P. S. Only a total a**hat would do something like that to their fellow collectors.

[Anthony1]

This might work if you artificially inflate the value of all of the games being graded. It's done all the time with coins, like this guy does: http://www.forbes.com/business/forbes/2004/1227/156.html

P. S. Only a total a**hat would do something like that to their fellow collectors.



Are you a Don & Mike listener? They always use the word "asshat"






Back on topic, I don't think this is such a bad idea per se, but I think it would be impractical. To really grade something, you would need to have a large number of the same game to really know how it's condition compares to the others.

That's going to be a difficult thing to do. With some of the rare, more expensive games, it's going to be difficult to get ahold of a large number of them, to truly come up with an accurate grading scale.

Also, a big difference between comic books and games is the fact that most comics are a standard size and type. Yet with video games, you have so many different types of carts and packaging, etc, etc.

Comic books and baseball cards from a physical standpoint are all very similar to each other in terms of size, and the materials used.

And then you have the question of whether or not you grade every little thing that comes in the box. The manual, the inserts, the little foam thing in TG-16 boxes, the plastic baggie in SNES games. I mean it could get kinda ridiculous.

There could be some type of grading scale used for loose carts. With loose carts, you would primarily be judging the label, and the rest of the cart for imperfections. I could see a rating scale for that. You could rate them on a scale of 0 to 100. With 10.0 being a cart that is basically from a brand new package that has been virtually untouched, and the label is perfect, totally centered, etc. 0.0 would be the worst shitted on N64 cart in existence. And then you have everything in between. The scale would be 0 to 10.0 with decimal points. So basically 0 to 100. Most folks would only be interested in carts that rated 60 or better.

[dan2357]

Not to mention that once an item is graded it get locked away in a sealed plastic holder, Never to be opened and played with again. Coins,baseball cards, even comics, people dont want to touch due to there ease in damage. Video games on the other hand.... Even the rare games I have witch is not many wouldn't do the same for me locked up in a case. I think part of the enjoyment of a rare game or such is the ability to pop it in to a system and play it. Sealed copies possiblity.....

[omnedon]

Doesn't seem broad enough. Say like this:
www.oldschoolgamer.ca

8-)
Just right.

[Half Japanese]

I dunno. Aren't comics as collectibles in the shitter right now, alongside baseball cards and pogs? Interesting idea, but what works for one thing doesn't necessarily translate to another.