DP online rarity guide ?

[mailman187666]

does anybody know how often the rarity guide here at DP gets updated? I know that a bunch of current gen releases aren't on here as of yet. But wouldn't the prices/rarity vary over time with the classics systems and games? take N64 for example where the rarest game is an R5 or something like that. Wouldn't prices and rarity slightly change over time for any systems. Esecially Atari 2600 due to its age. Or is there some kind of theory that the DP creators use that I'm just not aware of? the DP online rarity guide is very helpful and useful to me, I check on it , frequent updates would make it one hell of a guide. I can't wait till PS2 starts getting graded for its rarity years from now.

[devils advocate]

Great Post!!!!!

Any answers?

[TisLord]

Market prices are fairly steady for the most part...ebay is like the ocean...waves go up and come down....so keeping it constantly updated to reflect ebay prices would be a hell of an undertaking for something that is offered freely...if it was a pay service maybe...free service...you have to be kidding me...

[hezeuschrist]

I don't know if I'm very qualified to answer the post, but I've been around a while.

For the most part, there are a small handful of people with specific systems they update the guide for, and as you can imagine just keeping current stuff updated is one hell of an undertaking for any one person for one system. You can rest assured though that someone, somewhere, has every release for every current system in a spreadsheet somewhere waiting to make its way to the online guide, but these things take time.

In terms of rarity and prices, I believe for the much older stuff it has just become a general concensus of the biggest collectors out there and the community as a whole. If something drastic happens (like the PSOne reprints of a handful of once-rarer RPGs), it'll be reflected in the next version of the guide. It's not a science, but there is definitely a lot of thought and care put into every rating and price out there.

And you're right, stuff does fluxtuate, that's why it's a guide, not a bible. It's something to help you along in your collecting decisions, not something to base those actions on solely.

I could be totally wrong though, I've been out of the loop for a while :(

[PapaStu]

Hesus, you were pretty on.

Since I am someone who runs one of the portions (and helps out on another one) I think I can toss an answer or two your direction.




does anybody know how often the rarity guide here at DP gets updated?

It really depends on which portion your talking about. The older stuff doesn't get tons of frequent updates since the prices for most everything is pretty steady and doesn't need constant tweaks to it. The newer stuff gets updated as often as that specific editor sends in the updates (they arn't weekly though, more likely monthly or bi-monthly). There was a good portion of time (over 6 months) where no updates went in at all due to Mr. DP having some more important things to deal with. Since things have calmed back down to a reasonable level the updates have been getting posted again.


I know that a bunch of current gen releases aren't on here as of yet. But wouldn't the prices/rarity vary over time with the classics systems and games? take N64 for example where the rarest game is an R5 or something like that. Wouldn't prices and rarity slightly change over time for any systems

Prices do vary, but not overall as much as you'd think. A few bucks up or down doesn't mean that the guide is going to be tweaked every time that happens. The guide is meant not as an end all be all, but as a 'guide' to an average type price. The online guide does get updated as the specific system editor feels a raise in price (or lowering) is needed. , however sometimes things get missed so if theres something off you can go to the collectors guide/rarity forum and post in there asking about a specific game price.


take N64 for example where the rarest game is an R5 or something like that. Wouldn't prices and rarity slightly change over time for any systems. Esecially Atari 2600 due to its age. Or is there some kind of theory that the DP creators use that I'm just not aware of?

The prices and rarity's can change over time, but a rare game is going to be rare no matter what, and a common game is still going to be common. The rarest N64 game only being an R5 is a fine standard for it considering that the R1-10 for any game is going to be one that carries across all systems. A game that pulls an R5 for the N64 should have the same level of difficulty to obtain as a R5 game for the PlayStation and for the NES. They are not based as a rare per system, but rare in the whole scheme of things. Since you can still pretty easily get most any N64 game due to its relative newness i'd not expect a rarity jump for any game anytime soon and since the 2600 has been dead for so long, those that activly go after the truly hard to get stuff know in which the regularity it shows up on places like ebay or buy/sell forums and in the wild. Raritys there wont really be changing either.

[50TBRD]

But wouldn't the prices/rarity vary over time with the classics systems and games? take N64 for example where the rarest game is an R5 or something like that. Wouldn't prices and rarity slightly change over time for any systems. Esecially Atari 2600 due to its age.

I'd like to add just a bit more to PapaStu's comment. He covered this pretty good. If by over time you think that the rarity will change, you mean that the overall number of carts of say Mario Bros will change as carts are lost, broken, or destroyed, you are correct. The overall numbers will change. But as there are tons of Mario Bros, the overall percentage loss will only be a drop in the bucket. The Panesians may be affected in the same way but as there are less of them, there will be less lost. Maybe one of these for every 1000 Mario Bros due to the fact that most people know what they are and take care of them. Nobody feels bad about tearing up a Mario Bros Cart. So the relative rarity will not change and the true rarity will only nominally be affected.

[GrandAmChandler]

It has been said before but simply:

If you have an addition, or correction for the guide, please post it in the collector's guide forum.

-GAC-

[Vectorman0]

I think a "change" in rarity is usually the decision to change something because it was either perceived too rare, or was thought to be too common than it actually is.

I think a significant change in the amount of carts, relative to others, is highly unlikely to ever change. Possibly over a long period of time, with other factors, it may happen. As an example, maybe the demographic of people who were most likely to get a mail-order title are more likely to keep them over time than someone more casual, therefore more of these aren't "lost to time", making it less rare than it previously was. But I don't see this happening, really. I'll stop the rambling now.

[jajaja]

It has been said before but simply:

If you have an addition, or correction for the guide, please post it in the collector's guide forum.

-GAC-

I posted a missing NES game (Snowboard Challenge) months ago, but its still not added to the guide.

[mailman187666]

thanks a lot guys, I was just wondering if it would vary enough to call for a change. I used to collect baseball cards when I was younger and used to pick up the beckett guide. Since that was monthly, the prices would go up or down each issue. I just didn't know if this would have been the same type of deal or not, i guess maybe not so much the rarity but the prices. But I understand now. Thanks guys for the input.

[Kid Ice]

If an item's price/rarity seems off, you can post that in the collectors guide forum.

That doesn't mean the guide will be changed immediately.

I find that these "prices are off because the guide hasn't been updated" statements completely fall apart as soon as you start talking specific games.

[50TBRD]

thanks a lot guys, I was just wondering if it would vary enough to call for a change. I used to collect baseball cards when I was younger and used to pick up the beckett guide. Since that was monthly, the prices would go up or down each issue. I just didn't know if this would have been the same type of deal or not, i guess maybe not so much the rarity but the prices. But I understand now. Thanks guys for the input.

Baseball cards have been around for a 100+ years and truely have collecotrs of all ages from 5 to 100. Beckett probubly has a huge staff but mostly they just decide which ones are rare and which ones need to be higher priced based on whether a particular player is better in that particular season of cards or has become better in the current season. Today's rookie card becomes tommorrows hot player and they reflect that in the price. With games the desire to aquire one game will probubly be established in the frist couple of years and then price will either slowly drop because its popular or desired based on it rarity or quickly drop because its a dog with not much popularity. Of course thats cutting it to the bare bones and there are a lot of factors which determine value.

[bangtango]

The guide on this site gives you enough knowledge to avoid overpaying or overbidding on games that aren't as rare as a seller makes them out to be. It also lets you know whether a game is worth picking up for $5-10 at a pawn shop or flea market. Everybody picks up the $1-2 games "in the wild", even when knowing the game may be worth just that much or not a whole lot more. Others draw

You'd be surprised how many gamers, or novice collectors, probably pass over rare finds because they think $5-10 is too much to pay for some game that is extremely common or worth much less than $10. Some people worry about picking up a turd for $10, thinking it will only be listed at $2-3 here. If they'd bothered spending an hour on the guide, perhaps they would have seen that game is worth $20, 30 or more.

I say the information here is good enough. I trust the judgment of the people who contribute to the guide. I also thank them for their contributions.