Why do you collect? (inspired by recent threads)

[YoshiM]

Thanks to DP for getting the ball rolling on these types of questions and props to orrimarrko for planting the seed for this thread.

So why do YOU collect? It may be a foolish question with an equally foolish answer (like "because") or it may be something more personal with an interesting story to tell. Is it for the possible future value? Is it to hold onto the past in someway? It is because you happen to like the games then as opposed to what's out now? Please, do tell.

[Phosphor Dot Fossils]

Uhhh....because!

No, seriously, here's the answer. A lot of what's out there today, game-wise, just doesn't trip my trigger. Just because the older games are simpler graphically or in terms of control does not mean that they're any easier.

I also want to preserve these games for my own nxt generation. God willing, little PDFlings will someday stalk the surface of this planet, and when there is a little PDFling or PDFette out there, I want to share this stuff with them. Start 'em out simple. If they reach the age of seven or eight and suddenly want an Okama Gamesphere, PS7, or a holodeck or whatever the heck it is that they're playing in 2019, then I'm cool with that. A lot of my collection is simple hand-eye coordination stuff, not terribly violent, great kids stuff. I would love to be playing these games with my kids one day.

And until then...it's psychic comfort food for me, in a way. Video games used to be a family activity for me, back in happier times when I had a family. I still get that vibe now and again when I play, like my mom is still right there watching me play.

And finally, there's history there, a story to be told. Someone commented to me a while back that my game room was more about display than play, and to a certain degree that's true - if ever the time comes to get rid of my collection in toto, and I'm still around to do it, I intend to find a museum or other such venue that would want the stuff, put it on display, and take care of it. Then I'll build and write the display for them, free of charge, on the stipulation that while everything is to be preserved, it is also to be PLAYED by anyone who wants to - especially the kids.

So one way or another, the history goes on. And the story continues to be told.

[portnoyd]

OCD.

dave

[maxlords]

Cause I like games and I like to play them over and over again at totally random times. Also, it has convenitenly become an obsession.....

[AB Positive]

In a way it's recapturing simpler times for me when life was uncluttered. When I play my NES or even some of my PSX stuff, it reminds me of how life was before phobias, bills, worries, and world affairs lifted themselves heavily into my life.

Plus, I'm a historian about anything I enjoy. I remember a lot of the history of pro wrestling, same goes for video games. And collecting helps me round out my knowledge of the subject.

-AG

[Charlesaway]

I collect because other than the voices in my head, as an obsessesion, it's my only other psychological problem.

j/k

My parents did not like video games, whether it be the monetary aspect of them (unlikely, I had quite a few 75-100 dollar LEGO sets for christmas as a child, though this is what they said), or some unknown cosmic abnormality. They just refused to buy them for me. I remember playing my cousins intellivision with the atari adapter and it was tons of fun. Likewise the first time I played SMB at a friends house on the good ol' NES. So I've been forced to now purchase what was rightfully mine all along. Bwahahahaha!

[jaydubnb]

Cause I like games and I like to play them over and over again at totally random times.

I agree with this post.


I collect to play not to display. No other reason.

[bargora]

I collect because I'm a really big geek who wants to have played a wide variety of games so as to have acquired a thorough knowledge of video-game entertainments.

Plus, they're fun to play.

But I'm not looking to have complete collections of anything, except maybe games with giant controllers or vibrator peripherals. I pick and choose, so maybe I'm not really a collector at all under the most rigid definition.

[Arqueologia_Digital]

Because i´m a very nostalgic man and i love vg...there aren´t many reasons, but this reasons are THE reasons...

[Sylentwulf]

If I don't have a game, I'll want to play it.

That, and I need A collection, and this one has an attainable finish, I like building display's, and arranging things.

[orrimarrko]

Now this is an interesting thread!

What do video games, Star Wars and coins have in common?

They all appeal to the visual-based obsessive-compulsive. (ME!)

These hobbies are great if you like to have a long, finite list of things that are pretty to look at.

Unfortunately, I have found out the hard way that you can't do all 3 (unless you are insanely rich!)

For me, there are 4 reasons I collect, none of which is any more important than the other:

1. THE PASSION: I love video games (it's important to collect something you love, and makes you want to know more about it)

2. THE QUEST: I like trying to complete checklists. There is an inherent challenge involved, with a possible goal or goals (it is possible with enough time and money to own a complete collection - whatever that means to you as an individual)

3. THE FUN: It's a break from reality (in part, it brings back great memories of simpler times, and in part it allows me to forget about current things that may be unpleasant)

4. THE VISUALS: I am a visually-based person (I love to display and view the games, the packaging, the art, etc; I love the pretty colors )

Anyway, there are other reasons, I suppose, but these are the ones that do it for me.

In summary, in case you couldn't tell - I'm an obsessive-compulsive with anal-retentive qualities. (Please shoot me...)

[petewhitley]

I collect almost exclusively games I remember from my childhood, both those I used to own and those I absolutely HAD to have and yet never got (i.e. Vectrex)

[Nature Boy]

Part of it is simply that I have the collector bug in me. I collect the books I read, the CDs I listen to, the DVDs I watch, the comics I ... well I don't read 'em much anymore but I still collect 'em.

The reason video games are my focus (even though I continue in the others) is probably nostalgia to start. I had a VCS as a 7 year old and I've never stopped playing games (although I wasn't actually collecting them when I had no money). Part of it is my job - I'm a programmer and although I don't program games I do find the industry and the work behind them interesting (I've taken a look at VCS programming over the last few months and I have a *tremendous* respect for those who did it in the past and those doing so today). And part of it is my love of all things electronic.

[swlovinist]

I used to collect and really be into Star Wars(before the dark times....before Episode 1) I collected figures and the whole bag. I got really bored with just "looking" at all the stuff I had. I found that I could collect video games and play them too! How cool is that! Collecting video games is such a huge category now, you can collect new, collect old, or just collect both! I collect because it is a blast to bust out a 25 year old system and relive memories of the past. Video games helps me forget about all the crap going on in the world and takes me to a happy place of yesteryear. I collect for the sheer enjoyment of playing video games and socializing with vidiots like me!

[Gamereviewgod]

Collecting is fun, but to make it simple, how cool is it when a new freind comes over and asks "hey do you have (insert game name here)" and you loudly reply "yeah!" It actually makes them happy and you at the same time....it's almost like a public service really!

[anagrama]

All of the above. Except Star Wars.

[RetroYoungen]

Heh heh... Star Wars... oh how I love to scream at Star Wars geeks "Star Track sucks!" Oh, ahem. Sorry.

I collect because I love the games I play, with very few exceptions (like Deadly Towers and Superman). I've been playing games since I was 2 years old, and I've loved to play ever since. I grew up on Super Mario Bros. and Excitebike, and when I lost some of the old games I grew up with, I went out to find them and buy them again. Then I found other games, started buying them after I finished finding the original titles, and I've kept buying over these past years.

[Six Switch]

I collect cause everyone needs a hobby and this is the one I choose.

To go deeper in,I love video games,I always have and always will.They are fun and bring people together.I would always keep mine and as my friends sold their's to buy new ones I always keep mine and well thi iswhat it has turned into.But I'm happy.

[le geek]

It started with keeping and playing Atari 2600 through the 80s instead of getting an NES (crash, what crash?)

Then discovering the internet (pre WWW) in college and realizing how many 2600 games there were. The fact that 2600 games were a buck each at Big Lots helped. Getting a subscription to the 2600 Connection. Getting a Digital Press guide. Typing up 2600 manuals for the history of home videogames (many now on AA). Briefly having a colecovision before it died. Then picking up other old systems after they were cheap...

It kind of snowballed from there...

Cheers,
Ben

[scooterb23]

There was a point, about 1995, when I really wanted to play Kaboom, but didn't have a 2600. The next day, I wanted to play Sonic the Hedgehog, but no Genesis...so I started collecting so in case I ever wanted to play a game, I would have it.

8 years, 1300 games, and 30 systems I'm still finding games I want to play that I don't own yet...I'm working on it.