Is your family supportive of your collecting?

[ReTrO-pLaYeR]

Just another silly question for all of you...is your family supportive of your collecting?

For me, I'll say about half and half. My mother always takes me to thrift shops and game stores all the time and lets me buy whatever I want if I have the money. However, she would kill me if I got another system. Because you have to "buy all these games for it", but why would she be worried if I was paying for it all? She thinks I'm a little nuts but screw that- I love what I do.

[todesengel]

My family see's it as a waste of money and just criticizes me for it, I could honestly give a shit about what they think about it though since it's not like I blow all my money on my collection.

[Voliko]

Now that I can drive, It doesn't really matter, but my parents HATE everything that has to do with video games. It gets really annoying when they are constantly nagging about how I spend my money on "pointless" things; especially since most of those things are obsolete. It seems that every second they get they have to say something negative about my gaming habits...

[Pichu]

My family is supportive actually. My mom is ok with whatever I do as long
as I keep my grades up. Thats not a problem though as I have a 4.0, and
an extremely elaborate education plan just waiting to be put into action.

[Dr. Dib]

Somewhat. My dad is the most supportive and he'll often go with me to thrift shops. This probably has to due with the fact that he enjoys collecting models and always hopes to find some there.

My mom is mostly neutral and doesn't really seem to care either way. Although she is somewhat supportive since she always goes with me to one of my favorite game store, of course that's because I'm accompanying her shopping but still...

My older brother is neutral to the subject. I'll show him games I got and he'll compliment me, but he usually doesn't show much interest beyond that.

My younger brother is the least supportive. We share a room, so he gets annoyed when I bring home some more crap to take up space. Of course when I bring him a game he enjoyed as a child his mood quickly turns around.

[deltoidsteep]

My family is pretty supportive of it, my dad even going so far as calling me when he finds a game at a thrift store to see if i have it. My lady friend is very supportive as she is also a collector of many things

[izarate]

Currently I'm living alone so that means that I don't get to deal with this kind of stuff but when I lived with my family their reaction was mild amusement, except for my father who sees the hobby as a great waste of time (but then almost every other hobby is, isn't it?).

Anyway, the prospect of marriage might be the end of my collecting days or at least the end of weekend hunting on flea markets My girlfriend doesn't really care but I think that she wouldn't be happy with all my stuff taking space.

If worst comes to worst I have a backup plan: my room at my parents' house is empty except for my old bed so I plan to use it as storage for my games and systems. I currently have an HTPC made from old parts I had around that I can use to emulate older stuff so I would only need to keep the most current consoles. As for the games for said consoles I'm currently in the process of adding HDDs to the Xbox and PS2 so that would take care of that.

[buzz_n64]

My parents get angry even if I come home with one more game, even if I buy anti-virus software, they call it all useless stuff. When I was married my ex-wife tried giving me an ultimatum that I better get rid of my games or else. I told her I had the games before her, and I'll have the games after her. Years later, it has become true. lol I don't care what others think, I'll lessen, or stop my collecting for my own reasons, or when or if I choose to, not because of someone.

[Emperor Megas]

My wife is very supportive. I don't really collect hardcore like a lot of the other here might, but I've always been a gamer, and it's my number one hobby, so she enjoys getting me game related gifts because she knows it's always a safe bet. She also tolerates long waits in the van when we go shopping and I'm perusing in gaming and electronics stores. My mother-in-law gets me a lot of gaming stuff too for holidays and occasions.

[DefaultGen]

.....

[HappehLemons]

Not really. I don't know anyone who's really "supportive" of it. My friends think it's cool and my girlfriend doesn't really care for it althought it doesn't bother her. Pretty depressing haha.

This thread will most likly prove that games are the root of all evil.

[Demon_Attack82]

Whenever my mom visits the only consoles she can recognize are my Wii (loves Wii Bowling), my 2600 (she was surprised to know I kept all the games I had as a kid) & my Genesis 2 (she got one for us for X-mas). She collects Hallmark ornaments so she doesn't tease me much about my collection.

[Shadow Kisuragi]

My fiancee brought home a Panasonic 3DO FZ-1 with 26 games one day and thought I would be upset with her because she spent $200 on the whole deal...

She only gets upset if I don't share my finds with her before cataloging them and storing them away. She's more interested in Atari and hardware while I'm focusing on collecting anything Sega right now. She had me rent a van and drive 80 miles out of town to pick up a machine, and then I had to drag it into the house through mud to get it there

I'm just happy she's supportive and it's something we can share. I'd hate to be combative about it, since it's the only thing I've really ever spent my money on.

[chrissylas]

My husband and I collect together. We're always heading out on the weekends to go to either the flea market or garage sales. In fact, it's pretty much a normal Saturday ritual. The games, while fun, aren't really the focus. Instead, it's the time we spend collecting that really means alot to me.

Our families think we're crazy but that's fine, it's not their money and they do all sorts of things that I think are crazy.

[retroman]

i dont think they even care....

[HurricaneAndrew]

Whenever my mom visits the only consoles she can recognize are my Wii (loves Wii Bowling), my 2600 (she was surprised to know I kept all the games I had as a kid) & my Genesis 2 (she got one for us for X-mas). She collects Hallmark ornaments so she doesn't tease me much about my collection.

My girlfriend's mom has like 500 hallmark ornaments that she is selling on ebay... PM me if you would like me to get a link to her listing.



My father thinks it's pointless, but he could care less. My mother is pretty supportive. If she's with me and I've run out of cash, she'll buy something if I really want it badly. She just tells me to not let my father find out. My brother is really supportive. I am grateful to him for helping me build up probably 1/4 of my current collection. My grandfather has no clue what a video game even is. My girlfriend is supportive at times, even though she calls it a waste of money at some points.

[kupomogli]

I don't know anyone who actually collects. I have some friends who are always impressed by the amount of games that I own, but other friends of mine, even gamers talk crap about my collecting.

A lot of the time it's either. You're rich bla blah blah. You just go out and buy whatever games etc.

People don't know it but I don't really make that much money and I spend literally nothing on anything but food and a place to stay. So all the money I put into purchasing games is solely because I don't spend it on anything else. The rest goes in the bank as I save the rest, or rather goes in the bank first before it comes out for games.

Another thing is that a lot of the games I purchase are fairly old and cheap. I didn't pick up Sacred 2 and DBZ Raging Blast until the Gamedays sale even though I wanted both for awhile. Dante's Inferno I picked up $25 shipped from the EA store and that's only been out two months. It's rare when I get a game full price but even when I do, I can afford to do so more than once a month if I wanted to because I actually save all my money.

So yeah. I always end up feeling a little bit depressed when they say I'm so rich because I don't blow your money on other stuff and spend it on games or save it instead.

[Arcade_Ness]

I live in a apartment with my brother, and he doesn't really care much about my hobby. Besides he collects old guitars and amps, so we're both into collecting, just not the same thing. My mom always tells me to sell all my games and systems, as she believes its a waste of money. Though at the end of the day it's my money and I can do what I want with it.

All my friends are very supportive, and also are also gamers but are more into modern gaming.

[Arkhan]

they were the ones who got me into video games!

at times, they would get mad because I would spend so much time and money on games...

but when it got to the point where I got really into computers, and started doing alot with them as far as hobbys/education, they were like "ohhhhhh! thats where hes headed!" and now they are just used to me showing up with a trunk full of crap I found at a garage sale for 5$, lol.

[SEGA]

My dad doesn't really approve. His house is simplistic -- no "junk".
My mom just kinda rolls her eyes if I bring it up on skype or something. She's happy that I'm happy though.
My sister plays Aladdin on the Genesis and Mario Kart on N64 when she comes to visit. She could care less about the rest.
My friends don't really care either -- nobody ever wants to play anything when they come over and I have a couple thousand carts and discs for various platforms...