Do you guys ever feel overwhelmed by your collection?
Today was cleaning up my games and re-organizing them. I'm only about 50% done sorting after 4 hours of sweat, lol. I stood up, stood back, and suddenly felt very overwhelmed by the amount of gaming items I own. Probably need another 4 hours to finish re-organizing it all.
Anyone else ever felt/feel this way?
What a difference from when we were kids and only owned, what, 10-20 games...
You've got to ask yourself, am I getting any enjoyment out of all this? And if not, time to downsize! I sold most of my collection in 2007 and have only regretted it a few times. I kept the stuff I liked and was nostalgic about, and made a handy profit on a lot of stuff that I was able to turn around into other neat stuff, like a DSLR.
I'm overwhelmed by it on a daily basis. I've been thinking lately about reevaluating my collection and trimming some of the fat. For years I've been buying whatever comes my way that is (A), in good condition, (B), extremely inexpensive, and (C), something I don't already own. 2000+ games later, that's not looking like such a good plan anymore.
I already experienced a mass exodus of my collection back in 2003, and I don't really want to repeat it. This time, I've decided that I'm going to continue trying to complete full collections for a small handful of platforms that I really like. For the others, I will only keep the games I either like to play, or have some sentimental attachment to (for lack of a better phrase). The only problem is that I haven't implemented this new plan yet.
I'm way overwhelmed by my collection. Some of my stuff just kind of floats around because I have no place to put it. The stuff I don't really like has already been separated from my "collection" and shoved in a closet. I'm still way overwhelmed with my collection excluding those items (although I do need to get around to getting rid of them). I have never really been interested in collecting full sets or anything like that, so I've only ever bought games because they interested me as games. I genuinely like a lot of shit. I do have a significant number of games that I haven't really played for more than 2 minutes, but they're in my possession because I genuinely think I'll like them. Someday I'll get around to playing them all. Someday.
Why do I have all this stuff? When I was a kid I met and was highly impressed by a few adults who had massive catalogued music or comic collections, and (at least they claimed) none of it was crap. I would be in awe as the story behind a rare/obscure record was explained to me, and then I was given a listen and discovered that the music was actually good. Later I was somewhat influenced by the concept of the personal library that was common among upper-middle-class households from the late 19th century on (although I am not upper-middle-class). To that end you could take any random game off my shelf and I could tell you the story behind it. Even if it's one of the games I haven't played for more than 2 minutes, I know exactly what kind of game it is, its distinguishing gameplay/visual/audio characteristics, when it was released, who made it, its reception, etc. This history fascinates me.
I know my collection is hugely dwarfed by some people's here, but by most standards it's pretty huge.
Last edited by j_factor; 08-03-2011 at 11:54 PM.
I realized a few months ago that I no longer enjoy collecting. It requires too much time and effort anymore, and the prices have gotten way out of hand over the last couple years. I have LONG since acquired all of the games I actually wanted when I first started, and upon arriving at 4000 games I have begun to question what the hell I'm trying to accomplish. I've spent my spare time over the last 9 months re-cataloging the entire collection and am only about 25% through. I would love to unload the whole thing save the nostalgic bits, but that too would be a hefty duty. I've actually started a second collection consisting of duplicates I wish to keep - so I don't break my sets when I keep some stuff if the time ever comes that I do sell.
Be Attitude For Gains...
Never. I'm way too OCD to keep things unorganized. And I rarely ever keep a double of any game. And if it's something I don't like or don't want, I sell it to make room for something else. I do, however, feel overwhelmed by looking at some of the rooms of doom here on DP. Some people just seem to have stuff EVERYWHERE. lol Don't think I'd be able to handle that. Would drive me nuts (unless it's organized of course).
Yes, I do. I've got about 700 games in my room. I feel overwhelmed at not being able to get around to all of them before I grow oldAlso, I feel overwhelmed at the space they take in my bedroom.
Selling gaming accessories. Click
I sometimes look at my collection and pity myself for being so nerdy.
All the time, but it's because of some of the things I did as a young collector (See thread about advice to give a younger you).
Right now I've got a spare room with boxes of random game related stuff all over the place. Plus I'm having one of those "Why do you need this?" moments with some games so I'm taking from the collection too.
The game room is getting easier to manage now, but before that I never knew where to even start when looking at all the stuff to find a place for.
Originally Posted by Oobgarm
It's always a pain in the ass to rearrange the wires and games in your collection, but I always remember these things are part of my childhood so I love showing them off and making sure they still work.
"...leave love bleeding, in my hands, in my hands again..."
Nah, it isn't the collection that overwhelms me, it is all the stuff that has accumulated 'around' the collection. Stuff I need to sell because I bought a large lot or 80, crap not worth selling, broken controllers and cables. Oh and a Sega Pico. Why the heck do I have that? I even bought a few more 'games' for it recently and I just don't know why.
A few years ago, I decided to only own games that I would actually play. This resulted in the sell-off of my PS2 collection. I currently have quite a bit of my collection (GBA and Wii) stored in the closet, waiting for later in the year to have another sell-off.
I was feeling a bit overwhelmed before this decision. Despite now focusing strictly on NES, SNES, and PlayStation, I still believe I have enough gaming to last me for the foreseeable future.
Yes. I have what I call "The Game Vault" in my apartment, which is really just a large closet. It's wall to wall games and consoles in their boxes. I'd say over 700 games. Oh, and in the corner on the left... that's where I hang my shirts.
I've definitely been thinking about selling a portion of it off, especially with current events in my life. A lot of change is taking place, and I just know the video game collection will be effected at some point.
I would feel completely at ease if this process only took me 8 hours. More like 8 weeks.
We recently expanded our house and added an extra room in the basement, which is for my stuff (3000+ games, 130+ systems, plus VG book and VG magazine collections). Even after filling the new room, I still have consoles and games yet to get in there. And so far, I've just put everything into the room, nothing is yet organized. I don't even know where I kept all this stuff before the renovation!
Leonard Herman
The Game Scholar
Publisher of Historical Videogame Books
http://www.rolentapress.com
Phoenix 4 coming in 2014
My collection is nowhere near the size of some of the collections here (164 games and counting), but I have felt overwhelmed by my collection in the past (when it numbered in excess of 300 and they were scattered everywhere) and I get a little overwhelmed now.
I sold off (and traded...and donated...) a good portion of my collection a few years ago. I was buying games indiscriminately and ended up with games like Super Battleship for the Sega Genesis. I didn't like it and it took up space.
I started feeling guilty recently (within the last year or so) about getting rid of so many games (I was down to less than a hundred) that I started getting some of the games back. I decided that for the Sega systems (Genesis, Saturn, and Dreamcast), the Gamecube and Wii as well as the PS One I was going to get complete games only. I abandoned that line of thought for NES, SNES, N64, and Game Gear because of the sheer cost of some of those games complete. If I managed to get one complete then that was just a bonus. My requirement for those was the minimum of the sleeve (or dust cover for SNES or a clear case for N64) and the manual for those. I accomplished that finally after weeks of scouring eBay and Amazon. (Ranma 1/2 Hard Battle's manual was super tough to find, and it was luck I happened upon it one day just on a whim on eBay for $5.)
I had to get a new "bookshelf of doom" because the old one ran out of room. (Amazing how much space a clamshell case takes up!) I plan on playing the games more. I used to stand and stare at the games wondering what to play. Now that I finished my degree and I can relax a bit more I think I will have an easier time.
Bottom line....I think you just have to do what makes you happy. If selling off some (or all) of the collection makes sense then do it. But think hard about it....it's been an experience replacing games I didn't think I cared about!
My webcomic about three kitties and their humans. Touches on different subject matter (including video games) and updates every Sunday and Wednesday. (The kitties demand you read it!)
This is why I've always kept my collection to a fairly small size of my favorites. I don't want an entire room of games, manuals, and other stuff just laying around taking up space. It gets expensive after a while to, and you have to ask yourself when it's enough? I don't buy games just cuz they're cheap either, I've done that a few times and it turned out to be a complete waste of money. My entire gaming collection consists of a little over a 100 games and a half dozen consoles and that's the way I like it!
Yes, I have been collecting on and off for over 20 years now. I sell off a huge part of my collection every few years but always seem to pile on more.
I just had a thrift sale and sold $1800.00 worth of games in 3 days, all priced at thrift sale prices instead of the actual value just to move it.
Out of all the collections I sold over the years it is the 6 sealed copies of Earthbound that I sold for $50.00 each during the SNES days, and my Turboduo with Turbo Express and all the rare games that I purchased at retail I miss most. I sold them all when the PS1 came out so I didn't get anywhere close to what they are selling for now. The sad thing is I sold them all to a guy who did some carpentry work for me. He gave it to his kid for Christmas and the kid destroyed all the boxes, etc. I think I only miss them because I would like to sell them now that the price is so high.
One of these days I will just stop collecting because it is just cheaper to buy the game when I want and have time to play it. Most of the games sit on the shelf with only a few hours of gameplay on each. I keep thinking someday I will retire and spend some of my days gaming, but I have enough games to retire now, play 24/7 and still not finish by the time I die of the old age of 120.
I feel overwhelmed at the thought of selling it all, but that's about it.
I'm only overwhelmed because my collection is split between two houses. It's hard to do much with a major chunk of a collection thats a half hour away. One day the magical 'house' will be owned, the room will designated and the stuff will go in it.
Until then... MOAR DS games!
Because it makes no attempt to be great, it is therefore extremely great.
Some of My Game Collection Mah Mac n' Cheese Blog
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