Restricting Your Collection to a Time Period - When and Why

[Shulamana]

I thought about posting a much more detailed question in Modern Gaming about this, but I think it relates more to this subforum so I'm going to make it a bit more generic so I can post it here.

Basically, I want to limit my collection to a certain time period in gaming (with a few exceptions), but I'm having some trouble setting a firm date to cut it off at. I tend to like older games more than modern ones, and the current generation of consoles especially has been of a mixed bag for me. I have been hearing this sentiment more and more lately, "there are too many older games for me to play, I'm just going to stop buying new consoles".

I know it's ultimately going to be my decision where I draw the line, but I'm curious if anyone else has made this choice and can relate on their decision process regarding the date after which they just stop collecting and why.

Thanks in advance!

[theMot]

I don't see why you should limit yourself by dates, just only buy what you want to play. Collecting every game from a time period is kind of pointless because on average each console generally has only 20 or so really great games if that.

[Shulamana]

The only system I would want to try to get every game for is the SNES, but that is something else entirely.

The main issue is that there are too many games on the newer consoles that I think I want to play, buy them, and then only play for an hour or two and never finish. I get decision paralysis easily, if you present me with two many options I can't choose any of them. The easiest thing for me to do would be to say "don't collect any games that didn't come out between NES and the Dreamcast", but then there would be too many of the really great and influential games from the 6th and 7th gen I would miss. Keeping those newer consoles around tempts me too much, but I really don't want to purge them all either.

I've just seen some people on here say things like "I don't buy any games that came out after the original PlayStation.", and it's those types of people whose input I'm looking for.

[Gameguy]

It's not so much by date but by system, people will just not want to play games on certain systems and just avoid those systems. For PC games, just don't upgrade your computer and limit yourself to whatever will run on what you have. The newest system I have that's not a portable is the PS2, and I only have 1 game for it. I bought it because the price was right and it could be good to have a spare DVD player(there's a handful of good games I'm looking for which would be a bonus, if I manage to find them). I had a Dreamcast but sold it off. I'm mostly looking for PS1 or earlier, or portable stuff.

If you just want to limit yourself, try to only buy games that are under $5 in price that you can find locally. That should limit what you end up buying for awhile.

[o.pwuaioc]

I only have two games from last generation: Final Fantasy IV Complete Collection for the PSP and Contra 4 for the DS. Everything else is between the NES/Master System up to the Xbox. If you keep yourself behind one or two generations, then yes, you might miss out on some cool games this generation, but overall I think you'll find it easier on that paralysis and on the pocketbook as well.

But don't stop there. Make a long term plan. I have a list of every game that I want to buy, and then subdivided into high priority wants. I try to keep a balance and get games either which I'm pretty sure I want to play or which are cheaper than market value.

[Emperor Megas]

The only restrictions I have in my collecting are only purchasing/keeping games that I enjoy and want to play, and staying within a certain budget. I typically won't pay more than $20.00 for games from this current generation, and any games that demand more than that from previous generations, I try to purchase in lots, to offset the cost with volume (often reselling any less desired titles).

I don't have the time or inclination to collect games I have no intention on playing, lest they hold some novel significance or special meaning to me.

[substantial_snake]

I don't have the time or inclination to collect games I have no intention on playing, lest they hold some novel significance or special meaning to me.

I do pretty much the same thing.

I have games for the Genesis (CD, 32x), SNES, PS1, Saturn, PS2, PS3, Wii, GBA, DS, 3DS, PSP and Vita. However I only have about 10 games on average with 30 being a high limit for each individual platform. I won't buy a console unless I am interested in at least 10 games for it, regardless of the generation. It works well because I keep from feeling overwhelmed by having a huge collection I'll never play and enjoy titles from the past along with the new offerings today. The only thing I do splurge on are the new titles being released for the "dead" consoles, I'll pick almost any of those if its for a system that I enjoy.

I've just seen some people on here say things like "I don't buy any games that came out after the original PlayStation.", and it's those types of people whose input I'm looking for.

If that's the case then its sound like you just want to reinforce a decision you've already made since those who feel that way are really only going to have one stance on this. I think is a bit of a silly since regardless of the console generation there are plenty of good games to play. However if you feel that modern consoles temp you too much to resist then sell them and collect only SNES games until you have your complete collection.

[Shulamana]

If that's the case then its sound like you just want to reinforce a decision you've already made

In a way yes, I'm almost certain I'm going to do this, it's just a question of "nothing newer than Dreamcast", "nothing newer than Xbox/Gamecube/PS2", "nothing newer than 360/Wii/PS3", or some sort of blurry line in the middle. I do not see myself ever buying the Vita, the Wii U or whatever Microsoft/Sony come out with next.

I don't actually own anything newer than a PS2 at the moment, I had a PS3 but sold it last year when I was in a money crunch, but kept most of the games I had for it. It spent 2 out of the 3 years I owned it not even plugged in, and I used it for Blu-rays and Netflix streaming more than anything else.

[sloan]

I collect everything up to current generation. By that, I mean that I don't own anything for 360, Wii, PS3, 3DS, DSi, PS Vita, et al. Those are generally too costly for my budget, and I haven't seen anything that interests me from that generation when I walk through the stores. Plus,my collection already has so many quality games from previous generations that I may never get around to playing, so why add games from a generation I know will most likely not get any play time whatsoever.

Now, if sometime in say, 5-10 years, I am walking through a Goodwill and see a 360 system for $10, then I may change my mind, but for now I am content with only collecting up until around 2005 time-frame.

[BetaWolf47]

I prefer to collect stuff up until the internet age. That is, Odyssey until GameCube. The reason for this is that current-gen games are oversaturated with games that are trying too hard to be dark and gritty, or suffer from DRM and DLC restrictions. A lot of current-gen games are FPSes, which are seriously better played on PC. Plus, with game publishers now cutting costs on game manuals and boxes, it's difficult to keep stuff in good condition nowadays. In 20 years, our current-gen stuff will have lost its DLC servers, and have bent/torn cover inserts. Stuff that we're paying $60 + DLC charges for is going to be in worse shape than the retro stuff we're finding in the wild for $2-$5 a pop.

[nickerous]

I once thought I could get every SNES game released, but, after hitting the 250-300 mark, I found that I was out of room for the collection. I'm not interested in finishing the collection only to have most of it boxed up in storage. I ended up selling most of the games I didn't want to play. Still have quite a few to get rid of.

My buying habits now are towards the PSP and DS/3DS. Bought two launch titles for PSP yesterday for less than $5 total. This is a system that I never got into buying games for, although I've had it since early 2006. Now, nearly every title in the Gamestop section is $20 or below. I enjoy playing PS1 games on the system as well, so buying and converting those games are on my priority list. Basically, I'm staying a generation behind in regards to the PSP. I'd like to get a Vita, but no way I'm paying over $300 for the system, 1 game, and a memory card. By the time I finish playing PSP games, the Vita should be much more reasonable.

The DS games are cheap now, but GS only sells gutted preowned versions or "new" games that have 4 or 5 stickers on the case. There are still plenty of games for that system I want. Couldn't help myself last year when the 3DS hit. Ended up buying that, but those games seem to be coming down in price fairly quickly. I expect that the PS3 and 360 game price will fall after this year. What with Microsoft supposedly announcing their new system this year and PS4 announcement looming for Sony.

[Atarileaf]

I collect based, not so much by dates but by systems. I was an avid gamer from the late 70's to the mid 90's so my collection consists of Atari 2600 up to the 16bit Genesis/SNES/TG-16 era.

That's my cut off "date" so to speak. Even though I did own N64/PS1/PS2/Xbox, etc those systems hold no interest or nostalgic value to me so I choose not to collect for those systems from those time periods, even though there are many great games for those systems. For me, a big part too is the space issue. I don't have the room for multiple systems that I won't play much, if at all.

And as others have said, I collect only games that I actually want to play. I used to be a "buy anything and everything" kind of collector (see any of my pick up videos from the last couple of years for evidence of that) but got overwhelmed with the volume of stuff I had and sold a large portion of it and feel better with a smaller, sleeker and more complete collection from a personal preference standpoint.