Are the pre-crash games just not as collectable anymore?

[Bojay1997]

Forgive me if this has been discussed. I've hovered around the roundtable for over 10 years now, but my presence is nowhere near as prominent as it was from 2001-2004. I've come to noti that in those days, most of the old schoolers here were late 20 - early 30 - somethings who grew up with the Atari, Coleco etc.... and that's what they mainly collected. Discussion was high on these systems and games, and most of the collecting "scene", as it were, was centered around pre-crash gaming.

I was considered one of the young collectors in those days. I believe I was 14 when I made my first posts here (back in the EZboard days!) Now that I'm 25 going on 26, I notice that not only has the demographic changed, but the focus on collecting as well. Has collecting in general shifted it's focus to NES games and on? It seems that most people these days call the 8-bit / 16-bit era the GOLDEN AGE, where as years ago the golden age was always considered the Atari days.

Have the older gamers vacated the thrown? Passed the torch to a new generation? Or are the number of gamers from the 8bit / 16bit era vastly greater and they're just now coming around to that "nostalgia" age?

I just remember a time when there was a such a focus on the old school, but now the old school seems to have become the REALLY old school. Someone (I think Arcade Antics) mentioned in another thread that the demand is just not there anymore. That's a shame. And it will probably happen to the 8bit 16bit era too.

This same cycle happens in every kind of collecting. The vast majority of people collect what they grew up with or have nostalgic feelings about and while there are some people who can grow a strong sentimental attachment to items that were long before their childhood, it's not super common among rank and file collectors. Right now the NES is very hot because those collectors were kids when the NES was in its prime. In another decade, you might have a big burst of Playstation collecting. Ultimately, if you can ride out the cycles and you do actually like all generations of stuff, you can get some great bargains as people move on to other hobbies. I would also echo what others have said about priorities changing. At some point you get married and have kids and start to focus on your career more and trust me, your time and what's important changes substantially.

[VertigoProcess]

This same cycle happens in every kind of collecting. The vast majority of people collect what they grew up with or have nostalgic feelings about and while there are some people who can grow a strong sentimental attachment to items that were long before their childhood, it's not super common among rank and file collectors. Right now the NES is very hot because those collectors were kids when the NES was in its prime. In another decade, you might have a big burst of Playstation collecting. Ultimately, if you can ride out the cycles and you do actually like all generations of stuff, you can get some great bargains as people move on to other hobbies. I would also echo what others have said about priorities changing. At some point you get married and have kids and start to focus on your career more and trust me, your time and what's important changes substantially.

damnit! you beat me to the point!... jerk...