Classic games economics and ethics

[Gunstar Green]

I think he actually continued making videos after a hiatus though? I dunno, I didn't watch his stuff.

I looked him up and it seems like he's still making videos as of a few days ago.

[Betagam7]

I think he actually continued making videos after a hiatus though? I dunno, I didn't watch his stuff.

I looked him up and it seems like he's still making videos as of a few days ago.

There's a topic about it here:

http://www.racketboy.com/forum/viewtopi ... 15&t=15044

...and yes, his "final" video didn't stay final for very long and he went right back to doing what he'd always done.

[marurun]

As much as it sucks to see someone's marriage fall apart, it's pretty clear it wasn't just the games that caused his to collapse. I do hope that he has come to better terms with his potentially addictive personality in the time since.

[Jagosaurus]

Turns out doing anything to a self destructive level is bad.

This. All about balance.

There are folks pouring their into paycheck into their vintage cars or hording rusted cars. I know a guy that makes his wife park in the street because he has 1 vintage car, 2 rust buckets "he's going to fix up," & his daily driver.

Go watch American Pickers & see all those folks with train car sized shipping containers full of antiques once their house gets full. Many of those type people are selling to the guys on the show because they let it go too far over decades.

I've seen some women that collect multiple closets of clothes and shoes. "I can wear them" sure does sound like "I can play them."

I remember seeing Luke M's apartment & thinking it was out of hand, even for a bachelor. I had no idea he had a wife & kiddo living in that place. I hope he got everything straighten out.

While I have scaled down drastically in the past year, I always like to remember I have a shelf of games worth a relatively small amount & taking up less space compared to a lot of hobbies out there. Of course, you can get out of hand with anything & negatively impact your life. You could get so buried in reading free digital books that it hinders your relationships with others. It isn't always due piles of "insert collectible" or finances, although I feel all 3 aspects need to be kept in line (personal relationships, physical space, finances). If you can balance all 3 in a healthy manner and still can be a "collector" of anything, no harm done and enjoy it!

My collection downsizing was largely due to my gameroom now doubling as my primary office I work from. I needed more space. Before this, I feel I was still healthy in managing all 3 aspects mentioned above and collecting. I had a life change that helped push me towards different areas of the hobby (besides amassing games) I was already gaining interest in (flash carts, mods, emus, ODEs, etc). It would have negatively impacted my work & family if I had let my hobby interfere with my career. I had to adapt a bit & make a few sacrifices. At the end of the day, it's just stuff. Knowing where to draw the line & prioritizing is important.

We got off topic a bit . Blah, no repros not clearly marked!

[Betagam7]

There's a guy on the NGPC facebook group right now who has totally convinced himself that Crush Roller (a very common game) was going to cost him a fortune as it "never comes up"...When he was linked to one of many overpriced copies on Ebay (about $50) he instantly bought it like that was some bargain. He "strongly disagreed" with assertions that the game was common despite this being an actual verifiable fact from even the most cursory search.

Not long ago some joker was on the same group trying to sell a copy of this same "rare" game for over $150 and refusing to listen to people tell him that it wasn't rare in the slightest.

While the latter was an obvious turnover artist, I cannot get my head around the mentality of the other guy.

It's like some of these guys get off on paying vast amounts of money for common games that they could have found quite reasonably if they'd done a bit of searching and won't listen to anyone tell them their expenditure wasn't necessary. They seem inanely keen on perpetuating the myth that every classic game is rare and it seems that their MO isn't to post a "OMG look what I found" but "OMG look how much I had to pay for what I found".

I guess I could deal with it if they were just like "meh, what the hell, I'm a rich kid" but it irks me that they try to normalise their world as the status quo.

[Sarge]

Some folks just live in a sort of alternate reality that they've constructed in their head, and discard any facts to the contrary. I've known a few folks like that in areas outside of gaming, mostly regarding legal matters.

[Betagam7]

I can understand the allure of getting a mint box and manual with a game but I'm struggling to understand why cart only auctions for super common games like Super Mario Kart and Zelda 3 are suddenly hitting the $40-50 mark.

Don't the people buying them realise that there were literally millions of these produced and that there are numerous other ways to play them legally?

While its reasonable to expect a smaller percentage of cardboard boxes and manuals to have survived intact over the decades that have passed, I'm fairly sure that plastic and the circuitry it houses is pretty sturdy stuff. Hell, even most batteries in cartridges still work to this day!

This also raises the question of how valuable old cardboard actually is. While we can crack open a snes cart and inspect the board (if it so pleases us), how long before reproduction boxes are perfected to the degree that they are indistinguishable without some sort of carbon-dating?