Collecting vs. Hoarding

[lisalover1]

I'm having a similar conflict with my Gamecube collection. I know that the Resident Evil games are some of the cornerstones of the GC's library, but I don't like Survival Horror games. To be perfectly honest, they scare the living piss out of me. So, I haven't bought them. What I do when people ask me why I don't have them in my GC collection, I just lie and say that I haven't bought them yet. I will probably never buy them, but that at least gives me an excuse. But, if you already own the games, I don't see any reason to get rid of them. just find a more efficient way to store your Game Boy games, so they take up less space. In my opinion, a collection should only decrease in amount when you have a really, REALLY good reason, like if you need the money for something necessary.

[the King]

Although, there are plenty of games I enjoy. I'm just starting to wonder, should my collection be like every game that is deemed ESSENTIAL or just the games that I know I'll want to play? I'm starting to lean towards the latter. I tend to get caught up in trying to have an impressive collection, but ultimately who am I trying to impress?? It would probably be more beneficial to have a collection of games that are all ones I'll want to play. Right?

I recently sold a few of my consoles because they didn't get played. I was looking at them and wondering why I should I keep something I don't use. I decided to go with the quality over quantity approach to collecting. On the same note, I don't like RPG's, so I don't have any RPG games. Why would I buy a type of game I don't like to play? Does that mean someone might "look down" at my collection? Who cares? It's my collection.

[noiseredux]

yeah that's the conclusion I'm coming to. I mean I understand why I buy so many games, but what't the point in keeping ones I'm not into?

[crux]

I honestly don't see a distinction between collecting and hoarding. The minute I realized that I was hoarding games was the minute I started calling myself a collector. I've always put a focus on buying good games, rather than going in with a completionist attitude (quality over quantity), but with around 30 consoles (including portables and add-ons), that adds up to over 650 games (only including the ones I own).

Collecting has always implied to me a focus on the collection rather than the games themselves. If the games were the only impetus, why not turn around and sell them? Sure, I've had the urge to replay games over the years, but some times that urge literally comes a decade later. Moreover, I'd be more likely to play different games if I didn't have the damn urge to play ones I've already completed. The real reason I keep every game I enjoy? Because they look nice on my shelf; because it's something to discuss with people that browse them; because I can share them. The latter reason is the best reason of all, but still hardly substantial enough to justify the sheer size of my collection. Though I have four year olds now, which is very quickly proving to better justify my vast collection. They'll play everything.

[alexis524]

wow this is right up my alley. Every day i struggle with this very same thing. am i collector, gamer, or a hoarder? 199 out of my 200 games i will never play. evar.

[noiseredux]

wow this is right up my alley. Every day i struggle with this very same thing. am i collector, gamer, or a hoarder? 199 out of my 200 games i will never play. evar.

you only play one game?

[Hobie-wan]

I tend to avoid falling into the "this is essential" trap since I generally know what genres and series don't interest me. Since I don't care for platformers, that takes most Mario and Sonic games off my radar even though most fanboys and press will say that most Mario and early Sonic games "should be in every person's collection". I also don't generally like FPS games on consoles, so that also removes a large chunk of games that are always on "essential" lists.

That being said, I do still have a lot of games with many of them being on the growing "I'll get to that eventually" pile. I do need to make an actual sale thread instead of just having the rough trade list in my sig and I probably need to reevaluate some games I've gotten in bundles that I'll probably never play and I haven't already marked as up for trading.

*edit*

On the one hand, I kind of want to make a picture thread of my collection, but at the same time most of my carts live in boxes unless they're currently being played due to space constraints. I also don't want to make it into a e-penis contest either as one person put it. I do enjoy looking at other people's collection pictures as long as they don't have big egos about it.

[noiseredux]

I think I just need to do some Spring cleaning. I should just make a pile of games that I always say I'll get around to. I'll give each of them a fair 15-20 mins or so to see if they appeal to me at all...

[glynnahab]

I'm with you guys on this problem, though I don't consider myself a hoarder because I actually intend to play most of the games I buy.

That said, I do need to streamline my collection and unload the crap. But then I realize that the crap games I own probably won't be desired by anyone but me. The idea of simply throwing them away is unthinkable to me. Selling is not an option because they hold no value.

Maybe it's because I'm a product of the NES era, back when games were purchased by our parents and we were forced to enjoy whatever we owned. noiseredux said it earlier, and I think that it has influenced many of us to hold onto games like that beat up old copy of Super Play Action Football I own but will never play. I mean, who the hell would throw away an SNES cart, right?

In order to tackle my epic backlog, I've begun to practice Gaming Monogamy. It has worked well for me thus far, though I always find myself in a conundrum when I finish a game and am forced to pick up a new one.

[Inazuma]

I suffer with this too. I buy a ton of games and systems that I just don't have enough time to play. The main reason is Dungeon Fighter Online. Almost all of my free times goes into that game. If I'm not playing it, I feel like it's wasted time since the game is active and the players are improving without me. Damn online games are so addicting ><

On the bright side, despite the large amount of money I spend on retro games I don't play very often, I budget myself and save money every month without fail. I do intend to get around to playing my games eventually so it's not a complete waste of money to me.

Thankfully, I stay clear of games with DLC and temporary license games (virtual console, PSN etc). The games I buy are complete and I truly own them and have complete control over them if I want to play them on a different console or sell them. Dungeon Fighter Online is the only exception I make.

Since I don't support the "temporary license" bullshit, I rarely buy PS3 games (I bought the PS3 for it's BC and media features) and didn't even bother buying an Xbox 360. If things continue like this, I could very well stop buying games when they go 100% digital bullshit. Honestly, that wouldn't be so bad. I already have enough games to last for the rest of my life, easily.