The importance of keeping track of your gaming collection

[megatron-uk]

I ended up writing my own web application in Ruby/Rails/Java with a MySQL database backend to keep track of my collection and to record condition, what was missing from a game, the genre etc. As it is not just a flat spreadsheet (which is what I started out with but quickly came to realise was just not scaleable) or text document I can also keep track of it from work, friends houses or using a mobile.

My friends and family can also see what I've currently got on my 'wanted list'

Many a time before I did this I would browse ebay and think; "did I buy this already?"...
I think once you've got more than half a dozen systems or so, and probably 50-60 games, then you've got to have some way of keeping track of what you've got.

It's also probably a good idea from an insurance point of view, knowing exactly what you have in your collection.

[DerekG52]

It's also probably a good idea from an insurance point of view, knowing exactly what you have in your collection.

Very important! I don't have a war story but I can imagine it would be a nightmare following any sort of already devastating event. Also, backup said database periodically and have backups off site.

[synbiosfan]

Most of my collection is scattered throughout my house in unmarked boxes. I often had to search through many boxes before basically memorizing what was in each box.

It's your stuff do with it as you please

[nova1313]

I use a Perl script I wrote that runs on my webserver to keep track of games, accessories, systems, cd's and dvds. I'd be happy to share if anyone is interested. Only downside is for videogames it requires you enter a system and at least controllers for the accessories as you are required to link at least a basic controller as being required for a game.

I run it local only, so it had no real security around it. Nothing would stop you from running it on a public web server in a password protected directory though.

[noiseredux]

I'm pretty serious about keeping my rfgen database uptodate.