What point does a hobby turn into a collection?

[BlackDS]

Ive noticed that Ive stopped buying games so i can beat them and enjoy them, and more just becasue I want it in my collection.

At what point did you realize that you liked buying vieogames as an addition to your collection, and not necessarily to play and enjoy?

[Ack]

When you realize you actually paid money for the SNES version of Pit-Fighter.

[Jerkface Killah]

Good question. You have to think though, that it's so easy to buy a game. I can browse ebay and craigs list right on my iPhone. It only takes a couple of minutes. Beating games takes hours. Between work and time spent with my girlfriend, there aren't enough hours to beat all those games. My excuse/reason for my collection has always been that I want my child/children to enjoy these games and see the history of my "hobby". That's just me though.

JFK

[final fight cd]

Ive noticed that Ive stopped buying games so i can beat them and enjoy them, and more just becasue I want it in my collection.

At what point did you realize that you liked buying vieogames as an addition to your collection, and not necessarily to play and enjoy?

when i started buying ANY cib sega cd game, sega saturn game, and ps1 long box. doesn't matter how bad the game is.

and to be honest, most sega cd games just suck a fattie and i don't even really like the saturn or ps1. i just like the boxes.

[Pichu]

When I buy cheap things (read: $2 and under) to add to my collection.

As of right now, there are 5 games I do not plan to play at all at least not soon,
and one I havent gotten to yet.

But every other game i take the time to play through and really enjoy.

[Gamerforlife]

It just seems natural to me to collect anything that you love. I love Batman. I have a bunch of classic Batman trade paperbacks and graphic novels, the best Batman video games(which would be Arkham Asylum and The Adventures of Batman and Robin on the S-NES), and even one or two figurines and action figures

When my friends got me into playing Magic:The Gathering in high school, after a while I was just buying cards simply to own them and not just to make me a more competitive player.

As a big Buffy/Angel fan, I have every season on DVD and all the official cannon comic books

I don't know, collecting is just in my blood, but no collection I have is bigger than my game collection so it's easy for anyone to see what my favorite hobby is

I benefit a lot from not being married or having kids, so I don't have to worry about my stuff taking up valuable space or not having time to play my games(although other things in my life have kept me from playing as much lately as I used to).

[CRTGAMER]

I LIKE THIS POST, LETS HEAR YOUR COLLECTING OCD STORIES!

Here is one of mine:

Played MINER 2049ER on an Apple store demo at, not an Apple store but at Software ETC. Game was on a (now revealing my age) Apple II+. I wanted this game so badly! Couldn't afford an Apple, had a C64 with an okay version. Found out there was a Atari 5200 console version. After going thru every Toys r Us and Kaybee Toys branches in the county as well as several department stores NO LUCK! Finally drove to Big 5 office up in Los Angeles. The guy I spoke to in the headquarters (Maybe Bill Hogue never know) stated they only had the Red Carts with plain Gold Label. The pretty picture labels were not ready. So to my desperation I bought the ugly Gold Label version. Turns out I got the more rare version of the two. One of the few games (Choplifter was another) that worked beautiful with the 5200 original controllers (played like Apple potentometer sticks), Number keypads useful on the elevator level.

Okay to wrap this up, I think I really can't differentiate hobby vs collecting, both being an OCD obsession.

Maybe this was a mark, a wake up call, gone off the deep end.

http://www.atariage.com/system_labels.h ... temID=5200

.

Biggest Regret is not making a second trip for the very rare BOUNTY BOB STRIKES BACK green cart.

[nickfil]

I think the hobby turns into a collection when you refuse to sell items you are totally done with.

I have a stack of DVDS, but i clean them out every year or so. Donate the ones i didn't watch that year to the local thrift. Might pick some new ones up while i'm there. Hence- i like watching movies, but i don't collect them.

Also- I don't really think playing games is a hobby. I mean- yeah. It fits in the description of the 'hobby' definition. But it is weird. I don't consider watching movies a hobby, but it also fits. Games aren't the same thing- but they are.. i don't know... similar? Kind of? I consider like- rebuilding something a hobby. I don't know- does that make sense?

[dedalusdedalus]

I think the hobby turns into a collection when you refuse to sell items you are totally done with.

Yes. This is the aptest way to distinguish a hobby from a collection.

Think about it as commodity value and fetish value. The commodity value is the item's actual utility from use, and the fetish value is whatever utility that item produces simply by being there. A collector is all about the fetish value.

Of course, I've got to point out that collector and hobbyist aren't mutually exclusive ways of enjoying video games.

[Yiddishpilot]

When you HAVE to own a copy of Shining the Holy Ark and overpay for it and then never play it because you can't be bothered to hook up your Saturn...so that makes me a collector and an idiot because I'd do it again in a heartbeat.