Crippled by Nostalgia: The Fraud of Retro Gaming

[ice445]

I understand the article lol, I'm the same person. I just collect for the sake of having games that I can look at. I probably haven't played 70% of what I own. It sucks because I want to, but sitting my ass down and playing a game from start to finish is just impossible for me these days.

[Ghegs]

I've started my 30s and while I did have a NES as a kid, 99% of the Famicom/NES collection I have now I never had back then. So they're "new" games to me. I also have plenty of PS1 games now and that system I didn't have growing up, I only bought one much later. So I don't think nostalgia is a big factor for me when it comes to gaming, I just like to play good games regardless of their age.

Also, and I always find this really ironic, the author does the usual "Oh, I don't have time to play games anymore as much as I used to in my worry-free years of yore and how I long for those times, woe is me" -thing. That's an excellent reason to play older games right there, you can get to the actual gaming part much, much faster. Push the power switch, hit Start on the controller, BAM! You're playing the game in less than five seconds. Compare that to current-gen systems with "Power up the system, wait for it to start...navigate the UI to find the game, wait for it to load...wait while the game checks for updates online...watch the unskippable publisher, developer and video/audio technology logo videos...hit a button several times to skip all the game intro movies...okay, we're at the main menu, whew! Now to just start/load the game...oh, more loading..."

Even PS1 games start up pretty damn fast compared to what's going on now.

[J T]

Some of my retro buying habits are nostalgia driven. I buy games I enjoyed in my youth, or games that remind me of games I enjoyed in my youth. But mostly, I'm obsessed with the variations in gameplay, graphics, music, and storytelling. I'm always trying to understand this form of media and how it can affect us emotionally and personally, while also being a lot of fun. I play a wide range of games (old and new) to have a wide range of experiences.

[Erik_Twice]

Why are mainstream journalists so obssesed with "pink googles" and "nostalgia" and what have you?

It's not like retrogaming is only about getting a new Megadrive.

[Menegrothx]

Why are mainstream journalists so obssesed with "pink googles" and "nostalgia" and what have you?

Cant have people thinking that things were better back when the people who pay your salary weren't leading the industry. It's all just nostalgia, old games are horrible, stop spending your money on obsolete hardware and buy more 360 games and Xbox Live Gold membership. Blizzard refuses to make Classic and Burning Crusade servers to World of Warcraft despite many fans asking for them because that would mean that they publicly admit that their current product is inferioir compared to the old one.

[Goregasm]

I avoid games that I have fond memories of from my child hood. I grew up on PS1. I dont own a single PS1 game and I think thats because I dont want to ruin the memories I have of it. I find that games are never as good as you remember them to be when you were a kid. I collect mainly for the consoles that I never had when I was a kid.

I'm sick of these articles. If you enjoy buying games just for the sake of owning them then who cares. If it wasn't games you would be spending your money on some other useless crap. At least games are something that get looked after and cherished, most other people buy shit that ends up in the trash a week later.

[Luke]

Yeah, no.

I stopped reading two thirds into the article because is was a ramble that wasn't going anywhere. Not only could I not relate to anything the author wrote, the article was amateur at best and sometimes downright juvenile.

"If this picture makes your nether regions moist"...Seriously?

"Selling retro games is Big Business" - Picture of Video Game related stuff on a table.

It has been a long time, years maybe, since I've read a decent article on the topic of collecting and more importantly playing retro games.

[Gunstar Green]

I'm fine with the article itself. It's mostly about his realization that he has a buying problem that has turned into a vicious cycle of unfulfillment. I don't think he's attacking all collectors or their reasons as a whole. He's not wrong about the power of nostalgia either as it's often the root cause of most compulsive, out of control collections and video games are not unique in this regard. It's not the most well written and researched article on the web but it's not entirely wrong or insulting.

Some of the comments under it that are being made by clueless folk are pretty infuriating though.

[BoringSupreez]

Also, a lot of my N64 gaming used to be all about catching up on what I missed out on, being a PS1 kid.

See now, that's my problem, except I'm the opposite.

I've actually found that oftentimes I have more fun catching up with whatever system I didn't choose after the generation is over than I did playing the one I chose while it was current.

[harper]

The article doesn't even remotely apply to me. I collect only what I play, and I play what I collect. I do spend a lot of time and money on the hobby, but it is most definitely "interactive entertainment" for me.

I agree that this is just another one of those articles written by someone who is questioning their hobby and making inaccurate assumptions of other people in the same hobby.

I can relate to this. I've gotten rid of every game that I had no intention/interest in playing and I only keep games that I love or still haven't played (that I actually want to experience). I may not spend every second of my day playing video games, and I do still shop around and spend a lot of time on this site, but I don't feel like I have a "problem" anymore...which was feeling overwhelmed with the number of games that I owned and having no real interest in most of them. When it got to the point that I had to pack things in boxes and put them in my closet, I couldn't do it anymore. I just do not see the point in owning something that I'm more than likely going to forget I even have.

The problem that people like this guy don't understand (or maybe he did, I also gave up about half way into the article) is that when you collect video games just to collect video games it's easier to become insatiable. It becomes more about how much you have as opposed to what you have. And the more you have the more you'll want. When you actually buy games in moderation and play them, you can truly enjoy them for what they are and you won't be left feeling (as?) empty.

I'm not saying anything bad about people who primarily collect and I'm not saying you're all insatiable bastards. If that's what you do and you feel satisfied with your life then more power to you, that's awesome. But from my experience it seems to make people more prone to feeling that way.