Game accumulation and time management

[Fragems]

Well I have a couple reasons for having my massive collection .

1. I like archiving/organizing stuff been that way since I was a wee one collecting pokemon cards. I pretty meticulously track my collection on RFgeneration and I have 935 submissions there currently most of which are game/variant additions since I haven't gone on a solid scan/screenshot binge in a long time .
2. It gets me out of the house. I'm kind of a hermit and a loner so I rarely get out much aside from work. About my only regular activity every week is going out to the pawns/flea market to find some new stuff.
3. I enjoy reselling but I also hate selling things that I don't have copies of . There is no sellers remorse when you are selling a duplicate. I'm pretty much getting to the point that I have everything but oddball or rare stuff.
4. Ego plays a part in pretty much any massive collection and I just really enjoy the idea of having a massive private library that I have access to any time I feel like it. I also like slowly climbing the collection list over at RFgen .

As for actually playing them I am constantly playing. Sure it's mostly new gen stuff since I'm more of a story driven player, but I do dabble about in my retro stuff pretty frequently. I most likely will not play everything I own within my lifetime, but that doesn't bother me.

I also think it will be pretty interesting to figure where my collection goes after my death. I would either like to donate it to a museum or library system, but in the case that it all ends up in a estate sale that would be cool as well. Honestly I'm looking forward to estate sales in the next decade or two starting to crop up with more interesting electronics and etc. that have been stowed away in attics and closets for years.

[isiolia]

I tend to just slow down on buying additional games. Selling is more of a hassle than it's worth to me, and I like having things on hand if/when I want to play them, loan them, etc. While I do have a decent collection, I think it's probably at or smaller than what some are "downsizing" to.

[prfsnl_gmr]

I have an enormous collection of games, and it takes up a tremendous amount of space. (I should know. I just moved it.) I never replay anything, and I am certain that I will never play many of the games in my collection at all. Condemn me if you wish, but I am perfectly fine with this situation. In fact, I enjoy collecting video games so much that the thought of one day acquiring every game on my "want" list makes me a little sad.

[Exhuminator]

The thrill of the hunt is a helluva drug.

[prfsnl_gmr]

The thrill of the hunt is a helluva drug.

Absolutely. Finding new video games to add to my collection is as much of a hobby for me as playing them. My wife is the same way, except that she is always swapping out art, furniture, pottery, etc. We both have a "collector" mentality; we enjoy researching and otherwise "playing" with our collections; and we have had some great times driving out into the country looking for new pieces. (Our first date was a trip to Goodwill.)

[Fragems]

Well the good thing is there is so much out there that there will all ways be titles that you've never heard of to discover.

As for the everything going digital argument I think the reverse is starting to happen there are a massive number of budget titles getting physical releases on the PS4/XB1 and publishers like Limited Run seem to be doing great. Sure it's nothing on the scale of the PS2/Wii libraries but the number of sub $30 games being released seems to steadily be increasing.

[Tanooki]

Now this is fun, lots of good responses how each of you deal.

Keeping games as trophies is pretty bad, there has to be a better reason otherwise it is better really to let someone else be a trophy chump but hopefully into the hands of someone who will appreciate it as the designer 5 months or 25 years ago intended.

RentBay, I like that. It never quite crossed my mind but damn that does make sense. I've even done that a bit too, just not so much consciously but usually I finished something I didn't want to do again, or ended up not liking it so I got rid of it at worst to break even on what I had into it. No point keeping junk around or stuff that won't get re-used.

I get the fear of failure too, especially when those games suddenly now cost a benjamin, a few of them, maybe even 10 or more of them -- that sucks. Got to draw the line somewhere, perhaps ROMS on another format, or just write it off. I used to love the wall of fluff when it was into the thousands, but after a few moves, and a will breaking sell off a dozen years ago I can't just store crap to stare at it so I'm beyond that and have been.

I'm all about cutting the fat, but even fragems makes a point with a few others, there are side benefits. You have the hunt, but the hunt can be separated from the storage. I did that this weekend. I found Ice Nine(wanted it for over 6mo on GBA) and that I'm keeping as it's ebay rare(few copies posted) but I also found the expensive ($50) Little Red Riding Hood Zombie BBQ shooter on DS for $10...it's not fun, I have 2 copies of it, now it was bought for the HUNT and for the profit so I can get something I would use and appreciate. There is that other benefit that hunt gives -- daylight, exercise, being outside and moving which is big for me since I work from home too so I detach from feeling like a shut in.

The problem here with me, I get on mini benders. Something pops into my hands and I want to experience it. Nov was the Genesis, April was the Game Gear. Now I've got over 30 games on both, don't use it much. If it were my only few systems sure I would, but I'm spread very thin. If I can get myself to sit there, it's a fun ride, and if not, it sets in a drawer. I don't hate them, or my Gameboy or other junk, but no time to use it. I fail to have the will to keep moderation. I should have sold those GG and Genesis systems probably to make a few bucks, but no I kept them and created a larger issue. It's no fun when you have 50 games unfinished and can't find time to put more than a few hours onto one or another during the week, but if you had 10 games, you could kill that pile far easier with less pressure.

(And don't think it's just games I do this with G1 Transformers and Lego so I'm ditching some of that stuff too, mostly Lego.)

[noiseredux]

I don't buy nearly as many physical games as I used to, but I do still buy some. Mostly from yard sales and thrift stores, unless there's something I really want to play NOW and it's not on digital distribution. That said, I usually do a Spring Cleaning and Fall Cleaning (of all my stuff, not just games) and try to get rid of things that I feel I've gotten my use out of and won't be revisiting again in the near future. As DSH alluded, ALMOST any game out there is something that for the right price, you can purchase and be playing in 48 hrs or sooner if you want it. Once you think of it that way, you can stop worrying about hoarding during Steam sales or whatever.

[Sarge]

Unless something is really cheap and I'm somewhat interested in actually playing it, I won't pick it up. So even though I've got a pretty massive collection, it's mostly full of games that I'll actually play, or potentially replay. Not always, but mostly. I guess I'm a bit of a choosy collector, I don't need all of the cruft on a system just to own them... although I certainly wouldn't turn down a complete NES collection if it were given to me!

[J T]

I have a glut of digital games I can't sell and will never play through in my lifetime. Oops. My bad.