'Collectards' and the state of the classic gaming hobby

[Gentlegamer]

I don't normally do this, but I came across a post at another forum that seems like it embodies much of what is wrong with the current collector hobby market.

I for one am happy about the current state and see no problem. I am glad lots of people are getting into it. It gives the hobby weight, relevance, and value. I don't want to collect useless junk. I want to collect shit that people really love and want to have. It takes $$$ or luck to have nice things.

This whole mindset is completely opaque to me. I understand status-seeking, but using video games for this? It's baffling to me.

It feels like the collecting equivalent of this:



Anyway, post your rants or flames here on 'collectards' or the 'haters,' whichever side you fall on.

[esteban]

Wow, I still wonder if that post was serious or in jest.

All I can say is...

[Gentlegamer]

The post is completely serious.

He got upset when I called him 'collectard.'

[Opethian]

look no further than nintendoage, amiibos, ebay, and autism

all relevant factors and a deadly combination. cash out while you can. no matter how cool you think you are there will always be some asshat with more money than sense.

[esteban]

The post is completely serious.

He got upset when I called him 'collectard.'

Ok, that is blood-boiling.

[Gypsy]

If it's not about playing the games then you've lost the damn plot.

[Opethian]

video games are now conversational pieces nothing more...

[xcrement5x]

video games are now conversational pieces nothing more...

Oh, and investment opportunities! 

The price of gold GAMES is rising!  Lock your returns in now!

[CrackTiger]

The post is completely serious.

He got upset when I called him 'collectard.'

Is this that Needler guy who has like 6 different collectarding threads running on sega-16?

[mitsuman]

As a joke, I listed my PCE Duo with turbo tap, 5 controllers and an extension cable on my local Craigslist...at $700.

I was curious to see what kind of response I would get. This area is not real big on retro gaming/collecting (that I know of), but who knows.


I honestly think collecting games is ridiculous. You are not going to get super rich by doing this. It is not a retirement plan. You have no street cred because you own something that only 4 other people have. Just play the damn game and move on.

[Nazi NecroPhile]

Collectard asshats can get fucked.  Other than making sure I have enough insurance in case of fire/theft/etc, my collection's worth isn't relevant; I ain't selling, so who gives a shit.

[jeffhlewis]

In recent years I've gotten more of a laser focus on what I purchase vs. just buying a bunch of crap. So much so, that I'm just considering selling off entire pieces of my collection (i.e. all of the Nintendo shit), keeping what I actually want to play, and dumping to proceeds into my Roth IRA.

[BlueBMW]

^^^^  This

People have noticed I've been selling a lot lately.  I'm doing just what Jeff said.  Zeroing in on what I really like and want and play and cutting everything else.  I'm dumping the money into college tuition and not an IRA but close enough.

[turboswimbz]

^^^^  This

People have noticed I've been selling a lot lately.  I'm doing just what Jeff said.  Zeroing in on what I really like and want and play and cutting everything else.  I'm dumping the money into college tuition and not an IRA but close enough.

I never was one to amass large amount of games I don't play.  I collect TG-16 because I love playing it. that's it. 

   My biggest fear is surrounding myself with items and games I never play, I'd rather spend money, climbing a mountain, or seeing a new city, or even just enjoying the local boardwalks then $40 on a game I might play once and let sit on a shelf so one day someone will walk by and say, "hey you have ..."  If that is winning in life, I'd rather lose.   

On a side note, Someone who came over to play my games, got mad that I have everdrives and only a few Nintendo games (mostly from my childhood, and A few I really love and wanted physical copies)  Literally got upset and said "how dare you call yourself a collector"   I pointed out I'm an enthusiast who likes playing games.

[sirhcman]

In recent years I've gotten more of a laser focus on what I purchase vs. just buying a bunch of crap. So much so, that I'm just considering selling off entire pieces of my collection (i.e. all of the Nintendo shit), keeping what I actually want to play, and dumping to proceeds into my Roth IRA.

Jeff please let me help you fund that IRA!

[Nazi NecroPhile]

On a side note, Someone who came over to play my games, got mad that I have everdrives and only a few Nintendo games (mostly from my childhood, and A few I really love and wanted physical copies)  Literally got upset and said "how dare you call yourself a collector" 

So that's why you needed a 55 gallon drum and a shovel.

[CGQuarterly]

On a side note, Someone who came over to play my games, got mad that I have everdrives and only a few Nintendo games (mostly from my childhood, and A few I really love and wanted physical copies)  Literally got upset and said "how dare you call yourself a collector"   I pointed out I'm an enthusiast who likes playing games. 

That person sounds like a real asshat.  Reminds me of a guy who came out to a Neo-Geo meet-up one time, and threw a fit because someone else had brought some burned Dreamcast games.  I wasn't at that meet-up, but he has been banned from all future get-togethers.

[esteban]

In recent years I've gotten more of a laser focus on what I purchase vs. just buying a bunch of crap. So much so, that I'm just considering selling off entire pieces of my collection (i.e. all of the Nintendo shit), keeping what I actually want to play, and dumping to proceeds into my Roth IRA.

I have been very careful when funneling money to the IRA. You shouldn't brazenly post about it. You never know when one of the Brits on this forum might snitch on you because of your support for our comrades across the Atlantic.

[DeshDildo]

I almost wish this hobby wasn't so popular these days.  There are a few great games that I would love to own but, never will because I can't bring myself to spend the big dollars. 

I like collecting games that I love and will play.  Unfortunately, I am finding myself buying up everything on my "want list" as fast as I can for fear I will not be able to afford them in a couple of years.  This has caused a major backup on my "play list".  I just can't start another game until I've completed the previous game.

I once was a super collectard who wanted a full NES set just to say I had all of them.  Over the past year I have gone through all of my items for every console and purged everything I have no interest in playing.  For example, I went from a little over 500 NES games down to about 150 or so.  I know 150 is still a lot but I feel they are the best and most fun games in the library.  I could pick any one up at any time and enjoy a play through.

Now it's not to say I am still not collectarded in many ways.  I refuse to buy loose Genesis games (why would you ever throw away the nice clamshell?)  and I have a hard time buying something unless it's in good condition (I like nice crap).  I am officially a boxed console nut.  I have 1 CIB copy for almost every console I own and one I play on (usually modded).  I also still have pretty large libraries for a few consoles but again I feel that the games I own are the best of the best.

[Gentlegamer]

The post is completely serious.

He got upset when I called him 'collectard.'

Is this that Needler guy who has like 6 different collectarding threads running on sega-16?

It's not from Sega-16.

[jeffhlewis]

Now it's not to say I am still not collectarded in many ways.  I refuse to buy loose Genesis games (why would you ever throw away the nice clamshell?)  and I have a hard time buying something unless it's in good condition (I like nice crap).  I am officially a boxed console nut.  I have 1 CIB copy for almost every console I own and one I play on (usually modded).  I also still have pretty large libraries for a few consoles but again I feel that the games I own are the best of the best.

Hey, I'm with ya. I'm a stickler for CIB - 99% of my collection is. I don't think there's any shame in having standards for the items you love!

[HailingTheThings]

. . .but it may "take a long time to get there".

dickhole...

That's what sh-she...said?

[Gypsy]

On a side note, Someone who came over to play my games, got mad that I have everdrives and only a few Nintendo games (mostly from my childhood, and A few I really love and wanted physical copies)  Literally got upset and said "how dare you call yourself a collector"   I pointed out I'm an enthusiast who likes playing games. 

That person sounds like a real asshat.  Reminds me of a guy who came out to a Neo-Geo meet-up one time, and threw a fit because someone else had brought some burned Dreamcast games.  I wasn't at that meet-up, but he has been banned from all future get-togethers.

Yeah this is pretty dumb and the guy sounds like quite the douche. If anything, you take burned games to avoid potential theft.

The post is completely serious.

He got upset when I called him 'collectard.'

Is this that Needler guy who has like 6 different collectarding threads running on sega-16?

It's not from Sega-16.

Perchance a link to this masterpiece fine sir?

Edit: This reminds me, I am purging some Dreamcast games. It was a tough decision for my collectard ass but they are going to a good home (element).

[mickcris]

There is a large portion of the forum where the quote in the op came from, that would buy a turd in a box as long as it was a numbered exclusive release.

[esteban]

There is a large portion of the forum where the quote in the op came from, that would buy a turd in a box as long as it was a numbered exclusive release.

Is that limited edition fecal matter? TAKE MY $$$$ NOW!

brought to you buy. Buy. Buy. bye.com

[o.pwuaioc]

NintendoAge or one of its hellish offspring (i.e. SegaAge, PlayStationCollecting)?

[CrackTiger]

There is a large portion of the forum where the quote in the op came from, that would buy a turd in a box as long as it was a numbered exclusive release.

You mean like that NES homebrew with random assortments of collectible magnets?

[bartre]

I'm sure a lot of you looked at my sales thread.

after letting it sit here and another good forum for a few days, I upped all the prices and posted it on nintendoAge.
needless to say, I'm almost cleaned out on SNES stuff.....

what really got me though is the sheer number of messages I got, even multiple messages from the same person, usually something along the lines of:
"I'd like game 'xxx', can I see pics, and will you take (1/2 of the list price)?"
"I'd also like game 'yyy', do you do discounts on multiple games?"
"I looked at your thread again, and I see the pictures now, how about (5/8 of the list price)?"

and when I told them that i didn't have that much wiggle room, they gladly paid up
so people were falling over themselves to buy common shit, like yoshi's island.
I dunno man, I can't stand people most of the time.

Jeff - I had 'the look' all day dealing with that forum.

[vmorr]

so people were falling over themselves to buy common shit, like yoshi's island.
I dunno man, I can't stand people most of the time.

I've been clearing some of my N64 stuff because of this (and recent auto part purchases). Super Smash Bros., Mario Kart 64, Donkey Kong 64, the Pokemon Stadium's... People are going nuts for these titles and are willing to pay even though they're essentially everywhere. I enjoy these games but at the rates they're currently going for, I'd much rather sell to buy other obscure games that I want to play. N64 is probably what I'm least attached to, but I'm considering trimming down my popular NES, SNES, and Genesis stuff too. Being that they're really nothing special to me, I'll have no problem sticking these games on an EverDrive in the future if I feel like playing them again. Too many people are focused on collecting rather than playing, and there are a ton of people taking advantage of that right now.

[SuperGrafx]

At the end of the day, all hobbies have their version of collectards.  Whether its games, coins, Pokémon, paper currency or classic cars, there will always be someone who is solely in it for the monetary aspect.

[esteban]

DEEP THOUGHTS w/ a fetishist:

I have always promoted the concept of library vs collection, and that playing a game (or at least listening to the music, appreciating the art) should always be the motive for owning a game...but...

I guess I have a fetish for physical commodities (not all commodities, but specific things: video games, books, CD/vinyl/8-track*). This is hilarious, since I am not a materialistic person in the usual sense (I have crappy old cars, no fancy clothes, generic brands, etc.)

However, when it comes to video games, I have a fetish for physical stuff...in the sense that although (1) playing the game is always the priority, (2) if feasible, I'd love to own some physical manifestation of the game, too.

I like having and looking at and touching physical stuff (consoles, carts, manuals, boxes, etc.)...I am intrigued by the retail and tactile aspect of video games beyond input devices (joystick, controller, button, keyboard, trackball, etc.)...

So I don't deny that I have some collectard/fetishistic DNA in me. I would love to have the original artwork for many, many games, for example. In general, I love looking at/touching the layout/design/aesthetics of physical commodities (not just video games).

Video games were always a commodity...well, that's not 100% true: a vast majority of video games were /are a commodity.

That said, even though I have some collectard DNA, I feel that I am still in a different category than the "true collectard", even though it is a difficult term to define (we have attempted to define collectard, but only the extreme, fringe cases are easy to identify...hence my admission that I know I have collectard in me, even though I play all my games, I buy some games just for the cover art and/or music).

So, I'd love to read a humorous post on the different "levels of collectard-ism"...


* I got rid of all my 8-tracks years ago. But I loved the damn things. I used in my car and home stereo.

[esteban]

^ while you were posting, I updated my post since I realized I have a damn fetish.

BUT: I did this without any knowledge of your post. WHICH I FIND HILARIOUS.

[Gypsy]

A friend of mine put up an NES with 13 common games on Facebook for $150. This happened.


facebook.com/photo/?fbid=10103000101694119

[Otaking]

At the end of the day, all hobbies have their version of collectards.  Whether its games, coins, Pokémon, paper currency or classic cars, there will always be someone who is solely in it for the monetary aspect.

I wouldn't say a "collector" is in it for the money aspect. Just someone who likes to own physical media and appreciates owning a full set of something.
Tracking down a complete set of something can be fun, I think some people think of collecting as kind of a game itself.
I admit I personaly am not to keen on new collectors who have put no effort into learning about and appreciating what they're collecting, they are just simply just in it for a trophy of owning a complete set, nothing more.
But people who are fans and are completionist collectors I have no problems with.

[JoshTurboTrollX]

Two words: Cart only.

You can't play a box or instruction manual.  ;)

[DragonmasterDan]

You can't play a box or instruction manual.  ;)

You took that quote right out of a GameStop employee handbook.

[JoshTurboTrollX]

You can't play a box or instruction manual.  ;)

You took that quote right out of a GameStop employee handbook.

gamestop 4 life

[xcrement5x]

I'm sure a lot of you looked at my sales thread.

after letting it sit here and another good forum for a few days, I upped all the prices and posted it on nintendoAge.
needless to say, I'm almost cleaned out on SNES stuff.....

what really got me though is the sheer number of messages I got, even multiple messages from the same person, usually something along the lines of:
"I'd like game 'xxx', can I see pics, and will you take (1/2 of the list price)?"
"I'd also like game 'yyy', do you do discounts on multiple games?"
"I looked at your thread again, and I see the pictures now, how about (5/8 of the list price)?"

and when I told them that i didn't have that much wiggle room, they gladly paid up
so people were falling over themselves to buy common shit, like yoshi's island.
I dunno man, I can't stand people most of the time.

Jeff - I had 'the look' all day dealing with that forum.

I will admit I'm guilty of also asking for discounts on stuff frequently when I buy on forums unless I know the person already or it's a solid deal.  But Nintendo/SegaAge are all their own weird beast, I have bought maybe a couple thing from there and their transaction system is nice but the sheer quantity of asshats and scammers makes me prefer known forums better.

[jeffhlewis]

I wouldn't say a "collector" is in it for the money aspect. Just someone who likes to own physical media and appreciates owning a full set of something.
Tracking down a complete set of something can be fun, I think some people think of collecting as kind of a game itself.
I admit I personaly am not to keen on new collectors who have put no effort into learning about and appreciating what they're collecting, they are just simply just in it for a trophy of owning a complete set, nothing more.
But people who are fans and are completionist collectors I have no problems with.

I think you hit the nail on the head with how I ultimately feel about collectardism...for me it boils down to an appreciation of the relevance and history of the hobby. A lot of us have collections that are way bigger than they should be, but I'd also wager that the majority of us understand the history behind what we're putting on that shelf and playing. Versus someone who is blindly picking up a bunch of shit to throw on a shelf or to circle jerk to on a shitty YouTube channel.

I'm instantly reminded of the mob scene at RetroPalooza when a shop was giving out free copies of X Blades and Velvet Assassin for the XB360 because they had boxes full of them and couldn't sell them. It was like watching zombies go after a horse.

[Gentlegamer]

As seems to have been guessed, the quote is from a post at Nintendo Age.

You can't even talk about 'hidden gems' or 'underrated' games there. Any topic on such causes the game in question to inflate in price almost instantly as 1. collectards run out to buy before the price goes up, and 2. the resellers also buy up all the available copies to relist at inflated prices. In fact, there are members who post such threads deliberately for that purpose, likely having already obtained several copies to flip beforehand.

It's so bad I don't even post in threads unless it's about an already 'known' game.

[MNKyDeth]

I am not sure on my feelings about collectards. So many different variables come into play for me.

One, I have many games not because I went around collecting them it's just what I bought or my dad bought at the time whatever console was relevant to us at the time. If it was the Duo, Genesis, Snes, Nes, N64 etc.

So the collectards are actually increasing the value of what I already have from days gone by. But at the same time because of this it makes it hard for games that I would like to go back and visit that I never had as I don't want to spend that kind of money on that game. Might and Magic 3 on the Duo comes to mind.

I love the Might and Magic Series but I never played the one on the Duo. But I will never buy the game at a $300 price tag either so I most likely will never play it unless I burn the .iso to a cd and do it that way. I just never have....

Sure I think the mindset of certain groups of gamers will vary and the way people think of going about the hobby being different. Like the ones that want the trophies that was mentioned earlier in the thread. The younger generation that may not appreciate it because it is a trophy they were not able to enjoy these games as they may not have been born yet. But at the same time maybe they do appreciate the games as they have found that most modern games are a$$ and appreciate the old school challenge. So they may not appreciate what they have like us that owned these things during the heyday of the time but they may appreciate what the game truly is. If it's just to collect for collecting but never actually playing well.... yeah... to me that's just dumb and ignorant.

I love my Duo and cough SegaCD but my Duo is the only console I would even consider trying to actually collect for. And the main reason for that is that the memories I have with this console and the memories I am still creating with this console are priceless to me.

[PunkCryborg]

I started a local facebook group over a year ago, it's been going pretty good but I see a lot of the bad side of the general retro gaming scene which I haven't really been a part of because Ive always been into niche stuff like PCE and arcade. The flippers and resellers get blocked but I can't help that a lot of the members are the worst kind of gotta collect em all, naver post about playing collectards
Oh well I try to at least keep the flow of the group going and post lots of game playing stuff and try to organize local events which helps a lot

[o.pwuaioc]

Every forum has a "look what I overpayed on ebay for but pretended I found locally for pennies!" thread that I don't really like. I doubled my PCE collection through forum trades here in the past year, but do I go bragging about it? OK, so you want to share. No big deal, unless you do it for every little thing. Hell, the shmups forum has a thread made by a guy just to show off the useless shit he found. 99% of his posts since starting the thread are only found there, and he's 99% of people posting shit (sometimes people are suckered into commenting). You think I'm kidding, but I'm not.

It's a sick, narcissistic, braggart mentality that really speaks to the vapidity and/or lack of self-worth by that person.

Edit: On a related note, this "helpful" person dominates the discussion of a particular thread at AtariAge. I tried kindly telling him to start a blog for the stupid videos he posts (he's not 99% like the guy above, but perhaps more two-thirds of all posts in this thread), but he insisted that his "links were helpful!" I can't deal with narcissists. I can't deal with collectard, junk-hoarding narcissists. And by god, I can't deal with narcissists who refuse to see they're not as important, helpful, or even good as they claim to be.

/Screenshot%202015-07-09%2021.24.33.png

[Gentlegamer]

Is the guy at AtariAge the one who bumps the Neo Geo thread like five times a day?

[o.pwuaioc]

Is the guy at AtariAge the one who bumps the Neo Geo thread like five times a day?

You guessed it. I regret posting in that thread at all. Now it's always at the top when I click on "My Content."

[Gentlegamer]

I assumed it was a sperg who means well, but I guess he's just advertising his youtube vlog.

[o.pwuaioc]

I assumed it was a sperg who means well, but I guess he's just advertising his youtube vlog.

I think you actually might have been right at first. They're not his videos.

[xcrement5x]

The post is completely serious.

He got upset when I called him 'collectard.'

Is this that Needler guy who has like 6 different collectarding threads running on sega-16?

Man, there are some annoying people on Sega16 now.
There are some really cool smart people as well, but the turds kind of turned me off and I haven't been back to the site for awhile.  It's still not as bad as seeing Facebook retro groups though. 

I realized I was getting super stressed out a couple months back and I'm pretty sure it's because I was reading all the collectard garbage that shows up on FB.  It's 90% look at my pickups, look at what I'm selling, or how much is this worth threads.

[Gypsy]

The post is completely serious.

He got upset when I called him 'collectard.'

Is this that Needler guy who has like 6 different collectarding threads running on sega-16?

Man, there are some annoying people on Sega16 now.
There are some really cool smart people as well, but the turds kind of turned me off and I haven't been back to the site for awhile.  It's still not as bad as seeing Facebook retro groups though. 

I realized I was getting super stressed out a couple months back and I'm pretty sure it's because I was reading all the collectard garbage that shows up on FB.  It's 90% look at my pickups, look at what I'm selling, or how much is this worth threads.

I recently shared the Ebay price fixing youtube video on a FB group to see what would happen and it devolved very quickly. Many collectards saying YOU DONT UNDERSTAND ECONOMICS!!11one and such.

[CrackTiger]

I see too many collectards defending price fixing, gouging, etc and do the whole "you don't understands evonomics!" / "free market" b.s....  but also turn to forums/social media regularly to ask what stuff is worth, how rare items are, what items actually are, etc. They are experts who understand "collecting" better than you do, just not much about the actual subject they are collecting.