Culling collection

[postulio]

The best way of going about a large, unwieldy collection full of mediocre games is to figure out a scope of a collection *do* want. Do you want to collect games of a certain genre? system? games you grew up playing/wanting/hearing about? How about just a publisher? Maybe the best is to pick a couple consoles you really adore and stick to a top 100/150/200 etc games.

Once you got your scope, stick to it. only buy games you want or further your goals, not because they're cheap. Sell everything that isn't part of your new scope

it might seem funny, but honestly the KonMari Method really helped me a few years back. I'm not saying I totally live by it, or even followed it to a T. BUT, reading the book (The Life-Changing Magic Of Tidying Up) really just helped me to THINK more about why I buy stuff, why I keep stuff, and so on. It could be helpful for you to maybe skim through the basic principles - perhaps your local library has a copy as it was very popular.

https://konmari.com/about/the-method/

I heard a few interviews with the author and some life couches who recommend this, it sounded absolutely batshit crazy so i looked more into it and it is some brainwashed borderline cult-like living (then again, so is hoarding). I'm glad it "helped" you in your life and it sounds like you're not totally buying into it, but i'd be wary of anyone recommending such material to people.

There are better, smarter and more sane ways of organizing one's life/possessions.

[Jagosaurus]

Second, games are things you can always re-acquire. Let's be real, there's a very small percentage of truly "rare" games. If you really need a game (and you're going to start playing it right away) then I bet you'll be able to buy it again.

I think this is the most valid point on the entire thread.

Probably under 5% of retro games are over $50. At one point in time I wanted a "library" of games. I realized I was holding onto $10 PS2 games because I had bought them for $5. Sure, the price had doubled but was this worth keeping a title long term I either: A) had already beaten B) wasn't going to play in the next 90 days

If you look at it from a business sense, the cost per sq ft to store that game eventually cost more than its "made." I sold off the fluff and games I had beaten but didn't plan to go back to. Today, if I buy a game, I plan to play it within a couple months. Once I beat it, I'll sell it if I don't plan to revisit it.

Let's go the other way... towards the rare games. Let's say you want to experience Shining Force 3 on the Saturn on a real console with the real game. You can always drop $150 on the game, beat it, sell it, and think of the ebay fees or RB BST buddy discount as a $25/~15% rental fee. That's a bad example though because that's a "keeper" game for me

Also, I realize I was spending just as much time at Goodwill and other thrifts & hunting through forum BSTs and ebay as I was playing games!

This mindset is not for everyone. I do still have a games shelf. I do still have my nice AV cabinet with consoles displayed... but my plan of attack is much different these days than it was in years past.

[Nert]

Do you have any games that are valuable that you find mediocre? If so, bit the bullet and sell one of those. Once you stop holding certain games as sacred it's easier to sell off other games.

This is a great piece of advice here. Once you sell one thing you thought you'd never sell, it becomes much easier to start letting more go. I recently sold about half my collection all at once, and was dreading the deal the day before. Then I realized it wasn't the end of the world and moved on. Now I'm considering selling more :p

With options like emulation and flash carts, you can always easily play something, it becomes a question of which items do you really want to keep. Not just for playing but because owning the item brings you joy.

[JoeAwesome]

I'll try to keep it succinct, but here's my perspective:

I buy games I intend to play, but seeing expensive, new games drop dramatically in price, I usually stick to cheaper games that may have bottomed out. Regardless, I've acquired several games for each system over the years. Recently, I decided to "cut the fat" and get rid of games that are huge timesinks and maybe don't have the desire to play like I once did. I started with those games, and built up a very nice amount of money, but then I went to the next wave of games to sell.

This got a little harder. Games I had some nostalgia for, but reasoned they were best to get rid of due to flash carts. Then the next wave: those games worth money, and may be harder to get back at a decent rate. I've probably cut my collection about 15-20%, but now I'm at a hard point where it's deeper nostalgia or games I seriously intend to play and the games are either worth something well or nothing at all.

Cutting 100 games felt like nothing. Cutting 100 more makes me feel anxious. I guess if I got as much money as I put in, I'd be more likely to sell. But consoles are completely different. I'll sell most of the games before I'll sell a console, especially my odd ones (3DO, Jaguar, 7800). Consoles aren't so cheap and plentiful as games in those cases, but if I have a duplicate, it should go, too.

[Tanooki]

Consoles also on many fronts get kits or capable of being used so that burned media or SD card adapters can be installed as a bypass. You can realistically in most cases get rid of anything you're not really tied to wanting to hold onto plus the hardware and you're set. Anything else can just be a copy and it is more than reasonable enough to go that way with it. Anxiety over it is real from nostalgia to the value if you ever may justify wanting to use it later being a barrier. But if you get over it and really keep what truly matters which usually is a smaller percentage of the whole, the rest can easily be made up for and that make up (kits) can be a gain as so much extra can be thrown at it.