racketboy.com

That "How many games do you own" thread got me thinking. Personally, I buy games because I want to play them, and those are the only games I keep. If I happen to come across something I don't want, I immediately purge it from my collection and I have no desire to get all Pokemon with any systems the way some people do around here. But, as my income has increased over the years, I can now safely say that I have more games than I can possibly play in even the next several years.... And yet I'm still buying them.

So I guess that puts me somewhere in the middle. My ultimate goal, I suppose, is simply to have an empty wishlist and to play my games, but sometimes I feel like I spend more time scouring for deals and reading about new (old) games than I do actually playing them... But I still have trouble empathizing with the mindset that drives people to buy buckets full of shitty games just to complete their collection. I mean if I had 999/1000 NES games, sure, I'd run out and buy Where's Waldo... But it takes a certain person to get to that point in the first place.

I do have a certain soft spot for good box art, though. I don't go out of my way to find CIB cartridge games, but I wouldn't mind giving Super Metroid a prominent spot on my mantle. The problem with that is... How much trouble do I really want to through to find a thin piece of cardboard that hasn't been mangled in the last 20 years? And the answer is usually "very little."

sabrage wrote:That "How many games do you own" thread got me thinking. Personally, I buy games because I want to play them, and those are the only games I keep. If I happen to come across something I don't want, I immediately purge it from my collection and I have no desire to get all Pokemon with any systems the way some people do around here. But, as my income has increased over the years, I can now safely say that I have more games than I can possibly play in even the next several years.... And yet I'm still buying them.

So I guess that puts me somewhere in the middle. My ultimate goal, I suppose, is simply to have an empty wishlist and to play my games, but sometimes I feel like I spend more time scouring for deals and reading about new (old) games than I do actually playing them... But I still have trouble empathizing with the mindset that drives people to buy buckets full of shitty games just to complete their collection. I mean if I had 999/1000 NES games, sure, I'd run out and buy Where's Waldo... But it takes a certain person to get to that point in the first place.

I do have a certain soft spot for good box art, though. I don't go out of my way to find CIB cartridge games, but I wouldn't mind giving Super Metroid a prominent spot on my mantle. The problem with that is... How much trouble do I really want to through to find a thin piece of cardboard that hasn't been mangled in the last 20 years? And the answer is usually "very little."

You summed up a lot of what I'm like too really. I own more games than I really need, but at the same time, I don't keep hold of terrible games (with one or two nostalgic exceptions) and I only buy games I fully intend on playing. I can't really relate to people who like to collect full sets of games for something unless they're all intending to be played, and the only console I've ever considered completing my library for is the Pokemon Mini which only has 10 games. Even then, the price of those games has more than dissuaded me.

On the other hand, I do own a crapload of pokémon games like you said, but they have all been played, so I don't really get the problem. Pokémon is the terrible exception for me, because I can't stand to erase my file to replay the game, so having multiple versions is handy to rescue all my good pokémon before I start over

I collect, but I play the collection. I don't own anything just to own it. I generally don't buy a game unless I think I will play it (though, I have a fair amount of games I have yet to even boot up). I like to have access to a lot of games so that I can play whatever I'm in the mood for, and so I can have a wide range of gaming experiences. For this reason, I have a ton of games, and I could never beat them all in my lifetime unless I ever found some way to get paid for playing games full time (if there are any rich eccentrics out there looking for someone to play games for them, give me a call). I like to collect odd games, even some shitty ones, but I always believe I will play them. I sometimes like to play "crappy" games for the camp value. To sum it up: I am a collector, but there's nothing sacred about shrink wrap in my house.

J T wrote:I collect, but I play the collection. I don't own anything just to own it.

With very few exceptions, I'm the same way.

J T wrote:I collect, but I play the collection. I don't own anything just to own it. I generally don't buy a game unless I think I will play it (though, I have a fair amount of games I have yet to even boot up).

This describes me exactly. I only buy what I will play, and I play what I buy. However, I do only buy games in "collector's condition" and keep them as such.

I'm a collector mainly. The list of games I actually get excited about and play to completion is at most, 1/3rd of my collection. Didn't used to be that way. When I was 12, I played everything I bought.

I buy them to play them ... I just happen to not like selling them. So ... both? I would never buy a game just because it's rare or something like that. I think that sort of stuff is ridiculous.

First and foremost it's games I want to play, otherwise what's the point? If it was just something to show off, I could collect something entirely different.

I keep them because, when I was younger I did sell some games off I didn't care about at the time ... and I really regret it. It wasn't anything crazy, but random titles I do miss playing. So, I like going back to a lot of games after some amount of time and playing them again, I couldn't do that if I sold everything off.

Also, I have a massive PC game collection, which is, literally, no use to anyone else.

Gamer. I never have more than 10 more games than games I've beaten, and I see buying NIB (and for cart games, CIB) a waste of money.

Flat out both, at least for now. Its odd really, or not.

I am a collector of DS and PSP games and hardware. Barely played the games I have on those platforms. I only buy the games that I am interested in (going by the reviews, past games in a franchise or developer, genre, etc.), not hording games I think would be garbage or uninteresting or just for the sake. The reason why I do this is so that when I get around to playing those games, ohh say 5 years from now, I don't need to go on a hunt for them paying a price I don't want to pay for a game that is used for example. Right now I'm busy with the 3DS, PSVita, and 360, as well as GBC and GBA through Android emulation. I don't know, call me weird I guess.

I collect Limited/Collectors Editions for the Xbox 360. If I want the game I look for the highest SKU not including bundled hardware. Then I crack it open, take the disc out and put it in a jewel case until the game is finished then it goes back in the packaging right back in the closet.

But I am a gamer without a doubt. I play lots of games, old and new, physical or through digital distribution, on original hardware or through emulation.

like you sabrage, I'm kind of both. I love to collect games, but ultimately I want my collection to be full of games I enjoy playing. So I tend to weed out things I won't play -- even if they're highly collectible. In the past year or so I've gone from 300+ games to about 200 games, but my collection is a higher percentage of games I care about now.