Are you a COLLECTOR, or are you a GAMER?

[Fuzzy_Cthulhu]

Put me down as a gamer and an opportunist- always have my eyes peeled, but I'm really only looking for things I'm going to play, rather than something that will pad out my collection. That's why I have no problem getting just the carts, sans manual and case.

[BogusMeatFactory]

I have always been a player before a collector, I just happened to have gotten games that later became collectors items (heeelllloooo Sega Saturn Collection). I am not having as much of a connection with some of my collections and feeling the need to purge i.e. my NES collection. All in all I am a searcher and explorer. I am looking for the unique games, the different games. The games that really push the boundaries of how you experience games.....and then I also get games that are good, but cheap (Thank you Humble Indie Bundle).

[vic oakland]

Gamer. Became a collector by accident.

At some point, by inertia, mostly from not watching TV or movies, I found that I had what would be a decent PS1/PS2 collection, but it fit in one box.

Then, out of curiosity, as a side project I spent about a year with a budget of $50 a month trying to see if I could purchase every cool game for PS or PS2 I could find. Let's just say that buys a lot of games, especially as the PS2 hit the end of its life cycle...and then I discovered Racketboy!

Now, I often just pick one of out of the collection and play it. Could be mainstream, could be slightly idiotic, could be rare, could be cool. Could be Soul Caliber 2 one day and Klonoa the next with an SMT game in between. I'm more back to being a gamer except I'm not tied to finishing games. I just play them.

Part of the fun of having a collection is being able to think about what next. And part of the fun is not having to, since pretty much everything you have is good.

[LBJeff]

I have the intention of playing every game I buy but with a family and kids the likelihood is slim to none. Last count there were about 35 "must beat in my life" games on my list. When that list includes the likes of Dragon Quest V, VI, VII and VIII, a few SMT games, Baldurs Gate I & II, Icewind Dale I & II, Mass Effect 3, Dragon Age, and, well, you get the idea, the likelihood of actually playing many of the games at all yet alone to completion is far fetched at best.

I haven't even opened Xenoblade or Last Story yet and I picked those up day one. So, while I like to think I'm a gamer I know part of me just wants the collection just in case I win the lottery and have all the time in the world.

[dsheinem]

I have the intention of playing every game I buy but with a family and kids the likelihood is slim to none. Last count there were about 35 "must beat in my life" games on my list. When that list includes the likes of Dragon Quest V, VI, VII and VIII, a few SMT games, Baldurs Gate I & II, Icewind Dale I & II, Mass Effect 3, Dragon Age, and, well, you get the idea, the likelihood of actually playing many of the games at all yet alone to completion is far fetched at best.

I haven't even opened Xenoblade or Last Story yet and I picked those up day one. So, while I like to think I'm a gamer I know part of me just wants the collection just in case I win the lottery and have all the time in the world.

If you play one hour a day on average, you could beat 1000 games that average 15 hours in length in 40 years. If you dedicated yourself to an hour a day, you could beat that list above in just three years.

DQ V - 35 hours
DQ VI - 40 hours
DQ VII - 100 hours
DQ VIII - 90 hours
2 or 3 SMT games = 150 hours?
BG - 50 hours
BG 2 - 60 hours
ID - 25 hours
ID2 - 40 hours
ME 3 - 30 hours
DA - 50 hours
----------------
650 hours

At an hour a day, you'd be done in less than two years.
At a half an hour a day, you'd be done in about 3.5 years

See, it is not so unrealistic!

You should certainly be able to tackle these within your lifetime. Hell, even with kids and perhaps playing other games/new games when they come out it would be extremely reasonable to beat all these before the decade is out. You just need to have the dedication and not assume it is near impossible

On a related note, I've posted this before:

It actually isn't that crazy to think you can get through most of what you might want to in a lifetime.

Keeping a "Games Beaten" log since 2009 or so has allowed me to catalog beating about 250-300 games across a wide range of genres in 3.5 years or so. Granted, that is a bit excessive - but that puts me on pace to have 1000 games played in a decade. That's something like 2/3 or so of my current collection, which includes three decades worth of games that I want to play (and many of which I already had before I started tracking beaten games). At 1,000 games every ten years, I have no worries about getting through my backlog over time whilst simultaneously enjoying new things that come out.

Hell, even if I were to cut my pace by 60% and only beat 40 games a year on average before I die, that means that if I lived to average age I would be able to beat almost 2,000 games between now and when I die. If I just want to "experience them" I am sure that number could go much higher.

So it isn't as untenable as you might think, if you truly believe you'll keep playing games into your old age. If you plan to stop or die in the next few years, then you might have a problem.

[dunpeal2064]

I didn't see this the first time you posted it, great post! I also suffer from being a bit overwhelmed sometimes, especially when looking at a dozen or so RPGs.


I can't believe DQVII is so long!

[dsheinem]

I didn't see this the first time you posted it, great post! I also suffer from being a bit overwhelmed sometimes, especially when looking at a dozen or so RPGs.

I think that's just it - people get overwhelmed about the thought of moving through a backlog and just never get started seriously because they see the large number of hours and think "oh I will never have that kind of time". Those "Games Beaten" threads have been, for me, a real motivator to play through a lot of the stuff I collect. It's fun to write up a short blurb, put another notch in the belt, etc. without the idea of it being a competition. It's also fun to see people reply to your thoughts on a game after you've finished it. I would strongly encourage anyone interested in playing through their backlog to become an active participant in that thread. I find it MUCH more rewarding than Backloggery (which serves to always remind you/frighten you about the sheer numbers ahead of you...)

[dunpeal2064]

Those "Games Beaten" threads have been, for me, a real motivator to play through a lot of the stuff I collect. It's fun to write up a short blurb, put another notch in the belt, etc. without the idea of it being a competition. It's also fun to see people reply to your thoughts on a game after you've finished it. I would strongly encourage anyone interested in playing through their backlog to become an active participant in that thread. I find it MUCH more rewarding than Backloggery (which serves to always remind you/frighten you about the sheer numbers ahead of you...)

I absolutely agree, I am quite happy I started participating in that thread. I've probably cleared more games this month than I did last year, and like you said, it doesn't feel like a competition. I'm not rushing through the games for the sake of just clearing games, or for edging my score up a bit higher. I also quite enjoy typing up a small blurb about the game. I always wanted to do reviews, but I'm not quite good enough at getting my points across through text, so these little write-ups are perfect for me.

Its weird, but I actually feel accomplished on some level for finally going back and experiencing stuff like Mega Man and Castleva. I never thought I could even appreciate these games, let alone clear them, but now I am loving the NES, and have even started up collecting again. So yeah, that "Games Beaten" thread has done wonders for me!

[Jmustang1968]

I didn't see this the first time you posted it, great post! I also suffer from being a bit overwhelmed sometimes, especially when looking at a dozen or so RPGs.

I think that's just it - people get overwhelmed about the thought of moving through a backlog and just never get started seriously because they see the large number of hours and think "oh I will never have that kind of time". Those "Games Beaten" threads have been, for me, a real motivator to play through a lot of the stuff I collect. It's fun to write up a short blurb, put another notch in the belt, etc. without the idea of it being a competition. It's also fun to see people reply to your thoughts on a game after you've finished it. I would strongly encourage anyone interested in playing through their backlog to become an active participant in that thread. I find it MUCH more rewarding than Backloggery (which serves to always remind you/frighten you about the sheer numbers ahead of you...)

I have pretty much resigned myself to never being able to finish my backlog. But that's what I get for owning the majority of rpgs released in the last 20 years...

[dsheinem]

I have pretty much resigned myself to never being able to finish my backlog. But that's what I get for owning the majority of rpgs released in the last 20 years...

Don't sell yourself short! Even if you have 200 RPGs X 40 hours on average (8,000 hours), you could easily finish up those 200 in 25 years if you played an hour a day. If you live into your 80s, you could easily tackle twice that!

Again, don't make so many assumptions about it being impossible - instead get crackin'!