Gaming as a life-long hobby - Thoughts from the 25+ crowd

[Ack]

Heh, I wonder what you guys would think of my place. I have some movie posters up along with my game collection and several consoles on display.

Also, how's the weather down there, noise?

[Raiiban]

Spoony, I can't see that pic and apparently need to log into NG forum to do so?

*Fixed!

Displayed right for me in the preview, ha.



The whole collection is really slick actually. For those of you who don't have an NG account...

Oh my lord that is glorious... I was impressed with my own setup when I finished with it's current incarnation a few weeks back but seeing other peoples collections really raises the bar. Now if only I had a hundred thousand dollars to spare I could make something nice to house a worthy collection.

[jinx]

I'm 5'5''... I can reach those games fine. It's just some of those boxed accessories I need a boost for.

I knew it...
Why am I always the shortest. I'm 5'3"/5'4".

[dsheinem]

There are people with Kiosks and arcade machines in their bedrooms.....they forget what a bedroom is for.

My stuff is all in a "bedroom" but not a bedroom that is ever used as such (there's no bed in it). I'd much rather have a large den/bar/basement area in my house, but I live in an old farmhouse and that isn't something that was typical of the era the home was built.

I guess the question is: what "spaces" in a home are generally deemed "appropriate" for storing/accessing large collections (regardless of how prominent/discreet they are in those spaces)? It seems that rooms that are used for other purposes (sleeping/entertaining) are out of the question, but what about dens/garages/etc.?

[MrPopo]

See, my opinion is that anyone who comes over and doesn't think my game room is awesome is not worth interacting with.

[dsheinem]

See, my opinion is that anyone who comes over and doesn't think my game room is awesome is not worth interacting with.

So you are only friends with people who enjoy gaming or value having a room for gaming?

[AppleQueso]

It's extremely rare for me to have a visitor I don't already know, and on the rare occasion I do, it's not someone who I'm particularly concerned with making a good impression on.

That said, I do want my collection to look nice displayed and all that, even if just for my own sake.

[mjmjr25]

My upstairs has very little signs of video games, save a ps3 and 360 in my bedroom, but even at that, all the games are downstairs.

We have a Wii in the living room, but it's black and next to a black DVD player, etc, not noticeable. Again, all games are downstairs.

Downstairs, our family room is a bit kidney shaped in the layout, so on the right side is a mini arcade with 3 gaming setups...then it goes country-formal with a large rug and piano. Then it goes to a board game closet (closed, w/oak doors) so it looks nice...then...a treadmill, and then an entertainment area for both movies and video games.

I keep 1/2 my games in that family area by the TV, and the other 1/2 in the downstairs bathroom (it's large, well ventilated, and games are nowhere near water or moisture, it's basically a large walk-in closet past the main bathroom amenities).

My wife would prefer to not see the arcades, it doesn't feel like a home to her, yet her opinion isn't so strong she's willing to give up her sewing room. I'd prefer a dedicated gaming room, but with (4) kids, there just aren't enough rooms unless we move the kids intogether or again, my wife condedes the sewing room, thus, my lower level family room looks a bit like an arcade.

My parents and my friends think it's really cool, my kids do too. My mother-in-law thinks it should all be in the garage. I don't think on it too much though.

[MrPopo]

See, my opinion is that anyone who comes over and doesn't think my game room is awesome is not worth interacting with.

So you are only friends with people who enjoy gaming or value having a room for gaming?

Or at least can appreciate the level of passion that goes into my hobby. When I was house hunting one of the houses I looked at had a small room with guitars covering every inch of the walls. While I'm not a musician I could appreciate the passion he had for that sort of thing.

Plus it helps that I'm not married, so I can afford to be choosy with who my friends are.

[SpoonyBard]

Anyway, that inspired me to share

I really like the dedicated shelf. I've got one display set aside for NES games (mainly because the shelves are all fixed height and they are the only thing that can fit in it). But otherwise I don't have enough shelves/space to separate them. Every time I re-organize I always try to find a way that the Nintendo games don't mix in with the Microsoft games. Either I end up with boxes of stuff that can't go on shelves, or they just end up touching.

Man, my shelves look like crap!
I just bought these, but I'm about to see if I can find something that looks better. I went cheap, which was a stupid choice. I specifically bought these because the color matched the rest of my living room furniture in the picture, but it looks nothing like the friggin' picture.

I've got one nice bookcase that can hold quite a few games, the problem is that i'll never find an identical one, and that drives me nuts. I had a chance to pick up four nice 8' tall by 4' wide piano black bookshelves with gold trim for about $20 a piece at a thrift store awhile back. They needed a little cleaning, but they were really nice cabinets. But I passed on them because they were a "little too deep".

I've got most of the stuff I play in a cheap little pressboard cabinet right now. I regret passing on those shelves every time I open mine.

To me, that shelving belongs in an office/study setting. Can you imagine that in your living room or dining room? It would look just as ridiculous as a cluttered collection and bad displays in my opinion.

You have to match the setting. Basic interior design principles apply no matter what you have in your house.

True. I'd say it belongs in an office mainly because the curve, and to an extent, the sheer size of it. The first picture I linked to was mainly to avoid showing that. But it can look nice almost anywhere, just as you said, if you match the setting. If you take a living/bed room and just fill it to the brim with your hobby stuff, it's going to typically look fairly juvenile.

Its neat and organized but it still carry the stigma

Why?

The layout of having posters on the wall, empty boxes of video game consoles on display, Figurines in the corner or on the shelves, etc. There are people with Kiosks and arcade machines in their bedrooms.....they forget what a bedroom is for.

That is the main problem......not having a lot of video games.......but how it is displayed.

And when many get their own house or apartment......they go crazy and try to display their collection as much as possible and forget that other people will come in with their own opinion of it.

That picture doesn't bother me as much, because it does look clean. And frankly, I don't think that its being used as a bedroom. Its a room separated from the rest of the house designed with that one intention in mind. Given its size and the view of the hallway, I can assume this isn't the "main" room in the house. Just like Dsheinem's room.

I suppose what really draws the line is if you want to display your collection to everyone or not. Personally, if I were to invite someone from work over for dinner, I wouldn't want them to walk in and see everything laid out in the living room. It's distracting, and just as you said, people will come in with their own opinions about it. And when I invite people over to play some games, I don't really want to have them all sitting in my bedroom to do it. For some people, that's fine. I just don't like it myself.

Having the separate room kind of gets rid of that.