Life changes, and so does the collection

It's funny you should post such as thing as I've been considering doing the same. While collecting has been fun, there are only one or two key items that I want. I simply have no time to enjoy, let alone dive deep into, the masses of rare proto and promo items that I've collected.

The main reason I haven't yet is because I know it'll be a ROYAL pain to try and sell everything individually. I'd much rather do a single massive swap of the collection for the item/s I want to acquire.

Would I take a financial hit in doing so? For sure. But the convenience and satisfaction of knowing that I've finally gotten that personal holy grail would offset any financial loss. Not to mention I'd be able to get a room back.

-hl718

 

Although my collection was never even close to a fraction of yours, I was amazed how much better I felt after selling most of my gear. I stopped obsessing over it, stopped looking on ebay every 5 seconds to complete whatever random set was flavor of the month for me, etc. And of course getting some of the money back was nice as well, meant I could buy myself things that might have taken weeks or months to save up for (or pay off) before.

I really want to get rid of the last lot of stuff, I don't have the time or energy to even remember what's in half of the crates, let alone plug in another console and play the games. If I have survived this long without needing to play Neon Genesis Evangelion on the Saturn then I don't really need it, it just looks nice on the shelf.

 

Time for an Assemblergames webshop? I mean at least you could sell stuff for like a year on that shop and whats left can be sold in one go on ebay.
It's lots of work but at least you get what they are worth, selling everything in one go is usually a huge loss or it just doesn't sell.

 

Most of our possessions are just a burden.

Some items are more than meets the eye though. Hold onto those.

 

I must have done this about 3 times now! I no longer feel it necessary to hold onto things I know I could just get with 5 minutes searching on ebay. I also hate to think I have money stacked on my shelves when I could be putting it to some real use instead.

I am only keeping things now that I know I will use on a regular basis and stuff I know I won't get too easily again.

 

I solved this issue long ago.

Instead of collecting for the sake of collecting and willy-waving I have devised a simpler method.

Buy what you WANT to buy. Buying just to "complete" a collection is for museums.

It's like clothes, you only need to get what suits you. That's the reason I ve passed on myriads of offers regarding dev items that I wasn't interested in. There has to be a good reason for me to want to own yet another piece of gaming. Being difficult is a good thing, because you weed out things you don't and won't really care about.

 

Guess it's a good idea actually.

 

Me too I'm really interested only in N64, so that's all I see myself collecting (and only things that I will actually use.)

 

There seems to be an influx of N64 collectors at the minute and I am dying to take a bite but I think it will lead me down the wrong path. I'll end up contradicting what I typed above. :icon_bigg

 

I love collecting and owning games that I love and enjoy, or games of particular interest. No point in owning things you have no desire for =)

 

I actually started to give away most of my stuff to friends and colleagues some time ago, always looking for someone who would rather play with the consoles and use them instead of just putting them inside some dust-proof safe.

Although I can still drool over rare hardware (currently building a pc rig around a prototype mainboard, complete with "not for resale"-stickers), I am past the point where I just want everything thats rare.

Assembler, you put it right: With enough money, you can get almost everything.
But I am past the point where I want to spend like mad for my gaming/collecting hobby. Did the same with pen&paper RPG books, always looking for limited editions, misprints etc...

At the moment, I am just looking for one single game, and in that case not to keep it in a safe, but just to play it.

The other single game that I would really have liked to play has not been released in any known way, and will never ever see the light of day for obvious reasons. (True Fantasy Live Online)

I cherish my gaming memories, the times when atleast 12 consoles were connected through a network of RGB switches and stuff to a single television and hifi-amp at any time, ready to be played on.
Those were great times, and me and my friends had lots of fun back then.
But those times are gone, the friends have graduated from university and moved on in life, became doctors, lawyers, fathers etc...
You still meet once in a while, exchange some old stories over a beer or two and play the occasional round of Street Fighter or Soul Calibur.

But the times when we were sitting together in front of ZakMcKracken, trying to map the layout of the labyrinth on Mars, drawing maps for Dungeon Keeper or Eye of the Beholder, the lan partys with Doom or Quake, Comanche vs Werewolf and other games, the console-playing nights trying to beat all the Mario and Donkey Kong Jump'n'runs, fighting together in Contra, endless Mario Kart sessions... they are all a thing of the past now.

Once in a while, some old schoolfriends meet in the days before christmas when we visit our parents, dust off an old Pentium and fire up a game of Master of Orion II in hot-seat mode while munching cookies and drinking milk. That one's been a constant since the game came out now, and hopefully this tradition will last until the time when we all have grandchildren

 

I was into broadly collecting games up until 3 years ago.

I basically owned almost every console and was planning on owning more. I owned the following:

Saturn w/ modchip and 15 retail games.
Dreamcast with 10 retail games.
Playstation 1 with over 100 retail games.
PS2 with 50 retail games.
I used to own a 32x dev cart from SN systems but I traded that to you long ago for some dev items, which I ended up having to sell for cash.

I realized the same thing. I was collecting too much just for myself and I never had the time to really enjoy this collection as they sat in boxes. There were major factors that made me sell off my collection. they were school and, most importantly, money.

I ended concentrating on one series to just collect games and that was Arc The Lad series. I own a good amount of memorabilia and would, once finances and time clear up, collect more.

I still own videogame consoles. My brother just gave me his xbox 1 system and 30 games. I still own a dreamcast, but I only have one game for it... Shen Mue. The same for gamecube I still have it and only own one game. I don't plan on buying any games.

I have too many games, too. This past thanksgiving holiday I spent $90 on games that (if bought individually) would cost $400+! lol. All are PC games, which I play the most as they are convenient (I'm always on a PC all the time).


I do not regret selling it. I know the games I sold will always be for sale years from now. Of course, I'll have to have more money because some of the games I paid $20 for (Valkyrie Profile, FF 7 non-GH, Tales of Destiny, etc) all go for $100+ now on ebay.

Just spend your money wisely!

 

Since you're getting rid of things I'll take one of those PS1 test units (USA model if you please.) I still remember you posted a photo here once of a room with like 100 of them in a big pile.

But yes I can relate. My own collection is going to shrink in the next few months (things are tough all over.) My main problem is space, really. If I had a house that I could devote a whole room to the collection it'd be a different story.

 

I found this out too, though don't feel the urge yet to sell off all the stuff I don't use, as I really enjoy the collecting itself. Completing collections the cheap way gives me a great feeling. Haven't played a game in months though. For some reason I don't feel like it.

 

For the last year I've felt the same, my collection started to grow and I barely played any game, but felt really obsessed with collecting and buying, buying, buying... It was sick, well it still is a little, since I haven't been over this yet. But I made a wishlist and trimmed it down to just 10-15 of the best games per console so I just have those I like and enjoy playing. I think I would not be able to get rid of my consoles, at least the Nintendo ones because I am emotionally attached to them, they bring me back such nice memories, especially the N64 (playing with friends Goldeneye, Perfect Dark, Mario Kart, Smash Bros, Mario Party, etc).

I'd love to get into collecting dev stuff but I've got tons of stuff to learn first, and no money so that's a no-go for now.

I've been through that, the need to play seems to come and go, don't worry eventually you'll feel like it.

 

Ditto.

 

ding!


I thought I'd get into games I hadn't really thought of playing before. I started the Onimushas (in fact, buying 1-3 all at once, but not the pack) and only finished the first one. Same with MGS.
But then I still find myself just pulling out shooters and racing games as I would have a long time ago. Seems like the rest is pointless for me to own.
I have so many damn games that I bought, looking at them in a shop and picturing the game within and how it would be fun. Then I buy 3-4 games at a time, and put them on the shelf.


I've stopped that. I had a horrible mental and physical breakdown a few months ago (that I'm still feeling minor waves of) and had to box a lot of my collection up so that I didn't have to look at it. Still, I've got a wall that makes me feel uncomfortable, and shit all over the damn floor.


I'm still going to snatch up cheap lonely hardware, especially stuff that needs repairs/love (as I'm pretty sure I find more joy in that than actual playing of the games), and in the mean time try and push out some of my duplicate systems so they can find good homes. I certainly do need they money after losing my job (which contributed to my collapse).


Online shop sounds awesome. I wish there were a way we could all help with that, like the cataloging and posting and such, but I suppose that's pretty improbable.