There's nothing wrong with collecting games, or game collectors. After all, this website and a lot of others out there were created around the idea of game collecting in itself, as it's own hobby, apart from gaming. Ironic how so many regulars here have a retired most of their collecting ambitions and now consider themselves to no longer be game collectors, and even lament collecting as if it's actually a shameful thing, because you're supposed to just play video games and not collect them? This is still "VG Collect", no matter how old hat the idea of collecting games might seem in 2021. There are still people getting into the hobby, or without near as much experience or time sunk into it, and they all deserve the same kind of respect we afforded one another years ago, just as us veterans do as well.
I still collect with the same principles and ideals that I started with in 2008. To me it's not gotten old, or boring, or somehow greedy or immoral to own a bunch of games or to buy more than I can play. I'm an enthusiast, this is what I like to do with my time and money. I like this stuff, and I want to own and archives the physical copies. If I had to place an arbitrary percentage on my habits, I'd say 75% collector 25% "gamer". Although, as I've stated before, I don't identify with the cultural understanding of the word "gamer" in a sense where you need to be someone who wants for nothing but to sit in front of a screen 18 hours a day, empty snack wrappers and beverages strewn about, where I only leave the room for a bathroom break every so many hours. That's not me, and has never been. I'm more of a casual game player. Even when I was a child and played every single game that I owned and quite often, I would not retrospectively call myself a "gamer" in those days. Games were just one of a number of different hobbies and interests that I had, but never to a point of spending all of my time with games.
I game less now than as a kid, but recently I've been playing more than I have in quite some time. If you'd ask me this question several years ago, I'd easily guess a 95% / 5% ratio. However, my collecting has slowed and gaming has picked up some. Collecting still out-paces by a lot, but I've got no problem with that. Collecting games for me ties more into the real world experience, one that becomes enmeshed in the daily travels and going-ons, as where gaming is more of an isolated form of entertainment that's best served when you're bored at home and want an escape. It's a situation that I find myself in, not as often. I don't go out of my way to play games, and certainly don't feel obligated to them. I play when the mood strikes me. I may never get to all of my games, and that's fine.
With all of that said, yes I'm a game collector and a proud one. I used to shy away from that admission, ironically because of the shame often implicated towards the notion from within collecting communities like this one. Now I don't care who likes it, and who doesn't. We all have our toy collections, and we can do with them as we wish. Huck them all and declare yourself free of bondage, hoard them up until there's no more breathing room; doesn't matter. Do what you want. I still enjoy it, and enjoy the company and conversation that builds around those who also still enjoy it.
