Your Largest Purchase Pause?

[telekill]

I took a step back this morning and decided to figure out what the last game I bought was, and as it turns out, it was MK11 Ultimate for PS5 -- as seen in my signature below. I purchased that in late December and started playing it in January. Not a game per se, but my last gaming purchase was the mClassic, also in January. My next gaming purchase is going to be the new Zelda releasing late next month, so there will be a five month gap between any purchases of actual games.

While five months is almost nothing in the spectrum of a life, it's nearly half a year. I usually will be buying older titles but have just about caught up with what I'm wanting to collect. Then I've been replaying Witcher 3 and a bunch of older games.

My usual purchase habits are about a single game per month all the way up to 3-4 games (average) per month in my more intense collecting days with a few years going as high as more than 40 games in a single year. This year, it seems I'll be lucky to hit 4 purchases for the entire year. Seems so odd in contrast to where I used to be.

I've heard before that sometimes gamers need a break from gaming and maybe that's where I'm at. What about you though? Have you ever had a lull in purchases or did you decide you needed a break from collecting or simply buying games at some point?

[sworddude]

Don't think I've ever had a big pause since I started collecting. just times where I got a crap ton of games to times where I get a few of em in said time period.

[kamikazekeeg]

For old school stuff, I maybe buy a couple a year, at most, can't really afford to with their prices, but with new games, I am basically buying one a month, I'm having a great time.  Dead Space, Resident Evil 4, Dead Island 2, I got Metroid Prime on the backburner at the moment, I grabbed Sons of the Forest (Mildly regret), that's just the past 4 months, and I got Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom in just a few weeks.

For me, I feel like I have "game moods", where I'll pause certain types of stuff, take a break from it, and then come back to it later on.  Sometimes you get burnt out or things aren't vibing right and you just need to step back, go do something else for awhile till the interest sparks back up.

[bikingjahuty]

I've had slowdowns, but never a complete pause. I'd say I'm definitely in the middle of a slowdown currently. I bought a shit ton of games back in February and since then I've barely bought anything. I think all I've bought since there are Persona 5 the Royale and RE4 Remake, both on PS5. I have another collector's swap meet scheduled for early June so that's probably when my present slowdown will end.

[kypherion]

Biggest pause for me was 2019-now. Didn't really buy much except for Steam Winter Sales, and even then that was with gift cards given to me.

Still making an effort to actually buy stuff as opposed to collecting Epic Games licenses, but definitely hitting a slowdown...

Also, if it's not too much to ask, please let me know your thoughts on the mclassic, Telekill! I've been eyeing them for a minute now but am unsure of how much it's really worth it.

[telekill]

Also, if it's not too much to ask, please let me know your thoughts on the mclassic, Telekill! I've been eyeing them for a minute now but am unsure of how much it's really worth it.

I actually did a full write up here on VGCollect. Starts at reply 5. You can check out the thread here:

https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,12149.0.html

[wolff242]

I quit gaming from around 1992-2010.

I was given 2 free consoles over that time, a 3D0 which I sold a couple months later (regret) and a Dreamcast I still have. Avid gamer before and after that time period, but yeah...I only bought a handful of used games for my dreamcast over an 18 year period. I've more than made up for it since. I'm def slowing down this gen though, i'm going to seriously limit what I buy on the PS5 and likely won't get much of anything XBX/S related unless it's dirt cheap on clearance.

[Cartagia]

I pretty regularly go a few months without buying anything.  I'll still claim the free games that are on Steam, Epic, PS+, etc, but it is not uncommon for me to go quite a while without actually spending any money on games.  And years between paying full price for something.

[kashell]

It varies for me. For new releases, it will vary depending on the game and when its release day is.

For older games, I think the longest is a few months or so at a time.

[Warmsignal]

Most of 2018 I wasn't buying anything. Was going through some tough stuff that year, my head just wasn't in the right place for indulging any hobbies.

[NickAwesome]

A few weeks for me at this rate.  Hard for me to turn down deals for stuff I want.  Today I had gone about 3 weeks since buying any retro games and I just dropped a stack on some sweet boxed SNES that popped up in a fb group.  Can't quit this hobby lol. 

My longest purchase pause was just after college- 2011.  Outside of the occasional new release- I didn't buy much retro for over 3 years (bad timing in retrospect).  I nearly left the hobby to pursue other interests.  My brother dragged me to our city's retro expo and got me hooked again.  From 2015 on- it's been near constant outside of the first year of law school where I wasn't working- had to put a pause on purchases then too. 

[brothertuc]

Since I started collecting seriously, I'd say the biggest gap between buying anything was about one month.
Even if I say that I won't be buying anything this or that month, I always end up buying one or two games, cause I come across a deal that I can't turn down.

[psxlegacy]

2007-2015 I didn't buy much in my mid twenties to early thirties, once I paid off my student loan and my son was born, I figured I'd earned the right to spend on myself. I've been spending irresponsibly ever since. During covid was probably the least, due to injury and exponential rise in prices and local scarcity. Paying more to buy online and huge shipping costs were a big turn off. Spent a couple years networking and making careful trades and I've almost weathered the storm and getting back to my old game a day, sort of ways.

[pzeke]

Well, often times you'd end up spending more than you have or outright buying games left and right without even putting much thought into playing the ones you already have, sometimes even just buying out of FOMO, which on its own if left unchecked leads the pathway to a lack of self-control, so in that sense, I think spendthrift lulls should be taken as a blessing and wholly appreciated. Hardcore collectors probably don't give a shit.

As for me, I've hit pause a few times throughout my life, beginning all the way back in high school, with the biggest pause probably being around college; but I've also learned to impose them on myself as a way to just take control. I would say that for the most part, I used to be in the same boat as sworddude given there were times for me where I wouldn't get anything new, and didn't even gave it much thought for months, to then there being moments where I went off the rails and got games almost non-stop for a good while. Case and point, back in 2013 when I got my PS3 I would genuinely say is when I spent the most I ever have on video games, literally amassing a three-digit collection before the end of that year; in fact, I kept on buying more, even filling the gaps for most of my other consoles and only stopped after I depleted my funds. After that moment I've been far more prudent than ever and have taken breaks from spending on video games. Although if I'm being honest, I have most of what I want in my collection, so whenever I end up getting a game or two usually is either for PS4 or Switch, meaning I'm not spending as much on video games as I used to at some point. As a matter of fact, I've been spending more on DVDs and Blu-rays than I ever thought I would thanks to Walmart and the magic of their discount bins, with a splurge or two on the side.

Overall, I don't regret the times I overspent, as I stretched every buck and managed to get great deals in the process, getting my collection to where it is today. Had I spent as immoderately as I did back when I was collecting comicbooks, then I'm sure I'd be beating myself over it and would have abandoned the hobby long before joining the website.

[...]

I've heard before that sometimes gamers need a break from gaming and maybe that's where I'm at. [...]

Not just gamers, everybody needs a break from their hobbies once in a while. When a hobby starts feeling like an obligation or becomes a straining experience, then that should be the cue needed to step back and take a breather; in fact, I believe ruts are a healthy compromise that can be used as a way to seek other activities and help de-stress your mind in order to get back into the flow of things.