Can you plan to start collecting?

[kimimi]

I think deliberately starting a collection is only going to lead to two things in the future - regret, and a big eBay sale. I'm not talking about Capcom/SNES/Sega/Final Fantasy/whatever fans who decide to fill in the gaps or anyone who started with an underlying passion and chose to focus on it, the kind of gamer I've got in mind are the sort that are only into something because they think it'll make them hardcore/cool/niche, etc. Like people who apparently love the Neo Geo but could tell Ukyo from Haohmaru in a police line up if their live's depended on it, or who are only interested in buying the games that show up on those "Top 10 import <console>" lists that pop up everywhere. These are also the same sort of people that worry about their collection becoming devalued when a port/remake comes out :/

Basically, I think a real collection comes about naturally through interest and passion; anything else is just a pile of games.

[disgaeniac]

I think deliberately starting a collection is only going to lead to two things in the future - regret, and a big eBay sale. I'm not talking about Capcom/SNES/Sega/Final Fantasy/whatever fans who decide to fill in the gaps or anyone who started with an underlying passion and chose to focus on it, the kind of gamer I've got in mind are the sort that are only into something because they think it'll make them hardcore/cool/niche, etc. Like people who apparently love the Neo Geo but could tell Ukyo from Haohmaru in a police line up if their live's depended on it, or who are only interested in buying the games that show up on those "Top 10 import <console>" lists that pop up everywhere. These are also the same sort of people that worry about their collection becoming devalued when a port/remake comes out :/

Basically, I think a real collection comes about naturally through interest and passion; anything else is just a pile of...

[kimimi]

Took a while to register what you'd altered there (please highlight it or something for this poor sleep-deprived mother!)

Anyway I don't think they'd end up with a bad collection, but I don't think they'd be able to describe anything about it apart from how much it cost or how rare something is :/

[disgaeniac]

Took a while to register what you'd altered there (please highlight it or something for this poor sleep-deprived mother!)

Always the last place that you look, right Kimimi?!

*Literally* (in this case:) 

- Also, what's Popful Mail like?

[turf]

Anyway I don't think they'd end up with a bad collection, but I don't think they'd be able to describe anything about it apart from how much it cost or how rare something is :/

I'm as guilty as any of being proud of something in my collection that is rare and expensive. That being said, I do know what games are good. I think these folks who go to grabbing "collectible" stuff don't love their collection as much as I do.

[kimimi]

- Also, what's Popful Mail like?

I can only speak for the PC-98 version as that's all I've spent any time with but it's a wonderful game, a real Falcom classic

I'm as guilty as any of being proud of something in my collection that is rare and expensive. That being said, I do know what games are good. I think these folks who go to grabbing "collectible" stuff don't love their collection as much as I do.

But you'd have enjoyed it anyway, right? I'm pleased with some of the rare things I've been able to get too, but I'd have honestly bought them all even if they were common as heck and worth £1.

The kind of collector I was thinking of are the sort who praise Capcom's Dungeons & Dragons games to the heavens when they're expensive Jp Saturn exclusives, then either kick and scream when they get the XBLA treatment ("CoD players won't appreciate it like I do!") or make tenuous claims about their version's superiority ("Well, Saturn's just where this stuff belongs isn't it? Can't beat a real disc, and who actually uses four player mode anyway?"). I've had people seriously suggest that the $20 PS2 Last Blade pack was utterly worthless in comparison to the $200 AES carts, because PS2 Last Blade 2 is missing one effect in the background of one stage - that's what I'm talking about. 

[insektmute]

Wait, AES carts of the Last Blades games are down to $200?! o.O

[kimimi]

It's quite easy to get the first one CIB for less than that - eBay link. Last Blade 2 is more like £200 than $200, but in any case the point was "Silly person thinks vastly more expensive version is totally worth the money and everything else is worthless due to incredibly minor nit-pick in a port that costs 10% or less of the price".

[insektmute]

Oh, I know, I just poke fun. Stuff like Last Blade 2 is too good to pass up, no matter what version you get, imo. I pity anyone who likes fighting games, even just casually, and has never played it. SO fantastic!

[teck]

I went through phases myself....  I had sold off my gaming stuff a couple times in the past, but in 2008 I just kind of stopped doing that without noticing and in 2010 I made a bet with a buddy of mine on a whim to start collecting....  Or rather, at a New Year's party we got to talking with someone about gaming and he'd asked us who had more games....  We were both caught off guard by the quest because we'd never thought about it....  The next day we counted and realized we surprisingly had the exact same "collection" count....  One thing led to another and we made a bet that whoever had the larger collection by the following New Year's Eve would receive a console of choice from the other....  Good times....  I probably bought like 700 or 800 games that year....  But I'd say that it was definitely planned when I REALLY started collecting....