The Retro Gamer Oath

[dreama1]

High prices are good, it keeps the unwanted out. The higher the price the less you can buy the more it's personal value, or it would just turn into owning 5000 dvds you can't sell when your finally fed up.

Actually, that's the perfect recipe to encourage emulation and piracy.  Who's going to spend $100+ to import a out of print cd with no other means of availability than downloading the file online for free?!

Some games are gonna be higher priced for rarity, but its stupid to act like every game should be high priced.

The hardcore will. Just like the hardcore buy vinyl and cd albums. If you pirate you don't care enough for the hobby and good riddance really.

The hardcore crowd will dwindle too if prices continue to rise. All that happens in the end is that you create a bubble, and then everything drops hard in value ( like comic books) when that overinflated market collapses. 
Most people who pirate do buy more media than the average person; technically I guess I'm doing it too by downloading roms. Even though I don't have the means to pay $400+ for the boards I want, I still support my hobby by buying arcade compliations if they're available as a means of playing them legimately. I'm sure most other people have the same mindset.

Then people can buy it if it drops, I doubt it will drop but pretending it will. The japanese charge 100's of dollars for their anime dvd volumes while the US market flooded it with cheap low price anime dvds the result was the US market dying almost. While the japanese market being far more profitable, items could be resold as collector pieces, not 1 dollar dvds you can't even resell.

Yeah, that japanese pricing model is a huge problem for the industry, since it operates pretty similarily with mobile market practices in relying off of a ridiculously small percentage (3%) of dedicated fans.  This has resulted in somewhat of a stagnation and shows do lacking of variety or are forced to cut corners.  I wouldn't really say that the US market is flooded with cheap dvds now; it was more common a few years ago during the Great Recession.
Most people know that they gouge the physical japanese series ( like $357 for a NGE box set) just for that small percentage of fans, while everyone else either uses Youtube, Kissanime/Crunchyroll, or just pirates the series onto their computers. It's not a very good business model, both for creators and consumers.

It's a theology debate which business practice is best. I don't think either of us are experts in that subject.

[maximo310]

This isn't about theology at all.  High priced markets with a limited clientle of people willing to pay those prices  tend not to last long term, so its better for people to buy/ find the games that they enjoy, regardless of what method they use.

If they can find it legally and for a reasonable price, that's perferable, but we shouldn't chide people who emulate just because a physical copy of the game they want is 100+.

[kamikazekeeg]

There should be no issues emulating old games that are hard to find or ridiculously expensive.  I'm never buying a Little Samson, but I plan to eventually get that HD NES system, with one of those Rom playing carts, and play the rom of Little Samson since it actually seems like a cool game to play from what I've tried once before.  It's ridiculous to say that high prices are good for the hobby in any way.

We also shouldn't try to guide people into doing something that only benefits those that might've been doing this for awhile.  If people want to collect, let them collect.  The supply and demand issue will always be there and I think we are getting to a point where we'll start seeing more disc era stuff getting attention, since there are kids in highschool who've probably never even played anything older than Gamecube, PS2, or Xbox.  I think interest will die down somewhat and prices could soften a little for the older stuff, but there is a point where it's still about supply and demand, there are only so many carts, and only so many that will keep working.

[stlgamer75]

Yes, prices are higher than they've ever been. Yes it sucks if you are just getting into retro collecting and trying to build collections for systems such as NES, SNES, N64, et.al. Be patient. Buy a few systems you really want to play games for. A handful of common yet really classic and fun games and say fuck the games that go for absurd prices (looking at you Samson, Flintstones Dino Peak, Mega Man 7, Mega Man X3, Earthbound, Bomberman 64, Panzer Dragoon Saga & Magical Chase). You'll still enjoy the hell out what you can find and if you really want those games badly enough, buy them, but no complaining about the price because you ultimately were willing to pay it. Seller has no obligation to do anything but make money.

[aliensstudios]

I think the high prices make finding something below "market value" all the sweeter. I can't tell you how many times I've gone into 2nd & Charles or a Pawn Shop and walked out with about 10-15 games for about 50 bucks, which to me is perfectly reasonable. I've never really complained about the prices of games because if I want something bad enough, I'm going to work hard enough to get it. That's how this hobby is as well as life. While it does suck how the prices of some games make them inaccessible to a lot of people, emulation or digital copies are always an option too..
Don't frown upon those who emulate or buy digital, especially if all they want to do is play the game. We're all gamers after all.

[dreama1]

This isn't about theology at all.  High priced markets with a limited clientle of people willing to pay those prices  tend not to last long term, so its better for people to buy/ find the games that they enjoy, regardless of what method they use.

If they can find it legally and for a reasonable price, that's perferable, but we shouldn't chide people who emulate just because a physical copy of the game they want is 100+.

Why not long term? The demand for real hard copies of anything will always have a market. The smaller the more hardcore, the larger the more saturated. You can buy fake reproductions of porcelain from the Ming dynasty for a few dollars, or you can buy the real thing if your willing to work 30 life times, or something less inflated by the century's; Vintage vinyl. No chiding of reproductions or emulation. It doesn't effect those who want the real thing.

[Warmsignal]

Na, if they want to jump into it at the 11th hour then they should do it. Just need to learn some self-control, not for my sake, but for theirs. This stuff really isn't worth your paycheck if you want my crummy opinion.

[dashv]

I think I would qualify as a "hardcore" collector.  They've priced me out.  I rarely buy anything anymore. 
I emulate a lot of stuff.  Hell, I even emulate games that I have just for convenience

Ditto.

Except I don't emulate, I use everdrives. Still not able to get fully on board with playing games optimized for CRT on even the least laggy of today's modern displays.

The emulation itself I don't have an issue with. There's just been several times I was like "wow I suck at this game now" while playing on the cumputer or retron 5 only to play it on the real hardware on my CRT afterwards be like "no wait, still got it."

To me the worst part about the rise in prices is that it affects the lesser know gems harder than the commons (for the most part).

Duck tales 2, Little Samson, etc are out of reach on real hardware for most. But they are worth playing.

My recommendation for folks that just want to play is similar to Turfs. I say everdrive it.