VGCollect Forum
General and Gaming => General => Topic started by: aliensstudios on July 13, 2017, 11:50:44 am
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Recently I packed up my entire collection and put it into 9 plastic tubs and I haven't bought a video game title in over a month. Shoot, this is the first time I've been on the site in three to four weeks and I'm a guy with 1,000+ items and 5,000+ edits, so I've spent a good chunk of time here on VGCollect!
I don't know what it is, I just recently stopped caring about video game collecting, which for me is actually a good thing in the mental and financial sense, I'd spend about half of my money on video games and I'd be glued to my phone or computer reading news about upcoming video game releases, checking eBay for deals on games I would never play, etc. It would get to the point where I'd have 10-20 things showing up in the mail each week, I'd open them, put them on the shelf, and that was it. I'd be upset after e3 conferences and Nintendo Directs and things like that; video games were controlling my whole life. I was buying things for the sake of buying things, just to have them but I was never using them. I'd get mad at myself and try to hide my collection and not show it to my friends or family. I was depressed all the time, especially looking at the amount I spent on things I was never going to use. It reached a peak when I was about to hit the "Buy it now" button for a $90 copy of The Croods for Wii U on eBay, but for once I stopped myself and thought, "is this really going to make me happy? Enrich my life? Make me feel better?" The answer is no. Since I've stopped buying and gaming, I've been feeling much better, I've made new friends, gotten new hobbies and occupations, and overall I just feel happier, more confident, hell, I feel like a new man! I think I should sell most of it and just keep the consoles/systems I really care about and will maybe want to go back to eventually, maybe I'll actually use my games for videos and the like. Sadly for me that means I will likely spend very little time here on the site, which makes me a little sad because everyone on this site is great and it's hands down the best tool and community for video game collecting.
I guess what I want to ask is if anyone else has ever felt this way? Did you swear off it forever? (Probably not if you use VGCollect, haha!) Go back to it eventually? Or does collecting simply make you happy and you love it and collect because you love video games? For me at first, it was a combination of having money to buy things I wanted and wanting the things I had, but over the past two years I've squandered so much time and money on games I don't use, I don't even care to think about it.
Let me know your thoughts!
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All the time.
Right before I bought my house I had a good almost year of not doing anything with games. Sometime between signing up here and actually using the forums.
Regularly, I will think about how I, on average, beat about 2 games a week, but I acquire more than 2 games a week. At this rate, I will never play every game I own, so why keep buying games.
It really gets me down. I've been trying to buy less and less in general and try to only buy things I know that I intend to play soon.
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I heavily reevaluate my collecting pretty often I would say. I've sold off a lot of games and changed my way of collecting to be very focused on things I really want and play. My backlog keeps getting smaller aside from new releases, so it seems to be working a little bit. In all honesty when I see huge game rooms of thousands of games, it feels a little much? I'm not sure, and no beef with any big collectors who enjoy collecting that way. For me it's a case of just cherry picking things I think I will really enjoy because I personally don't want to amass something so huge. Maybe I would feel different when I have a dedicated game room or something like most of these big collectors. I'll never be interested in any "full sets" for consoles or anything though I still think that is crazy. Once again though, no beef with anyone who likes the idea of a full set, it just ins't me. I always labeled myself as a gamer first, and collector second.
Edit: Went off on a tangent and forgot to properly answer the question. Yes, I go in and out with a lot of stuff with gaming, but I never really stop enjoying it. It's why I try to reevaluate things so it doesn't get me down, and keep enjoying the hobby.
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When I decided I wanted to be a more serious gamer, which was maybe 5 years ago, I made the decision to specifically not spend a lot of money on games, for many reasons. Be it to not burn out on collecting quickly, have space, save money, etc. I definitely just buy games that I fully intend to play, which is why my collection is miniscule :-[
But ultimately I'm a gamer first, collector second. I only make a couple purchases a month, usually $30 or less unless it's a special occasion, which to me is my comparable entertainment budget if I had cable, netflix, hulu or whatever (which I don't)
Don't get me wrong, I love video games, and it's my preferred method of entertainment. But like everything, moderation is good, whatever that means to you. Sometimes I think that I still spend too much time thinking about or playing games, so I feel you there.
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I've never really fallen out of collecting in general, but I have switched my focus of what I collect many times over the years. Right now my focus is video games, board games, and vintage Star Trek action figures. 10 years ago, it was Star Wars Miniatures, Lego sets, and Manga. Who knows what it will be 10 years from now?
One important thing for me though, is that I don't get to the point where I am a hoarder. If I collect something, it should be properly curated and organized. Even in a massive collection, everything has its place and looks presentable (Though I do need to dust a lot more often than I do). If the items are just laying around wherever, then I need to take a step back and either reorganize or sell down.
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I have stopped collecting certain things that I used to be into due to loss of interest, couldn't afford them anymore, or straight out needed some money (college sucks!). Video games have been a part of my life since childhood, so even when I did end up abandoning the hobby, I ended up falling back into it a few years later. I just love video games.
I believe you should just take a break and reevaluate your priorities as a collector (as amusing as that may sound). That event where you almost spent $90 on a video game that clearly would have not served any purpose in your collection other than increase the number of it and add some form of placebo effect demonstrated that you were teetering into hoarding territory. When you think you're ready to come back to it, take the time to reorganize your collection, and pick the things you truly like, and either sell or trade the rest you don't. If this hobby was stressing you out, as you said, you really do need to take a step back and wait until things cool down.
I hope you can get past this. Best wishes.
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I've been a gamer all my life. And I have a budget I stick with every week. Usually $25 to $30 but with my wife and I closing on a house. My weekly budget it is more like 5 to 6 bucks a week. So my game room is kinda a mess now because frankly if I'm getting a house what's the point of putting up more racks or shelves. I don't think personally I've fallen out of love of collecting games ever. But I have scaled back in the past either for showing some of my other hobbies (comics, movies, he-man, etc.) love or just can't afford it. It's not like I'll ever not run out of something to play.
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So many people who only talk about collecting and money.
You could also just play some of the better games in your collection wich is why you collect them in the first place.
I'm pretty sure that many have plenty of games to play more than they could have.
The collecting and money aspect should only be a part of this hobby not as a whole as some people make it to be.
Also many people seem to be suckers for rare items wich are just terrible only because of the monetary value.
Why do you need a rare nes snes game wich you would never play anyways.
or ofcourse those sought after items wich everyone is after, it doesn't work that way.
People should focus less on collecting and money, the expensive games are nice to have but to be fair with an everdrive or a free emulator you have the excact same experience.
The main reason why this hobby exists is since people play them games because they are good.
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Absolutely. I've never stopped collecting, but there's been times when it was pedal to the metal and times when its more like sitting on a park bench.
I've had moments where I ask myself, "Self, what are you doing?" This was the case with the Limited Run Games. I was buying every release. No reason why. I was just buying them because they were collectible. I didn't care about the games or collecting for the PS4. It was hard for me to let the first one go by. Then it got easier and easier. After completing my NES set, it got real easy to not buy games. There's no more completionist mentality. Now, I just buy games that I want to play.
I've considered packing it all up and taking that bedroom back, but then I'd have to buy bedroom furniture. I'm saving money by collecting!
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This is a constant topic here and there are always times, when you don't feel so attached by your collection anymore. What helps most in my opinion, is to step back a few months and approach your collection without the urge to add something new. Don't let yourself be put under pressure to expand the collection. Just let the opportunities come towards you.
I was collecting for the Japanese GBA when I suddenly became very bored to collect anylonger. After almost a year I just recently (and coincidentally) found a very nice deal online and it really makes fun like back then. Enjoying it a lot, but I don't force it. I am not addicted to eBay and Yahoo Auctions. Every few days I have a short look if there is something interesting. If not that's perfectly fine as well. Due to space restraints I also couldn't ever build up a massive collection, that would overwhelm me, so that helps a lot I guess.
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I agree wholeheartedly with blurks. Let opportunities come to you.
I like that.
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I collect both music CD's and every (English) genre of video game, in a balance. I have a lot more CD's and music than video games. Because I found that music is often cheaper. I often listen to music more then actually playing video games. Music is most of my life, I cannot have one without the other though. so I collect both music and games. more and more.
But, I get these items at discount prices, and often used so I believe that, I live the good life. Even though, I don't have any video game display rack, only a small deep bookshelf, and a few storage methods other than something professional.
I collect to share eventually. I used to use emulators and ROMS. but I found out that the free ones can be viral and also ROM's are becoming more and more illegal in my country these days. :-\
to answer the OP's question I just buy to use and I never get sick of collecting, but I collect GAMES, and CD's not books or action figures or complete in box video games unless they are what I actually want and can afford :)
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I collect to share eventually. I used to use emulators and ROMS. but I found out that the free ones can be viral and also ROM's are becoming more and more illegal in my country these days. :-\
What does that even mean?! It's pretty easy to find emu stuff w/o getting viruses, and much easier to play what you want if you don't have the money to spare for some of these games. The government does not care enough about ROM's to go after people for "improper usage".
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The government does not care enough about ROM's to go after people for "improper usage".
Not true. They don't have the resources to go after everyone, but they do pick and choose people to make examples of. I personally know a guy here in my town that got slapped with a huge fine, and had his internet choked as a result of just that.
So it's a gamble. Odds are in your favor, granted. But it sucks if you turn out to be that guy.
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^ Well that's a first. I'm assuming he went way beyond what most people would do to actually get that much punishment. Usually someone who's distributing flash carts gets slapped with punishment, not regular people who download a rom off the internet.
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The punishments in the US are more strict with illegally downloading movies and music at least from what I have seen and read
With old videogames I'm pretty sure you would not be punished else items such as the everdrive could not be sold.
I could be wrong though but than again why do people sell everdrives if you could go to jail etc.
I've heard stories about illegal copying music and movies for own usage in wich the original owners sued the people who downloaded them at no costs at all. It is pretty strict in the US with these kind of things. Even stories that swat teams entered the house if they figured out you were downloading movies and music illegally lol :o
Never heard the same thing with dowloading old videogames. Maybe if you try to emulate ps4 games etc
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Like everyone else, I'll have high energy to get stuff or I'll just take a break. I'm a gamer first and foremost, so priority goes to playing as opposed to collecting.
When I decided I wanted to be a more serious gamer, which was maybe 5 years ago, I made the decision to specifically not spend a lot of money on games, for many reasons. Be it to not burn out on collecting quickly, have space, save money, etc. I definitely just buy games that I fully intend to play, which is why my collection is miniscule :-[
I don't think yours or anyone's collection is miniscule. Someone can be a collector of whatever and have as little or as massive a collection as they want.
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The punishments in the US are more strict with illegally downloading movies and music at least from what I have seen and read
With old videogames I'm pretty sure you would not be punished else items such as the everdrive could not be sold.
I could be wrong though but than again why do people sell everdrives if you could go to jail etc.
I've heard stories about illegal copying music and movies for own usage in wich the original owners sued the people who downloaded them at no costs at all. It is pretty strict in the US with these kind of things. Even stories that swat teams entered the house if they figured out you were downloading movies and music illegally lol :o
Never heard the same thing with dowloading old videogames. Maybe if you try to emulate ps4 games etc
They aren't a U.S. company therefore aren't under U.S. law. (Ukraine)
The flash cart itself isn't illegal. But selling it with the ROMs already on it, are (in the U.S.).
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The punishments in the US are more strict with illegally downloading movies and music at least from what I have seen and read
With old videogames I'm pretty sure you would not be punished else items such as the everdrive could not be sold.
I could be wrong though but than again why do people sell everdrives if you could go to jail etc.
I've heard stories about illegal copying music and movies for own usage in wich the original owners sued the people who downloaded them at no costs at all. It is pretty strict in the US with these kind of things. Even stories that swat teams entered the house if they figured out you were downloading movies and music illegally lol :o
Never heard the same thing with dowloading old videogames. Maybe if you try to emulate ps4 games etc
They aren't a U.S. company therefore aren't under U.S. law. (Ukraine)
The flash cart itself isn't illegal. But selling it with the ROMs already on it, are (in the U.S.).
Dowloading the roms surely in the US it is illegal right?
So if you would follow the law you cannot even use the everdrive carts
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The punishments in the US are more strict with illegally downloading movies and music at least from what I have seen and read
With old videogames I'm pretty sure you would not be punished else items such as the everdrive could not be sold.
I could be wrong though but than again why do people sell everdrives if you could go to jail etc.
I've heard stories about illegal copying music and movies for own usage in wich the original owners sued the people who downloaded them at no costs at all. It is pretty strict in the US with these kind of things. Even stories that swat teams entered the house if they figured out you were downloading movies and music illegally lol :o
Never heard the same thing with dowloading old videogames. Maybe if you try to emulate ps4 games etc
They aren't a U.S. company therefore aren't under U.S. law. (Ukraine)
The flash cart itself isn't illegal. But selling it with the ROMs already on it, are (in the U.S.).
Dowloading the roms surely in the US it is illegal right?
So if you would follow the law you cannot even use the everdrive carts
Yes, exactly. Which is why flash carts in general are such a grey area in the law.
It's like ferrets here in California. It's illegal to sell or own a ferret in the California due to some environmental law about them ruining the ecosystem. Yet every pet store in California sells ferret supplies. Makes no sense.
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The punishments in the US are more strict with illegally downloading movies and music at least from what I have seen and read
With old videogames I'm pretty sure you would not be punished else items such as the everdrive could not be sold.
I could be wrong though but than again why do people sell everdrives if you could go to jail etc.
I've heard stories about illegal copying music and movies for own usage in wich the original owners sued the people who downloaded them at no costs at all. It is pretty strict in the US with these kind of things. Even stories that swat teams entered the house if they figured out you were downloading movies and music illegally lol :o
Never heard the same thing with dowloading old videogames. Maybe if you try to emulate ps4 games etc
They aren't a U.S. company therefore aren't under U.S. law. (Ukraine)
The flash cart itself isn't illegal. But selling it with the ROMs already on it, are (in the U.S.).
Dowloading the roms surely in the US it is illegal right?
So if you would follow the law you cannot even use the everdrive carts
Yes, and the "expectation" is that you will backup your physically owned games yourself. That is where it isn't illegal.
Very few people do this given that not many people own the tools to dump ROMs.
Also, the other "expectation" is homebrews and games not released in the US and therefore not subject to the same copyright issues.
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It's like ferrets here in California. It's illegal to sell or own a ferret in the California due to some environmental law about them ruining the ecosystem. Yet every pet store in California sells ferret supplies. Makes no sense.
Probably because they're premium.
Impractical Jokers reference.
EDIT: Dumb joke. Carry on.
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You are more likely to get in trouble for distributing carts full of ROM's, or buying from a company that engages in such practices. I've never heard of anyone getting in trouble for downloading ROM's, especially in the last 10 years.
They're not gonna go after someone who downloads 25 year old arcade ROM's, simply bc there are no legal means to buy the product ( w/o huge markup on the secondary market) and there's hardly much of a benefit to do so compared to people who illegally download music or movies.
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You are more likely to get in trouble for distributing carts full of ROM's, or buying from a company that engages in such practices. I've never heard of anyone getting in trouble for downloading ROM's, especially in the last 10 years.
They're not gonna go after someone who downloads 25 year old arcade ROM's, simply bc there are no legal means to buy the product ( w/o huge markup on the secondary market) and there's hardly much of a benefit to do so compared to people who illegally download music or movies.
The laws are specifically against illegally sharing the material. This is why sites get shut down.
The few individuals who have been sued or what have you, the charges were actually about the distribution, not downloading of the materials. This specifically refers to public demonstration, distribution (regardless of sale or gift), or other methods that potentially damage a copyright holders business or profitability.
A lot of the ROM sites like to say you can only download it if you own the game physically (This is technically still ilegal) and that if you do not, you should only be downloading the game for trial like purposes to decide if you want to buy the game and thus delete the download within 24 hours (Also, still ilegal).
The fact of the matter is that REALLY, Nintendo is the only company that tries to pursue these matters. Usually a simple cease and desist. Sony usually only does it for distribution of the BIOS for the hardware, but I don't know if they still do that. I know for a while GBA games were really hard to find because Nintendo was constantly having sites shutdown or threatened to be shut down.
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I guess what I want to ask is if anyone else has ever felt this way? Did you swear off it forever? (Probably not if you use VGCollect, haha!) Go back to it eventually? Or does collecting simply make you happy and you love it and collect because you love video games? For me at first, it was a combination of having money to buy things I wanted and wanting the things I had, but over the past two years I've squandered so much time and money on games I don't use, I don't even care to think about it.
Had the same feeling before I get married and felt worst when realize that at least 95% of my money was not going to be available for purchasing games/consoles, even when at that time had even less stuff I packaged everything and stored at my parents home and for an unknown reason one day I decided that even without money and free time can't live without them, don't get the wrong idea am old with two little girls hoping that at the end of this year can finally have a boy and a beautiful wife that demands a lot of attention but I still manage to make some free time to play even if that means that I'll have to play at 12:00 AM to 03:00-04:00 AM and have to wake up at 06:00 - 07:00 AM
About the money started somehow to save every damn peso as you don't have an idea just to purchase those titles that I and my daughters really want to play, might don't have the latest console/games but that doesn't mean that I don't enjoy playing, really want to purchase them and eventually someday even if this took me some years but I'll have them, like almost all fathers I do know my priorities and playing is not the first one but simply can't imagine my life without a controller at my hands, growing/getting old don't necessary means for me to move on and do other stuff, call me stupid but since ever got the idea that the moment I decided to quit playing I'll get older much faster also is so fucking hilarious when I kick the ass of the younger members of my family when we reunite in every game that they bring to the meeting ;D
Dunno what happened to you but whatever reason just remember why you started collecting, cheers up dude.
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The fact of the matter is that REALLY, Nintendo is the only company that tries to pursue these matters. Usually a simple cease and desist. Sony usually only does it for distribution of the BIOS for the hardware, but I don't know if they still do that. I know for a while GBA games were really hard to find because Nintendo was constantly having sites shutdown or threatened to be shut down.
Nah, PS2 BIOS have been pretty easy to find in the last 5 years or so. In Nintendo's case, they screwed up with their 3DS system basically allowing homebrew users to access the whole system, and get any eshop game for free as long as you don't update Nintendo's firmware on your system. The Wii U and Wii have similar situations, but are harder to utilize since you have to do some more hunting for ISO's, but it doesn't seem too difficult from my experience.
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You are more likely to get in trouble for distributing carts full of ROM's, or buying from a company that engages in such practices. I've never heard of anyone getting in trouble for downloading ROM's, especially in the last 10 years.
They're not gonna go after someone who downloads 25 year old arcade ROM's, simply bc there are no legal means to buy the product ( w/o huge markup on the secondary market) and there's hardly much of a benefit to do so compared to people who illegally download music or movies.
Except they do. Like I posted further up the thread, I know a guy personally that it happened to. It's just rare, and the people that it happens to are made an example of. And it wasn't Nintendo, it was the FCC.
A few years back, you could probably say that of old games and not having access to said games. But nowadays, retro gaming is a big business between Nintendo Virtual Console, Steam, GoG, PlayStation Network, compilation discs, even XBox Original games coming soon. Companies are indeed losing money when you download old games in 2017.
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You are more likely to get in trouble for distributing carts full of ROM's, or buying from a company that engages in such practices. I've never heard of anyone getting in trouble for downloading ROM's, especially in the last 10 years.
They're not gonna go after someone who downloads 25 year old arcade ROM's, simply bc there are no legal means to buy the product ( w/o huge markup on the secondary market) and there's hardly much of a benefit to do so compared to people who illegally download music or movies.
Except they do. Like I posted further up the thread, I know a guy personally that it happened to. It's just rare, and the people that it happens to are made an example of. And it wasn't Nintendo, it was the FCC.
A few years back, you could probably say that of old games and not having access to said games. But nowadays, retro gaming is a big business between Nintendo Virtual Console, Steam, GoG, PlayStation Network, compilation discs, even XBox Original games coming soon. Companies are indeed losing money when you download old games in 2017.
It was never explained in detail how this guy got nailed. The vast majority of cases ( 99.9% of people downloading) will get ignored bc it is not worth the FCC's or RIAA's time unless its a big enough operation ( like redistributing flash carts in a business) that gets their attention.
Besides, companies are more focused now on selling their products than worrying about people downloading ROM's. It is simply not profitable for them to invest significant money and effort into stopping it when their efforts cause more people to pirate them in the first place.
In addition, it is the only way that I can play certain games such as F/A (27 years old arcade only release) that will absolutely never get any additional releases on modern platforms ( this happens to many games still). Game companies only care about certain old releases that they can milk; its up to other people to preserve the rest ( which ofc means you break our poorly constructed ip laws due to the confusing parameters of fair use).
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I don't know if I fell out of love with collecting, but I certainly realized how much of a money and time sink it has been in my life for the past decade. What caused me to come to this realization was being forced to downsize earlier this year in order to fun various unexpected expenses that came up. While it was initially hard to let go of many of the games I sold, I can't say there is even one that I miss or regret selling. More or less if I ever wanted to obtain anything that I sold off I could get it again with relative ease by just going on ebay. After coming to this realization I started seeing that there were other things in life that I'd rather focus on and so far I have been and it feels great.
Someday I may get back into collecting heavily, but it will really only be if the price of games crashes hard and they become plentiful again for cheap. Gone are the days where I spend ebay prices or close to ebay prices for older games, just to throw them on my shelf and maybe get to play them in the next decade. Ironically, getting rid of a bunch of my games has made me appreciate what I have a lot more, and I have been far more motivated to actually play my games than I have in years.
I have a video game collection, but I am definitely not a game collector anymore.
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Thanks for the replies everyone! Glad to know I'm not the only one who feels this way. Sure it got a little off topic but there were several quality responses.
Well it seems (for now at least) I'm moving on from game collecting, at least until I sell off and actually use the things I have so I will be mostly absent from VGCollect for a good while. If you see me relatively active on the site again, it'll mean I'll have gained a newfound appreciation for gaming and can collect in moderation but for now, I feel so happy just not worrying about collecting and spending money I don't need to spend on things I'll never use.
You guys rock! Happy game collecting!
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Late to the party on this subject but I went through something like this earlier this year. In fact, it got to the point that I even for a couple months decided to delete my original account as I wanted nothing to do with the list of stuff I had archived on my old account. During said time, I went on a splurge of selling games that I just bought because of deals and such but never got around to them. It was even worst as I went and bought alot during the holidays. It was getting to a point where I was in a phase where I thought I was falling out of gaming but only when I realized that perhaps I should downsize what I have is when I realized that was what I need to alleviate this overwhelming feeling. Needless to say after selling off a good chunk of my games, I fell much less cluttered and more in control. Since then the games I have bought have been stuff I want to play instead of games I may get to at some point so impulse purchases have gone down significantly. Also I bought myself some Everdrive carts which has allowed me to have a cool alternative to emulation by using original hardware and I am not compelled as much to seek out certain carts.
At the end of the day, collecting is something that will always be there however its not going to be what it once was over the last couple of years and quite frankly, I am okay with that.
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I think I've said this a bunch of times on here... game collecting is probably a sign of psychological or life issues that aren't being addressed. I mean, if you're just amassing things all of the time and it's all you think about and you spend a ton of money on it, it's almost a sure sign. I know it is for myself, and I've known for years. Would probably be of great benefit to myself if could just put it away and reorient a lot priorities in my own life.
I'm currently on the home-stretch of "finishing" my game collection, with interest slowly waning for the past several years. It was always driven by the sense of discovery and the thrill of the hunt, but those things have reached a plateau. I truly miss the era of my life prior to game collecting - what I thought would be a fun distraction only turned in a lot stress within itself, and as it turns out owning a ton of stuff is more claustrophobic and unsettling than satisfying.
But, despite my knowing better I'm pressing on for the time being. Mostly just hitting conventions and paying out for the ones that have always alluded me. If I've wanted them for years and years, I might as well go for them. That's essentially my strategy for what I'm deeming to be the final years. It seems that a lot of people are reaching a similar conclusion as of late.
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I think I've said this a bunch of times on here... game collecting is probably a sign of psychological or life issues that aren't being addressed. I mean, if you're just amassing things all of the time and it's all you think about and you spend a ton of money on it, it's almost a sure sign. I know it is for myself, and I've known for years. Would probably be of great benefit to myself if could just put it away and reorient a lot priorities in my own life.
That's a respectable notion. Could be said about any other hobby, as well.
A hobby is something that's meant to help you feel relaxed; they're meant to lift you up and alleviate whatever ails you for whatever time you spend doing whatever it is you're doing. Video games are a hobby, and collecting them, too. When a hobby becomes the center of your life and it's stressing you out, literally the opposite of what it is intended to do, then something is wrong. Stuff needs to be addressed, and as soon as possible.
Take me for example. I used to buy comicbooks, they were one of my first and most cherished hobbies growing up. I used to read them for the longest time, and then I used to buy them for the artwork because I wanted to study art and draw for a living, merrily hoping to make a career out of comicbooks. Then that dream dwindled away partly because of my mother (because that's not a "career", as she used to say). Then my focus turned entirely into collecting them only, not even reading them or at least taking a peak at the artwork. My routine used to be going to the store, get my pull-list (all already bagged and boarded), talk and rant for a while about the newest and upcoming stuff, go to the arcades and play for at least an hour, eat something, then get home. At home I would just pull the comics out of the bag and store them in a big container I had for them, all organized by company and title. It was a bit of an ODD thing, too, because I needed them mint or at the very least near mint. In fact, my pull-list was handled by one of the owner's of the store, every month. Not to brag or anything with what I'm about to say, but I was one of four customers that spent the most in this store, so I would actually get a bit of a preferential treatment. That's how knee-deep into that hobby I was; I was still a kid with no job and spend money like some kind of Bruce Wayne wannabe. In my defense, though, I actually used to sell comics at school, and I had a sizeable clientele, so this helped me afford more books. But overall, this collection pretty much turned into an addiction, and it kept like that for a few more years until college where I needed money. Long story short, I had a big Deadpool collection spanning the comics, cards, action figures, posters...you name it, it was big. A friend of a friend was also a Deadpool fan and was interested, we settled on a number, and my Deadpool collection was no more. After that, I lost my mojo and started to slowly feel disdainful towards comicbooks, so I ended up signing up on eBay to sell them; and what did I do instead? Bought more. A whole lot more. It was at that moment that I finally acknowledged I had a serious problem. It took me years, but I finally said, "fuck this, I'm done". So, I contacted the guy that bought my Deadpool collection and he helped me sell nearly 20,000 books of what I have around 1,000 or so left.
What I'm trying to say in that block of text is that that hobby literally consumed me for the better part of my life. Even though I picked up other hobbies as I grew up, comicbooks were first, and trust me when I say they were. I remember one time I didn't have enough money, and ended up selling my SNES with all of the games I had at the time for $200 simply to satisfy my need for the comics for that month. It was terrible. And I remember regretting it almost instantly. Comicbooks usurped my life in the worst possible way, and all because I allowed it.
All in all, I think we're all vulnerable to this kind of situation, and for a multitude of reasons, it's just a matter of time until we hit against the wall and come to the realization that something has to be done about it, and do it. Time and some space is all aliensstudios needs. It's essentially what we all need when crap hits us face-first. There's nothing better than just forgetting about whatever is bothering you for a day and defrag the mind, then come back fresh to tackle your problem.
It's like that saying goes, as corny as it may be: life's a blessing, stop stressing.
PS: I know I say "comicbooks" instead of "comic books". It's a thing I do since I was a kid, and can't help it even if I try. Not that big of a deal, really.
I'm currently on the home-stretch of "finishing" my game collection, with interest slowly waning for the past several years. It was always driven by the sense of discovery and the thrill of the hunt, but those things have reached a plateau.
I'm in that boat as well. While my wantlist is still a tad long, I am getting near to what to me will be a complete collection of games I want. Only a few games interest me for the PS4 and Switch, so I don't see myself getting either for a long time. Things could change, of course, but it'll have to be due to something very special. One of my goals in life is to play all the games that I own, at least once, and getting more definitely won't help towards that cause.
Anyway, I've rambled for way too long. Time to bounce.
*boing*
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I never had that feeling tbh. I don't consider myself a video game collector but more a gamer, I don't care if a game is rare or whatever, I just buy games that I like and that I will play. I'm also a big toy/doll collector with about 1500 dolls/toys however I never felt like it was controlling me. It is a big part of my life however since i've been a collector since the age of 5 I learnt how to separate my passions from my everyday life.
I think the reason why I've never had this issue is my passions are a part of my life, but not my life. You shouldn't allow one of your passion to keep you from meeting people or even just going out.
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The laws are specifically against illegally sharing the material. This is why sites get shut down.
The few individuals who have been sued or what have you, the charges were actually about the distribution, not downloading of the materials. This specifically refers to public demonstration, distribution (regardless of sale or gift), or other methods that potentially damage a copyright holders business or profitability.
A lot of the ROM sites like to say you can only download it if you own the game physically (This is technically still illegal) and that if you do not, you should only be downloading the game for trial like purposes to decide if you want to buy the game and thus delete the download within 24 hours (Also, still illegal).
The fact of the matter is that REALLY, Nintendo is the only company that tries to pursue these matters. Usually a simple cease and desist. Sony usually only does it for distribution of the BIOS for the hardware, but I don't know if they still do that. I know for a while GBA games were really hard to find because Nintendo was constantly having sites shutdown or threatened to be shut down.
yes vary true I forgot to mention in place here in the United States Of America otherwise I heard you could go to Federal prison for copyright infringement. and My federal prison is the worst in the entire country here in Michigan.
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I do take long breaks from collecting periodically and it makes it fresh and new again when i come back to it :). Brings the passion and fun back. i think it's good to take it slow and have breaks in between. It's good for your wallet and your mind. I haven't bought a game in maybe 3 weeks i'd say. I do tend to fall out of love with collecting but not for very long, it's almost like an addiction. I can stop in spurts but never completely. I always need more. It's a rush. I never ever fall out of love with playing or gaming. I'll always play them very much :).