First off, Hiya! I'm new here and this is my first post so forgive me if this subject's been done to death already, but I figured I'd ask and see how the rest of you fine folks feel on the subject;
Welcome to the fold. I dig your username.
[...] This is how I learned about MetalJesusRocks. Some dude who REALLY can't get over Splashdown rides gone wild and every arcade racer I can think of. I feel like a lot of these people for some reason have legit influence on the prices of games and I find it to be ridiculous and exhausting as a collector to have to worry that some random quirky game I haven't bought yet suddenly doubles in average asking price because some dude who's famous for owning a 64DD makes a video and says it's a hidden gem. I've had store owners tell me this guy's calling what they're selling "Rare and hard to find" and going off that alone in charging loads.
This has been a topic of discussion for some time in various places, YouTube especially, and not just in regard to video games, but other type of collectibles as well. I personally agree with the argument that having a sizable audience and making a video about a certain item will in fact help propel that item's value no matter for how small the amount, even if it's just short-term—cause and effect. For example, back in 2015 when the GameGrumps started releasing their playthrough of "The Munchables" for the Wii, almost instantly you could see an influx in sales on eBay for the game; you could see certain listings going for more than the game was worth at the time, and you could even see some sellers raising their initial BIN price as well. Hell, I'll go even further, I still remember a listing where the seller unabashedly put "AS SEEN ON GAMEGRUMPS" on both the title and the description, and even had a screencap of one of the episodes, which I believe is a clear-cut indicator of how these personalities do in fact affect the hobby and its market, whether they do it intentionally or not. Granted, I don't think it's as prevalent as it used to be years ago, at least is not as obvious, but it’s still there and it's unfortunate nonetheless, especially for anyone new to the hobby. Since this has been going on for a while now, the choices are limited: either feed the vultures or learn to be patient...or better yet; if all you want is to play the games, emulate them. Best advise is to first do research on whatever game you're interested, chances are you'll come to realize is not as rare or that "hidden of a gem" as some claim it to be.
As
thewelshman pointed out, this goes beyond YouTube, but I think the platform certainly has the better reach and lends itself perfectly for this kind of exploit.
I look at it this way. The guy has connections to people who own stores; people who go to conventions to sell their big goodies to traveling collectors who come loaded to break bank. Call it a theory or a conspiracy or what have you, but I've been to two stores who've outright stated that it's "Only gonna get more expensive" BECAUSE he's made videos about these games. If you call something a hidden gem people looking to make a buck are gonna use it as a certification to clown out and sell things at ridiculous prices which hurts the hobby and the availability. Then you have jerks online who ask for ridiculous prices and that domino's like crazy! One guy thinks that his copy of a game is worth hundreds and now EVERYONE follows suit because "If that person can, so can I". As far as I know, he has contributed to this. To suggest that he's a collector and unaware of his effect on the hobby is just not possible imo.
You know, it might seem tinfoil hatty of me but I also notice that he asks people to come over and talk about already rare stuff that he has /no/ idea about. Most times he outright says he doesn't know much or hasn't played the game. Can't tell you much about any of it. Call me crazy, sure, but there's a BIG difference beytween one of us to make a video of out "Top ten weird games" or "Sleeper hits" or whatever, the average joe with nothing to gain and then there's the guy with friends who own game stores and giant collections who could profit from said inflation. Just something that doesn't sit right with me.
One of the points of discussion is exactly that, the fact many of these people that tend to "put the community first" and over reiterate their love and passion for the community and the hobby actually treat video games as a business first and a hobby second. In MJR's case, he does in fact know a lot of people where video games are more a business than anything else, regardless of whatever façade they try to put on. While I agree it may seem like a tinfoil hat theory, there's some validity to it—the prospect that these videos are made with the intent of trying to create and propagate a false sense of scarcity in order to artificially inflate their value for personal gain is plausible. And this applies to other content creators, not just MJR, including, as already stated, for other hobbies. If I'm being honest, I personally don't have a problem with people treating video games (or any other hobby) as a business, but don't be two-faced about it when you're in front of the camera. Like I mentioned above, someone with a sizable audience and reach will undoubtedly create a few ripples. If it weren't for how shady and phony MJR is, I honestly wouldn't put much thought or care into this, but the guy is just another confident trickster, and a good one at that.
And ANYBODY selling Alon D'aar for anything more than $20 is out of their noggin
Anybody selling that game for $20 has their brain hanging upside down.
