Is owning multiples of a console obsessive/hoarding?

[atarileaf]

Guilty. Very guilty. I have over 20 Atari 2600 consoles. Granted, those are divided up into the various models - Regular Heavy, Sears heavy, sears light sixer, regular light sixer, 4 switch woody, vader, junior, gemini, etc. BUT I also have about 6 Atari 7800's, 3 800XL's, 5 Coco 3's, 6 Genesis, 10 NES toasters, 3 SNES and 3 TG-16's.

My excuse is a parts and backups excuse, perhaps not a good one, but it's the one I'm going with. I'm only a hardware hoarder though, I'm not like that with the games.

[teck]

The debate on collecting vs hoarding has too many variables and arguments to make a tidy ruling on most of the time....  I myself had many console variants for a while and ended up parting with a lot of them just to save room....  I think the fact I was able to easily enough sell them off rules out hoarding....  Mentality would be a part of this I would think....  Hoarding is related to an inability to part with objects due to a disorder as far as I know....  I think if it is something that you CAN do then it is probably not hoarding....  To break it down:

Hoarding can be one of two things....  The original definition which was to stockpile foodstuffs or gear for survival reasons.  Preppers hoard goods for a very different reason than what is commonly referred to as hoarding now....  The second and more commonly know form of hoarding is related to anxiety disorder (such as OCD) where the perceived importance of said hoarded items exceeds the actual true value....  I think "compulsive hoarding" is the definition that most people are actually referring to where the build up from hoarding has significant negative attributes and is directly linked with more severe anxiety disorders....  In conclusion, I believe that a vast majority of collecting is not directly associated with "hoarding" as it is commonly referred to know as compulsive hoarding or rather hoarding disorder....  Since it was only recently officially defined as a mental disorder in 2013 though, it may be a premature conclusion....

TL:DR - Collecting isn't hoarding in most cases....  Don't worry, we're cool....   

[badATchaos]

Very well put Teck. While collecting isn't hoarding I would say it's definity obbsesive. :3

[atarileaf]

The problem with calling excessive game collecting "hoarding" is that you're pigeonholing one particular hobby into an entire disorder. Unless you keep all kinds of things and never throw anything out, you're not a hoarder.

Since personally, I'm only like this with game collecting and I prefer the rest of my house and life clutter free and tidy, I know I'm not a hoarder. I'm just a worry-wart about my consoles

[atarileaf]

2) A hoarder is someone who does not stop collecting.

Then I'm definitely not a hoarder. Although I can't say I'll ever be "finished" collecting it's definitely slowed to a crawl in the last few months and I've been contemplating more purging.

[teck]

The problem with calling excessive game collecting "hoarding" is that you're pigeonholing one particular hobby into an entire disorder. Unless you keep all kinds of things and never throw anything out, you're not a hoarder.

Since personally, I'm only like this with game collecting and I prefer the rest of my house and life clutter free and tidy, I know I'm not a hoarder. I'm just a worry-wart about my consoles

There is a fine line here though....  There have been many hoarding cases where the items being hoarded were of one specific type....  For example, I recall a situation where a woman would always keep every newspaper or magazine and had an entire living room stuffed with stacks of years and years of old paper....  She did not exhibit any hoarding traits for other types of items though....  Mindset sets us apart more than anything else I think....  I believe value is hard sell as an argument, especially when we all collect a lot that ends up being worthless....  100 years from now for all we know any physical media collector may be considered a hoarder....  Who knows~?

[dashv]

The problem with calling excessive game collecting "hoarding" is that you're pigeonholing one particular hobby into an entire disorder. Unless you keep all kinds of things and never throw anything out, you're not a hoarder.

Since personally, I'm only like this with game collecting and I prefer the rest of my house and life clutter free and tidy, I know I'm not a hoarder. I'm just a worry-wart about my consoles

I now realize I am a hoarder. I've just been able to hide it for a long time because I have a big garage.

[teck]

The problem with calling excessive game collecting "hoarding" is that you're pigeonholing one particular hobby into an entire disorder. Unless you keep all kinds of things and never throw anything out, you're not a hoarder.

Since personally, I'm only like this with game collecting and I prefer the rest of my house and life clutter free and tidy, I know I'm not a hoarder. I'm just a worry-wart about my consoles

I now realize I am a hoarder. I've just been able to hide it for a long time because I have a big garage.

Ahh, but are you consciously keeping stuff or are you just too lazy to throw it out~?  I have a shed full of shit I don't need, but mostly because I can't be troubled to deal with it....

[dashv]

Ahh, but are you consciously keeping stuff or are you just too lazy to throw it out~?  I have a shed full of shit I don't need, but mostly because I can't be troubled to deal with it....

For example. I don't throw away twisty ties. Ever. Because I might be able to use them to wrangle cables at some point.

[teck]

Ahh, but are you consciously keeping stuff or are you just too lazy to throw it out~?  I have a shed full of shit I don't need, but mostly because I can't be troubled to deal with it....

For example. I don't throw away twisty ties. Ever. Because I might be able to use them to wrangle cables at some point.

Hmm....  How many would you say you have saved~?  A hundred~?  A thousand~?  Several trash bags full~?  I'd keep it under a thousand to call it safe....  They can come in incredibly handy and may be used dozens at a time....  Also a few hundred don't even take up that much room so it is easy to lose track of how many you actually have....

[dashv]

Hmm....  How many would you say you have saved~?  A hundred~?  A thousand~?  Several trash bags full~?  I'd keep it under a thousand to call it safe....  They can come in incredibly handy and may be used dozens at a time....  Also a few hundred don't even take up that much room so it is easy to lose track of how many you actually have....

Only a couple hundred. I spose there is hope for me after all.

[teck]

Hmm....  How many would you say you have saved~?  A hundred~?  A thousand~?  Several trash bags full~?  I'd keep it under a thousand to call it safe....  They can come in incredibly handy and may be used dozens at a time....  Also a few hundred don't even take up that much room so it is easy to lose track of how many you actually have....

Only a couple hundred. I spose there is hope for me after all.

Yup....  You're not quite crazy yet~!