Heyo, names Niko. Have been coming to the realization that I actively hate Reddit and what it has done to fandoms/hobby communities, and trying to branch off from using it so much. I already have a few other sites I've been using since forever, but it never hurts to join more. Especially since most forums are pretty slow moving these days, so just having more people to talk with never hurts.
I've been collecting games (as in actively building a collection, not just getting games as a kid) since 2012 or thereabouts. I mostly collect Japanese GBC and GBA right now, but I'm a modern gamer too and play new games on Switch 2 and PS5 mostly.
Anyways nice to meet you all. Even if its a pretty small community at least I know you're all (likely) human and not some bot lol
Fellow Reddit hater here lol! I generally don't like using mainstream social media in general to discuss my hobbies. The bigger the platform, the more idiots, bots, tourists, and trolls use it too. While I wish there would be slightly more activity on small forums like this, the sense of community can't be beat and I'd rather see a few posts every few days than dozens or hundreds of low quality posts in some place like Facebook or Reddit.
I feel like many of the regulars here have significantly slowed down when it comes to collecting, but there is still a lot of great discussion around playing games, nw game announcements and releases, and general game discussion. Hopefully you'll enjoy it here. Welcome!
Thanks. Yeah I feel the problem with a lot of the collecting community on the mainstream platforms is everyone starts to compete to see who can be the biggest consumer, rather than a place for collectors to discuss games. At least once a week I'll see a post like "My collection after 2 years" and it's bigger than my collection ever was. And they never actually play any games, cause they spend all their time looking to buy games. They are just in a completely different place in the hobby compared to me, as I don't really care how big your collection is I just want to discuss games lol What are people playing, hidden gems, what you would buy if you had $100 right now. Those kind of topics.
Also, as you said, when they get that big you tend to have more tourists, bots and trolls which makes discussions even more difficult. Had a "discussion" with someone who was trying to tell me that "real gamers" don't play Nintendo... like what? lol
I think collecting and not playing is pretty silly, but I also recognize that people are in this hobby for different reasons. Back in the early to mid 2010s, I was absolutely way more of a collector than a gamer. Although, everything I bought I had the intention of someday playing, even if I was fooling myself at times in thinking I'd ever play a good chunk of the games I bought back then. They were just so cheap at the time, I kinda just went for it as long as I had even a mild interest in the game. I think a lot of collector first people are at a similar stage in collecting that I was back then, although being able to grab quality PS1 or Gamecube games for a few bucks each are a distant memory now. Essentially, when someone posts their PS1 JRPG pickup, you know they paid out the nose for it. I think this is where some of the clout chasing on social media comes from; people wanting to flex how much money they have by having bigger collections, more expensive pickups, you know?
But yeah, there are some dumbass opinions online for sure. One of the first gaming forums I used to regularly post on was Gamespot back in the mid 2000s, and "Real Gamers don't play Nintendo" sounds exactly like the kinda of nonsense I used to see all the time back then. Rest assured, no one who regularly posts on here is that freakin stupid lol.
