Secrecy in the gaming community

[soera]

So there is a thread on another forum I visit that pertains to PS4. One person mentioned that there was a game they were looking for but wouldnt mention the game itself cause "they dont want everyone out there looking for it". I offered to help this person find the game and the response was basically that once they find it, they will let people know the name of it but until then, its no go. Like omg wtf? I dont understand this frame of mind. Why do people in gaming communities tend to try to keep secrets? Its definitely not the first time this ... mentality ... has popped up but today was straight against me trying to help.

Ive heard about people who have "private" collections that no one knows about. Its an oddity to me.

[dreama1]

So there is a thread on another forum I visit that pertains to PS4. One person mentioned that there was a game they were looking for but wouldnt mention the game itself cause "they dont want everyone out there looking for it". I offered to help this person find the game and the response was basically that once they find it, they will let people know the name of it but until then, its no go. Like omg wtf? I dont understand this frame of mind. Why do people in gaming communities tend to try to keep secrets? Its definitely not the first time this ... mentality ... has popped up but today was straight against me trying to help.

Ive heard about people who have "private" collections that no one knows about. Its an oddity to me.

Not much for conspiracy theories?

[turf]

People are weird.  They're also afraid they've got the inside scoop about what is rare.  "If I let anyone know, then everyone will be hunting for it." 

We're a little insulated on this forum.  There aren't too many crazies.  I say that loosely.  We're all a little nuts or we would stockpile all these games. 

[wartoy]

Thats definitely weird and alitte rude also but I wouldn't lose any sleep over it.

[sworddude]

To be fair

Word to word goes a long way even if you only tell it to a few

From my own experience I have noticed some valuable rare games being harder to find and sold for high prices wich originally only few people including me knew about, that's pretty anoying if you would ask me definitely something to watch out for.

I fully understand the reason behind being very shady about unknown good or rare games very logical thanks to the very competitive market. If word comes out the prices of that so called game could sky rocket in the black market and more importantly more people who will try to hunt for that game.

Also to be fair most people are not informed about more uncommon stuff hence why deals can still be made if you know what your doing, and ofcourse the ocasional luck for the more mainstream stuff.

If you have experienced it yourselves It's not really a crazy thing to take into consideration mouth to mouth goes a long way you never know what the next person would do with the info and it might just spread like wildfire.

[burningdoom]

If it's a famous YouTuber that says it's a cool game, it goes up in value.

Maybe some people just think they're opinion is as important as the YouTubers'.

[bikingjahuty]

Like all other hobbies, especially ones around collecting, there are a lot of personality disorders out there. Whether it is like the guy you mentioned who is paranoid that the price of some random game is going to spike because he said its name in a small forum, people doing "how did I do?" pickup posts, people lying about the deals they get, or hoarding specific games to hike the value up, I've seen some shit since I began collecting. Sadly, I feel like every other collector I've personally know has had some toxic element to them as a collector for the reasons above and others.


I cannot say I'm completely innocent though; from around the time I began heavily collecting until probably 2014ish, I refused to tell local people where I found my deals and was very secretive about it. I mostly didn't want people pouching the games at the places where I found my deals, which despite my efforts people found out about them in the end anyways. Now I don't give two shits if people know where I found a deal because everyone already knows about all the spots that used to be good for deals.

[shepard11]

I can kinda relate to the guy keep the secret I don't usually let people know of my normal haunts locally. On the internet, I honestly don't care. But I also have a group of collectors that I run with here. We make a lot of road trips when we can on the weekend. So I don't mind sharing as long as they keep their filthy hands off of Dreamcast games I'm missing. And I work 6 days a week so sometimes I can't get out. So it's not uncommon for one of them to pick up stuff I'm looking for at a good price. 

[pzeke]

As far as I know, I don't have competition where I live, but then again, there really aren't too many places too hunt. With that in mind, I would understand having a bit of a rivalry with other people that are also hunting for games, and not telling them where you're getting your stuff from. But even then, it's a matter of time until they find out, and more often than not it tends to be sooner than later. In the end, that kind of behavior truly is an exercise in futility. But to each their own, as they say.

This mentality can also be seen on some YouTubers. In one of his "breaking the seal" videos Radical Reggie mentioned having bought the game he opened online, but that he wouldn't reveal where because he still wanted to get more stuff from there, implying he didn't want others to potentially buy whatever he wanted. I tried to find the video in question, but after watching two or three I just couldn't be bothered anymore. I don't remember the game that he opened, but I recognized that he had bought it from an online retailer called GameQuestDirect, known as dealtavern on eBay and Amazon.

[emporerdragon]

For basic game hunting, I think it's a little extreme, but in certain smaller circles, it'd be completely understandable.

For instance, I'm also a trader and collector for the game Team Fortress 2. Some of the items in the game are incredibly rare (e.g. less than 5 in existence) and valuable. If it becomes known that a buyer is a collector and wants the item for keeps instead of flipping, some sellers will massively inflate their price because they know the buyer can't go elsewhere. And we're not talking about small change here; these price spikes can be several hundred dollars in size. So I can easily see why someone would want to be discreet on what they're looking for.

[ignition365]

I have had situations more than once where I am looking for a game in general that isnt on ebay or amazon or anything and a listing will go up for auction and someone will talk about the game or share the listing saying it is rare and magically that one listing will go for 3 or 4 times what it usually does.

Could be coincidence, but it is frustrating so I don't talk about the harder to find games I am looking for.  I dont even have them on my wishlist.

Definitely paranoia, but I have been burned by it multiple times.  I know of a PS4 game variant I was trying to get my hands on that is pretty rare, but it is near impossible to acquire.  It isn't worth mentioning because legit it is impossible to acquire without connections.  But it got mentioned once somewhere and for like a week everyone there was trying to get hands on it.

For sure once though, it was confirmed that me and another person were in a bid war over a game and I won.  They only bid because someone shared the listing.

Curiously, though, wanna share the thread in question?

[Warmsignal]

Have you seen what people are charging for stuff nowadays? I don't blame anyone for wanting to keep the hype down on anything that's still affordable.

[betelgeuse]

Seems a little odd.
Those are probably the same people that snipe the Ebay auctions and think nobody else is watching. Oh they're watching.
Ever jack up the bid by a single increment on Ebay, simply because the same person bid twice in a row?  That use to be one of my favorites!!

[kashell]

After reading some of these responses, this thread has got me like O_o

I mean, sure, I think everyone has their quirks with collecting. This doesn't just pertain to video games. But being completely secretive about it? That's a new one.

"Gaming community" has become an oxymoron.

[turf]

I cannot say I'm completely innocent though; from around the time I began heavily collecting until probably 2014ish, I refused to tell local people where I found my deals and was very secretive about it. I mostly didn't want people pouching the games at the places where I found my deals, which despite my efforts people found out about them in the end anyways. Now I don't give two shits if people know where I found a deal because everyone already knows about all the spots that used to be good for deals.

I'm guilty.  I had a great little game store that I used to get boxed games at really good deals.  I refused to tell anyone where it was.  I had to protect my honey hole.