Do you think video game collecting is expensive?

[seether]

People say it is but given that new releases are $60/£50, picking up older titles to stick into a collection is relatively affordable.

Is it that it's expensive for what it is?

[emporerdragon]

I'd consider video games to be one of the cheaper hobbies out there, since you can get most games pretty cheap, even new releases, with little effort. It only starts to become expensive when you're actively seeking out the rare gems for particular systems or are hunting for CIB/Sealed items from older generations. And if a person's goal is to simply play those older gems, there are plenty of cheap alternatives like ports and emulation.

When it comes to nerdy hobbies, there are far more expensive ones out there than video games, like Magic The Gathering, Warhammer 40K, or cosplay.

[chrismb]

Depends on how you collect.
I personally buy the cheapest version of the game i want so usually it's between 0.50ct to 15$ for games that aren't rare and 20-50$ for rarer games. And then obviously full price for new games ^^

[kamikazekeeg]

Generally, a lot of people earn their collections through trading or going to thrift shops or flea markets.  If you have a lot of money to spend, you can buy a lot directly from game shops, but generally people try to keep it as affordable as possible I find.

[98dgreen]

Only if you are impatient

[r33benelli]

Definitely one of the cheaper hobbies out there as there are multiples approaches and you can tailor your collections as well. It can be both cheap or expensive depending what you're looking for.

My other hobby is modifying cars. I can easily spend $80-120USD on video games but in the car world... I own a Nissan Skyline, Subaru WRX, and a Toyota Altezza.....that $120 wont get me much of anything for any of those cars. The equivalent of $100USD on video games  in car parts for me would probably be around $400-700USD.

I ordered a body kit for my Altezza a few weeks back for $1100usd a couple years back i ordered a turbo for the Skyline for $1200 so, spending $110 on video games is a relief! cheap('er)!
Also, there are no "greatest hits" versions of car parts! So, im not going to get $1200 turbo for $800 after a year because it sold well! As long as your hobby isn't taking over your life or your responsibilities then its all good.

[bikingjahuty]

As some have said, it really depends on how and what you collect.

You can be one of those ultra thrifty and patient people who only buy games for well under their going price. I've known people who refuse to spend more than $10 on any retro game and because of that they didn't accumulate games quickly or often. Also, collecting for certain consoles like the 2600 is now a very cheap endeavor as you can obtain 90% of the library for under $5 a game since it isn't a popular console to collect for anymore.

The opposite approach is to buy whatever you want, damn the cost. I've known very few collectors who take this approach since it can get extremely expensive, but some justify it by saying that they would just pay full price for a game versus spending countless hours trying to find it for cheaper. Their logic definitely makes sense since the time lost in game hunting is time that could be spent doing more productive or valuable things.

Personally I am about 80% the first time and 20% the latter type. Back when collecting and hunting for games on the cheap was a way more accessible and practical way of obtaining games I was almost firmly in the first group, as I'd feel bad if I spent more than $10 on a retro game, or essentially more than 1/3 of its going price. With finding quality titles for cheap being harder and harder, as well as finding what I still want being difficult due to its rarity and/or price, many games I have resulted to paying full price for or buying them when they are a decent price, but nothing crazy.

Another tactic I use and have used for a while is reselling games I have already or have no desire to own that I find for cheap in order to fund my collecting habit. The money stays within the hobby mostly and because of this I have been able to acquire many games that I wouldn't otherwise have been able to buy. I've known a few collectors who've even been able to pay for their collecting habit completely and then have some left over for other things. Given, these people generally watch CL all day long, have all kinds of ebay bot apps, and have turned hunting for games into a full time job, but that passion has resulted in them being able to create huge collections at no extra cost to them.

[sworddude]

It is a pretty cheap hobby even if some prices are high. You can really stick allot of time into it considering the amount it costs.

In my opinion current gen gaming is more expensive than retro even if were taking the better games in cib shape, It's only a small fraction especially if you consider many people who complain about retro prices still forking over 100 sometimes 200+ on brand new CE And even current gen collecting is cheap since again you can have allot of time inversted in those games It's a pretty cheap form of enjoyment compared to most things.

The thing is as time goes by games generally decrease in price to peanuts so naturually there are allot of people who complain that this does not happen for all games, also old games can be emulated so It's more of a collectible nostalgia thing for real usage than the most easy way to play a game. Since you could play the games for free to allot of people the real thing has to be worth just a couple of dollars peanuts it can be played for free so it has to be worthless.

Also don't forget videogames have attracted allot of different people. This isn't your nerdy Magic the gathering or dungeon and dragons that only a certain group played back in the day this is a larger group It's not a nerd only hobby everyone played these games back in the day and you have all different kind of flavours as far as games go.

Since videogames attract such a large group of people with allot of different personalities allot of them are not always rich, pretty poor etc yet they have played videogames back in the day since everyone had them, naturally those are the people who complain the most and refuse to pay more than low amounts for every game.

You won't hear annyone complaining about the expensive cars fishing art or golf hobby just to name some examples since poor people do not enter those hobbies so won't bother complaining about them. Not to mention that in those hobbies most people do not really care if the value of their items decreases as long as they have fun wich again many people complain about if the value decreases or increases as far as retro gaming goes. I will say that even in those hobbies there speculators but those are not really the people than enjoy the hobby.

With videogames however you have all classes Rich, middle class and poor, especially the last two complain since even for middle class It's quite the amount if you buy many things in a short amount of time that are any good. For cart only it is very affordable however even snes cib somewhat but that's not only gaming when your going that route cheap or expensive it doesn't matter.

[kashell]

It can be cheap or expensive. It just depends on how you collect and your level of patience.

[burningdoom]

There's absolutely no doubt it's gotten more expensive.

I got into retro collecting originally because it was a cheap yet fun hobby. That's just not the case anymore unless you're a big PC and Atari 2600 fan, or a big shovelware and sports fan.

[bikingjahuty]

There's absolutely no doubt it's gotten more expensive.

I got into retro collecting originally because it was a cheap yet fun hobby. That's just not the case anymore unless you're a big PC and Atari 2600 fan, or a big shovelware and sports fan.

I am forever grateful that retro PC collecting has not caught on with the masses. There are a handful of very expensive big box games, but they make up like 5% of all PC games. the rest are $20 or less.

[oldgamerz]

right now? It depends on your budget and how much you really want to buy the games for and how and where you look.

Online stores are a convenience so if you go online for something, generally I would think you would pay more for something. However in flea markets maybe somewhat less

You want something really cheap than bam, go to a garage sale if you can find one. But flea markets and garage sales are usually made for city, or suburbia lifestyles.

 There are 2 places in my city that I went to. but also a whole chunk of my collection was bought for online for under $10usd at www.jjgames.com by searching in their all games in all categories.

 but that is online still and they can be a little on the pricey side for the popular games of all genres like $15 to $100usd. However, JJgames has gotten a little rough around the edges, as far as the condition of a lot of their stock these days. Or,
or their just plain "out of stock"

Golf yea I've been golfing and it's cost me about $60 for only access to half the damn golf course but I rented clubs. but this was one of the more expensive places to golf that I went to also. I thought it was a complete waste of money because the golfing course staff would not stop yelling at me to move when I could not find the ball

[oldgamerz]

I am forever grateful that retro PC collecting has not caught on with the masses. There are a handful of very expensive big box games, but they make up like 5% of all PC games. the rest are $20 or less.

PC Gaming is cheaper because old PC games usually need patches or some kind of outdated hardware or software mod function, to not crash, when your trying to play the game on a modern computer. Heck ,PC games would even crash back to windows in the 1990's even while playing them on a 1990's computer. I grew up as a PC only gamer and I can tell you it half the games I had didn't even work on an older computer without some sorta glitch or an error message, onscreen, forcing the game to end with no reason at all.

[bikingjahuty]

I am forever grateful that retro PC collecting has not caught on with the masses. There are a handful of very expensive big box games, but they make up like 5% of all PC games. the rest are $20 or less.

PC Gaming is cheaper because old PC games usually need patches or some kind of outdated hardware or software mod function, to not crash, when your trying to play the game on a modern computer. Heck ,PC games would even crash back to windows in the 1990's even while playing them on a 1990's computer. I grew up as a PC only gamer and I can tell you it half the games I had didn't even work on an older computer without some sorta glitch or an error message, onscreen, forcing the game to end with no reason at all.

That's definitely a big reason for it. DOSbox is a godsend for pre Windows 95 games and at least Windows 7 has a good track record with many PC titles going back all the way to 95. With a few tricks I've been able to get Windows 9x games without any need for patches or other fixes to get them running. I am currently really into Mechwarrior which has a fan made VM that allows you to run it on modern OSes.

But yeah, PC gaming has definitely required a lot more effort given the massive amount of chipsets, components, and APIs out there, even back in the day when these retro titles were new. I'm okay with that though; snagging old PC classics for dirt cheap is one of the last great deals that can be had with minimal effort in this hobby :p

[seether]

I am forever grateful that retro PC collecting has not caught on with the masses. There are a handful of very expensive big box games, but they make up like 5% of all PC games. the rest are $20 or less.

PC Gaming is cheaper because old PC games usually need patches or some kind of outdated hardware or software mod function, to not crash, when your trying to play the game on a modern computer. Heck ,PC games would even crash back to windows in the 1990's even while playing them on a 1990's computer. I grew up as a PC only gamer and I can tell you it half the games I had didn't even work on an older computer without some sorta glitch or an error message, onscreen, forcing the game to end with no reason at all.

I found the SWAT PC games at a car boot sale and was super excited to play, especially as they aren't available on Steam.

Alas, they did not work on my modern PC. Never again.