Selling Your Games Collection

[marcus]

Ive done this in the past, and have always regretted it, but once again the thought of breaking up my collection of over 300 import games, collected since the N64, weighs heavy on my mind as I find myself with a lack of interest in console gaming.

Most people I speak to say to me 'well if you arent using them its better to sell them than have them gathering dust' which is a fair point, but Ive been into gaming for so long and its such a nice collection that Im sure were i to sell it all Id soon miss them again, even if I dont play them anymore.

Have you ever thought about selling your collection off, if so, what happened and why did you decide on whatever you chose to do. If you did sell it all, did you regret it at all?

[buster_broon]

well i recently sold off my entire NEO GEO collection and the last cart has just been sold

i was given some good advice - if you're going to sell its best to sell everything as if you leave some games it will just make you want to buy the stuff back

Since i got rid of all my Neo stuff i'm not missing it at all - but i have Neoragex if i get the urge and i know the games have gone to a good home, so i know they will be looked after

but i think i went about it the wrong way - i sold the stuff and ending up buying into another collection

bye bye NEO GEO - Hello JP N64 & JP Saturn stuff, but with the money left over i did manage to get myself a nice MK4 Golf GTI

My main reason for selling the Neo stuff was the fact i hadnt touched it in months and when i did play games i played them on my computer

[endo]

I've thought about it occasionally but I've always bottled it. Looking at my collection now, if I flogged it there's maybe a couple of grands' worth of stuff. But right now, if I sold it all and had the money I'd probably only blow it on something I don't need. I don't need the money right now and when I look at my collection- even though my interest in gaming increases and decreases, like anyone- I don't regret having it and I feel it's better keeping it than getting rid. Even if I don't feel like playing a certain game right now, I might do in the future and if not, well it doesn't really matter.

It's a funny one really- all these material things essentially mean nothing, but at the same time I don't want to lose them. I do try and save money rather than squander it on more games I don't need, but at the end of the day, what's the point? I'd only end up with a stack of cash for nothing. I suppose some people are just happy to not have loads of possessions, but I think maybe gamers, more specifically the kind gamers who visit this site- import gamers- have a stronger in-built desire to collect things than other people. Which, at the end of the day, isn't necessarily a bad thing. Bugger knows, I'm rambling.

[Geezer]

I sold all my JPN Saturn and DC stuff last year and I regret it every day
Especially selling Battle Garegga and all the Capcom fighters

I chose to sell as I noticed quite a few Saturn games started fetching silly money on ebay, I sold SFZ3(standalone) for ?60 and Garegga for ?95 for example. In the end I pissed most of the money away on nights out and a couple of PCBs. Do I regret it? most definitely!
If I could rewind time etc etc

[sj33]

Games I sell I invariably end up rebuying.
With the Dreamcast, I used to sell games in order to buy the new releases, and I've recently found myself having to rebuild my collection.

[endo]

Just when I though about maybe sacking off gaming last year, I bought a JP Saturn and started collecting the games like buggery. I wouldn't flog them now for anything, even if some of them hardly ever get played and are probably worth quite a bit. Battle Garegga- which I got fairly reasonably given what it can go for- I never really touched at first. After a couple of months I made a point of playing it properly, and it just pulled me in completely. I've probably played more games over the past 6 months than I ever had at any time in my life- and I've been gaming for nearly 20 years now. Minish Cap is another game that just recently totally blew away my jaded-ness. And SF III on Live. I dread to think how much time I've spent playing that online.

[endo]

Games are a bit like pr0n too- you resolve to bin the lot, and then you end up getting it all again anyway

**** knows- there are worse addictions to have than games.

[Kron]

I've sold just over 60 items recently (not feebay) but videogameauctions.com and managed to clear just over 2k. Largely thanks to selling Darxide (?700).

Its been more of PAL clearout than anything else but I've got another couple of hundred items im more than happy to sell at present and that includes the items I have really valued and cherished over the last 10+ years.

I don't really need the money and really don't fancy spending it on anything specific its just that the timing felt right. No doubt I'll regret selling some of it in the future but the fun with most of it has been in the hunt and realistically I'd have never played through 80% of it again anyway.

Perhaps I'm just in the wrong frame of mind to consider it worthwhile anymore

[Kubrick]

Never sold it ALL, but I do get rid of entire formats once I've played everything I want on them. Sold 99% of my N64, SFC, Dreamcast & Saturn stuff during the past year or two. Only the Saturn stuff gets missed, but that's probably just because it get's discussed a lot in the retro forum.

I would only consider selling EVERYTHING if I got an arcade cabinet to replace it all - something I'll probably do in the (distant) future.

[wod]

i selt my playstation game collection had all the ridge games and wipeout series and loads of others all on import and i do regret selling them as now i wish i still had them and cant get them back well could do but would be a hassle

i did the same thing with my dreamcast collection had loads of dc stuff, felt wasn't going to use them much so it all went.

i now just have ps2, xbox and gamecube which i wont sell as its only the things i really wanted and couldn't get rid off that i've kept

[Pavey]

I dont think i would ever sell as like Endo said,i think us rowdy mob are collectors and hoarders aswell as gamers,so i'd probably look around for something else to collect,and end up getting the same stuff over and over,be it games or consoles.

I do sometimes look at it all and how much i think ive spent and question my sanity,but there's far worse things to blow your cash on.

Maybe put it all in storage if its in your face,see how you feel without it and if you miss it. If not,and your really over it,sell away,move on.

[butchcvc]

Maybe put it all in storage if its in your face,see how you feel without it and if you miss it. If not,and your really over it,sell away,move on.

great advice!

i'll have to remember that myself, if i have doubts about my collection in the future.

[gossi the dog]

I've occasionally considered selling most of my collection and simply keeping the handful of games that I absolutely love. The biggest problem though is that the majority of my collection is in absolutely fantastic condition and I know that with quite a few games that if I do sell them I'll never be able to get hold of copies in as good a condition again.

[Valiant]

It's a funny one really- all these material things essentially mean nothing, but at the same time I don't want to lose them.

I suppose some people are just happy to not have loads of possessions, but I think maybe gamers, more specifically the kind gamers who visit this site- import gamers- have a stronger in-built desire to collect things than other people.

It's nothing to do with having the physical hardware or software for me to be honest. Games these days in terms of packaging are nowhere near as interesting as they once were, standard issue DVD style casing, poor instruction manuals, below par artwork on most Western games, no more gigantic PC & Amiga style boxes to admire.

I actually think video games by their very nature as oppossed to say CD's, Films, Books, or other readily available popular artifacts that people collect illicit stronger emotional responses due to the ability to replay the exact experience again and again that in turns stimulate, the brain, the senses and most importantly memory. Perhaps this is why collecting games really becomes an obsession for people? An addiction of the mind.

This is what I am collecting when I buy an old SNES title that I want in my collection. The awareness of plugging the cartridge in, the picking of the joypad, the fact I have the original console in front of me are still secondary to the actual experience of playing the game and the feelings that are generated because of it. Obviously they are enhanced by doing it old school as oppossed to emulation however what is actually different about the experience taking aesthetics out of the equation? It's obviously happening upstairs this differentiation.

You can't bottle nostalgia or turn back the clock but playing through a classic adventure such as Monkey Island again on a cold winters afternoon with a cup of hot chocolate in your hand as it snows outside, taking UN Squadron for a quick flight out of the hanger once in a while on one life or just even picking up an old original Gameboy and trying to beat your best score on the original Tetris in all its monochrome glory are perhaps the next best thing.

I guess with videogames the best we can do is stop the clock ticking for a while; maybe a few hours, days, or weeks at a time but certainly longer than a transitory melody or a nice narrative played out on screen with a bunch of people we don't really know but think we do. The written word matches up to to videogames but in an entirely different way. Yet does it have the same replay value? Hmmmm.

With videogames the connection always starts from within the individual from a whole host of internal and external sources. Maybe that's why they are so special? I don't know...

[Light]

I think I've sold half of my collection over the past year... I sort of decided to keep only the games that I really really liked and get rid of the ones that weren't as entertaining. I've never regretted what I've done... I'm actually quite relieved to have a smaller, but more decent collection (though when I was selling my first few games, I wasn't sure how I'd feel afterwards). However, I'm very demanding of games and don't see the point in keeping anything that was only partly interesting because I know I'd never touch it again and it would just end up gathering dust. But I would keep the games that I really enjoyed (even if I don't play them again) because of nostalgia and because that's what I'm trying to collect.... the games that have really impressed me.