Collecting : Playing Ratios...

[12-51-00]

Is it just me or does anyone else find they spend more time collecting games than they do actually playing them? For example:

• I own almost 100 Japanese Dreamcast Games but I still don't own a single Dreamcast Console.
• I'm roughly half a dozen games away from a complete collection of NAOMI GD-ROMs but I don't own a single NAOMI cab or any hardware.
• I recently purchased 5 or 6 Japanese PS3 Games but decided to sell them before my PS3 ever arrived and when that did arrive I gave it away.
• I've also bought my girlfriend every single Japanese Ltd Ed DS Lite Console ever made but I've never used one myself. Actually bar one or two neither as she.

So then what have I played? Well in the past 12 months I've completed Zelda: Phantom Hourglass and Super Mario Galaxy,

->Open Spoiler<-

but only with Mario

. I've also unlocked everything in Mario Kart Wii but beyond that I don't think I've even tried to play any games beside taking a minute or two to sample a few Famicom games on the Virtual Console. Can anyone relate to this or am I just crazy?

[Matt]

You gave a PS3 away? Very generous!

[prinnysquad]

I've got about 16 360 games I've never put in the tray yet, and a further 14 I've given only the slightest attention to. Does that count? I'm constantly on the lookout for cheap 360 games but have no idea when I'll actually play them.

I've got about 80 360 games. That's a ratio of 50:30 in favour of games I've had a decent go of.

[Roddie]

I think you're just crazy (or dare I say stupid); why would you buy all those DS's for someone who doesn't play them? I guess it's the same question about the Dreamcast games, but in that case you're buying them and CAN'T play them.

Obviously it's up to the individual to decide what they spend their money on, but to me it certainly sounds like you probably have more money than sense.

[Matt]

I get a game I want to play, complete it, and then trade / sell it on quickly. I rarely keep a game longer than 2 months, though some multiplayer titles will stay as I'll keep playing them. Right now, I have 3 PS3 games on my shelf, and a few older games (PS1/2, XB, GC) that have no real value so not worth selling.

So my Collecting : Playing ratio would be a perfect 1:1

[Matt]

I think you're just crazy (or dare I say stupid); why would you buy all those DS's for someone who doesn't play them? I guess it's the same question about the Dreamcast games, but in that case you're buying them and CAN'T play them.

Obviously it's up to the individual to decide what they spend their money on, but to me it certainly sounds like you probably have more money than sense.

I've known people to have issues with stuff like this. A collecting /hoarding mentality isn't unusual in this consumer orientated, everything-you-want-right-now society. Rampant consumerism.

I know I used to "collect" DVDs, but stopped before it got too silly and as rehab, sold 90% of them, only keeping the films I'd really watch again.

[charlesr]

I have a cabinet. It's now full. If I want more games I have to sell old ones to make space.

But yeah, if something's cheap and good (and my sort of thing) then I have to have it. I can't pack up the GC or the N64 or PS2 yet because I still have unplayed games for them. Getting there, but slowly. Luckily there's not so much great content on the 360 or Wii at the mo, so I'm getting the chance to actually play the games.

[laruso]

i have to admit im terrible for this, especially if i find things at a bargain price. I now have well over 100 DS games (inc PAL, JAP and US) but still havent played phoenix wright despite owning every game in the series! (my mother in law just comes over and borrows them, finishes them and returns them!).
so essentially ive become a ds library for my mother in law

then theres every other console i own....

sometimes i think im missing out if games have come out and im reading first play threads and not played them, or its friday lunchtime and i know new releases are waiting for me in the shops..

collecting soon becomes an addiction. but i definately do spend more time buying/collecting than playing!

[kernow]

I find it bizarre why you'd buy anything you're not ever going to use or play. I have a very small and concentrated 'collection' of things I play, if I don't play them, they get sold. Why would you go mad buying all these different DS Lites? I'd just find another hobby to spend that money on, lol. They are hardly cheap either.

[VR46]

My 360 & PS3 game collection currently stands at about ten titles. Play them, maybe even finish the odd one, sell 'em, then on to the next one. Never been a collector of games. Ever.

[MattyD]

Sounds like you've got more money than sense there mate I just can't afford to buy anything I wouldn't play, no way. I absolutely only buy games I really want to play and I tend to keep them too. That doesn't mean I don't have tonnes of games or even a few that I've barely played because I don't have the time but I still wouldn't buy them if I thought they were only going to be shelf pieces.

[NeoDragoN]

If you're buying games and not playing them then you're retarded basically. Its like buying a car and not being able to drive.

What the point?

[laruso]

at least my mother in law gets use out of the ones ive not got round to playing yet!
her finished to played ratio is impeccable!

[ezee ryder]

I am pretty good with this whole thing actually. My collection mainly consists of 80 odd PS2 games and about 35 Gamecube games. All of those games have been played and about 90&#37; of them have been completed. Some of them have been kept from since the day of first purchase and some of them have been re-purchased for collection/re-playing purposes.

In terms of current gen games, I have about 15 Xbox 360 games (most of which are special editions such as Dead Rising, Gears of War, Lost Planet, Halo 3 etc) and about 6 PS3 games. Only really want to keep the special edition versions of the 360 or PS3 games as I am slowly but steadily running out of space!

I know a couple of people who just buy games for collection purposes and don't really play them at all. It is like they like the idea of gaming more than the doing the actual thing I wouldn't call them retarded or say they have more money than sense though cos at the end of the day it is up to them what they do with their money. Some people love to collect movies (on DVD, Blu-Ray etc) or, on the other end of the spectrum, some people love to collect stamps. As I always say, each to their own.

[gordon]

I have a cabinet. It's now full. If I want more games I have to sell old ones to make space.

This. It's a great way of controlling those urges to just spend money on a game that you half want and will probably only play once to test it.

I've "played" all the games I own, but in some (increasingly frequent) cases that means for just a few minutes.