Collecting : Playing Ratios...

[kryss]

But running in reverse I assume?

I have too many games and admit I have a shopping problem. I've been trying to give up my vices recently, with alcohol the first to go. Buying games is much more of an addiction for me than playing (or booze). I don't hide it from the wife, I just don't tell her...it's completely different...

I've probably played about 70-80% of what I own but completed only 20-30%

[Roddie]

I'm still left with over 60% of my income. I just think what's the point of it sitting there.

Possibly not the soundest logic coming from someone with 100 Dreamcast games and no console...

[Sane]

I have the same problem more or less, I just buy way too many games and as a result many great games remain unplayed or unfinished. I've recently started using this site to help me do justice to my 360 collection, my goal is to get rid of most of the underachievements . It does really help, gives me an incentive to go back to stuff I've abandoned when the next big title came out . The last few games I did like this were Sega Rally, Import tuner and Dead Rising. Felt really rewarding to actually spend some time on those.

[Ady]

Can't stand collectors. Sorry, but the mentality bugs the hell out of me. It has more to do with rabid obsessive compulsion than gaming, IMO. Why buy games you don't play, or even pay top dollar for crap games just because they're rare and are worth a lot of money?

Anyway, I tend to buy games as and when I have time to play them, the only exception being handheld titles which I've been known to "backlog", but handheld gaming moves at an entirely different pace to consoles, so the games can happily sit for months (or even years) before being played.

[merf]

all sounds like classic compulsive obsessive behaviour manifesting itself thru irrational collection of uneeded uneccesary items.

could be worse, could show itself as a druggie or a drunk.

[fallenangle]

I'm primarily a player but also a collector of games I know are good or have been recommended by reliable sources. I have a Wish List of games past and present which I look out for to buy as cheap as possible. This is almost a separate game in itself. But I always buy with the genuine intention to play them.

I can honestly say that there is nothing in my collection just bought for, show, rarity value or completist reasons. If I don't think I might enjoy it the game has no place in my library.

However, looking at it realistically there are going to be games I own I'm never going to get round to playing. But I have books bought over 40 years years ago on my shelves unread too and I don't feel guilty about that either.

[Hohum]

I've probably played about 70-80% of what I own but completed only 20-30%

Probably about the same for me. I play everything I buy (pretty much), but most of it doesn't get completed. I don't personally get that buzz from completion anymore, hence why I'm usually quite happy to shelve something in favour of playing something else.

[112]

There was one point a few years or so ago where i had about 8 Xbox 360 games sitting unplayed in my draw. I had ppurchased these games in anticipation of getting a 360, but didnt want to commit as the price of the console was too much IMHO. So i waited and waited, then in the end i gave up and sold the games off and brought a ps3 with the money lol......... Now i dont regret the decision, but i knew that if i continued down the road i would have amased a lot more and ran the risk of never playing them as i kinda knew i wanted a ps3 more than a 360. This was of course before the ps3 came out.

In terms of collecting games i dont collect them so that i can amass a fortune in the future, i would be choosing the wrong thing to collect in that respect. I also dont casre too much for limited editions of stuff. For me i like to have an extensive library of software so that i can sift through certain game and relive or experience them again. Although they never play as well as they used to or as good as people made out years ago, its the option of being able to experience it that gives me the kicks.

I will hold my hand up and say half of my collection has been unplayed or has not been been played enough. There is just no time these days, and it would be logical to presume there will be less time in the future, but having the option to enjoy in the future, although maybe im kidding myself here, is where the X-factor is.

Its funny that when i come to play any game i like from my extensive library, i always seem to go back to one i have played over and over again rather than play something new. I guess its because i know what to expect and therefore know what i will get for my limited free time, as opossed to potentiall ywasting it trying to get into a game that is actually a waste of the very plastic it was made on.

I have always thought that if you were collecting to make money, it would be best to collect something that you had no 'hardcore' interest in as it will mare your judgement and making certain crucial decisions. Although some interest would be needed........ as it would be a labourous task sourcing things out, when you havent a clue what is what and where.

Jus to name a few gems i have which i SHOULD experience but jus can't bring myself to because something else requires more urgent attention -

Super Mario Sunshine
Sin and Punishment
Zelda: Phantom Hour Glass
Zelda: Twighlight Princess
Xenosaga 1-3
Okami
Phoenix Wright 1-3
Hotel Dusk

Although having said all this i do still play through games and i can proudly say that i have recently completed or made a lot of progress on are GTA4 and MGS4, both of which have re-ignited my passion for gaming.

I dont think i will ever completley stop this process of buying more games than i have time to play, and i have never felt the need to sell off vast quantities of games well, not since i sold my Mega Drive and Mega CD (which i still feel was the best decision i made).

This addiction im sure we all share exists in many guise outside of gaming, i know a lot of people who continuously buy magazines, Music CDs (still), DVD movies (some still replacing their vhs collection). Even the youth of today buy a pair of trainers/sneakers every week and have probably amassed more shoes than they will ever wear....... So the phenomenom isnt new, but it is worrying as the world we live in becomes more materialistic the main question on everyones lips is, where will we all house this ish?

112

[DeathAdder]

I have quite a few games that I am unlikely to play again, let alone complete. Some of them I have for the benefit of visitors, who sometimes want to play well-known games from the past, or games they had when they were younger. Others are just games I like for their significance - I'd never bother to play Ridge Racer again, but I appreciate it was an important game in its time, so I like having a copy of it.

[Ady]

There was one point a few years or so ago where i had about 8 Xbox 360 games sitting unplayed in my draw. I had ppurchased these games in anticipation of getting a 360, but didnt want to commit as the price of the console was too much IMHO. So i waited and waited, then in the end i gave up and sold the games off and brought a ps3 with the money lol.........

Eh??? 8 Xbox 360 games? With the average full price of console games being around £40 each, that's more than the price of the actual console. You could've saved that money and bought a 360, and still had some left over for a game!

[SuperDanX]

I keeping buying stuff i dont really want, for 'the collection' im well ****ed off with the whole thing at the momment and feel like binning the lot, or giving it away, cant be asred to sell it, a the madness of just heaping it up and dumping it in a bin really appeals, a cathartic experience if you will, i think id be happier with half a dozen games, then i could do something more intresting and constructive with my life than thinking about games all the live long day.

[honeymustard]

Everything I buy I do intend to play... I just never seem to get round to it!

[DeathAdder]

giving it away

Have I ever told you I've always liked you? Not in a gay way.

[Geoff D]

I've whittled nearly everything down over the past year - now have only 5 PS2 games, 6 X360 games, 5 GC games & so on. The only thing I've kept in 'quantity' (only about 25 or so) are boxed Super Famicom games, as I play them quite a bit & can't part with them.

It felt extremely cathartic, getting rid of boxes full of stuff that wasn't being played.

[SmokeMeAKipper]

I'm pretty bad for hoarding stuff. I'm not particularly a collector in the sense of buying them because they're rare / collectible - I do generally intend to play the games I buy it's just that sometimes I don't get round to it.

Over the last 6-12 months I've been better, reading reviews and checking other people's opinions so I'm generally only buying games I actually want to play rather than because it's the most recent, first / third-party, over-hyped piece of licensed rubbish (not referring to a particular game here - just generalising!)

I've also been through my collections and traded in half of my games - got rid of over 100 PS2 and Xbox games last summer and I've just picked out 17 360 games to trade in as well. Generally if I feel I'll probably never play a game again it's not worth keeping.

The problem of course is there's some games that I think I might play at some unspecified point in the future and end up keeping...

This is madness... this... is... gaming!