'Collecting' - The Great Debate

[vertigo]

Some of these collectors don?t have the good of the game industry in mind when collection games.

You what? Surely if someone goes out and buys two new copies of a game, one to play and one to keep sealed, that means they've just given the industry two lots of money. How isn't that good for the industry? They may not have had it in mind, but that's the end result.

[Tirian]

Surely one of the options should be: 'open the game, keep everything in excellent condition and play the hell out of it'. Which is what I do.

You're now assuming that anyone who isn't a collector can't take care of their games...

No, I am saying that if you are a gamer rather than a collector then there is no reason whatsoever to hang on to the spine card and the registration card. So why keep them flapping around?

And are you seriously suggesting that if you found a sealed Radiant Silvergun, that you would open it and play it rather than sell it and buy yourself a used copy and pocket the extra cash?

[Team Andromeda]

could honestly claim that they wouldn't let that state of affairs affect them. Say you found a sealed Radiant Silvergun for a fiver in a boot sale somewhere - would you

a) Congratulate yourself on your lucky find, open it up, toss the useless spine and registration card in the bin, and play the hell out of it
b) keep it on your shelf forever and show it off to your guests
c) sell it for a fat ton of money (and perhaps use a fraction of the proceeds to buy yourself a decent condition used copy)

If you specify the latter then you really have no place to complain

Mate I look after my games, just becasue I play them does not mean the spine card or case is in terrible nick . I still have my RSG spine card and the case is almost like new. The game however is a bit marked, since I play it , doesn't bother me as I love the game .
But if you want a truthfully answers to you questions.. Then I would keep the new copy of RSG and use that as my copy (yes open it and play it) and put my old one up on e-bay .
I did much the same for Panzer Dragoon 1/II when a got a new copies for next to nothing.

People like J.K. Rowling and Terry Pratchett are alive today, as are most of the most prominent writers in the fantasy genre - and their first editions command thousands of pounds. It's not really so far removed from the game collecting scene as you seem to want to suggest. LPs / CDs and the like provide even more pertinent comparisons. The games industry now is probably about where the 'music industry' was forty or fifty years ago (or perhaps a little bit more)

There are some records where only perhaps 10 or less copies are known to exist. And without collectors, there would probably be none. The same is already true of the game collecting scene in a few instances (Megadrive Tetris anyone? Ultima: Escape From Mount Drash?)

I've nothing against people collecting (if they intend to use them or display them) I can see some of the attraction of getting the very 1st cart CD game or the last every game for a certain system.
But to me if people are going to pay over the odds for a Harry book that they can get for next to nothing in the shop (reprint or not) they they?ve got more money than sense , and its nothing to do with being a fan but everything to do with money and some proud boost that they have that copy.

Given the choice of a Saturn re-release or the more valuable and harder to get original , I know which version I would get very time.
I couldn?t careless about the value or those white borders I care more about playing the actual game.

[wheelaa]

But to me if people are going to pay over the odds for a Harry book that they can get for next to nothing in the shop (reprint or not) they they?ve got more money than sense , and its nothing to do with being a fan but everything to do with money and some proud boost that they have that copy.

Oh the circles this argument is taking .

For a 'true' collector it is not about the money. If they want to boast then fair enough. Why are they boasting..coz they have something they really want and they want to tell people about it. You don't seriously think someone will drop ?100k on a first print Newton's Principia just beacuse they can? I could have spent the cash put into my games on other things? Why didn't I..because I like games that's why.

There are collectors, simple fact, and the motivations behind collectors are for them to know, and them alone, and any criticism of that could be held as narrowminded. Respect others for what they choose and how they go about it, that's what i think.

Similarly one might not be a collector oneself (in the sense that this thread is about)..but to simply state that collectors are just about the money is frankly ignorant. One might not agree with collectors motivation but at the least one can see that there are many different types of motivation, and if one can't well it really isn't a debate that one should be entering.

I collect semen in my nutsack.

Then pay big to shell it out hardcore over asian shemales.

Interesting

[Team Andromeda]

Oh the circles this argument is taking .

For a 'true' collector it is not about the money. If they want to boast then fair enough. Why are they boasting..coz they have something they really want and they want to tell people about it. You don't seriously think someone will drop ?100k on a first print Newton's Principia just beacuse they can? I could have spent the cash put into my games on other things? Why didn't I..because I like games that's why.

There are collectors, simple fact, and the motivations behind collectors are for them to know, and them alone, and any criticism of that could be held as narrowminded. Respect others for what they choose and how they go about it, that's what i think.

Similarly one might not be a collector oneself (in the sense that this thread is about)..but to simply state that collectors are just about the money is frankly ignorant. One might not agree with collectors motivation but at the least one can see that there are many different types of motivation, and if one can't well it really isn't a debate that one should be entering.

To some it is though. I've seen people go for the Jp version of Comic Zone over the UK/USA one. When the USA/UK one comes with a Music CD and is at least ?100 Less expensive . It is the same game after all , that?s nothing more than money in mind (nothing to do with the good of the industry ect)
Same goes for the likes of Gunstar Heroes ect .Only for them to put sfae keeping, and or the games to never be seen or played again.
That's what bugs me

[Duddyroar]

No, I am saying that if you are a gamer rather than a collector then there is no reason whatsoever to hang on to the spine card and the registration card. So why keep them flapping around?

Why keep the manual? Or even the case? Why not throw them all away?

I keep everything I buy in MINT condition. There's no point in throwing stuff away if it comes with a purchase, but I don't bust my arse to make sure everything I buy second hand is complete with spine, etc.

And are you seriously suggesting that if you found a sealed Radiant Silvergun, that you would open it and play it rather than sell it and buy yourself a used copy and pocket the extra cash?

In the case of Radiant Silvergun I probably would sell it on as you suggest, but that's only because I've had the pleasure of opening two sealed copies of RS in my lifetime...

[Tirian]

Seriously, I think you are wierder than a collector. You'd happy to cash in on the money that the collector's market creates if you found a sealed Silvergun, but only because you've had the 'pleasure' of opening two sealed copies already? What is this, some kind of mystical initiation?

I have opened the hallowed game, and now my hands are likened unto those of a god ..

Whatever!

Anyway, I think all of this pretty much proves the point that no-one here is 100% gamer or 100% collector, all are a mix to some degree or another. Your justifications for how you decide what condition you want your games in are just about the most contorted mixture of the two that I can imagine!

And PLEASE can we have no more of the "for the good of the industry" bull****!!! I don't know ANYBODY who buys games 'for the good of the industry'. Utter bollocks!

Tirian

[eastyy]

I bought radiant silvergun not long after it had come out it was one reason why i started importing....If i knew how much it would have been worth i would have bought many copys at the time.I could have made quite a bit of profit

[Duddyroar]

Tirian - My last comment was something of a joke...hence the little yellow face with a grin...get a grip, fella.

My point was that I'm not the kind of person who ****s themselves with joy at the sight of a sealed videogame.

Actually, come to think of it, opening a copy of RS does give me some joy - the joy of knowing there's one less sealed copy out there for collectors to fight over.

A sealed game to me is a like a broken pencil.

Pointless.

(Copyright: Edmund Blackadder, somewhere in the 16th century)

[wheelaa]

To some it is though. I've seen people go for the Jp version of Comic Zone over the UK/USA one. When the USA/UK one comes with a Music CD and is at least ?100 Less expensive . It is the same game after all , that?s nothing more than money in mind (nothing to do with the good of the industry ect)
Same goes for the likes of Gunstar Heroes ect .Only for them to put sfae keeping, and or the games to never be seen or played again.
That's what bugs me

Well now you really are talking pony there mate. I have all the expensive JP MD games, Comix Zone, MAx Carnage, Justice league, and sure they are the same games...but I am a Japanese MD collector. IE I don't own them for the money, I own them as they are Japanese. The fact that they cost 100 times as much as a UK or US copy is irrelevant!

[wheelaa]

My point was that I'm not the kind of person who ****s themselves with joy at the sight of a sealed videogame.

But similarly not open minded and respectful enough to appreciate that there are other's that might "**** themselves with joy". So its not your cup of tea, that's fine . But do you see sealed collectors bandying insults in your direction because you DON'T collect sealed games? I don't think so, so why do the reverse. As I said earlier, if one cannot appreciate that there are many ways and reasons to collect videogames, that there is no right way to go about it, cannot show respect whether its your cup of tea or not, well one shouldn't be part of such a discussion.

End of as far as I am concerned..this thread is arse.

[Team Andromeda]

Well now you really are talking pony there mate. I have all the expensive JP MD games, Comix Zone, MAx Carnage, Justice league, and sure they are the same games...but I am a Japanese MD collector. IE I don't own them for the money, I own them as they are Japanese. The fact that they cost 100 times as much as a UK or US copy is irrelevant!

Well I didn't mean to upset anybody on a personal level but just can?t understand why people would pay over the odds for a game they could get for a couple of pounds, When they play and look the same where it counts onthe screen
I take the point about artwork, but even that doesn?t come into for me .
I? lll rather have my USA version of Gunstar Heroes and play and understand the game, rather than hold on the JP copy simple becasue the cover is better or becasue it worth more.

I don?t buy games to collect, and just to say I have them (this isn't meant at you), I get games to play and they?re in good condition so much the better (as long as they work I don?t care) and if I don?t like them I sell them on.

To me buying a game only to store it away in safe keeping never to be used , is just as pointless as buying a DVD player or TV only to never watch anything on it , uttlery pointless

[Duddyroar]

Well I didn't mean to upset anybody on a personal level but just can’t understand why people would pay over the odds for a game they could get for a couple of pounds

Exactly, if the game in question is rare and cannot be bought elsewhere then fair enough, it's probably worth splashing your cash on it. But if you can pick up a copy from a different region for the price of a pint, then you've gotta be seriously unhinged to waste your money.

[Tirian]

Ah ... I forgot Comedy for Message Boards 101:

If the comment is followed by a grinning smiley, the writer may at any time assert that it was a joke, irrespective of whether the comment is inherently humorous in any way ... ...

Tirian

[Duddyroar]

*raises handbag*