the last several years, i've been doing a
lot of thinking about collecting, so i'm going to make a big post -
i tend to think of 'collecting' as mostly pernicious and something that tends to frequently get terribly out of hand.
curation, however, is pretty dang cool. if you're submitting yourself to arbitrary collection of things - distributor, franchise, console, even limiting to just one medium like video games - i feel like you often wind up accumulating so much detritus that your identity is slowly replaced by a much-lower-than-animal impetus to fill a catalogue and an addiction to the weak dopamine trickle that grants you. one's exterior emptiness ultimately begins to reflect an interior one, and you stop being curious, stop pursuing, stop living, and just fill your world with monuments to your stasis. it's unsurprising many people collect things that meant something to them during (or reflect) their childhood, because that's the last time anything ever meant anything at all to many of them.
i own over 2,000 physical games at this point, but what matters more to me are the experiences and opportunities to share them with others or personally reflect on them. i started my
youtube channel to have more to talk about with people on here, and it's become a personal thing i refine that is akin to a travelogue or little journal. i'm happy to do it for myself, and i'm happy when even one single other person gleans something meaningful from 'em. i only started a few years ago, so there's much both forward and backward in my history to look forward to doing more of. i sometimes watch 'em with friends and have a blast talking about them.
anyone with a rom folder of favorites and some good clears under their belt are having just as much joy curating what they're doing, tbh, minus maybe a hampered aesthetic experience without a crt (there's risks to immaterial collection, too! perfunctory, soulless play for quick clears or trophies/achievements is as bad as a wall of unopened amiibo). i do have some fun lookin' shelves for all my conceit, though! glad to take some pictures if there's interest, i try to meaningfully decorate & arrange them to make them an inviting library to my interiority. i tend to get a bit of personal enjoyment out of the physical because it places arbitrary limitations i have power to negotiate with and makes pursuit a bit more engaging. manga, anime, movies, figures, cards, toys, albums, whatever. sometimes i go more digital for a variety of reasons, but i love having things someone can pull off a shelf and have a conversation about or experience with.
i also tend to enjoy the ritual of maintenance! scrubbing the contacts on a cart and sticking it into the machine is an experience that helps me exercise some mindfulness. it reminds me a lot of how much i've come to enjoy making coffee for a loved one - picking the beans, hand-grinding them at the correct coarseness, folding the filter and placing it in the beaker while the water boils, adding a pinch of sugar from between my finger-tips and a bit of cream... and then the aroma, the smiles, the relaxation. ah, geez. you know, i get a bit mushy watching a big filter box empty out, because i get to think of how that was one-hundred times i made someone happy. i don't even drink coffee, myself lol. sometimes the best collections are the ones you have nothing material to show for.
never put the cart(ridge) before the horse - curate first and then let a collection be the side-effect.
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