16bit collecting anonymous! Anyone else out there?

[neorichieb1971]

The reason people want valuable games is because forums like this worships the folks who do own them, whether or not they got it cheaply or not.

There are a few people on this forum that only deal in items worth $500+. There are millions of games, why only deal games that the artwork alone is worth $300, or the box is worth $200 on its own?

There are some hypocrites on here I tell ya. Although to be fair the ones that do deal big time are not present on this thread.

This forum, whether you like it or not is feeding the price hikes on everything. As soon as you talk about an old game, 10 more people read about it and hop onto ebay. The only way you can decrease the value is to not talk about old games anymore.

If eBay has more than 5 of the same thing, the BIN will unlikely be its true value.

[FinalBaton]

The reason people want valuable games is because forums like this worships the folks who do own them, whether or not they got it cheaply or not.

There are a few people on this forum that only deal in items worth $500+. There are millions of games, why only deal games that the artwork alone is worth $300, or the box is worth $200 on its own?

There are some hypocrites on here I tell ya. Although to be fair the ones that do deal big time are not present on this thread.

This forum, whether you like it or not is feeding the price hikes on everything. As soon as you talk about an old game, 10 more people read about it and hop onto ebay. The only way you can decrease the value is to not talk about old games anymore.

If eBay has more than 5 of the same thing, the BIN will unlikely be its true value.

you're not wrong there

[MintyTheCat]

Just to fill some info in here: it is Youtube and this frenzied cult of nutters who "must own everything" the type that are looking for a complete set of everything, regardless of how good many titles are, that is what has changed the entire situation. Retrogaming was something that people simply did for fun and collecting was not taken as anything like as life or death as it has become.

Put the blinkers on if you must but there is no denying it and given that this madness is taking place as I type this the question becomes "just why are people this nutty to spend vast sums of cash on videogames" and this is why it ends up being a question of investment and sanity.

I hope that helps you fellows who are perhaps not aware of this some what more aware.

Also, don't be fooled: if you are investing then you need to invest in things that you understand fairly well otherwise you are highly likely to lose cash. I have seen both sides of "rare, expensive, must have" of the videogame collecting activity and I have to say that it is mostly younger people who are caught up in the frenzy of it.

The worst I see is when these so called hardcore collectors (more cash than sense in my book) cannot play the games that they risk life and limb to procure. To me that really says it all when you are more interested in having a title on your shelf that being interested in playing the game.

The other funny thing is when people set out to "collect every title" and do not really weigh up what that would entail. I remember asking a guy who was dead set on having a full Megadrive collection how he felt towards owning Tetris. He went rather quiet and then it dawned on him how much cash would be involved in "having them all".

[MintyTheCat]

I really do not understand why people are obsessed with "high value videogames". If you are setting out to make money just get into something better as an investment.
I own a hell of a lot of games and some are valuable but they are not "investments" - this is bizarre to think them as being so. They are games - games that are fun, hold memories and appeal to me. Honestly, people, please do yourselves a favour and grow out of this "get rich through videogame collecting" obsession. I have seen people literally pass over their rent and food cash to buy games in the shitest condition. Something has to be wrong with a person when this occurs. If you want to invest buy some stock, sit on it and plan when to sell it but do not harp on about how valuable your games are. If you do you are either immature, do not understand the value of money or mentally ill. You are begging someone to take advantage of you financially.

Who are you responding or speaking to here?
Did anyone speak of their games as investments or in any manner related to what you're going on about? I must have missed that even when re-skimming to figure out the basis of your reaction.

Cash, dropping a lot of it turns into a question of investment and the older you are the more it matters.

Yeah, I also don't get that. There are way safer investments out there so picking retro games is just odd

Yes, but then there's gold, uranium, bio-engineering, nano-technology, etc. that will most likely beat the pants off LEGO. If I offered you a kilogram of Gold or a Kg of LEGO which would you go for?

[kitten]

Yes, but then there's gold, uranium, bio-engineering, nano-technology, etc. that will most likely beat the pants off LEGO. If I offered you a kilogram of Gold or a Kg of LEGO which would you go for?

i was linking the site because i found it outrageous, not as some sort of legitimate claim that investing in what you collect for fun is a good idea. i figured "nutty" kind of helped made that clear.

i would say that lego are a better investment than games because there are sets that will double (or over) in value roughly overnight after retiring, however. lego doesn't announce their retirements before they happen particularly often, either. the modular building sets are probably one of the most common investment sets because there's a lot of money to be made on them after retirement. imagine buying something worth $200 that you had a strong notion would be $400 in just a couple of months (of course, you're going to lose 15% to paypal and ebay). a lot of hardcore lego collectors have a pretty good intuition about when these things are going to happen and it's pretty much guaranteed money. the modular buildings are a line that has been around for over a decade, gets a new set usually once a year, never sees reprinting, and the sets have never depreciated, only gone up.

it's still pretty stupid and most everyone who does this kind of investing ends up with the sets taking up huge amounts of space for unpredictable amounts of time, buying outside of known safeties for riskier reasons, etc. people do this worse with game collecting - as someone who collects games, i can definitely say there's more and easier money to be made in lego, but it's still 99.9% a trap for morons who have no idea what they're doing with their money, and .1% you could be investing your money better, anyway.

- - - -

there's also the ethical consideration, as silly as it may seem to consider. if you love video games so much, why would you knowingly, willingly contribute to inflating price values just to make a few bucks? there's been a number of situations where i've observed recent sales on both eBay and yahoo auctions japan and realized i could be making a bit of extra cash at pretty low effort if i were to buy games off of YAJ and resell them on eBay for inflated prices (i'm talking about researching what they ACTUALLY go for, not what the high-priced listings are at). but i don't do that, because i think it's scummy. it hurts the hobby for everyone else, and i already feel bad enough about contributing to fucking the market up for native japanese collectors who are probably rightly furious at the inflation we've caused for a lot of their best stuff. idk, i don't want to take a shit right where i'm eating, you know?

This forum, whether you like it or not is feeding the price hikes on everything. As soon as you talk about an old game, 10 more people read about it and hop onto ebay. The only way you can decrease the value is to not talk about old games anymore.

i consciously consider this every time i recommend a game on here, especially if it's something good i've not played yet and don't want people competing with me on

i feel like most people here actually buy to play, and not a fifteen minute round of shitty tourism, either. being here has already directly contributed to me buying a few games, secondhand!, too. wouldn't have gotten the ninja warriors again without recommendation from BIL. i feel it's right to contribute to suggestions to others, in turn.

[neorichieb1971]

I only wanted 5-10 games in the 16 bit library when I started buying about 6-8 months ago. Now I have 30+ Megadrive/Genesis games alone and about 20+ for the SFC/SNES.

So now I am in the realm of buying more games than i'm playing. But something in me won't let go since I've found 3 or 4 more new ones I didn't know about. Unfortunately I have a "once you start something, you must finish it" attitude.

I do want to play them, but also I want to do a project with them and they will populate my game room if I ever get a house big enough for a man cave.

[FinalBaton]

I only wanted 5-10 games in the 16 bit library when I started buying about 6-8 months ago. Now I have 30+ Megadrive/Genesis games alone and about 20+ for the SFC/SNES.

So now I am in the realm of buying more games than i'm playing. But something in me won't let go since I've found 3 or 4 more new ones I didn't know about. Unfortunately I have a "once you start something, you must finish it" attitude.

I do want to play them, but also I want to do a project with them and they will populate my game room if I ever get a house big enough for a man cave.

The temptation to buy more games is definitely there, haha. I do have to refrain myself.
But at the end of the day I'm happy to instead put that money on my mortgage, or in my "rainy day" cash pile

i feel like most people here actually buy to play, and not a fifteen minute round of shitty tourism, either. being here has already directly contributed to me buying a few games, secondhand!, too. wouldn't have gotten the ninja warriors again without recommendation from BIL. i feel it's right to contribute to suggestions to others, in turn.

I also echo this sentiment. And also, BIL is making it hard to NOT go out and buy some games Guy is really getting me pumped up for some retro action games all the damn time. Dayum!

[azmun]

I sense a bit of sour graping and scapegoating. And not just to play devil's advocate there are few reasons for prices having gone up beyond obvious reasons (inflation, etc.). I have other "vices" and relatively speaking, video gaming is still one of the least expensive. Yes, you can spend big sums of money but you'll have no one to blame but yourself. While I don't advocate collecting video games as "investment" there is such thing as diversifying ones portfolio. Sure financial assets (and even better, real estate) are best but allocating even a small percent into what our hobby has become-collectibles may not be such a bad thing.

It's possible for prices to come down a bit, or at least stabilize. If you pay top dollar ($100 or above) for a game, you can have confidence to sell close to that since these items are no longer the typical technology that goes obsolete and depreciate in value rapidly.

[FinalBaton]

Hmmm...
I style maintain what I said about retro games not being a top tier investment. While they won't go down in price, they also won't go up that much from now on I think. I mean say you bought 200 games in the last 5 years on Ebay : if you sell them now you won't make a lot of profit. Probs just enough to catch with inflation of the cost of living.
Still think there are better investments out there.
I will say though that a positive aspect to this is : if you buy a game and then you're bored an resell it, then you'll get your money back.

And I'm not mad at youtubers and people on message boards who hype games : I'm mad at customers who bite for the ridiculous prices that stores and some ebay sellers demand for their games. I swear some people don't even take the time to check the prices of other copies online and at other stores, they just by the first copy they stumble upon.

Also : what's wrong in feeling a little bit of hate? Hate is healthy. I love that stuff!

[Skykid]

I own a hell of a lot of games and some are valuable but they are not "investments" - this is bizarre to think them as being so.

Yeah, I also don't get that. There are way safer investments out there so picking retro games is just odd

Well, I don't know about you fuckers, but if I sold my entire collection tomorrow I'd be sitting on a veritable fortune. They may not have been acquired as investments, but if they ever got sold off, they would have become investments by circumstance.

Whether buying in this climate is an investment is another story. If we're not at the ceiling already I'll be real happy, check back in 10 years, and cash out for a million bucks.

[FinalBaton]

Whether buying in this climate is an investment is another story.

yeah this is what I'm refering to

They may not have been acquired as investments, but if they ever got sold off, they would have become investments by circumstance.

That I can certainly get behind

[MintyTheCat]

Yes, but then there's gold, uranium, bio-engineering, nano-technology, etc. that will most likely beat the pants off LEGO. If I offered you a kilogram of Gold or a Kg of LEGO which would you go for?

i was linking the site because i found it outrageous, not as some sort of legitimate claim that investing in what you collect for fun is a good idea. i figured "nutty" kind of helped made that clear.

Yes, I know how you mean. My grand father's father was an engineer with a bit of a gambling issue and he would say that "he would bet on anything - flies walking up the wall - anything". And this is really how people are. I got into trading myself and I find it a lot easier going than selling videogames. I do sell a couple of as I simply have too much myself that has accumulated over the years.

But what I find is that selling videogames, at least in Germany, comes in dribs and drabs. Where as with trading and investing it is fairly simple and straight-forward.

[MintyTheCat]

I own a hell of a lot of games and some are valuable but they are not "investments" - this is bizarre to think them as being so.

Yeah, I also don't get that. There are way safer investments out there so picking retro games is just odd

Well, I don't know about you fuckers, but if I sold my entire collection tomorrow I'd be sitting on a veritable fortune. They may not have been acquired as investments, but if they ever got sold off, they would have become investments by circumstance.

Whether buying in this climate is an investment is another story. If we're not at the ceiling already I'll be real happy, check back in 10 years, and cash out for a million bucks.

Definitely, I would be 'rich' if I sold my collection off en-masse. Basically, I knew what I liked and I just carried on playing and collecting the games that I played when I was quite young. The most recent machine that I have is a Dreamcast (I think want a PS2 ) so if you have that mentality it is just luck and circumstance that end up being in your favour wrt 'value'.

I pretty got most of the games that became quite expensive when they were not too pricey. Having said that though I do recall paying quite a bit for Hyper-Duel on the Saturn but now it sells for about 5-7 times the price I paid so it is all relative.

The best thing people can do is to play the hell out of these older games and luckily there are many ways to play these games these days. Back when we were kids you really had to own a physical copy as that was the way it was to be. I actually play NES/FC games on an emulator these days. I have a fairly small collection of FC and NES games but it is quite cool to be able to play these games anywhere and I actually play this machine the most and have done for many years now

[Sumez]

Hmmm...
I style maintain what I said about retro games not being a top tier investment. While they won't go down in price, they also won't go up that much from now on I think.

That's what people said 10 years ago, and the games I own have probably increased between 2 or 5 times in price (or in some cases 10 or more). The recent hikes in prices are absolutely absurd, but who can tell when it will stop?

[BIL]

What creeps me out moreso than skyrocketing prices is the attendant prospect of organised high-end counterfeiting ala Neo Geo AES. Hey guys I found several NOS copies of Eliminate Down in my uncle's toolshed, in Canada! I hear he's got a stash of Reccas somewhere in the attic too, wow, check back next month!

Made for some hilarious internet television when it was confined to that long-insane platform, admittedly.

[azmun]

Whether buying in this climate is an investment is another story. If we're not at the ceiling already I'll be real happy, check back in 10 years, and cash out for a million bucks.

10 years I've not thought that far but it'd sure be interesting to check back. No doubt there's a real premium running around but you can still find value these days--just need to search harder, smarter be more selective, diligent and patient. Be an incidental speculator or bargain hunter, the choice is yours. Personally, I've put a cap on what I'd be willing to pay for any software or hardware.

[stryc9]

I probably left it a bit late to get started (2012), but I am building a JP Mega Drive/MCD collection. Even seeing the rise in price on key titles between then and now would convince me that I would probably wouldn't start an endevour like this today. It helped that I had some cash to throw around at the time to take care of the heavy hitters, but there are still a lot of cheaper games that are great to balance out the insanity.

I just wouldn't personally bother now because I couldn't live without stuff like Vampire Killer, Alien Soldier etc.

I'm not one of these full collection guys either, and like a lot of dudes here, I keep a (relatively) lean collection with a focus on playing and giving every title it's proper due.

[nem]

Well, I don't know about you fuckers, but if I sold my entire collection tomorrow I'd be sitting on a veritable fortune.

Definitely, I would be 'rich' if I sold my collection off en-masse.

I think we might have different definitions of fortunes and being 'rich'.

If you were buying to collect I have a really hard time believing anyone is getting 'rich' by selling their personal collection of videogames. If you were buying to sell, then sure. You know, like those guys that sold millions of Atari games from some cave. Those guys are probably 'rich'.

[MintyTheCat]

Well, I don't know about you fuckers, but if I sold my entire collection tomorrow I'd be sitting on a veritable fortune.

Definitely, I would be 'rich' if I sold my collection off en-masse.

I think we might have different definitions of fortunes and being 'rich'.

If you were buying to collect I have a really hard time believing anyone is getting 'rich' by selling their personal collection of videogames. If you were buying to sell, then sure. You know, like those guys that sold millions of Atari games from some cave. Those guys are probably 'rich'.

Definitely: 'rich' is all quite relative I would not regard a few tens of thousand dollars as life-changing but if you see that becoming hundreds of thousands of dollars then yes, that would start to become life-changing. A lot boils down to the cost of living and opportunity where you reside though.

True wealth to me is having cash in place that pays you long-term and essentially means that you can choose how to live pretty much as you wish. However, my standards are quite simple really

What sort of bracket would 'rich' be for you?

[nem]

My bracket for rich would be that I could retire on the spot if I wanted to.

Also, hundreds, really? That's quite a few top dollar AES carts you will have to own for that amount. You don't get to hundreds with boxed Super Famicom games. I have thousands of games on different platforms, but I'm not going to lie that more than 5% of them are actually worth $200+.

[Xyga]

My bracket for rich would be that I could retire on the spot if I wanted to.

Not bad. My idea of 'rich' is living the life you want without having to worry about money, ever.
Doesn't necessarily involve pharaonic amounts though.

PS: so is my Eliminate Down worth 1M already ?

[BIL]

Depends on condition. If it's MINT AS FUCK aka VERY LOVINGLY USED you're hovering around £800 poundfordshires, which is like a fousand Eurobuns or a $gigamillion buckadollaroos. >;3

[pestro87]

Is it VGA graded?

[BIL]

You know, I don't remember ever seeing any of the really heavy-hitting NTSCJ MD stuff in those laughable oxygen-filled coffins. Thankfully! Maybe I'm wrong. 3:

"Preservation" lmao. You open that shit up in 100 years and it'll be all JESUS FUCK ITS A GHOST

[MintyTheCat]

My bracket for rich would be that I could retire on the spot if I wanted to.

Also, hundreds, really? That's quite a few top dollar AES carts you will have to own for that amount. You don't get to hundreds with boxed Super Famicom games. I have thousands of games on different platforms, but I'm not going to lie that more than 5% of them are actually worth $200+.

I actually meant in broader terms an investment that yields a return in the tens of thousands to hundreds over a duration. The key really is to have a sustainable form of investment.

Wrt games: I have several that are now over the $100 US level but most would be around the $40-65ish level. I only ever lost cash in buying one AES cart and that was samurai shin 3, Japanese which I bought for GBP 120 in 2000. You can now buy that for very little. Everything else shot up in value. My only real regret was that I did not buy RECCA, Battle-garegga or Eliminate-Down when it was an ok price. I would still put the cash down for RECCA and BG but EM is too pricey for me to not feel anything like massive guilt now if I were to buy it. But that is just how it goes

I actually have quality, price and condition above quantity. I have more enough to be playing as it is. I rarely get the chance to play games these days but when I do I have a good time - it can get to be a bit like that as you get older I found but I used to play more when I was in University

[MintyTheCat]

You know, I don't remember ever seeing any of the really heavy-hitting NTSCJ MD stuff in those laughable oxygen-filled coffins. Thankfully! Maybe I'm wrong. 3:

"Preservation" lmao. You open that shit up in 100 years and it'll be all JESUS FUCK ITS A GHOST

I agree: another outcrop of this frenzied condition is the wankery of sealing everything up as it is were Tutankhamun - ridiculous.

[pestro87]

You know, I don't remember ever seeing any of the really heavy-hitting NTSCJ MD stuff in those laughable oxygen-filled coffins. Thankfully! Maybe I'm wrong. 3:

"Preservation" lmao. You open that shit up in 100 years and it'll be all JESUS FUCK ITS A GHOST

LOL! Glad to hear that the VGA BS hasn't spread to that library as well.

With regards to the discussion about video games as an investment. Do you plan to sell your games at some point (e.g. before you reach 60)? The reason why I don't see my video games as an investment is because I have no plans to ever sell them, unless they are games that I didn't enjoy as much as I thought I would. With stocks for example, I buy shares with the intention to sell at some point - hence why I see them as investments.

[MintyTheCat]

With regards to the discussion about video games as an investment. Do you plan to sell your games at some point (e.g. before you reach 60)? The reason why I don't see my video games as an investment is because I have no plans to ever sell them, unless they are games that I didn't enjoy as much as I thought I would. With stocks for example, I buy shares with the intention to sell at some point - hence why I see them as investments.

For me: no - I only sell any excess that I have literally hanging around and taking up space. I regard each title as a keeper and it is "spent money" to me. I will most likely donate mine to some library if there is enough interest when the time comes

Yep, I am the same with trading: I only care about volume and swing and the basis : I only do it for the cash but I also like making cash trading as an interest but I would not do it full-time.
When I buy I look at the history and try to determine what a good level to buy in would be and then how much and then when to get out. I do not mind losing the odd super top but I am not foolish enough to take every single local low as an indication either. I used to play it a lot harder than I do now but it takes up so much time and when you can not sleep easily at night it is a sign that you are doing too much. I stepped out of serious action for a while but got back into it late February and I think I will stop for a while now. I made enough to keep me happy.

[pestro87]

That's cool, I'm the same way with my video games although I have a fairly small collection.

Yes, trading can easily grow from being a passive hobby into something more It sounds like you used to be a fairly active trader. Glad to hear that you made some money off of it! Sounds like you did the right thing to step out at that point! I personally don't trade that often and I try to play it safe for the most part but I've managed to make decent amount of money off of it. I was debating on creating a thread about trading on here a while ago but didn't because I didn't think people on here were into it. Looks like I was wrong

[FinalBaton]

With regards to the discussion about video games as an investment. Do you plan to sell your games at some point (e.g. before you reach 60)? The reason why I don't see my video games as an investment is because I have no plans to ever sell them.

That's a very good point right there