Do you buy to play? Or do you buy to collect?

[CIT]

You forgot to add the option "both", which I would vote for. And I don't collect games that suck.

ditto

[Dave_K.]

A more accurate question would have been "do you buy to keep/play or buy to play/sell". This notion of "collect" is ambiguous. Of the two, I'm the former.

[Knuckles-chaotix]

Both but now have started to sell all my collection besides my dreamcast and pcb stuff.
Just sits here collecting dust and there is only so much you can play and really get into.

[Pixel_Outlaw]

I have a problem with collectors that buy games and never play them. The problem is that the people who would actually enjoy the games get screwed when the collectors resell the game for outrgageous prices due to the collector stranglehold on the available copies.

[Knuckles-chaotix]

I have a problem with collectors that buy games and never play them. The problem is that the people who would actually enjoy the games get screwed when the collectors resell the game for outrgageous prices due to the collector stranglehold on the available copies.

But that applies to everything from property to classic cars.
Just the way of the world!

[neorichieb1971]

There is no reason you can't buy the game on launch day or when its on the shelf.

The fact is the ones who bitch the most only want the game once its desirability has shot through the roof. I can't believe that at that moment in time they just suddenly want to start playing the game.

[ROBOTRON]

lol...unfortunately...I do.

Trizeal...have it, but didn't care for it much.
Chaos Field was fun for about 2 minutes...collects dust.
Ikaruga DC, same thing.

heh...

a few others, but I try not to make it a habit to buy losers.

Even to this very hour, as I sit here writing this, I can't believe that Ikaruga didn't click with you. Trizeal and Chaos Field? Well, I can certainly see why those wouldn't, but your love of RSG is so (rightfully so) pronounced, that I can't for the life of me understand why Ikaruga didn't "click" with you. It sure clicked with me.

Ikaruga was not RSG...well, not exactly anyway. I think Ikaruga was a brilliant concept and visually stunning...it just did not appeal to me for very long.

I have a problem with collectors that buy games and never play them. The problem is that the people who would actually enjoy the games get screwed when the collectors resell the game for outrgageous prices due to the collector stranglehold on the available copies.

Do I detect a hint of hypocrisy?

Your a shmup fan and you've never bought a bad game? So...as soon as you buy a bad game u sell it the next day at a lower price than you paid for it, eh? So the next shmup fan can enjoy it.

lol.

That may be true, but doubtful. If not shmups, then something else you're passionate about...as far as hobbies go. Its the gasoline that fuels places like EBay.

Ceph...perhaps I will try Trizeal again. Chaos Field and Ikaruga as well. Good thing I haven't sold them yet.

[howmuchkeefe]

Speculation's just annoying in this context. These are video games, not things that people need to survive, like energy, food and real estate.

[ROBOTRON]

Speculation's just annoying in this context. These are video games, not things that people need to survive, like energy, food and real estate.

Yes it is.

Radiant Silvergun can be bought kept in 1998 for $50 or $60 and sold for a profit in 2007 for $300...used to buy things that people need to survive, like energy, food and real estate.

[iatneH]

There is no reason you can't buy the game on launch day or when its on the shelf.

The fact is the ones who bitch the most only want the game once its desirability has shot through the roof. I can't believe that at that moment in time they just suddenly want to start playing the game.

I didn't start loving shooters until RSG had already been out for 3 years or so, and only soon after that did I discover that such a game existed. I still plan on getting the ST-V cart sometime though.

[Ganelon]

The fact is the ones who bitch the most only want the game once its desirability has shot through the roof. I can't believe that at that moment in time they just suddenly want to start playing the game.

Of course. People always want what they don't have. And things always become more desirable when you know other people want them. However, as iatneH stated, I don't believe very many people here played shooters or didn't have the means of buying them when the games they wanted came out.

[Ceph]

Speculation's just annoying in this context. These are video games, not things that people need to survive, like energy, food and real estate.

Yes it is.

Radiant Silvergun can be bought kept in 1998 for $50 or $60 and sold for a profit in 2007 for $300...used to buy things that people need to survive, like energy, food and real estate.

Most of the time there is no way of telling upon release if a game will become valuable later on. Good games with low print runs can become valuable, but it's not a general rule.
9 out of 10 games can be bought for less than their initial price only a few months later, most of the time for MUCH less.
Of course, once a game has attained that "legandary" status and lots of people know about it (and want it), chances are it won't suddenly become worthless (unless a warehouse full of copies is discovered, as in the case of Circus Lido for PCE, which once was one of the most expensive PCE games and can now be had for ~$30).

[Pixel_Outlaw]

I live in Montana. We don't have anything for game stores here.
I'm just sick of loosing to people on ebay only to sell them selling the game for double the price. You act as I can just go to Wal*Mart and purchase Ikaruga. They aren't doing anything morraly wrong, I just dissaprove of the action.

[DazTM]

I mainly buy to play, but for some reason I'm considering getting every single Dreamcast game.

[elvis]

I buy to play, and only to play.

I don't understand the "collectors" mentality at all. At the end of this life I'll be dead, and my "collection" won't mean squat. I'm not here to look at box art and sort my games neatly in alphabetical order. I'm here to play games and enjoy myself.

[ROBOTRON]

I buy to play, and only to play.

I don't understand the "collectors" mentality at all. At the end of this life I'll be dead, and my "collection" won't mean squat. I'm not here to look at box art and sort my games neatly in alphabetical order. I'm here to play games and enjoy myself.

I'm one of the few people on the board that admitted to leaning toward the collector side...but the mentality is fairly simple to understand.

If you came across some guy that didn't know what he had...and sold you RSG for $20, you'd buy it for sure.

Take it home and play it...maybe for a few months...decided you didn't like it (or was through playing it) and wanted to sell it. Despite the hype surrounding the game would you:

a. throw it away.

b. send it to britney spears in a box along with a wig.

c. say to yourself " At the end of this life I'll be dead, and my "collection" won't mean squat. I'm not here to look at box art and sort my games neatly in alphabetical order. I'm here to play games and enjoy myself" and then sell it for the depreciated value of $10.

d. OMG! People are willing to pay $300 for RSG??? I'm gonna sell it for the current market value or maybe keep it longer and perhaps get even more!

Setting aside my stale humor...do you get my point?

Even if you do die (not many people know the exact day they will die), it becomes part of your estate...your estate can at least benefit your children or whatnot. It happens every day with paintings, cars and jewelry, etc. Also things that are not essential for your life, but nice to inherit...even if it wasn't used much by the original owner.

Whats so hard to grasp about that concept?

[CIT]

I don't understand the "collectors" mentality at all. At the end of this life I'll be dead, and my "collection" won't mean squat. I'm not here to look at box art and sort my games neatly in alphabetical order. I'm here to play games and enjoy myself.

Yes, but some people apparently enjoy looking at box art or alphabetizing their games. What's wrong with that?

Besides, it's not like a good Dodonpachi score, that took you 50+ hours to reach, will mean anything once you're dead either.

[Michaelm]

I buy to play but tend to keep what I like which is almost everything I buy
I know I will regret selling something I like but almost never play.
If I really don't like it then selling it would be the choice for as less loss I can.
Regarding Limited Editions I do have my preferences for them now for new games too which wasn't so in the past and I must admit seeing the prices for Borderdown for instance sure played a role in this.

As I'm also very keen to keep my collection in a nice state I think I could be considered a 'collector'.

[Pixel_Outlaw]

I've never sold a single game-EVER.

I was misguiding my anger. It should be directed more towards people who buy to resell rather than collect or purchase to play. My mistake. Just makes prices go up and up.

[icycalm]

At one point I was considering selling off my entire game/hardware collection, which is so massive that it costs me about $200 a month in storage room fees across two countries.

And then I made my website and gave myself a reason to keep all those games -- even the utterly shitty ones. The idea being that if you want to write about Incredible Shooter #12 you must have played, and be able to refer to, all the previous Incredible Shooters, as well as any other game bearing even the slightest resemblance to them.

After that I effectively gave myself a licence to grow my collection to new heights of obssession -- all in the name of one day making the most comprehensive and authoritative games site around.

Basically, if not for the site I would have sold everything and just bought an Egret III and a dozen Cave shooters, and a nice little flat somewhere in southern France to put them in.

In any case, in the long run, the only things that will survive are emulators and roms.

[elvis]

If you came across some guy that didn't know what he had...and sold you RSG for $20, you'd buy it for sure.

Take it home and play it...maybe for a few months...decided you didn't like it (or was through playing it) and wanted to sell it. Despite the hype surrounding the game would you:

a. throw it away.

b. send it to britney spears in a box along with a wig.

c. say to yourself " At the end of this life I'll be dead, and my "collection" won't mean squat. I'm not here to look at box art and sort my games neatly in alphabetical order. I'm here to play games and enjoy myself" and then sell it for the depreciated value of $10.

d. OMG! People are willing to pay $300 for RSG??? I'm gonna sell it for the current market value or maybe keep it longer and perhaps get even more!

Setting aside my stale humor...do you get my point?

Nope.

I've given away more games and hardware than some people here have bought. I couldn't give a toss about the resale value. If I picked up RSG for $20 (in line with your analogy above), played it and found I didn't enjoy it, I'd have no qualms with giving it to a local mate who I know goes utterly ape-shit for it.

Someone mentioned above that folks actually enjoy alphebetising their collections and looking at box art. That's cool - each to their own. I don't. I buy games to play them. If I like them, I keep them to play again and again. If I don't like them, I'll give them to someone who does. Simple as that.

What goes around comes around. I've given away heaps of stuff, and folks have given me heaps of stuff in return. In the city where I live we've got a great community of folks who do this sort of thing all the time for the love of the game.

I don't understand the collector's mentality, and never will. That doesn't mean it's wrong. That means I don't get it, and am quite happy to just play games and enjoy them for enjoyment's sake without worrying if I don't have a "complete" collection or if I've got every variation of box art and poster to match. Playing games gives me far greater pleasure than staring at a poster. But again, each to their own. I've got nothing against poster-starers. I just don't understand them.

[ROBOTRON]

Nope.

lol.

Ok. Shmups rule all other forms of games. I enjoy RSG and Border Down Special edition, and occasionally its nice to pull them back out and play them again...otherwise I like having them neatly alphabetized on the shelf for looking...and having that giddy feeling you get knowing you paid 50 quid for it...and its now worth 36500 yen!

[/stale humor]

[Blade]

Part of the reason I chose not to add a "Both" option was because I figured many would just cop out and vote for that.

I honestly think that you have to consider things in terms of black and white (please no Ikaruga jokes) when it comes to collecting or playing. If I'm wrong, so be it, but that's what I think of.

And buying two copies of a game one to play and one to keep for collection purposes still falls under "Collect" in my mind.

[Sonic R]

I am a game player with a collection of games.

I buy my games with the sole intention of not selling them. I play what I buy though sometimes it may be months or possibly years before I spend time with a game that I buy. I generally play RPG's and shooties. When I buy a shootie it gets played right away, but with RPG's they have a tendency to sit much longer before I get around to it.

I am not one of those who want all the games for a specific console though I had attempted to get every US Turbo Grafx game and managed to compile a complete US Turbo CD/Duo set. I couldn't do like many have and get every Genesis or SNES game - who could fathom having all those madden games

I have alot of games about 800 give or take and NO I don't stare at them and they are not in ABC order, matter of fact my order for my games is insane as I have a odd method of how I keep my games and it makes no sense to anyone but myself.

I collect games to play - thats the beauty of it - I can have a collection of something and enjoy it alltogether unlike sports cards, stamps, or coins.

[sven666]

At the end of this life I'll be dead, and my "collection" won't mean squat.

haha, best (or maybe worst, depends on how you look at it) argument ive ever heard

[shinsage]

If the internet didn't exist and you couldn't find like minded people who wanted the same things as you.. Most collections (in the gaming world) would not even exist. (imo).

No doubt about it.
I joined message boards nearly 4 years ago, I had about 160 games in a collection that accrued for over a decade.
Now I've got over 720. I'm certain I bought less than 10 games last year, but that's because I'm finally content with what I have. Before I was like a sponge wanting to soak up all the knowledge of the virtual world, and now that I know and have played nearly everything that matters to me, I feel that I'm done.

To answer the collection, I buy games to play them. I have only a few games I've never played because either the cart was broke or I just 'never got around to it'.

I can't bring myself to sell any of my games just yet, but there are a few in mind that I wouldn't mind selling for some quick change.