Hoarding Games

Recently I was wasting my precious time on youtube when I remembered one youtuber who caught my attention. She has a video blog where she would show the recent additions to her collections. There are dozens of these videos online but this woman seems to take it to the extreme. In a lot of videos she points out she has four or five other copies of the same game and yet decided to buy another copy that was on sale. She owns at least five PS1 and can't seem to justify a lot of her purchases. This doesn't raise any real concern in me, I simply have to admire her commitment to every video game related deal she comes across.

With steam sales it's fairly common for people to hoard video games, but do you personally know anyone who seems to collect large amounts of video games or video game memorabilia? Personally I have the opposite mentality where if I know I won't touch a game again I sill donate it, sell it, or trade it in, so I'm interested in people who keep all of their games with them.

Since I bought a gaming computer in September my Steam collection has grown from about 50 to about 90. I also have a few Origin games and two UPlay games.

If I had kept all of the 360 games I have bought since 2007, when I got it, I'd have over 80, I think. Somewhere around there.

If I had never sold my PS2 and all of the games I had with it, I would have had over 40 games, most of them in mint condition. Greatest gaming regret right there, it haunts me every time I look at the ten or so PS2 games I have now, very few with cases.

Even with all those games I've gotten rid of, though, I have hundreds around me that I've gathered over the years. Yeah, you could say I'm at least a bit of a gaming hoarder, especially since I'm never going to put many of them back in for longer than a half an hour.

@believer258: What caused you to sell your PS2?

I watched roughly 8 seconds of the linked video before having to turn it off due to it being unbearable. So, based solely on your description, it seems as though this person is someone who has fallen prey to the rampant consumerism that has blighted civilization for the past several decades. It is not something to be admired.

@Rainbowkisses said:

@believer258: What caused you to sell your PS2?

I thought I wanted a PS3.

I never got a PS3. I wound up buying 8 360 games. In retrospect, I'm not sure if that was a good or bad thing. One of those 8 games was Oblivion, without which I would have never gotten into RPG's. Still, the thought of all of those games, most in near perfect condition, sitting on Gamestop's shelf for some slobbering irresponsible 12 year old to pick up...

Yes, I've traded in games since then, but only after a long and careful consideration. And I don't really do it anymore.

@UitDeToekomst: I understand not being able to watch that video. She is a little grating.

i wouldn't say hoarding games. i generally keep my games. i wouldn't buy two copies of games that i already have.

I've seen this one guy on here that looks like he hoards games. I usually see him drinking from a jar.

@Dalai said:

I've seen this one guy on here that looks like he hoards games. I usually see him drinking from a jar.

Damnit, I was just trying to figure out a way to say this. You win.

I don't exactly "collect" stuff. I mean, I take care of it, but I don't freak out over opening shit or keeping it pristine or having the full collection of anything. Since I didn't really get into gaming until my 20s, in the late 90s (and console gaming until I was almost thirty in the late 00s), I've gone back and bought at least one of just about every console and handheld from the last thirty five years (3D0s, several DreamCasts, PS1s, PS2s, NES, SNES, SNES unopened Star Wars version, Sega Master System, Sega Genesis, Sega Saturn, Sega CD, Atari 2600, Atari 5200, Atari 7800, Atari Jaguar, Nomad, GBA, various DSes, Lynx, Intellevisions, several 360s, several PS3s, a couple Wiis, etc). Also, while I give away most of my hardware after it is a couple years old or more, I do buy older stuff that means something to me. For example, I have two VIC-20s (my first real computer from the early 80s) and a C64.

Most of them are stored away in plastic protective tubs that are then stacked on each other in a couple rooms. That includes the several hundred games for all those consoles and the four hundred or so games for the current generation consoles. And that doesn't include the 1,600 games I have on Steam or the 400 games on GOG or the 100 games on Desura or the countless games on the other digital platforms.

On the other hand, I don't collect boxes of shit, or statues, or figurines, or posters, or trinkets, or any other shit. I like buying stuff that I might not even ever use (or that might be useless and dead by the time I do), but I'm not like one of those guys who builds a dedicated building on his property that is kept at just the right temperature and humidity with just the right kind of light in acid-protective/uv-protected enclosures with everything cataloged and in mint condition boxes with manuals and everything. If I had endless amounts of money, I might do that, but it's just too much work to go around finding that stuff that you'll never use (to keep it in perfect condition) and keep it stored in some place that it will be free from dust, dirt, humidity, dryness, fingers, etc.

Like I say, I don't really "collect" and I have no interest in showing off my stuff to people (if you walked into my house, you'd have to go pretty deep to even see that I'm a gamer -- I don't have shit on display). I don't have any interest in getting some eventual monetary value out of it. I don't even know that I'll ever actually use any of it (I can't imagine the next time I'm going to plug in one of my Atari systems, for example). And as time goes on, it actually gets harder to get collections of games. If you want a nice collection of Sega Master System games, for example -- you could be looking at one or two thousand bucks. Kind of a steep investment for something I might never actually use -- just to know that I've got it in case I get nostalgic, some day.

Games are also the only thing I still have that is physical, too. I don't care about that for PC games, because I trust Valve a fair amount. I don't trust Microsoft and Sony, though, so I want physical copies of those games so I can still have *some* chance of playing it a year or two after they move on to the next generation of consoles. But I don't collect physical copies of books, newspapers, movies or anything else. I like keeping my home sparse and not filled with shelves and shelves of shit like a lot of houses I saw growing up, where people had ten thousand books covering their walls and an entire room dedicated to just housing their random shit. No thanks.

I envy her collection. I would marry her just for her shit.

This is one of my favourite parts of Youtube, all the weird people you can find. I remember seeing a video awhile ago where this woman bought four copies of final fantasy XIII. She had two of the standard editions for 360 and PS3 along with the special editions for both systems. Then, in the end of the video she said she wouldn't have time to play them for a few months, it was crazy.

I can understand having a spare console lying around, but six!? Nobody needs that many of the same console. They could be put to better use...like actually being played instead of sitting in this persons room.

@Trainer_Red said:

I envy her collection. I would marry her just for her shit.

This. It doesn't hurt that she's pretty cute too. Even though her voice. Oh man.

Eh, that voice, jesus. Anywho I can appreciate people who collect certain things (including video games) but doubling up just for the sake of it seems stupid. As far as I'm aware I only have a couple of games that I have extra copies of, mostly from Steam bundles where I already owned one of the games or pre-orders. As for the physical media, I don't sell it or trade it away, I like keeping it around for that day where you think "I really wanna play that game again".

@Dalai said:

I've seen this one guy on here that looks like he hoards games. I usually see him drinking from a jar.

Bravo, my good man, bravo.

Jeff Gerstmann

I don't really know him though

Question about the video: Are those xbox boxes special large editions or is that girl a tiny person? Or are my eyes just fucked up?

I had so many ps2 and genesis games it was unreal, ended up selling them all. Kind of regret it now but I dunno, I was never much of a hoarder, more of a investor in new shit.

@Rainbowkisses said:

Recently I was wasting my precious time on youtube when I remembered one youtuber who caught my attention. She has a video blog where she would show the recent additions to her collections. There are dozens of these videos online but this woman seems to take it to the extreme. In a lot of videos she points out she has four or five other copies of the same game and yet decided to buy another copy that was on sale. She owns at least five PS1 and can't seem to justify a lot of her purchases. This doesn't raise any real concern in me, I simply have to admire her commitment to every video game related deal she comes across.

With steam sales it's fairly common for people to hoard video games, but do you personally know anyone who seems to collect large amounts of video games or video game memorabilia? Personally I have the opposite mentality where if I know I won't touch a game again I sill donate it, sell it, or trade it in, so I'm interested in people who keep all of their games with them.

I went through a pretty rough phase for about 4 years... I have about 70 Xbox games and 70-80 360 games. My steam account is growning as well. I really died down though.. I think I have only bought about 3-5 360 games this year... but with the steam sales.. at least 25 steam games.

I just don't care about parting with games or whatever. I throw away the cases manuals and all that and just keep the discs. If it becomes unplayable I'll just buy another copy if it's that important.

Damn, that's one crazy woman...

I actually tried to start collecting games a few years ago, but I just find that the more games I have the less eager I am to play them. Also, pressing every single drop of enjoyment out of good games is way way better than constantly playing new average games.

I'll buy multiple copies of a game for different platforms just to play with certain groups of friends, but that's as far as it goes. The biggest problem I have is actually holding true to my gaming schedule and finishing games before others come out. I'll end up spending 60 dollars because I must have the game, while I have games that are still sitting in plastic from years ago that I told myself would be next to be played.

@Rainbowkisses: I tend to do this more and more as I get older because I don't have as much free time as before but on the other hand, I have more money. That leads to a bunch of video games collecting dust on my shelves.

Eh her personality wrecks the fantasy for me.

when you are poor (well I should say lower middle class since at least we own a house) trading in games is a god send.

so no hoarding for me!

Yeah... I'm one of those people.

It was only a year ago + that I decided to keep everything I bought instead of selling my collection so my game count should be higher but selling games for 10+ years really shrinks it in comparison. Currently have near 50 Steam games and....50ish PS3 games.

@Sayishere said:

I had so many ps2 and genesis games it was unreal, ended up selling them all. Kind of regret it now but I dunno, I was never much of a hoarder, more of a investor in new shit.

I kind of see keeping old games around to be along the lines of keeping books on a shelf. Hoarding gets to be a bit crazy on some of the sales though, I don't really get it on massively produced items. But purchasing a game you will have time to play in ~1 year or so is probably reasonable.

Humble bundles and the like mess up the steam list counts. Like purchasing 10 games because it was cheaper than the one you wanted...