Collect, sell, regret, start over "the cycle"

[HeavyMachineGoob]

The only gaming item I regret letting go was that label-less Garou MOTW AES cart, that was one of a kind. Or at least, I'm pretty sure no sane person would be capable of buying a Garou AES and then proceed to destroy the label and lose the manual and insert... I mean, that happened once, but it'll likely never happen again.

That said, I will admit I have sold and re-bought stuff as well. Sounds like my re-buying has been at a scale far smaller than the rest of you though.

 

[Neodogg]

The only gaming item I regret letting go was that label-less Garou MOTW AES cart, that was one of a kind. Or at least, I'm pretty sure no sane person would be capable of buying a Garou AES and then proceed to destroy the label and lose the manual and insert... I mean, that happened once, but it'll likely never happen again.

That said, I will admit I have sold and re-bought stuff as well. Sounds like my re-buying has been at a scale far smaller than the rest of you though.

is this the one that sat in someone's sun room?

 

[voltronbadass]

The thought of having a crt in my home makes me gag at this point in life

I've never owned more than 50 games total pretty much. Having a retro room with thousands of games is sad af

I think having a room full of arcade stuff is just as sad, and thats going to piss off a lot of people here but it is how I feel at this point, and Im sure those people see my current hobbies as sad and cringe.

However; Im pretty proud that I never let myself get stuck in that rebuying cycle, I can definitely think of times ive done it in the short term but in the long term I always let them go, I always move on, my hobbies always evolve to other things, my interests evolve. I think thats healthy.

 

[neo.kobe.city]

I don't regret anything I sell. I tend to hang onto things I enjoy and will part with things I had my fun with.

 

[wyo]

The main problem with buying and selling stuff is the time involved. The market has been ridiculous for years now so it doesn't make financial sense either. 10 years ago you could stumble across amazing stuff in the wild for next to nothing. Even 5 years ago doesn't seem too bad in retrospect. Re-buying things you already had is ultimately never as satisfying. OK, so you got a physical item again that has no tangible purpose other than to look nice on a shelf. If you still enjoy collecting, that's cool. We're getting older and priorities change. I still pick up a game here and there but I'm not actively looking for anything.

 

[kernow]

The thought of having a crt in my home makes me gag at this point in life

I think having a room full of arcade stuff is just as sad, and thats going to piss off a lot of people here but it is how I feel at this point, and Im sure those people see my current hobbies as sad and cringe.

However; Im pretty proud that I never let myself get stuck in that rebuying cycle, I can definitely think of times ive done it in the short term but in the long term I always let them go, I always move on, my hobbies always evolve to other things, my interests evolve. I think thats healthy.

Far more interested in records and hifi or cooking nowadays. I don't want to be a 50yr old retro goober. Some people never get past the video game hoarding

 

[voltronbadass]

Im very curious if my 35 year old friends with a current hoard will feel the same as me at my age of 45 and let it go.

I am a big pro hobby guy, everyone needs some healthy interests, and i do believe gaming can be a healthy/beneficial interest. But at some point an intelligent person is going to look at that room and be like; nah.

 

[terry.330]

There's also the whole OCD/Aspergers angle and some people just aren't capable of looking at what they're doing rationally. Be it hoarding, FOMO preordering every shittastic limited edition thing, OCD organizing stuff on shelves etc. And now with social media and so many niche interest groups online that kind of behavior has not only been normalized to a lot people but it's encouraged.

The main problem with buying and selling stuff is the time involved. The market has been ridiculous for years now so it doesn't make financial sense either. 10 years ago you could stumble across amazing stuff in the wild for next to nothing.

That's another major factor now. Even if you just want a couple of old favorites for SNES or whatever it's not financially feasible even if you have a lot of disposable income it just doesn't make sense. When even a loose cart that used to be $20 is now $100+ it's just not worth it anymore.

 

[stormy]

Personally, I am very glad to be ridding myself of most of my vidyas, including Neo home cart stuff. The whole experience has been extremely satisfying and liberating. I feel like I can put the additional funds to better use going forward and as a few people have said there are numerous affordable ways to play these games now. I can't imagine having a desire to re-acquire it all later in life, at an even older age.

 

[Heinz]

I've done this many times but I'm completely fucking done now. I have a ps5 with 10 or so ps4/5 games, a cab with all of the games I could ever want thanks to mame and a PC. I've got all three aspects of video gaming you could ever want and I'll tell you the only thing that really gets playtime is the PC. Considering the state of this gen I'm thinking of even getting rid of the ps5 and I know I wont miss it just like the rest of the stuff I had, I could care less that it's gone. If anything the less shit you have the more defined your interests tend to be and you enjoy them all the more for it.
I do not and will never understand people with walls and walls of shit, a tv cabinet with 12 consoles setup with scart switches, regalia everywhere. It's obscene.

Spend your time and money on holidaying or building something instead, you can thank me later.

 

[snes_collector]

I wish I could let things go easier without the fear of regret. I collected for years and have so many games I will honestly never play. I think I'm afraid I *might* want to play them, when I reality I know I won't. Sometimes I wish someone would just come along and completely buy me out.

 

[neo_mao]

I think the turning point for me was when I put all my game stuff in my kids’ play room.

It helped me see them for what they are - fucking toys. Nothing more. Nothing less. I mean playing Contra on an old NES and a fat ass CRT while sitting amongst my kids dolls and legos and plushies and transformers made me stop and think holy shit what the fuck am I doing???!!!

Most everything is in boxes in my mom’s basement now only because I can’t be bothered to sell it off. I don’t even want that shit in my house anymore.

 

[fake]

Drugs is drugs

 

[RAZO]

We are all just filling some childhood void. You had your chance at a adult age of owning some cool stuff you probably never got a chance to own as a kid but now it's time to let go. What's in the past is in the past.

 

[blakeb8111]

I’m not gonna lie, sometimes I miss having 3-10” subs in the back of my car. I don’t think I could pull it off today though.

 

[Syn]

Some of you sound like fucking vegans, I gave up this, I gave that and act like you're right. You're not right, it's your opinion. Stop telling people what they should do and fuck off.

 

[Burning Fight!!]

Sorry for a couple of longish posts but I just had a lengthy conversation about this with a buddy yesterday.

You say to yourself "I'm just going to rebuild my MD collection and keep it nice and simple with the best games etc." then you do and it still doesn't feel great after a certain point. That's because you wanted the idea of the perfect little collection more than the actual stuff. Once you have it then what?

Then there's the law of diminishing returns. Your 2nd or 3rd time owning something isn't ever going to feel as good as it originally did.

Also stop making lists of shit to buy and let it happen more naturally. That keeps it from becoming just checking things off the list and moving on to the next item. How many times have you got something that took quite a bit of searching and you were really excited to get only to immediately move on to the next thing on the list you need to check off?

Don't sell off one collection for money only to start a new one. Use the money to do something that involves more than just finding things to accumulate.

Learn to be happy with what you have. How many times have you had a ton of games and only focused on what you did't have instead of actually appreciating what you do?

Bottom line is spending money on stuff for the sake of just owning it is never going to give you the same amount of satisfaction as actively doing or using something. There are a million reasons people use to justify collecting things they don't use and don't actually bring them any real happiness. They tend to think that if they just find the right thing or do it the right way it's magically going to be different this time. It's not.

Best, most sane post about this I've seen in a while.

We are all just filling some childhood void. You had your chance at a adult age of owning some cool stuff you probably never got a chance to own as a kid but now it's time to let go. What's in the past is in the past.

Yeah nostalgia definitely factors into this a bit but how many people do this ONLY because of childhood wish fulfillment? Those guys with tacky game rooms full of nintendo characters framed in the wall and LED ridden ikea displays sure, they don't really play anything and only buy buy buy. But I think the average neo hyphen geo user is much more than that... at least most I think.

I actually enjoy playing these videogames and for me they're timeless passtimes, even with little time for gaming I still only own what I actually like playing. Sure prices for games are stupid nowadays but that's what everdrives are there for, having a "collection" of a couple of consoles isn't too bad considering most consoles are still affordable, and I was never a pcb/cab guy so I just emulate on mame with a good stick instead of going full lukemorse. Arguably I could have just bought a mister and emulated everything so there's still a degree of irrationality in it maybe, but it's not that bad.

lmbo @ pc engine is overrated: classic story of getting into the system by hype and not by the games you want to play in it.

 

[Heinz]

And your need for an 8K 100" AMOLED TV is somehow less ridiculous?

I bet you have a vhs player.

 

[HellioN]

Only collection I honestly regret selling was my NEO•GEO stuff.
Everything else was stuff I liked but ultimately just blarg.
I'm back into it somewhat now but I think it's just me coming full circle to the things I like.

 

[LoneSage]

I think having a room full of arcade stuff is just as sad, and thats going to piss off a lot of people here but it is how I feel at this point, and Im sure those people see my current hobbies as sad and cringe.

Based and everyone is cringe-pilled.

 

[LoneSage]

We are all just filling some childhood void. You had your chance at a adult age of owning some cool stuff you probably never got a chance to own as a kid but now it's time to let go. What's in the past is in the past.

Based and RAZO-pilled. Bro you have grown a lot in ten years. Congratulations. You're doing it right.

 

[racecar]

I still have a garage full of arcade stuff that I stuff away when I moved it has not been touch in like 7+ years , just got more important thing to deal with and occupied my time . Also someone told me if it’s not cash it’s trash , so just for me to test everything and try selling it would be a hassle . I will get around to it and have my garage back eventually .

 

[LoneSage]

I still have a garage full of arcade stuff that I stuff away when I moved it has not been touch in like 7+ years , just got more important thing to deal with and occupied my time . Also someone told me if it’s not cash it’s trash , so just for me to test everything and try selling it would be a hassle . I will get around to it and have my garage back eventually .

Get on it this weekend and post pictures of your reclaimed garage.

 

[kernow]

Who buys that amount of stuff where it needs to go in storage or fills up a garage. Based and luke morse pilled

 

[Hattori Hanzo]

Already page 3 and not moved to the war room.