Video Gaming and Materialism: What are your thoughts?

[greedostick]

First let's get one thing straight, I love video games! I was born in 1980 and in elementary school Nintendo was the biggest thing ever... that and Garbage Pail Kids! I was practically born a gamer, and most likely unless there is a freak accident and I lose my hands and feet, I will die a gamer. Some of my fondest memories are playing Kid Icarus with my cousin in elementary school, trading NES games at school, playing Final Fantasy I for the first time and being amazed because I never played anything like it, finally beating Metroid, when my best friend at the time Jerry beat Secret of Mana without me after we played the whole game together (I still give him hell about that 18 years later), and even staying up all night because Cloud went on one of his psychotic breaks for an hour and I couldn't save my damn game! So clearly gaming is a big part of my life I will never forget. So this is merely a thread for gathering of opinions, and is no way meant to single anyone out or bring judgement upon anyone.

I'll go ahead and sum up this post in two quotes...

"It's only after we've lost everything that we are free to do anything"

and

"The things you own end up owning you"

2 examples from one of my favorite movies/books Fight Club, and about a million other quotes from classes taken at The Ohio State University really make me think about being a gamer and collecting games, and even other things that "define" people in our society. Nice clothes, cars, smart phones, televisions, your iPod, even stuff like furniture, and stupid stuff you buy to decorate your home. Being a member on the neo-geo.com digitpress.com forums for nearly 10 years now I have come to understand what these quotes mean finally. As i'm sure nearly all our long standing members have seen here, or are living it at this very moment. We see people here disappear over the years because they have been consumed by the collecting and realize they are in way over there heads. They fail out of school, lose their jobs, friends, and famiy, go into debt because they have to get that copy of that rare PC Engine game on ebay that might never show up again. I don't think theres a week that goes by on the Neo forums there isn't a post similar to "car broke down need cash fast!, or spent too much on homecarts paypal me"! You meet some of these people in real life and they have stupid amounts of stuff to show off that they never played. I too am guilty. At one point I had a complete english Turbo Grafx/CD collection, and over 2000 games for other consoles. My house was overrun with crap I never used. So I sold most of it. I still have maybe 200 games, games I consider to be only the best, and my neo cabinet with around 50 games that I will never sell. But it makes me wonder at times....

At what point does gaming consume you? At what point have you went too far?

Sure you could say I have a ton of games but gaming makes me happy so it's not a problem. I'm not broke, and I find time for family and a social life, I maintain a solid 3.5 gpa. I don't have a problem. But ask yourself this. What if for one month you left your cell phone at home and used it only for emergencies, left the iPod in the dresser drawer and met some people (I personally never approach people on a MP3 player), unplugged the television, the computer, and un-hooked all the gaming consoles? What would happen? Most likely you would be bored as hell for a few days, BUT you would find stuff to do eventually. Maybe, just maybe you would discover yourself and pick up that guitar that's collecting dust in the corner for 5 years, and actually learn to play it, or write a novel, or hit the weight room or go running like you always put off so you could manage your WOW character. Or maybe you would even visit your grandmother in the nursing home or meet some friends and take a spontaneous road trip out of state.

The point i'm trying to get across is HOW DO YOU KNOW YOU ARE REALLY HAPPY UNTIL YOU GET OUT THERE AND LIVE YOUR LIFE A DIFFERENT WAY AND POTENTIALLY DISCOVER THINGS THAT HAVE MORE MEANING, THAT YOU MAY NEVER HAVE EVEN KNOWN WOULD MAKE YOU HAPPIER THAN GAMING, OR COLLECTING ANYTHING IN GENERAL?

Also I wonder how you all feel as gaming as an art form? The critics all say video games will never be art, Shadow of the Colossus, Ico, or The Last Blade will never be the Mona Lisa. But to some of us it feels that way. I know it does to me. I get way more satisfaction from playing Ikaruga than looking at a 500 year old painting. But if I painted the painting maybe that would be a different matter all together. Video games consist of art, music, story telling, and photography. So how can something that includes everything said to be "art" in one interactive package not be art?

I'm curious as to all your opinions, and to whether you all think if you put down the joystick you could potentially find more time in life to do things. Let everyone know what you think, and if it applies what in life you have never done you always wanted to do. I plan on taking a full month away from "stuff" after this quarter of school, just to see if I die without it. I'm curious if anyone else is willing to give it a try.

 

[Metalslug]

You are still in school? Grad school I hope. If you aren't, you haven't experienced enough. I don't even have time for games anymore. I don't and never have "collected" games.

 

[SSS]

You're thinking too much about this. If you don't want the stuff anymore, sell it.

I personally don't have an attachment to any of my crap (well, I take that back there is a motorcycle or two I would be extremely pissed if something were to happen..) I'd probably sell more off if I wasn't so lazy.

Videogaming doesn't hold the same appeal as it did years ago. I hardly touch games anymore, weeks may go by before I fire up any system, or cabinet. The only reason I hold onto whatever I have is I do enjoy playing the games when and if I do sit down with one.

If you want to downsize, I'd suggest just slowly selling some stuff off. I've had firesales before, and wound up buying shit again.

 

[Michael Yagami]

I had a reply ready and then I saw Kate Upton's bouncing tits and completely forgot what was going on in this thread.

 

[Neo Alec]

Everything you say is true, but another constant is that people like us who sell their stuff usually end up regretting it. They buy it back and just end up losing money in the long run.

Just don't let collecting rule your life. If collecting is affecting your time and money so that you are failing out of school or it is affecting your family, obviously stop. Of course collecting should only be a small part of your disposable income. So as long as you're not letting it take over your life like an addict, I'm not sure collecting deserves all of the negative attention it gets. In moderation it makes children of the 80's like us happy.

 

[Neo Ash]

I had a reply ready and then I saw Kate Upton's bouncing tits and completely forgot what was going on in this thread.

Fap....fap..fap..fap

 

[aria]

I have a bunch of stuff I'd probably sell if I could be bothered. I definitely don't play games as much, or the variety I used to 10 years ago, but when I do get into a game now I sort of binge play my way through it over a few days and get it out of my system (most recently with Civ5, probably the next time will be when the Gods & Kings expansion comes out for it in June).

 

[Adderall]

maybe it's one of those "I could stop any time" statements....but I've always felt that if my house burned down today and I lost everything, I wouldn't be too upset about it (and not just because I have insurance). Yeah I have a lot of crap, but similar to bobak - I will go on a 2 or 3 day stint of playing one game or one system or working on an arcade/gaming project....then put it away and move to the next one. I'd rather have what I want at my disposal without having to re-buy. That said, yes I could do without all of it pretty easily. It's just my preference to have it and I am lucky enough to have the $$$ to make it happen.

Gaming stuff really isn't all that expensive when you look at car people.

 

[wataru330]

As I get older, I've moved from being a collector who plays games, to strictly gamer.

Priorities change.

I used to have time for, and enjoy, 'the hunt'. Before my children were born, the room that is now their nursery was a media room. When the next package that I was tracking was couriered via Stork, not EMS, I reevaluated.

It wasn't a horror story like lukemorse1 losing his family type thing. I wasn't about to be featured on Hoarders. To use a gaming analogy; I just Tetris'd some items out of my life (games/brick-a-brack), and fit new ones (baby furniture) into it.

Balance is the key. As much as I love books and music, I don't want my home turned into a library or record store. Same with games; it comes down to comfort. For me, to feel comfortable means living w/ a few items that are useful, as opposed to living in a museum.

I used to have a lot of different types of stuff. It became stressful to maintain, when other responsibilities in my life came to the fore.

By Summertime, I'll have one cab and one console. I'll also have a ton of memories. To each their own.

 

[greedostick]

interesting points, but I think most of you are missing the point. The question is do you think you could potentially be more happy if you quit gaming/worrying about crap in life that doesn't matter like cars, clothes, phones, etc... I don't have a problem with collecting games as stated in the long original post. This is merely a question about life in general and happiness.

 

[Sixth]

“It’s only after we’ve lost everything that we are free to do anything”

That’s a cute little quote, but the person who wrote it has obviously never lost everything. I have; I’ve had my house and everything I own taken from me as a child, more than once. I also know what it is like to be poor. People who spout that kind of ‘advice’ are almost universally the kind of people who have never truly lost anything, or ever hurt for anything in their entire lives. I’ve found that the majority of people with that view have it because they can afford to have it.

As for myself, I like what I like and have never felt compelled to justify my interests to anyone. It doesn’t matter if the things that bring you happiness are material or immaterial; you can become a slave to either, so ultimately the only thing that matters is control over your impulses.

 

[LoneSage]

When I was a kid I imagined I'd have all my old games with me when I turned old and in turn would let my kids play them.

Last fall/winter I sold a ton of games, a lot of which I had the same cart from when I was 5. It sounds silly but it felt like a mother selling her child's baby shoes (some of the games, at least).

Eventually I realized it's ok to let go of material things as long as I hold onto my memories.

I've definitely changed as a gamer in that regard. I love the Virtual Console, for one. When the Wii came out I scoffed at the idea of paying for ROMs but it really fits into the way I play games now - nothing too heavy, just something simple to relax me for a while.

 

[Neo Alec]

interesting points, but I think most of you are missing the point. The question is do you think you could potentially be more happy if you quit gaming/worrying about crap in life that doesn't matter like cars, clothes, phones, etc... I don't have a problem with collecting games as stated in the long original post. This is merely a question about life in general and happiness.

Living overseas, I've had to minimize to just current gen, and for a long time I didn't even have a phone. Then when I got one, it was just a simple one. Of course I finally have the top of the line smartphone now, but I know how it is to completely minimize and focus on what's most important. It gives a nice sense of freedom, but it's nice to know that I can always go back to all my stuff. There's a time and a place for everything.

When I was a kid I imagined I'd have all my old games with me when I turned old and in turn would let my kids play them.

Last fall/winter I sold a ton of games, a lot of which I had the same cart from when I was 5. It sounds silly but it felt like a mother selling her child's baby shoes (some of the games, at least).

Eventually I realized it's ok to let go of material things as long as I hold onto my memories.

I've definitely changed as a gamer in that regard. I love the Virtual Console, for one. When the Wii came out I scoffed at the idea of paying for ROMs but it really fits into the way I play games now - nothing too heavy, just something simple to relax me for a while.

You're going to regret it. Wish I still had all my childhood Nintendo games.

 

[WoodyXP]

Priorities change.

Word.

 

[DanAdamKOF]

If I needed I could emulate everything and be OK with it. (Maybe not the C64 since the emulated sound isn't close enough to the analog sound chip in it...)
I'm planning to have my retro games set up on the RGB monitor in the computer room when I move. But I'm almost certain I'm going to just get flash carts for the various systems.
I'd get a 161 in 1 MVS cart if they weren't such a piece of shit ("It works fine! Just don't play half the games since they're buggy! And reset the soft dips every time you play."). And it's funny that I'd say that, since I fucking hate bootlegs, but with the console being dead I guess I can't really hate them for cutting into SNK's profits. Also I'm getting rid of my cab in the nearish future, I'm just gonna have a supergun + RGB monitor + arcade sticks.
As much as I like the, jeez, 15 or so? arcade sticks I have, I'm consolidating those into two multiconsole sticks and selling all the others off, save for the NeoGeo stick. And if I had some way to quickly change between a Sanwa or Seimitsu stick in those two sticks, I'd sell the NeoGeo stick too.

So I guess I'm not that materialistic, at least not with my games (though I don't really collect anything else). I love hardware since I'm an enormous nerd, but I could live without. Emulation is close enough. If I had to severely downsize my collection I could live with playing ROMs of everything. I can't even really call it a "collection" since I don't collect. More like an "assortment" I guess.

 

[Ajax]

I always felt like if there were video games I couldn't bring myself to sell, I was unhealthily attached. I moved out of the country and did finally sell off a lot of things that I didn't think I could. It was kind of liberating, I guess. It was also kind of sad. I've always said, though, it's the memories you have with games that are valuable, not the games.

But now, I do the same thing with yoyos. I don't consider myself materialistic at all, but my habits betray me. Yoyos are basically all I spend money on...

 

[smokehouse]

“It’s only after we’ve lost everything that we are free to do anything”

That’s a cute little quote, but the person who wrote it has obviously never lost everything. I have; I’ve had my house and everything I own taken from me as a child, more than once. I also know what it is like to be poor. People who spout that kind of ‘advice’ are almost universally the kind of people who have never truly lost anything, or ever hurt for anything in their entire lives. I’ve found that the majority of people with that view have it because they can afford to have it.

As for myself, I like what I like and have never felt compelled to justify my interests to anyone. It doesn’t matter if the things that bring you happiness are material or immaterial; you can become a slave to either, so ultimately the only thing that matters is control over your impulses.

I disagree with your disagreement.

Freedom does not necessarily = good, it just means free.

I too came from hardship and poverty, as a kid we lost much of what we had many times, we were uprooted many times as well...

As an adult I have ben fortunate enough to experience some of the the most "wealthy" times of my life...yet I have never been so chained down. The more prosperous I become both financially and personally, the less free I really am to do "anything". I cannot simply pick up and move on at this point, my jobs, my home, my family, my friends...all are right here and I could not just walk away from it all. Only if I were to lose it all would I really be "free" to strap a pack on my back and simply start walking in a compass direction.

Would losing everything I have and hold close to my heart be a positive thing? No fucking way...it would be awful, BUT...it would be the only way I could be free to do anything.

Nowhere in that statement does it say that freedom would be amazing, or easy, or something fun. It simply says free and I agree...

 

[Renmauzo]

I was so poor growing up and would live vicariously through my friends where material things were concerned that when I started working, I over-compensated and would buy anything I was even remotely interested it. I started collecting in a lot of different hobbies, and eventually, it became about 'the hunt' for something rare and valuable, not the item itself. It took a long time to get out of this habit, and my wife helped me a lot; actually, I couldn't have done it without her.
I still collect games and dropped everything else, but I've even slowed that down significantly ever since my son was born. I just love playing with him so much and reading to him, and going outside, that I could drop everything I own in a heartbeat if I needed to. I've had nothing, up until my early teens when I started working, and I've had too much in trying to make up for the former, but now I understand that the people in my life are all I need; the stuff is just a nice bonus, but that's all it is.

 

[Sixth]

‘Freedom’ these days has become the absence of responsibility, which can become a rather dangerous way of thinking.
If the quote was a statement about giving things up rather than actually losing everything you hold dear, I’d be fine with it; otherwise, it just comes across as naïve and idealistic. I mean, why limit that way of thinking to just material things? Hell, give up people and social responsibility altogether; sure worked for Chris McCandless.

 

[fake]

As far as materialism goes, I think hardcore gamers have an inborn predisposition towards an obsessive personality. That's what drives our urge to collect games, consoles, and memorabilia. Is it a bad thing? Maybe. I do feel like all the stuff weighs me down. But then again, it's one of my hobbies. Yes, it's a big part of my life, but so is music, guitars, writing, my dog, etc.

Games as art? Obviously this depends on how you define art. What it boils down to for me is that yes, games can be art but are not necessarily art. They do almost always contain art within the product (in other words, they can be artistic) but few games qualify inherently as art. Braid is art. Final Fantasy X is art insofar as novels are art. Nights: into Dreams is artistic insofar as it has an appealing aesthetic, beautiful music, and a general sense of creativity.

 

[Tyranix95]

I had a reply ready and then I saw Kate Upton's bouncing tits and completely forgot what was going on in this thread.

Ditto.

 

[OrochiEddie]

I've stepped away from gaming in a huge way. I'd say I could give up video gaming and be content, at this point anyway. I've filled the void with a bunch of smaller hobbies. I play drums, collect vinyl, workout, cook, school. I don't let things consume me because I give myself many outlets. Once in a while a game really does grab me. Skyrim has really consumed any gaming I've done since December. I barely play fighters anymore. I don't know what happened, but the love vanished. One day it may come back, who knows. I let my interests come in waves, let something grab me and take its course.

I have no interested in selling my stuff. I only have what I'd want to play at anytime. I don't buy stuff just to have it, neither or games or in vinyl. It's not worth it.

 

[RAZO]

My Collecting days are pretty much over. I collected just to make up for all the childhood gaming I missed out on. Just to get a taste of having the real hardware, real games. Made me feel like a kid again. I still have most of the major stuff that I collected through out the years, but if I run into a situation were I need cash, I'll sell it all and just stick to emulators, flash carts. I hardly have any time to play games any more anyways.

 

[Neo Alec]

I disagree with your disagreement.

Freedom does not necessarily = good, it just means free.

I too came from hardship and poverty, as a kid we lost much of what we had many times, we were uprooted many times as well...

As an adult I have ben fortunate enough to experience some of the the most "wealthy" times of my life...yet I have never been so chained down. The more prosperous I become both financially and personally, the less free I really am to do "anything". I cannot simply pick up and move on at this point, my jobs, my home, my family, my friends...all are right here and I could not just walk away from it all. Only if I were to lose it all would I really be "free" to strap a pack on my back and simply start walking in a compass direction.

Would losing everything I have and hold close to my heart be a positive thing? No fucking way...it would be awful, BUT...it would be the only way I could be free to do anything.

Nowhere in that statement does it say that freedom would be amazing, or easy, or something fun. It simply says free and I agree...

I see a lot in your post about owning a home, work and family obligations. Nothing about games. I don't think we can equate a modest game collection with every other attachment or obligation in life.

For me, gaming and collecting is something I can talk about with my brothers when we're all in town once a year.

 

[smokehouse]

I see a lot in your post about owning a home, work and family obligations. Nothing about games. I don't think we can equate a modest game collection with every other attachment or obligation in life.

For me, gaming and collecting is something I can talk about with my brothers when we're all in town once a year.

I wasn't really replying to the overall thread topic...I was replying to Sixth specifically...

If you really would like a thought on whether game collecting is being materialistic...I don't really think so.

Buying back ones past is not really fall under materialism in my opinion...it falls under nostalgia. For the most part, people are buying back their past when it comes to collectables. I play old video games because they make me feel like a kid again, they remind me of a simpler time in my life and often, just for a glimpse, I feel like a kid again. This has little to do with material things and more with feelings/memories.

Like anything else, there are game collectors that break through nostalgia and into hoarding...I guess this could be taken as materialism. They simply want to have something because of what it is, or how others may think of them if they have it...

So, I guess it comes down to the individual and how the collect that makes it nostalgia or materialism...