Why do you collect?

[Zalovar]

I collect because chicks dig huge collections of retro games.

[wiggy]

Started "collecting" in the 80's because I just loved video games. They were such a fantastic escape from reality, which is something that I had a hard time with as a child.

In the mid-90's I started working at a new and used retailer. That's when I really started collecting for reasons other than just having games to play. I really enjoyed being able to get virtually any game I wanted for next to nothing most of the time. I shared an appt wit a friend, my expenses were next to nothing besides buying games and CDs, and it was a blast to bring home stacks of games every week.

Stopped collecting for about 7-8 years when I went back to college and sold a lot of the collection. Graduated, got a job making too much money which enabled me to spend a lot more time (and money) on one of my other passions, cars.  Too hard being seriously into more than one hobby at a time, and having sold a huge chunk of my stuff left me feeling sorta bummed out and disinterested.

Was in a nasty car accident about a year and a half ago which totally put me off cars and quite honestly left me afraid of leaving my house for a solid 6 months.  Getting back into gaming just sorta happened.

Like many here, I now collect largely to make covers, display them, and give me a creative outlet. I still play sometimes, but not like I used to. Have a kid on the way. I really hope they enjoy my collection as much as I did as a child. I think it'll be a fucking blast to play Super Mario with a little wiggy

[madrocsz]

Jokes aside I do it for similar reasons as many others here.

-Nostalgia, I grew up with a lot of neighborhood kids and my cousin (my aunt passed away when young) so a lot of young dudes around same age, video games were the thing to do
-Collecting nature, if it wasn't video games it would be something else
-Display, I take a lot of pride in what I am able to show others and makes that 'neat" thing that people see when they come to my place
-"The thrill of the hunt" its exciting to me to keep up with things, watch ebay for quick deals, drive to meet someone on craigslist or finding that random sale glitch on a store's website. Nothing beats the feeling (well aside sexy time with wifey) of getting a 75$ game for 2$

[wiggy]

Oh yeah, the "hunt" provides a real high for me as well.  Buying online is great and all, but driving all around town to scavenge for games is a blast, even if the cost of gas totally offsets any deal that I may get LOL!

[MedaForce]

Pretty much became a collector because I missed out on console gaming as a kid.

When I was really young we got a NES (I think it was in '89), everything was rosey until my Dad rented Ghouls 'n Ghosts. He wound up playing it for over 12 hours strait and because of that he banned video game consoles from our house all together. I Lucked out a few years later and my Mom was able to convince him to let me get a GameGear for Christmas. But for the most part I was pretty much a Mac gamer until one of my friends got a N64 and we got hooked on Mario Kart, Gauntlet Legends and Super Smash Bros.

It wasn't until the GameCube that a console got back into my house and that was because I got a job and bought it myself. But since then I've been buying all the games that I missed and that snowballed into me starting collecting videogame stuff in-general.

[inthecrossfire]

Hi, this is my first post so I'll introduce myself first.

My name is Jay, I'm from England, I was born at the very end of the 1980s.

My first taste of gaming game in the form of Sonic on the MegaDrive in the mid-1990s at a friend's house.
Towards the end of the decade I got my first console (a PlayStation - £150 from HMV) and I was addicted.

Around 2000 every other kid in school got Pokemon Red - I didn't see the fuss, some silly childish game - but eventually I gave in to the fad and bought Pokemon Blue (and a GameBoy Colour to play it on). I played through Blue, Red, Silver and Crystal before moving on from gaming altogether - my dark ages.

Anyway, when HeartGold and SoulSilver came out in 2010 I had a rush of happy memories, since then I've been trying to track down all the games I had as youngster, plus all the ones I could never afford.

To answer the OPs question;

I am a born collector. It's compulsive; I collect Star Wars action figures, LEGO, vinyl records, Guitars and music memorabilia as well as retro games.

Finding this site has given me the excuse to go out and buy even more retro games - I want rows and rows of custom cased NES/SNES/N64 cases and also MegaDrive games on my shelves because it just looks so cool!!!

Simply, I wouldn't enjoy collecting cart-based games so much if it wasn't for this site.

[Nacho3]

I say death to games like CoD and all hail the retro game era XD

Why is there always so much hate for Call of Duty? I love playing them with my friends and I bet just about everybody that "hates" them also has GoldenEye in their collection.

[wiggy]

I can't stand COD. 

[mojoeskateco]

I say death to games like CoD and all hail the retro game era XD

Why is there always so much hate for Call of Duty? I love playing them with my friends and I bet just about everybody that "hates" them also has GoldenEye in their collection.

I don't like all of duty because they release pretty much the same game every year and it somehow sells millions of copies. This motivates other game companies to try and develop crap that they can turn into annualized sequels.   Also all the online passes and dlc maps that should be included with the actual game. 

Goldeneye was just a one off game that was great in it's time but it's not like they released a new one every year.

[larryinc64]

I have been gaming for a while, but I started collecting in 2009, mostly after seeing other peoples collections on sites like "VGMM The Horde" and finding sources of cheep games like Blockbuster buy 2 get one free sales, tag sales, and friends. I never traded games in even before my collecting, never needed too or wanted too, I only gave away 2 games and returned one, the 2 were Pokemon Red and Yellow, I regret Yellow, but the person I gave Red to gave me a semi broken CIB Xbox 360 and a CIB DK Jungle Beat with Bongos bundle. I returned Manhunt 2 to Blockbuster, because the game was to disgusting.
I enjoy the thrill of the hunt, the way it looks on my shelf, bragging rights to my friends, and finding obscure games, good or bad. I'm backing off a bit right now, I got a big list of games I need to play.
It's fun to go through my collection with friends and play the good and bad. 2 days ago I had some friends over and We played on Genesis, Beavis and Butthead, Barney's Hide And Seek, and Pacman 2. I had some fun with a bad Tomb Raider game for PS2, forgot witch one to lazy to look.
I'm planning on doing a Game Review show soon, I think it would be a fun project, and give me more reason to play my games.

[madrocsz]

Speaking of CoD, I made my first and only blog a few years ago, I feel it makes it a point, feel free to comment

http://madrocsz.blogspot.com/

[wiggy]

Just read the heading and I already agree LOL!

[SasoriSoren]

Speaking of CoD, I made my first and only blog a few years ago, I feel it makes it a point, feel free to comment

http://madrocsz.blogspot.com/

You and me, we think alot alike, I wrote an entire article about Call of Duty and all that on my blog almost a year ago now. I revamped my blog since then and don't have the article on my page but a friend of mine reblogged at least the image:

[BadChad]

Well, Im an only child and my dad bought me my NES when I was about 3. And my aunts and uncles were always equipped with NES, SNES, and Genesis too. So, Nuff said!

I collect because video games have always been a big part of my life and Id much rather play games on real hardware. Nothing like the thrill of the hunt when you score big either!

[AO007]

99% of the games I purchase are for playing. The other 1% is pure collectables. I like this ratio.

There are examples of "bridge" games though, that are 50/50 for playing/collecting. Stuff like Super Mario All-Stars, Kirby's Dream Collection, and Metroid Prime Trilogy are 50/50 collectable/playing, whereas stuff like a PS1 game are strictly playable, and the very few examples such as Ocarina of Time Gold(Which I still need to get, but I digress) are strictly collectable.

Oh wait, actually a better example would be my second SNES copy of Yoshi's Island, though that also functions as a backup and will be passed down to my child/ren.

tl;dr: I collect to play, but will occasionally buy a game for collection purposes.