Need some advice

[madrocsz]

So, its been something thats been on my mind for several months now. I like to think of myself as a logical person and one that doesn't buy things that don't make much sense, then I look at my video game collection. Valued at over 40k, 2000+ games strong, tons of rare and hard to find titles, all cased, complete and shelved. The reality of it is that it's just nice to look at, all 14 shelves of it, but at the same time I keep asking myself why. So I have been thinking of downsizing, or even selling the majority if not the whole thing. Below are my concerns which I feel valid. Please weigh in and give your opinion.

- Cartridge games vs emulators.... (I could save 20k$ and put every single game in the thumb drive sitting on my desk)
- Space , which I am out of again
-Fear of damage, I live in New Orleans, hurricane/flood prone
- I don't have time, at all, and don't know when I will to play any of them
- extra money would be nice, pay off car etc
- Potential for it to devalue, I am concerned that market bubble is going to pop, soon, and my "investment" will plummet

Any other pros/cons?

[destindude04u]

That sounds like a pretty big collection sounds worthy of some pix to upload, but if you really dont want it, put the collection on ebay with buyer paying all shipping?  Thats my thoughts... or how much do you want for everything?  lol

[wiggy]

So, its been something thats been on my mind for several months now. I like to think of myself as a logical person and one that doesn't buy things that don't make much sense, then I look at my video game collection. Valued at over 40k, 2000+ games strong, tons of rare and hard to find titles, all cased, complete and shelved. The reality of it is that it's just nice to look at, all 14 shelves of it, but at the same time I keep asking myself why. So I have been thinking of downsizing, or even selling the majority if not the whole thing. Below are my concerns which I feel valid. Please weigh in and give your opinion.

- Cartridge games vs emulators.... (I could save 20k$ and put every single game in the thumb drive sitting on my desk)
- Space , which I am out of again
-Fear of damage, I live in New Orleans, hurricane/flood prone
- I don't have time, at all, and don't know when I will to play any of them
- extra money would be nice, pay off car etc
- Potential for it to devalue, I am concerned that market bubble is going to pop, soon, and my "investment" will plummet

Any other pros/cons?

- Emulators never run games 100% perfect. But, you could go with flash carts and play em on original hardware.

- a legit concern. I'm pretty much out again despite having just built another large shelving unit. But, I know I can find/make more space. Even if I couldn't, I would likely be pretty hard pressed to sell unless it was just stuff that I really don't care about too much.

- insurance insurance insurance.

- nobody has time to play 2,000+ games. I didn't think that was the point of collecting to the extent that you have

- extra $$$ is never a bad thing.  Can't really argue with that

- I guess I don't consider my collection a financial investment, so I'm not worried about the inevitable bursting of the bubble.  For the stuff that you've paid big bucks for, selling now is probably a good idea if you're at all concerned about such things.  I'm pretty sure that I haven't spent more than $50 on any collectible/retro game, so I won't be too upset if my collection's value falls through the floor (again, not why
I collect in the first place).


Other than that, if you enjoy your collection and can afford to keep it, then do so.  If you're not getting joy from it, then move on (though I'd be sad to see a collection like yours be split up ).

[palmer6strings]

Personally, I would never sell off my entire collection. Have I thought about it? YES! Many of times. But always come back to the same conclusion. Even if I don't play them all, it's still really cool to have. Anyone whoever comes to my house is always really impressed with my collection, and what they see is only a tenth of what I really have.

So if you decide to get rid of stuff, I hope it's only downsizing and not selling everything.

Like wiggy said, I don't really consider my collection as investment, so even though I could prolly get $20k out of a lot of what I don't play, it's not really costinge a bunch of money to keep either.
Plus I find about 90% of my games dirt cheap anyway. So no biggie.

[razielleonhart]

this is always a hard thing. i myself am in the same boat where i am going to make a big move and the only thing i care about is my video game stuff. But at the end of the day i would pick my video games over anything because they are a big part of my life.

[madrocsz]

It's not so much as I look at it as an investment but more so that I know it has value, which can increase or decrease. I'm just struggling with the fact that it's only going to grow and it's like having a second child lol.

That sounds like a pretty big collection sounds worthy of some pix to upload, but if you really dont want it, put the collection on ebay with buyer paying all shipping?  Thats my thoughts... or how much do you want for everything?  lol

[palmer6strings]

Wow, well if you do decide to sell. I see a few things I may be interested! Not that I'm pushing you to sell because I wouldn't sell ha ha. 

[irvgotti452]

"It's only after we've lost everything that we're free to do anything." - Tyler Durden

"Fuck off with your sofa units and strine green stripe patterns, I say never be complete, I say stop being perfect, I say let... lets evolve, let the chips fall where they may. " - Tyler Durden

...been watchin fight club and it seemed to fit lol.

[FritzWhite]

Nice reference from Fight Club. Here's a vid about that:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8P7CYZAQVjU

[tiktektak]

It all depends what you paid for everything. I myself also only buy for low prices and so it doesn't hurt too much if prices go down (which I hope they will soon).
I'm with wiggy on this one. I never paid more than 35-40 Euros for any game (except for Neo Geo) and I got thousands of games (I'm standing at 3350 by now).

I would definitely keep it if you can afford. There's always space somewhere!

I already plan it like one child and instead of a second one my collection by the way.

[mojoeskateco]

I'd be sad to see your collection downsized.

You have my favourite collection / set up out of all the collection shots I've seen on this site.

My advice would be:

1. Get insurance

2. If you're still having fun collecting and displaying it then keep doing it.

3. If space is an issue you can always choose to not display everything at once.  I recently moved about 200 nes games into a closet to free up space for some other stuff.

4. Don't worry about playing them all.  My plan is to play lots of my games when I'm old and retired but I realize I'll probably never play them all.

5. If you don't need the money for something else then keep em

6. If you're going to sell a bunch of your stuff wait until early next year because I'm getting married in November so I'm broke right now and can't afford to buy any of it

7. Do whatever will make you happiest

I'm thinking of doing a purge as well and getting rid of some high value items that aren't worth their price (ie Flintstones 2 for NES).  I could sell that and buy something I'll actually play with that $.

Your collection has no filler in it from what I see so it may be hard to get rid of anything.

Good Luck !!

[Dravenae]

I think you should do what you want to man, asking other's what you should do is pretty mute and void, as we can only talk for ourselves.

I think if you want to down size your collection mate, just sell the clutter of games that you don't/won't play, or haven't even played or have even a remote interest in playing. Be realistic, and completely honest with yourself. The "I might play it though" factor may come into play, but you have push past that man.

My collection has just reached 300 games. My want list has about 100 - 150 games on it, but I'm being realistic. Anything that's not new that's over 50, I won't be buying the physical copy. I'll just buy a digital download of it if I can, and if I can't, I'll go without. That's my outlook when collecting. I want I Ninja, Conker's Bad Fur Day, and Demon's Crest, but I can't afford to pay near €100 or more, for a used game.

I was going to collect for the Wii U and PS4 this generation, but the more I think about, the more I'm leaning to collecting for just one console, which feels very fucking liberating, I must say. I'm only collecting for PS4 this generation, only buying the MUST HAVE Wii U exclusives (Zelda, Metroid, Xenoblade), leaving everything else to the wayside.

Do what makes you happy man. Life is too short.

EDIT: I thought it worth mentioning that I'm not a collector. I don't buy games that I don't intend on playing. If you're a collector man, keep your stuff.

You said that you live in New Orleans, so with hurricanes and floods being a very real threat, you have to ask yourself; would you rather sell the game and make some money, or keep the game with the chance of that game being damaged and completely worthless? This obviously doesn't apply to any games that you absolutely adore, just to the ones that you're thinking of selling.

Again, I just want to say that I am not a collector, so I can't relate to your felling's towards your collection or collecting in general, so my opinion may be completely mute and void in regards to this topic. I suppose having the opinion of someone on the other side of the collecting poll might be insightful? (LOL).

[SnesGuy]

I think everyone goes threw this. Sadly I'm a huge classic RPG fan and that can get expensive.

I'm constantly selling things and just did an almost 200 item purge.
You would have to pry my SNES RPG collection and my Genesis tower from my cold dead fingers.

Besides that It's all novelty to me. Maybe you should just really think about what you want to collect and downsize. I know it can get really out of hand because one item can lead to another and suddenly you're collecting vaguely game related items like figurines/toys/etc.

I constantly have to make myself stop and think about what I'm buying

[e_brugal]

Keep your collection, i personally am not seing my collection as an investment and not planning to sell any of them, but what i don't buy is toys, figurines, swords, masks, etc. Those are the ones that reduce the space that you need to display your games.

So if you desided to sell somthing in my opinion only get rid of the memorables things (toys, figurines, sword, masks, etc)

Just an opinion 

[Dravenae]

Maybe you should just really think about what you want to collect and downsize.

This is solid advice.

I was planning on collecting for both the SMS and DC, but after the novelty and the excitement wore off, there was only 5-6 games on the SMS I wanted, and 10 games on the DC that I wanted. I couldn't justify the purchase.

SnesGuy's advice falls into the same line as what I was saying, only collecting for one console this generation. It's pretty liberating, thinking that I'm missing out on all the expense of collecting for all three consoles. It means I have more time to play games, collect for the systems I already own, and more money at my disposal. I'm looking forward to a time where my want list consists mainly of PS4 games, with one or two Mega Drive, Game Cube, or PlayStation games thrown in.