Why do you collect?

[Tynstar]

OK so some of us have large libraries of games. My question is why? Why do you collect games?

For me I have always collected stuff. When I was younger it was baseball cards. After the baseball cards it was comics and non-sports cards. I also collected hockey cards at the same time. Well I stopped collecting all of that stuff and started playing video games. One thing leads to another and now I have too many games and am always looking for more. I have played video games all my life but only started collecting about 5 years ago. The 2600, Genesis and Intellivision 2 I have are all the ones I have had since I was a kid, so I figured that was a good start and it went from there.

[Sauza12]

Well, I've always technically collected video games.  Any time I bought a game or game system I've kept it.  I've gone through several different collecting phases.  There was the obligitory Baseball card and comic book phase, a shot glass phase, a Metallica phase, buit I always came back to video games.

About 5 or 6 years ago, I picked up a bunch of systems that I never had (Saturn, Sega CD, TG-16) and got a few games for them, just so I could see what they were like.  I ended putting them in a closet where I promptly forgot about them until about 2 years ago.  I pulled them out again and played for a little bit, and that got me hooked again.  I decided to go out and buy a couple of games for them and when I saw how cheap these games and games for other systems were, I decide to start buying as many as I could.  After that I "discovered" Ebay and bought even more systems that I never owned (Jaguar, 32x, Intellivision).  I eventually wondered how many games were released for each system and found my way to this site (back when it was still part of Video Game Bible).  When I realized that there were other people out there that had the same intrest with these old systems as me, it became that much more fun as I could actually talk to people about my hobby.  

[Izret101]

I have always collected something or another and always enjoyed playing games from all times so games ended up being a perfect fit. I more or less always collected VGs. I never got rid of what i had. Up until 3 or 4 years ago i never really went out searching for specific games, i always just got the ones i thought sounded good but 90% of the time i just got the games that were in my budget of $20 and less.
Collectors Closet was also a huge factor(possibly THE factor) in me becoming a serious collector. My second issue of Tips & Tricks was the first one with Collectors Closet .
I never really knew any collectors until the end of the last school year though when some kids at school had heard about me and approached me about it i don't know why it took so long for anyone to ask me about it because it had been circulating for a year at least that i collected VGs.
Later that summer i joined up here.(Still trying to remember how i found the site)
I had been to VGB a few years ago but didn't join it. I also found DP a few years ago i ended up being a somewhat active member there. I found both of them through T&T.

[Arrrhalomynn]

I like videogames and I like doing stuff with them besides playing.

[Tynstar]

I like videogames and I like doing stuff with them besides playing.

Nice and to the point but what do you do with them? :-/

[captain_nintendo]

Well I love playing games. I used to sit down and play the hell out of a game until I beat it. Now I like to take my time on most (and of course being older with responsiblities kind of takes time away from game playing)

So collecting something I love to do (playing games) is just a natural step  Like you tynstar I went through the comic , sports card and action figure stages of collecting. But with video games , it can take you away from a stressful day or just waste time  

I started with NES collecting because It had a bigger connection to my childhood. I mean I loved Atari when I was a kid , but the NES stands out to me because of all the fun times had with friends and family playing it.

"Now you're playing with power"

[Arrrhalomynn]

Nice and to the point but what do you do with them? :-/

I buy them, put them all on a shelf, catalogue them and play the good ones. I suppose I could say it's nostalgia, but I'm not emotionallly bonded to 95% of my games.

[Tynstar]

I buy them, put them all on a shelf, catalogue them and play the good ones. I suppose I could say it's nostalgia, but I'm not emotionallly bonded to 95% of my games.

Same as me but mine is about 98%

[Odonadon]

Why do I collect?

Same reason I collect anything - either too lazy to throw it out, or I figure it has a value too high to warrant being thrown out.

OD

[den68]

I've always collected something, comic books, trading cards, toys and on and on. I, like a few others have mentioned also kept all the video games I've had since my first system the Atari 2600 back in 1981.

A few years ago my Dad dug out the old Atari and after playing it a bit I wondered if I could find more games for it. I did a little surfing and came across sites like Digital Press, Atari Age and of course eBay. Once I started combing the thrift store/flea market scene and saw all the stuff for other systems I dove in to video game collecting head first.

As for why? Well I've always loved playing video games and now I can get all the stuff I never could over the years. I am a collector by nature and this is a collection that can and should be used. You can't really do much with a binder full of hockey cards or a shelf full of unopened action figures. Plus it's a blast hunting stuff down and chatting about it all on boards like this.

[Tynstar]

You can't really do much with a binder full of hockey cards or a shelf full of unopened action figures. Plus it's a blast hunting stuff down and chatting about it all on boards like this.

So very true. Thats why I stopped collecting cards and have very few MIC figures now.

[Toilet > my N-gage]

Transformer, and i pretend i am Optimus Prime <_<......>_>

[Antimind]

I've always hung on to any game I ever bought. I love games and always have. When I got my Atari 2600 as a kid I wanted to own every game for it and have a special room just to put them all in. Up until last year I kept my games in a box and pretty much only collected what I bought to play and then I snapped. I just started buying anything, even anything video game related (like board games). It's like a disease even. I just have to own everything and will stop at nothing to do so - even starve. There have been times when I lived off of crap food just to buy more games. I'd say maybe about 2-3 years ago is really when the "buy anything related" thing started. Before that it was just buy every game that comes out that you want. I've always been buying at least 1 game every week.