OCD about collecting? lol

[SparkB]

Yea the low price always gets me, i mean  the other day i  went into a pawn shop, and found motorstorm  for ps3 for 12$. I  mean to me thats a deal, so i bought it,  even  though im  not totally into racing games all the time. Also, at zellers, ghost recon ps3 was on sale for 20$ new,  got that  as well,  seems i go for the deals more and more lately. EB games had stuntman  ps3 new for 9$?? Thats a steal lol, but i missed the deal by 2 days... but next  time lol.

[Samada]

Having OCD myself, I can see where you are coming from; but as OatBob said, you would have more of a compulsion to buy games for the fear of something bad happening. I really don't have rituals with my game collecting other than wanting to have everything and be the best collector out there, but I know that will never happen. I usually only buy old games when I find them really cheap, which I somehow have a really good job finding a lot of games worth some money for pretty cheap (Mario RPG, Super Metroid, Yoshi's Island for $5 each and Digital Devil Sage 1 Box Set new for $10).

But yeah, this is coming from a collector with OCD. Just putting my two cents in there.

[Talen]

I have some thoughts on the subject, as I have ADD, which while unrelated to OCD, still influence my game buying and collecting habits.

I will buy pretty much any game under 5$ that I am interested in to add to my collection, even if I probably won't actually play it.  I keep lists of every game I have in my collection (554 so far), and every game I am interested in picking up some time in the future (at 553 currently, very odd...).   The collection/wishlist is on Gamespot, and I am in the process of transferring my collection data to RF, but likely will keep the wish list on GS for its ease of use.

I have a ritual whenever I get home with a new game purchase.  First I add it to my collection, and remove it from my wishlist, then I open up my Game History txt document.  I record the info of the game title, system, price purchased, store purchased at and the date for each game bought in that particular day.  Then I write a short paragraph about the circumstances under which I bought it "was out and happened to check a thrift store I never go to and found X game, which I have been looking for" to give a bit of backstory on my purchases for later reading. 

It seems really OCD, and it kind of is, but I find it very rewarding to keep this document of game aquisition.  Not only does it let me brag (to nobody in particular, actually) about what a cheap price I got my new games for, but in this way I can track how much I am spending on game purchases in a month or year. 

Does anybody else use this kind of thing?

[NES_Rules]

I have some thoughts on the subject, as I have ADD, which while unrelated to OCD, still influence my game buying and collecting habits.

I will buy pretty much any game under 5$ that I am interested in to add to my collection, even if I probably won't actually play it.  I keep lists of every game I have in my collection (554 so far), and every game I am interested in picking up some time in the future (at 553 currently, very odd...).   The collection/wishlist is on Gamespot, and I am in the process of transferring my collection data to RF, but likely will keep the wish list on GS for its ease of use.

I have a ritual whenever I get home with a new game purchase.  First I add it to my collection, and remove it from my wishlist, then I open up my Game History txt document.  I record the info of the game title, system, price purchased, store purchased at and the date for each game bought in that particular day.  Then I write a short paragraph about the circumstances under which I bought it "was out and happened to check a thrift store I never go to and found X game, which I have been looking for" to give a bit of backstory on my purchases for later reading. 

It seems really OCD, and it kind of is, but I find it very rewarding to keep this document of game aquisition.  Not only does it let me brag (to nobody in particular, actually) about what a cheap price I got my new games for, but in this way I can track how much I am spending on game purchases in a month or year. 

Does anybody else use this kind of thing?

I've tried doing something similar but it usually only lasts a couple weeks. Right now when I buy a game, I first photograph everything then add it to photobucket and put the price as the title and I usually add the date too. Then I add it to my database here and clean them at that time too. Then I add any duplicates to a spreadsheet of games for sale and then I put the prices of each thing I bought in another spreadsheet that I track my spending/selling on. Finally, I add it to the shelves of games and once a week I add all the games purchased that week to another spreadsheet that I keep on another computer.

[Talen]

Pretty impressive method, NES Rules.  I haven't gotten into photographing everything (although I am tempted to post pics of my lastest score, 51 CIB ps1 games for 50$)

All those spreadsheets would be confusing to me, but that doesn't take much.

I am a little confused about your response, when you said you tried doing something similar, but it doesn't last, did you mean the stuff that followed with the spreadsheets?  Or something else?

That 50 game score is quite tiring to catalogue.  I should ration it out over a few days to savour it I suppose.

[NES_Rules]

I am a little confused about your response, when you said you tried doing something similar, but it doesn't last, did you mean the stuff that followed with the spreadsheets?  Or something else?

I tried keeping detailed track of everything I bought, kind of like a treasure hunting diary. A picture, where I bought the stuff and how much I paid and when I bought it. Similar to what I'm doing now just all in one place. For some reason, my new method is easier for me.

My "Treasure Hunt Chronicles" blog has kind of been like that, but I'm only going to do it this year as no one seems interested in reading it.

[logical123]

I am a little confused about your response, when you said you tried doing something similar, but it doesn't last, did you mean the stuff that followed with the spreadsheets?  Or something else?

I tried keeping detailed track of everything I bought, kind of like a treasure hunting diary. A picture, where I bought the stuff and how much I paid and when I bought it. Similar to what I'm doing now just all in one place. For some reason, my new method is easier for me.

My "Treasure Hunt Chronicles" blog has kind of been like that, but I'm only going to do it this year as no one seems interested in reading it.

I love reading them!!! They are teh cooliest things on teh plan3t!!!

[Tan]

I am a little confused about your response, when you said you tried doing something similar, but it doesn't last, did you mean the stuff that followed with the spreadsheets?  Or something else?

I tried keeping detailed track of everything I bought, kind of like a treasure hunting diary. A picture, where I bought the stuff and how much I paid and when I bought it. Similar to what I'm doing now just all in one place. For some reason, my new method is easier for me.

My "Treasure Hunt Chronicles" blog has kind of been like that, but I'm only going to do it this year as no one seems interested in reading it.

Don't be discouraged if there isn't an insane number of comments in each post. Not everyone who reads the blog entries comments on each one, as evidenced by the ratio of hits versus comments for the front page. Besides, blogging isn't about numbers, it's about having fun! Good 'net traffic to this site comes partially as a result of blog posts being written on the community blogs and the front page which in turn become Google search results. It helps the site grow, recruit new members and brings variety to what we have to read week to week.

I wish more people would blog as you do. We have a lot of variety in terms of region, tastes and age groups and I think the RFGen blogosphere would be a great thing to cultivate and expand upon. Whether it be off the wall posts, non-gaming journal entries, or gaming related news stories that could potentially be promoted to front page material, the blog has a lot of potential if more members were willing to try it out.