Do Sealed Collectors care whether a game works or not?

[Nintegageo | 582]

Hey guys,

so I am totally not a sealed collector. Was wondering, do you care whether the game inside works or not? Like, were there a way to know without opening the game, would it even matter to you or just the box/seal condition are the importance?

[T-Pac | 7,513]

@Nintegageo out here with the real questions.

To expand on this: if you don't intend to open the packaging, do you care if there's even a game in there at all???

-CasualCart

[OptOut | 8,881]

Until the box is opened, it is both full AND empty, the game both works AND does not work. 

Opening the seal on a sealed game collapses the quantum probability function and brings the entire universe one step closer to entropic heat-death. Sealed game collectors are actively protecting the universe from premature destruction by keeping these games sealed, they are goddamn HEROES!!! 

 

[Tulpa | 3,488]

I think most simply have faith and go by the assumption that the game will work.

The only ones that might be questionable are cartridge games with a battery that are now ~35 years old, and only for the save function or if the battery leaked and damaged something.

[OptOut | 8,881]

28 minutes ago, Tulpa said:

I think most simply have faith and go by the assumption that the game will work.

The only ones that might be questionable are cartridge games with a battery that are now ~35 years old, and only for the save function or if the battery leaked and damaged something.

Or disc rot on old CD's, that can definitely be a factor seal or no seal! Or maybe a bunch of termites got sealed up in the box while it was in the factory, and they ate the manual... happens more often than you'd think! 

[DivOveR | 456]

My English is not so great but I give it a try.

 

I collect sealed/new stuff.

I don't care if the seal is perfect or not as long the game case itself is clean.

I am already at a age that gaming behind a screen cannot be the number one priority in my life.

I wish to preserve the memories the way it looks when I bought it in the 80s/90s.

Age I think does matter and/or the time you have to actually still play the games.

The way things are packaged can be even more nostalgic to me then actually playing the game itself.

So yes if a disc is not good anymore in a sealed case. It would not do the packaging any harm. It will happen used or unused.

Thanks to emulators I can still enjoy every game I did like back in the day.

Unfortunately I don't have enough space for setting up a game room.

And actually buying much second hand retro gaming stuff will cost a lot of money too.

Edited April 11, 2022 by DivOveR

[CodysGameRoom | 2,008]

The answer is no. If you are collecting it sealed, then whether it works or not is irrelevant. 

[3rdStrongestMole | 430]

13 hours ago, OptOut said:

Until the box is opened, it is both full AND empty, the game both works AND does not work. 

Opening the seal on a sealed game collapses the quantum probability function and brings the entire universe one step closer to entropic heat-death. Sealed game collectors are actively protecting the universe from premature destruction by keeping these games sealed, they are goddamn HEROES!!! 

 

Perfect example of Schrodinger's Cat. You hit the nail on the head

[darkchylde28 | 1,546]

3 hours ago, CodysGameRoom said:

The answer is no. If you are collecting it sealed, then whether it works or not is irrelevant. 

For those collecting for the investment, I'd say that this is true only so long as someone can't prove that what they own sealed isn't functional.  If it's obvious there's a defect or issue with whatever is still factory sealed, however technically, the value will pretty much sink to the bottom of its category, and sometimes even below that of opened/used product depending on how bad/obvious the defect is (ie: pack-in batteries not only swelled and leaked after 20-years in a sealed box, but the acid flowed out enough to soak into/through the cardboard box but not out of the plastic wrap around it).

[inasuma | 1,203]

it doesn't matter, the game will never be opened.

[RH | 4,895]

15 hours ago, OptOut said:

Until the box is opened, it is both full AND empty, the game both works AND does not work. 

Opening the seal on a sealed game collapses the quantum probability function and brings the entire universe one step closer to entropic heat-death. Sealed game collectors are actively protecting the universe from premature destruction by keeping these games sealed, they are goddamn HEROES!!! 

 

It scares me how I near had the exact same thought as this.

[RH | 4,895]

I'd say it does matter.  Consider a cd/dvd game that comes loose in a case.  You can hear it rattling around and if you know what you're doing, and with a little bit of luck, you can press it back down and pop it back into place. However, as the owner of that game, you know that it's likely scratched now.  That bothers some people.  Sure, you can sell it to someone as "sealed and mint" and they may never know that the disc came loose, but if we're being honest sellers, I think that would affect some people opinion of the game.  Even though you may never see the contents, having a way to know with a degree of certainty that the disc is not mint would affect. some.

Now, the truth is that in most cases, this can never be known.  In that case, we all are 100% assuming these contents are mint.  Even PS2 titles had a really bad problem damaging manuals due to the way the cases are shaped.  Open any sealed PS2 game, and there's a reasonable chance the manual is damaged in the middle on the page-flip side.  If that title was graded as CIB, it'd take a hit for the damage but if it's graded as a sealed title, we can only assume the best of the contents and that they are mint.

[Nintegageo | 582]

Honestly, with the money spent with these things, I think it's weird they're not x-ray'd or something as a grading aspect. I would absolutely care should something in the packaging be banged to shit. Was curious other peoples' thoughts.

[GPX | 1,369]

The answer to the OP, is both yes and no. Sealed collectors are not all of the same mindset, and all will have varying degrees of purpose on why they collect sealed games. For example:

- if they simply want a pristine looking box, then the game functionality is of little importance.

- if they want a game to be preserved with the best chance of functionality outlasting all the others, then a sealed game is often your best bet (CIBs are likely to get worned out or damaged over time quicker than a sealed game that is unused all these years). 

- if they only want to put it inside an acrylic case with grading companies, then the intent is for display or investing, functionality likely becomes irrelevant then. 

TLDR - some sealed collectors may not care if a sealed game works or not; some sealed collectors care about functionality and that’s why they go for sealed games.

[GPX | 1,369]

On 4/11/2022 at 12:51 PM, OptOut said:

Until the box is opened, it is both full AND empty, the game both works AND does not work. 

Opening the seal on a sealed game collapses the quantum probability function and brings the entire universe one step closer to entropic heat-death. Sealed game collectors are actively protecting the universe from premature destruction by keeping these games sealed, they are goddamn HEROES!!! 

 

Schrodinger’s Cart..

The cart is both functional and non-functional.

 

[ApebitMusic | 129]

If a tree falls in the forest…

I mean, sorry, this question is sort of nonsensical to me. It will never be opened so it’s kind of a pointless discussion. 

[MiamiSlice | 3,089]

On 4/10/2022 at 2:51 PM, Nintegageo said:

Hey guys,

so I am totally not a sealed collector. Was wondering, do you care whether the game inside works or not? Like, were there a way to know without opening the game, would it even matter to you or just the box/seal condition are the importance?

No. Simple as that. 

[Tyree_Cooper | 741]

who said it will never be opened

[360collector | 289]

It cant matter cause there is no way to know