Does the value of your collection make you feel guilty for keeping it rather than selling?

[GPX | 1,369]

The way I look at it, if you have genuine passion in your items and the time spent in obtaining your collection, then there’s no real price you can put on it. It’s your hard earned money in exchange for something you love. No explanation needed, no guilt needed.

If, on the other hand, you have important bills or necessary things that needs to be paid but you keep buying more games, then that’s a life choice that needs to be reconsidered.

[guitarzombie | 924]

I don't think its always jealousy, but its certainly unbecoming of someone who may be financially well off, drop lots of money on things, maybe even more than their worth and then excitedly show it off, to people who may have been collecting for years and either can't afford those items, but have been waiting for good deals.  The idea is having some decorum and class.  In all my time here, I think maybe ONCE I showed off something I bought that was really expensive I found for cheap, or I spent a lot of money on it.  I never got into these forums to 'brag', but to gather and share information.  The show-off part of collecting, like how you see on IG is very vapid and superficial to me. 

[Andy_Bogomil | 815]

1 hour ago, guitarzombie said:

I don't think its always jealousy, but its certainly unbecoming of someone who may be financially well off, drop lots of money on things, maybe even more than their worth and then excitedly show it off, to people who may have been collecting for years and either can't afford those items, but have been waiting for good deals.  The idea is having some decorum and class.  In all my time here, I think maybe ONCE I showed off something I bought that was really expensive I found for cheap, or I spent a lot of money on it.  I never got into these forums to 'brag', but to gather and share information.  The show-off part of collecting, like how you see on IG is very vapid and superficial to me. 

I used to get a kick out of the 'Finder Keepers' on NA when people would post a high tier game only to find out they paid full retail. I get the excitement of getting new stuff but it missed the mark in that particular thread imo. I liked when people found expensive stuff for cheap because I've been there and it's pretty exciting and fun to share.

[Link | 2,712]

No, the value of my collection makes me feel guilty for buying it

[SilverspoonGaming | 332]

Every single person that has seen my collection in person has said I should sell it all and pay off my mortgage, but I always say that would be dumb, because I would just be starting from scratch again to get to my collecting goals, which I am still far from.  I dont hang out with anybody who understands video game collecting, especially when they find out that Ive never played 90% of what I own, and dont even intend to, other than testing purposes of course.

[Link | 2,712]

3 minutes ago, SilverspoonGaming said:

Every single person that has seen my collection in person has said I should sell it all and pay off my mortgage, but I always say that would be dumb, because I would just be starting from scratch again to get to my collecting goals, which I am still far from.  I dont hang out with anybody who understands video game collecting, especially when they find out that Ive never played 90% of what I own, and dont even intend to, other than testing purposes of course.

Is your mortgage distressed or underwater? Is your collection worth lotto jackpot numbers? Because otherwise I agree, this is dumb. Tell them to sell their car or something they like

[Gloves | 11,777]

I've recently found myself without work, and having just moved to a house this year, doubling my monthly home costs, I've certainly felt some concern around potentially having to sell everything off to give me more time to find work. In a general sense I've never felt like "oh I have this, I should feel guilty" because it was always something I could afford to have, and I didn't buy most of my games at today's prices. My hope is that I'll find new work well before coming to the end of my emergency savings and not have to dip into the collection to stay afloat, but there's a potential future me that would feel more and more guilty about my lack of ability to pay into our home and keep us here. 

I'm hoping that's all worst case though, just need a new job, and with our savings I have some (though not infinite, certainly) time. 

[SilverspoonGaming | 332]

36 minutes ago, Link said:

Is your mortgage distressed or underwater? Is your collection worth lotto jackpot numbers? Because otherwise I agree, this is dumb. Tell them to sell their car or something they like

As far as I know, I could pay my mortgage off twice with the value of the collection, but its not worth it to me, and were not in any trouble of paying the bills.

Everyones response from there is saying something like, if I ever needed the money bad enough, atleast I could sell some stuff to pay the bills, which makes no sense because they know Ive been running a gaming business since 2008, which pays the bills, but people just dont understand.

Edited December 3, 2023 by SilverspoonGaming

[Gloves | 11,777]

12 minutes ago, SilverspoonGaming said:

As far as I know, I could pay my mortgage off twice with the value of the collection, but its not worth it to me, and were not in any trouble of paying the bills.

Everyones response from there is saying something like, if I ever needed the money bad enough, atleast I could sell some stuff to pay the bills, which makes no sense because they know Ive been running a gaming business since 2008, which pays the bills, but people just dont understand.

Yeah my collection if I sold it today I might get 30-40k, hardly scratching my mortgage. Enough to keep me alive for a year though.

[Reed Rothchild | 9,526]

3 minutes ago, Gloves said:

Yeah my collection if I sold it today I might get 30-40k, hardly scratching my mortgage. Enough to keep me alive for a year though.

The American Midwest.  Rare home to affordable housing 

[GPX | 1,369]

I feel there’s a lot of people who seem to miss the point in valuating their collection. It isn’t just a numbers calculation. 

How many hours did you spend time doing the bidding, the bartering, the begging, the cussing and then the buying? How many kilometres did you travel to obtain all those damn plastics and cardboards?! Now with all that in mind, how do you objectively calculate all those blood, sweat and tears that was wasted on them games?

So what if you might end up with a profit at the end of the day? The chances are, you worked your ass off for that numbers gain!

[inasuma | 1,203]

No  

[a3quit4s | 4,098]

My family needs are met and then some. You can bet though if we were struggling itd be the first thing to go

Edited December 4, 2023 by a3quit4s

[fcgamer | 4,723]

If I paid $15 for a Sonic the Hedgehog prototype, for example, I'd have no issues and generally not even think about value. If I paid $5600 for a game, I'd feel differently I'm sure. 

[RegularGuyGamer | 2,013]

I don't feel guilty. If I paid off my mortgage with my collection it would only save me like $500 a month. Id have to really be hurting for cash to care about an extra $6k a year. I get a raise bigger than that every 2 years.. maybe if I had a couple hundred grand in games it would be different but at the end of the day it's one of the things I enjoy.

The only thing I would swap my games out for would be a car.

[Quaze | 342]

No. There are millionaires out there and my collection is worth a couple hundred grand. Some guy out there owns a watch that is WAY more expensive than my collection. My collection is a peasant's endeavour, I'm not going to beat myself up over it's small-potatoes ballerness.

[Dr. Morbis | 2,088]

12 hours ago, GPX said:

Now with all that in mind, how do you objectively calculate all those blood, sweat and tears that was wasted on them games?

Wasted?!?  None of that was "wasted" for me, because the objective from the very start was to have a library of video games to play, first and foremost, valuation be damned.  You're assuming that every last one of us is doing this as some sort of investment strategy?  I can honestly say that if all video games fell to a value of $1 each tomorrow, I would simply shrug my shoulders and pop in whatever the next NES game was that I had chosen to play...

[Gloves | 11,777]

Just now, Dr. Morbis said:

I can honestly say that if all video games fell to a value of $1 each tomorrow, I would simply shrug my shoulders and pop in whatever the next NES game was that I had chosen to play...

Heck I'd be out there buying more games at that point, money be damned.

[SilverspoonGaming | 332]

5 hours ago, RegularGuyGamer said:

The only thing I would swap my games out for would be a car.

Did that when I was 15/16.  Had to buy it all back at higher prices, considering most of what I had were gifted to me at some point.  Im sure you would too...

[Link | 2,712]

1 hour ago, Dr. Morbis said:

Wasted?!?  None of that was "wasted" for me, because the objective from the very start was to have a library of video games to play, first and foremost, valuation be damned.  You're assuming that every last one of us is doing this as some sort of investment strategy?  I can honestly say that if all video games fell to a value of $1 each tomorrow, I would simply shrug my shoulders and pop in whatever the next NES game was that I had chosen to play...

I think the point was, that time would be wasted if you did sell.

[GPX | 1,369]

2 hours ago, Dr. Morbis said:

Wasted?!?  None of that was "wasted" for me, because the objective from the very start was to have a library of video games to play, first and foremost, valuation be damned.  You're assuming that every last one of us is doing this as some sort of investment strategy?  I can honestly say that if all video games fell to a value of $1 each tomorrow, I would simply shrug my shoulders and pop in whatever the next NES game was that I had chosen to play...

You’ve completely missed the context of what was being said. People judging you from merely the value of your games, ain’t worth your time because they don’t know the amount of energy and time that has been “wasted” on the accumulation process of your collection. 

I also believe this plays a large part of why a lot of us resist a sellout. Even if one day we become millionaires and can buy up a ton more games, how easy would it be to re-accumulate what had been sold off? (Answer: not very easy)

 

[Dr. Morbis | 2,088]

54 minutes ago, GPX said:

You’ve completely missed the context of what was being said. People judging you from merely the value of your games, ain’t worth your time because they don’t know the amount of energy and time that has been “wasted” on the accumulation process of your collection. 

It makes no sense, then, in the context of your response, why you would use the word "wasted;" I mean, why even use the word at all when you could use "spent" or something?  If other people are judging the percieved monetary value of your collection as the entirety of its worth, then why would they consider the time accumulating such worth to have been "wasted"?  Likewise, why would you consider it "wasted" yourself if it holds both intrinsic and extrinsic value, not only for you personally, but also in the eyes of other collectors at large?

 

55 minutes ago, GPX said:

I also believe this plays a large part of why a lot of us resist a sellout. Even if one day we become millionaires and can buy up a ton more games, how easy would it be to re-accumulate what had been sold off? (Answer: not very easy)

I disagree on this as well.  If you had millions of dollars and an internet connection, exactly what in your current collection couldn't be found and purchased and shipped to your door within a calendar month?  Seriously, even if you've got Stadium Events CIB or a gold NWC to replace, with enough money, both would be yours, probably within a year.

There's a picture of Dennis Kahn, the primary founder of WATA, holding a Gold NWC and Detective Comics #27 at the same time, and he wasn't even thirty-five years old when the picture was taken.  How did he get such grails so easily?  (Answer: money).  You are vastly under-estimating the power of money and vastly over-estimating the value and unattainability of video games; they're not 8-figure one-of-a-kind paintings, you know: the stuff that real wealthy people collect...

[GPX | 1,369]

2 hours ago, Dr. Morbis said:

It makes no sense, then, in the context of your response, why you would use the word "wasted;" I mean, why even use the word at all when you could use "spent" or something?  If other people are judging the percieved monetary value of your collection as the entirety of its worth, then why would they consider the time accumulating such worth to have been "wasted"?  Likewise, why would you consider it "wasted" yourself if it holds both intrinsic and extrinsic value, not only for you personally, but also in the eyes of other collectors at large?

 

I disagree on this as well.  If you had millions of dollars and an internet connection, exactly what in your current collection couldn't be found and purchased and shipped to your door within a calendar month?  Seriously, even if you've got Stadium Events CIB or a gold NWC to replace, with enough money, both would be yours, probably within a year.

There's a picture of Dennis Kahn, the primary founder of WATA, holding a Gold NWC and Detective Comics #27 at the same time, and he wasn't even thirty-five years old when the picture was taken.  How did he get such grails so easily?  (Answer: money).  You are vastly under-estimating the power of money and vastly over-estimating the value and unattainability of video games; they're not 8-figure one-of-a-kind paintings, you know: the stuff that real wealthy people collect...

I tend to use a lot of random words and dry humour, which sometimes can backfire spectacularly. However, I think you should place less emphasis on the word “wasted” and focus more on the usage of “blood, sweat, and tears”. The context being, there’s a lot of time, passion and dedication spent on one’s collection. 

The question then becomes, if you put in the hard yards to build your inventory and you enjoy what you do, then whatever the monetary value becomes, why the need to feel guilt? I personally think guilt should only come in play when you’re not fulfilling other life’s necessities. Otherwise, a hobby is a hobby, as far as I’m concerned.

 

[OptOut | 8,884]

I never really consider the resale value of my collection, other than as a kinda "security net" argument that whatever money has been put into it I could theoretically get back if I NEEDED to. It's hard to argue that money has been "wasted" on something if the value remains intact, and in most cases increased.

Any games I own that have gone up significantly in value, I bought because I wanted them in the first place, and so selling is just not appealing to me. There's no guilt in it though, because my game spending is entirely discretionary and amounts to only a small percentage of my income. Even if I were to sell my more valuable items, I don't think I own any that are valuable enough to noticeably impact my bank balance, and even if I sold my ENTIRE collection, I would only want to buy most of it back again, because I really care about the games and items I own.

Other than that, if anything I wish there were MORE games around for me to spend my money on, rather than thinking about selling any. I have a few collecting focuses, but I would say the majority of what I want I have by now. There are still things I want, but they aren't really available to me locally, and I don't see the value in buying a lot of the higher ticket items I might want, because I am far more concerned about COST rather than VALUE when it comes to collecting. All of the lowest and closest hanging fruit to me have been picked at this point, so other than little surprise purchases here and there, or just buying cheap crap on a whim, I don't really have much more left to do.

These days I would far rather have more TIME and energy available to play the games I have, and having a huge library to choose from feels amazing, that's a feeling I wouldn't give up for the world!

[T-Pac | 7,544]

9 hours ago, OptOut said:

Any games I own that have gone up significantly in value, I bought because I wanted them in the first place, and so selling is just not appealing to me.

...even if I sold my ENTIRE collection, I would only want to buy most of it back again, because I really care about the games and items I own.

This sums up my thoughts perfectly, too.

If I sold my games, I'd probably want to use the money to ... uh ... buy back the games I sold.

[T-Pac]