Am I hitting the proverbial wall?

[8-bit guerilla | 82]

Probably about year, we’ll say BNA (before the death) I drastically slowed down on collecting Nintendo, and I thought it was because I ventured into arcade building and was very into physically building and wiring up these machines. I didn’t stop enjoying the arcade builds. It’s just not feasible to continue till I own a basement or the like. Space anyway. 

I figured I’d be right back into the ol’ hunt again, but the bug hasn’t bitten me at all.

Tho I dont have the desire, necessarily, to “unload”my collection, my desire to display it and collect more has really plummeted. I don’t have kids to pass it down to nor likely will I. 

Have any members of VGA gone through this dilemma? I mean surely you have. I know a few NA members that had gotten rid of collections.

Any advice on a way to look at it, and prevent any regrettable changes ?

 

[Tulpa | 3,488]

Collecting should be an enjoyable exercise. If you don't desire to add to it, but keep what you have, I say embrace that. Work with the collection you have. There's plenty of ways to enjoy the hobby.

[Bearcat-Doug | 5,104]

Just now, 8-bit guerilla said:

Probably about year, we’ll say BNA (before the death) I drastically slowed down on collecting Nintendo, and I thought it was because I ventured into arcade building and was very into physically building and wiring up these machines. I didn’t stop enjoying the arcade builds. It’s just not feasible to continue till I own a basement or the like. Space anyway. 

I figured I’d be right back into the ol’ hunt again, but the bug hasn’t bitten me at all.

Tho I dont have the desire, necessarily, to “unload”my collection, my desire to display it and collect more has really plummeted. I don’t have kids to pass it down to nor likely will I. 

Have any members of VGA gone through this dilemma? I mean surely you have. I know a few NA members that had gotten rid of collections.

Any advice on a way to look at it, and prevent any regrettable changes ?

 

I unloaded most of my stuff about two years ago for various reasons. I prefer to play games more than collect them so I don't regret it at all. I had the chance to own some cool stuff that I couldn't afford now. I've got all of the games I care to play available without spending anything else and I'm fine with that.

[themisfit138 | 523]

It is your collection, do what you think is right. I had started out to set collect, and I was 500+ deep in NES at the peak, with 200+ on Genesis, SNES, and 100+ on N64, Xbox, PS2, and 360. Like you I also have no kids to pass down the collection to. I decided to only keep the games that I wanted to play or had sentimental value, childhood Christmas presents and what not. I have no regrets about it, and I cleared up a rooms worth of space. 

Edited December 12, 2019 by themisfit138

[Tanooki | 4,930]

Is it really 'the wall' or just a shift in gears perhaps?

I used to some years back rail on the foolish pricing games and the rest as it just set me off.  Not that I didn't realize it was no bubble as much as I wished it was, things changed, I kind of just snapped and gave up caring, problem is I think the lack of caring went into apathy I still can't quite shake.  It's not Nintendo though, sure it started there, but it went full on into anything.  Right now my motivation is gone and has been for a few years almost entirely, I have to really force myself and work myself up to opening up a game, yet when I"m there I'm jazzed and stick with it as I go, not some 5min junkie hit and good.  When I got fed up I changed gears, got myself into pinball and neo geo arcade level stuff, but also was like I'm done feeding the beast, so I HDMI-zed my consoles, dropped some unused dead weight (which I continue to around ebay freebies mainly), and I did what said I wouldn't, got KIT happy and my systems are all with kit now other than the DS.

What I'd do is perhaps what I've done.  Look over it all and stop and think.  Perhaps make mental piles.  Keep - Sell - Trade  Keep would be a mix of active use and period memory box stuff alone excluding modern generation if you got a Switch or whatever.  The rest well that's explains itself.  NO reason to sit on dead weight unless you consider it a useful tool to buy something later as it's not as fluid as straight cash.  Your space concern is valid which is why I got the Neo Geo since those VHS puffy box sized carts are easy to store vs jamma boards, then there's the icade 60in1 cocktail too which also works as table I use, and well also why I only have one pinball machine too.

I think the point is re-evaluate what matters, get rid of the rest as the burdens make it harder to enjoy the lesser amount of stuff you really do still care about.  I've been doing it with games, toys, antiques even too a good bit this year.  For stuff that didn't even price out worth putting in a box for toys, they just went out the door and I didn't care.

[Andy_Bogomil | 815]

For sure. I initially started collecting to get my favourite games CIB but along the way I picked up way more than that mainly during the first part of this decade. Over the last few years I've slowly been selling to get back to my initial goal and significantly trim the collection. I realize I haven't touched some of these games since I bought them and others I just don't care about enough to own a physical copy (emulate) so they'll be gone eventually. I'd rather take the money and use it on other things rather than it being tied up as an insignificant display piece. I still love the bulk of my collection though but don't actively want or look for anything.

Edited December 13, 2019 by Andy_Bogomil

[CMR | 519]

If you like fixing up old arcade machines, then I would keep doing it.  You can always sell them when you get too many.

[zeppelin03 | 314]

My collection never reached the levels of a lot of people here.  Probably around 500 games.  Realized I would rather play games, tinker with mods/PCs, and travel.  Been downsizing to just the childhood stuff and some purchases I have made over the years.  Plenty of consoles are going in favor of emulation.

 

It doesn't hurt to make a change if your interests lie elsewhere now.  Start slow in a new direction and I doubt you will regret your choice.