The bitterness or resentment towards other collectors over time, where do you fall? What have you observed?

[DarkTone | 986]

I collect PAL GameCube mainly. I'm only jealous because we barely got anything good over here. I WANT collectors to succeed in their assortment. Telling stories about how they got here and whats next if they finish their goal. 

[OptOut | 8,889]

I'm really not the jealous type, nor do I much consider myself in competition with others, whether that be in terms of collecting or anything else. I'm a lucky guy, I work hard and smart, I have realistic expectations and I'm easy to please. That's a pretty simple formula to avoid those kind of feelings.

Plus... the whole narcissism thing... worrying too much about what others have got going on is super off-brand, let's be honest!  

7 hours ago, Gloves said:

All types of collectors are welcome here. Jerks, on the other hand... 

You said jerk...S! Plural. That means we're allowed one! 

[drxandy | 3,235]

I just want to see what kinda cool stuff people are getting and if I don't know learn more.

I lurked NA for more than 8 years, maybe not super frequently but several times a week for stretches. The best thing for me was seeing people's finds and hauls. Just people getting excited about stuff they are into.

When I decided to not lurk and join the party over here, first thing I wanted to do was make a show off thread and contribute back what gave me joy.. not so much to brag but to keep content flowing, tell a little about me through pictures. 

I think we'd all be lying if we said we weren't jealous of someone else's stuff at one point.

[RegularGuyGamer | 2,014]

The social media reactions are almost always negative which is why I don't really check anyone collecting groups or pages. There's always a ton of responses like "wow it must be nice to be rich" or something along the lines of money spent on a hobby means money wasted. 

It think it's mostly from the have nots of the landscape. I understand that the bar has been raised price wise but most CIB games are still the same price they were at release. 

I don't have any Ill feelings towards others, it's the opposite. I love seeing other people's collections and pick ups. It's one of the reason I think this forum is so easy to come to, it's just a collection circle jerk. No one bashes any collecting goals and pick ups. It's awesome

[DoctorEncore | 3,691]

I collected completely in isolation for about ten years until I joined this site. I didn't know what was cool or rare or valuable outside of what it cost on eBay. I never read the opinion threads or participated in discussion on NA, but I did use many threads there as reference in my collecting journey. I only joined VGS because I wanted to help rebuild the knowledge base. I still completely avoid all collecting communities (Facebook, Instagram, Reddit) outside of this site because I'm just not interested in those random people's collections.

I just collect what I want, regardless of the broader community's opinion and that's been a great way to enjoy the hobby for me. I see it as a personal journey although I enjoy the more supportive community aspect we have here.

In the end, anyone criticizing your collecting is simply jealous, envious, or selfish.

[spacepup | 2,405]

Bitterness...resentment...hate... I mean, these should not be things we feel and project in such a fun hobby, in my opinion.  I know it's inevitable to a degree, and unfortunately, I've seen many disappointing behaviors over the years.  I've seen people lie, cheat, steal, manipulate, and so much more, just to make a buck, or just to get that game they want.

HOWEVER - while I admit to occasionally getting disillusioned when seeing some of this stuff, I always return to a place of truly enjoying what I'm doing.  When you focus on the positives, and all the good relationships, the fun activities, etc., there is still so much fun to be had.  I've made excellent connections over the years, and met some great people whom I have the privilege of now calling friends.  

I refuse to let others dictate my enjoyment and having fun with what I'm doing here.  There are things I don't like about certain segments of the hobby, but rather than dwell and obsess about those things, I'd rather spend my free time and energy just doing what I love.

I haven't really been on the receiving end of much resentment or jealousy, as I've never been a "big-fish" collector and don't really plan to be.

I set my own goals for what I want to collect, what I want to accomplish, and I'm just focusing on those.  If you obsess about what other people are doing, what they have and you don't, etc., you'll find yourself more unhappy in my opinion.

I know that collecting will always be sort of about the material items, and I know value and potential financial opportunities are also an element to this, but, after years and years of doing this, what I treasure most about everything are the friendships I've made and the wonderful people I've connected with.  I know it sounds a bit sappy, but that is so much more valuable to me than a Stadium Events cart or a pretty graded video game.  

[O.G. CIB | 415]

Collecting is a journey divergent paths. I am extremely happy with my collection but there are times I get pissed with myself for second guessing some decisions I made a decade ago.  For example, I am extremely weak in the handheld department but it should be that way because I made the decision to focus on console CIB collecting.  I look now at GB/GBC/GBA prices and kicked myself ..... But I had to level with myself .... I didn’t want them and so I can’t make the current price or the challenge of collecting drive my decision. 

There are some people who are jealous, not of you or your collection but because you had the vision before them. I get it, being late to the party isn’t fun. They say you pay for what you don’t know and it applies in this case. 

Investors don’t bother me one bit. I’m happy for everyone from a cart collector to a sealed collector. I don’t occupy my thoughts with envy or jealously. In life there will always be someone that has something that you don’t. 

[LeatherRebel5150 | 1,056]

I'm not one to be envious of others stuff or situations. My natural reaction to someone else having something I want is "What do I have to do to get that? Hmm I could work a few more hours this week, or sell this other thing, etc"

Generally I only look at people showing off their stuff to see if there is something I don't know about and might want to look for. That's how I found out about the Quickshot flight stick for the N64. I then watched ebay for over a year for one to pop up. Had someone not showed off their stuff I would have most likely missed the chance because they very rarely pop up.

One thing that does make me cringe is seeing people ask the most basic bottom of the barrel questions that could be answered with 2 secs of googling. This doesn't seem to happen here, but all the dam time on reddit. Often with the exact question being asked just a few posts below theirs. As an example it seems like every third post is how to use an old console with an HDTV. Which they would have the answer to if they just LEARN to READ what's two posts below theirs!

[sp1nz | 613]

Everyone is free to collect however they want but I do get annoyed by some approaches, like hoarding endless duplicates - especially in the high end - especially when done in an attempt to raise value by tanking supply.

I'm also annoyed by how some people conflate playing with collecting in a way that they just have to have the originals physically or they can't play or enjoy the game at all, because there are often legal digital ways to play or we accept some gray areas to play with low/no cost and let's face it how can you even give money to the developers, if the developers are out of business / don't have rights anymore / games are not being produced anymore for a series etc. Sure owning original games and playing on original hardware can greatly enhance someone's experience but if they're fan of games I have hard time believing that's the thing that breaks the camel's back and if it does then they should prepare to pay or hunt for the game and not waste their time complaining about it. Prices are what they are due to hundreds of reasons and complaining won't change that. On the flipside some people spend so much time hunting for deals that they end up not saving money at all or are even losing it, if they'd assign monetary value to each hour used. The problem is that everyone wants to buy the same things suddenly and the supply isn't there. People also ignore potential market manipulation due to being beginners or otherwise. No one is entitled to own anything anyway, even if we enjoy owning physical things, they're not a be-all and end-all importance of life.

However no matter how modest or extravagant your collection is I'm just happy for you, if you love video games.

15 hours ago, goldenpp72 said:

In more recent times though I've noticed an interesting shift within various communities where people are filled with hate or resentment towards collectors. Specifically, a lot of people who didn't care about this stuff 5, 10 or 15 years ago, suddenly care but have found that the market is pretty volatile due to diminishing inventory, artificial inflation tactics, social media hype, etc. The interesting result is that people who have cared for a long time, are told by people who only recently began to care that they somehow have more a right to it because.. They want it. They'll bash on collectors but if you mention other, very good avenues they can use to play they will get angry because they want the same stuff we want too, and are just upset because they are being priced out.

In terms of collectors, 'hype' buyers who only care about something once it becomes valuable (I recall being made fun of for buying 'junky' games that were only worth 10-20 bucks, which is not the case now) and plenty of other sorts can be frustrating but they're also free to live as they please.

Yeah I'm not fan of when people only become fans of something when it's accepted or touted as great. Especially, if that includes a value proposition. I've been gaming since I was 4 years old and I sadly didn't realize "collecting" was a thing for games or other stuff back then, even though I always had the gene to collect things like random pins from places and events or pokémon cards / sports cards, or even catch different colored grasshoppers for fun lol - I just never considered that I had collections, just accumulations of things. Games were games to me and I just gave most of my accumulated games away to my sister's family in my teens (I've bought a couple good copies back of nostalgic games after actually having the mindset of collecting games though) and I don't even know what happened to some of my earliest games.

I started collecting by happenstance of nostalgia and then it snowballed hardcore, since I had decent amount of expendable cash at the time. I started collecting "too late" and that's entirely on me but I started spending money on games just because I enjoy it. I've rarely shared my collection online though and when I have it's only been bits and pieces. Maybe one day on this forum I'll go all out and share stuff on weekly basis or something.

I also don't buy things to get rid of them usually, I buy them because I want to have them in my library, I enjoy variants (mostly major variants on specific systems) but not so much sealed. The problem is that I've bought bunch of games new in retail for say PlayStation platforms and never got around to playing a lot of them, then they've stayed sealed and it might be a little painful to open them up to play but that way the condition is prime at least and I'm happy to support certain developers, games or series by buying brand new. Only games I definitely will keep sealed are blister packs I have and that's only like handful of things.

11 hours ago, Strange said:

The thing that gets under my skin with some sealed investors is when they come into a collector space and say “Haha you guys are so bad at this” to knowledgeable collectors who have been at it for years because they don’t buy the things that those investors recently stocked their portfolios with.

Yeah it's super lame when someone joins a hobby to cash in and comes to gloat on the forums how others are collecting wrong, don't have aspirations to make a bank on their collection or aren't valuing items on the same level as their "expert" opinion.

I still do have to say that any collectible category has to have commons and rares, cheap items and expensive items to be stimulating to collect for most people.

Edited March 6, 2021 by sp1nz

[goldenpp72 | 1,234]

1 hour ago, sp1nz said:

Everyone is free to collect however they want but I do get annoyed by some approaches, like hoarding endless duplicates - especially in the high end - especially when done in an attempt to raise value by tanking supply.

I'm also annoyed by how some people conflate playing with collecting in a way that they just have to have the originals physically or they can't play or enjoy the game at all, because there are often legal digital ways to play or we accept some gray areas to play with low/no cost and let's face it how can you even give money to the developers, if the developers are out of business / don't have rights anymore / games are not being produced anymore for a series etc. Sure owning original games and playing on original hardware can greatly enhance someone's experience but if they're fan of games I have hard time believing that's the thing that breaks the camel's back and if it does then they should prepare to pay or hunt for the game and not waste their time complaining about it. Prices are what they are due to hundreds of reasons and complaining won't change that. On the flipside some people spend so much time hunting for deals that they end up not saving money at all or are even losing it, if they'd assign monetary value to each hour used. The problem is that everyone wants to buy the same things suddenly and the supply isn't there. People also ignore potential market manipulation due to being beginners or otherwise. No one is entitled to own anything anyway, even if we enjoy owning physical things, they're not a be-all and end-all importance of life.

However no matter how modest or extravagant your collection is I'm just happy for you, if you love video games.

Yeah I'm not fan of when people only become fans of something when it's accepted or touted as great. Especially, if that includes a value proposition. I've been gaming since I was 4 years old and I sadly didn't realize "collecting" was a thing for games or other stuff back then, even though I always had the gene to collect things like random pins from places and events or pokémon cards / sports cards, or even catch different colored grasshoppers for fun lol - I just never considered that I had collections, just accumulations of things. Games were games to me and I just gave most of my accumulated games away to my sister's family in my teens (I've bought a couple good copies back of nostalgic games after actually having the mindset of collecting games though) and I don't even know what happened to some of my earliest games.

I started collecting by happenstance of nostalgia and then it snowballed hardcore, since I had decent amount of expendable cash at the time. I started collecting "too late" and that's entirely on me but I started spending money on games just because I enjoy it. I've rarely shared my collection online though and when I have it's only been bits and pieces. Maybe one day on this forum I'll go all out and share stuff on weekly basis or something.

I also don't buy things to get rid of them usually, I buy them because I want to have them in my library, I enjoy variants (mostly major variants on specific systems) but not so much sealed. The problem is that I've bought bunch of games new in retail for say PlayStation platforms and never got around to playing a lot of them, then they've stayed sealed and it might be a little painful to open them up to play but that way the condition is prime at least and I'm happy to support certain developers, games or series by buying brand new. Only games I definitely will keep sealed are blister packs I have and that's only like handful of things.

Yeah it's super lame when someone joins a hobby to cash in and comes to gloat on the forums how others are collecting wrong, don't have aspirations to make a bank on their collection or aren't valuing items on the same level as their "expert" opinion.

I still do have to say that any collectible category has to have commons and rares, cheap items and expensive items to be stimulating to collect for most people.

I remember buying Zombie BBQ for the DS because I thought it looked fun, it cost me 9 dollars. I remember talking about it and getting belittled because it's a budget trash game you can find for nothing, now people go pay a bunch for it and post about their uh, grail, and I'm like.. wait what lol. 

A more recent example is Godzilla for ps4. I bought that as a 10 dollar filler at GS for a buy 2 get 1 deal and it's not particularly good, but now it's become scarce and sought out, so now it matters. 

This isn't a big bother to me as I'm pretty ahead of the curve when it comes to games that might do this, so the only thing annoying personally is if you discover something you want and now it's expensive but that's just the game at that point. Just the people who trash you for buying this stuff are often the same people trying to find them now, but they think they're the upper hand lol.

[sp1nz | 613]

9 minutes ago, goldenpp72 said:

I remember buying Zombie BBQ for the DS because I thought it looked fun, it cost me 9 dollars. I remember talking about it and getting belittled because it's a budget trash game you can find for nothing, now people go pay a bunch for it and post about their uh, grail, and I'm like.. wait what lol. 

A more recent example is Godzilla for ps4. I bought that as a 10 dollar filler at GS for a buy 2 get 1 deal and it's not particularly good, but now it's become scarce and sought out, so now it matters. 

This isn't a big bother to me as I'm pretty ahead of the curve when it comes to games that might do this, so the only thing annoying personally is if you discover something you want and now it's expensive but that's just the game at that point. Just the people who trash you for buying this stuff are often the same people trying to find them now, but they think they're the upper hand lol.

Funny how some people consider cheap to be automatic trash without looking at the game for its qualities or other factors at all. Wide taste, knowledge and eye for peculiar things is a good way to nab some "future hidden gems". I'm so over the misuse of the word grail though, a lot of the hype collectors even call uncommons or commons grails but this again comes from the price tag and their weird perception alone.

[T-Pac | 7,569]

Resenting other collectors? What? Never!

-CasualCart

[GPX | 1,370]

I think the secret to longevity as a collector is to enjoy what you have with a tinge of envy of others, but never full blown resentment. Too much resentment is a recipe for quick burnout, and soon to give up on the hobby rather than staying put. A little bit of envy, I don’t know about anyone else, but it helps to motivate me to keep on doing the hard yards that we call “collecting”. 

The best part of collecting for me isn’t actually about the display itself, but more the discussions around the games and the issues that relate to collecting such items. I like to relive nostalgia through discussions and always happy to learn more about gaming/collecting matters. I’m one of those who is impressed by not how big a collection is, but by how knowledgeable people are with what they have, and how much they’re willing to share in this hobby passion.

[GPX | 1,370]

6 minutes ago, CasualCart said:

Resenting other collectors? What? Never!

-CasualCart

“I hate you all, but my time will come. Till we meet again! Muahahaha!”

[YOURTURN | 1,256]

18 hours ago, Gloves said:

I'm always good!

God I wanna go there so bad. A world away. T_T

I know the name lacked a "PED" to the name since it is NES stuff and more. But since you say so.... Let me give you a piece of advice instead:

If you can go, and choose to visit Tokyo, make sure it is on a week you'll be celebrating your birthday. Because I do not know if this has changed but Sega's Joypolis in Odaiba offers a free unlimited pass for those who have ID showing that it is their birthday. I did this in 2016 and ended up liking the fact it lacked tourists.

Otherwise consider Osaka. The people there tend to out-polite Canadians. Plus it has Nipponbashi.

And the only reason I am reluctant to move there myself is because my ex-fiancée lives in that region. Otherwise I would have to use Nakano Broadway as an excuse to debate that. 

Edited March 7, 2021 by FenrirZero

[Code Monkey | 2,011]

I've never had a problem with other collectors, only people that pretend to be collectors and won't admit that they aren't. I've seen people fall into a $500 game on a system they collect and immediately sell it. That person really isn't a collector.

[Reed Rothchild | 9,552]

12 minutes ago, Code Monkey said:

I've never had a problem with other collectors, only people that pretend to be collectors and won't admit that they aren't. I've seen people fall into a $500 game on a system they collect and immediately sell it. That person really isn't a collector.

[Gloves | 11,800]

19 minutes ago, Code Monkey said:

I've never had a problem with other collectors, only people that pretend to be collectors and won't admit that they aren't. I've seen people fall into a $500 game on a system they collect and immediately sell it. That person really isn't a collector.

I don't understand this statement.

You're saying that if I come across an expensive PS2 game (I collect PS2) for an absolutely steal (say, a $500 game for $20), pick it up, then sell it for $500, I'm not a collector? Or am I misunderstanding you?

[Code Monkey | 2,011]

25 minutes ago, Gloves said:

I don't understand this statement.

You're saying that if I come across an expensive PS2 game (I collect PS2) for an absolutely steal (say, a $500 game for $20), pick it up, then sell it for $500, I'm not a collector? Or am I misunderstanding you?

That's right. If you collect PS2 games and you find one you need, why would you sell it? That's counterintuitive to collecting.

[Gloves | 11,800]

Just now, Code Monkey said:

That's right. If you collect PS2 games and you find one you need, why would you sell it? That's counterintuitive to collecting.

Ah, your wording was a bit misleading. You didn't specify that it was a game a person was actively looking for, only that it was a game for a console they collect for. 

Your original statement sounded like you were full stop discounting the concept of duplicates and people who don't go for full sets. 

I collect ps2, but if I find a deal on a dot.hack game, I'm gonna pick it up and sell it. I don't like those games, so I don't have any intention of keeping any that I obtain. 

[Code Monkey | 2,011]

1 minute ago, Gloves said:

Ah, your wording was a bit misleading. You didn't specify that it was a game a person was actively looking for, only that it was a game for a console they collect for. 

Your original statement sounded like you were full stop discounting the concept of duplicates and people who don't go for full sets. 

I collect ps2, but if I find a deal on a dot.hack game, I'm gonna pick it up and sell it. I don't like those games, so I don't have any intention of keeping any that I obtain. 

I also feel differently about that situation but that's not related to being a collector or not so it doesn't really apply to this thread but in that situation I would leave the game there for someone to come along that does collect them. I'd be happy they got a great deal for something they needed. If I'm just going to sell it, there's not really any point in me buying it.

[Gloves | 11,800]

1 minute ago, Code Monkey said:

I also feel differently about that situation but that's not related to being a collector or not so it doesn't really apply to this thread but in that situation I would leave the game there for someone to come along that does collect them. I'd be happy they got a great deal for something they needed. If I'm just going to sell it, there's not really any point in me buying it.

Sure there is - making you money. 

"I didn't earn it" doesn't cut it for me in this instance, as if you recognize an expensive game being sold for cheap, hey that's your experience and knowledge paying off. As for leaving it for some other lucky collector, this is naive: some thrifter is gonna pop by shortly after you and buy it to sell it, you're only ripping yourself off, and needlessly so. 

[Reed Rothchild | 9,552]

I once saw a Stadium Events in a Good Will for $1.99.  I had sudden visions of kids' college funds and belated European honeymoons... until I realized it would be better to let some true collector find and enjoy it.

So I left it there.  Man you should have seen the look on my wife's face later when I explained all of this.  So priceless!

[Tulpa | 3,520]

1 hour ago, Code Monkey said:

 but in that situation I would leave the game there for someone to come along that does collect them. I'd be happy they got a great deal for something they needed.

I guarantee you 99 out of the next 100 guys to see that game are going to flip it.

[docile tapeworm | 4,204]

3 hours ago, Code Monkey said:

That's right. If you collect PS2 games and you find one you need, why would you sell it? That's counterintuitive to collecting.

elite collecting 101