When did video games became collectibles?

[Super Nintendo Chalmers | 53]

On 11/30/2021 at 7:45 AM, GPX said:

I guess there are 2 answers to the question:

- when were games first being collected? I guess it would have started in the 90s or maybe earlier when games for the earlier console generations became dirt cheap, that I can imagine it would be irresistible to not buy them all up. Particularly if you happen to love console X gaming (from the 80s-90s).

- when did collecting became mainstream? This is the part I’m trying to get more insight on. The only problem now is..how do we define “mainstream”? 

Regarding your 2nd paragraph, unfortunately I feel somewhat similar. The market has gone crazy such that the prior passionate collectors are more likely being put off rather than fueling more the passion. Collectibles are now being admired mainly for their dollar signs, not by their values on how much nostalgia and aesthetics they provide.

Imo collecting became noticably mainstream at the turn of the last decade, say between 2011-2012. That was when there  seemed to be a shift in the line of thinking among people regarding the collectability, value, demand and nostalgia towards retro stuff.  You had different types of people entering the scene and becoming more aware of retro gaming and wanting to get involved. That was also around the time you could see prices of items increase. Before then the hobby seemed to be more niche.

Also ties into the rise of social media, Youtube,etc around that time with more coverage and knowledge of various parts of the hobby being expanded upon via these platforms.

Been collecting since about 2005/2006 when I got my first job as a teen and had some disposable income to play with, but have always been a gamer since I was a youngster and continue to game where I can. 

 

[T-Pac | 7,537]

In a broad sense, I'd assume video games became "collectibles" with the advent of numbered cartridges on home consoles (Channel F or Odyssey 1 maybe?). Sequential retail releases would definitely trigger a "collector" mentality in anyone predisposed to that sort of thing.

For me personally, I became a collector as soon as I fell into the world of 8-bit / 16-bit home console gaming in 2012. My hierarchy of interest in the hobby has always favored collecting games over playing games (even though I'm an intolerable bastion of the "games are meant to be played" mantra), and discussing / learning about games over collecting games. But luckily the facets all feed into each other - I play games to discuss games, and I collect games to play games.

-CasualCart

[Strikezone1 | 154]

I play my NES regularly, and have been pretty hardcore for the last 6 or so years. So I voted 'game more than I collect, but I enjoy doing both.'

I bought about 60ish NES games in the mid-late 90s from Funcoland... Then took a hiatus from buying games for over a decade, just playing what I already owned on occasion.. I got the nostalgia bug and started getting back into buying games around 2014, and have slowly but gradually adding to my collection since.

[LutherDestroysTheGond | 690]

I started collecting more than gaming in 2014 when I got my first job with my college degrees.  Just not enough time to play it as I acquire games.  I started my collection as a child so the pre-2000 answer may be more accurate.  I still game when I can but other priorities like family, work, chores, home repairs/improvements, etc have made playing games less of a priority.  

[doner24 | 1,195]

1999 when I went to college. I signed up on eBay and started buying random lots of NES carts after coming back to my dorm from keggers. 

[Andy_Bogomil | 815]

Pre-2000 for me. 2010 when the scale tipped from playing to collecting then back around 2015. May buy an odd game here and there but haven't actively collected for a few years now. 

[pinandcartridge | 8]

I can remember when I was working on my undergrad around 2004, I walked into a shop near my local college and the kid at the counter was buying NES games for the store, and then re-buying them from the store to start his own inventory. At the time I thought that was weird because most Nintendo NES games we're DIRT cheap back then. He was convinced they we're going to go up in price substantially over time. 19 year old me scoffed at him. Surely this dude had no idea what he was doing.

19 year old me was an idiot lol : )

Just as he predicted, prices went up shortly thereafter.

[Reed Rothchild | 9,520]

I never understand the bitching about prices.  Video games are awesome, and worth the money.  It just took the rest of the world longer to figure that out and get on the same page with us 

Anyways, the fact that I had the largest Super Nintendo collection of anyone I knew, because I spent all of my money buying every game I could get my hands on, tells me I've been collecting since the beginning.

But I've been gaming since the beginning too.  Never stopped, never will.

So I guess I've spent my entire lifetime doing both.  And will continue to do so.

[Reed Rothchild | 9,520]

...I also think you shelf collectors are screwed.  Only a matter of time before most of you have some sort of "awakening" and sell off.  Mark my words 

[OptOut | 8,883]

14 hours ago, Reed Rothchild said:

...I also think you shelf collectors are screwed.  Only a matter of time before most of you have some sort of "awakening" and sell off.  Mark my words 

Wait, how are they screwed? Because the one thing we know about video games is that they have gone up... So, anyone with a thousand or more games on their shelves right now are bound to have more value sitting there than what they spent on them, right? 

Who's getting screwed?

[fcgamer | 4,723]

15 hours ago, Reed Rothchild said:

...I also think you shelf collectors are screwed.  Only a matter of time before most of you have some sort of "awakening" and sell off.  Mark my words 

Yeah I'm doubly screwed I guess.

Actually I think there's still a lot of growth in the stuff I primarily collect, especially when I'm manufacturing the growth

[Reed Rothchild | 9,520]

5 hours ago, OptOut said:

Wait, how are they screwed? Because the one thing we know about video games is that they have gone up... So, anyone with a thousand or more games on their shelves right now are bound to have more value sitting there than what they spent on them, right? 

Who's getting screwed?

Screwed as in you're going to give in to your wife and sell it all off 

[OptOut | 8,883]

18 minutes ago, Reed Rothchild said:

Screwed as in you're going to give in to your wife and sell it all off 

Oh, huh!

I mean, dude, we're talking shelf collectors here... The warm touch of female skin is alien to 90 percent of these people, I really don't think it's going to be a concern for most of em! 

[MasonSushi | 16]

I started collecting NES in summer of 94' The snes was rolling along well. I remember buying these games from $2-$5. The "expensive" games were $10-$15. I never saw or met another collector in person until 2000 or 2001. I can't remember the site now but we would go into this large chat like room and talk about what carts we had. This was before Mike released the first NES checklist. I remember going into game shops / pawn shops in 1996 and had people asking me whey I collected these old games that nobody wanted. Its was a great time to collect. To me, collecting became "mainstream" around 2006-2009 (when internet on cell phones became a thing). Then it went from good finds for cheap, to having to fight resellers at flea markets and garage sales. Also with the internet exploding, Garage sales and flea market venders, started asking for Ebay prices because they now knew with the internet, their games had a market and value. I wish current collectors could have experienced a time collecting that didn't involve having to do it all online and with reasonable prices for nice condition games. 

[Lynda Monica | 350]

I voted for the wrong thing as I didn't understand the question at first.

Edit: Sorry, I'm still confused. The poll is worded strangely as it asks three different questions, so I'll answer all three as I first read them.

"When did video games become collectables?" I think games in general became collectables to the mainstream around 2010, as that was the year that thirft shops dried up completely, and it was no longer easy to get old systems and games for cheap.

"When did you start building a collection?" I started hanging on to every game I bought with its box in 1998 when Pokemon Red came out. I loved the big artwork of Charizard on the cover, and from that point on I held on to all of my games for a very long time.

"When did you collect more than game?" That has never happened to me. I always buy a game with the intention to play and beat it, even if the reasons for buying a game are collection based.

For instance I picked up Tokyo Mirage Sessions and Xenoblade X because they're significant high profile Wii U games, and that appeals to my desire for a collection of the best Wii U games. Yet a rare game like Devil's Third wouldn't do the same for me, as I'd consider my collection worse to have an unarguably bad game in it.

I've always bought games with the purpose of playing them, but the collector in me opens my options to popular games I might normally skip due to personal preference.

Edited June 17, 2022 by Lynda Monica

[360collector | 289]

I agree Lynda it seems OP had a stroke while creating this poll