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Fun Club "Collector" is just a nice way of saying "hoarder"

Oheao

Oheao

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Come on let's just admit. Video game collectors are just hoarders in denial. I say this as a videogame hoarder myself. I have way more games than I'll ever play and just keep buying more despite that fact, getting further and further from having any feasible way of playing everything.
 
this is true only if the things you're collecting are lame

your premise is wrong too-- you don't buy physical video games to play them you buy them to look cool on a shelf like books. you don't need to play them for them to have value as long as they look cool.
 
It was very nice of you to wait until after I got rid of my avatar of the Collector before you made this thread. 🤪
 
I collect multiplayer games to justify it and go out of my way to host them, so even if I don't play something immediately it'll get use eventually. I kind of cringe at people who collect unopened boxes but it's kind of uncool to call people hoarders, joke or not 🤔🤷
 
I collect games that I play. I own 1400+ physical games and I've played through ~95% of them so there's no waste and my completion rate's probably better than "non collectors."
 
Oheao said:
A neatly-arranged hoard is still a hoard.
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I don’t know, I think items being neatly arranged and accessible, a hobby that’s clearly giving joy in curating it, is very different from hoarding behaviour to be concerned about. Maybe we’re using different definitions here, but I used to know someone who hoarded and it wasn’t a nicely organised (but huge!) collection of media, it was meaningless stuff- piles of old papers, bags of stuff and broken clutter. Sure, they had hobbies, but it wasnt a collection, just boxes of stuff they could barely access amidst the rest of it. Cupboards full of out-of-date food, entire rooms inaccessible as the hoard takes over. They couldn’t let anything go to the point their home was dangerous for even them, and it required professional help and a lot of care and time for them to even begin to confront it.

That’s what I think of when I think ‘hoarder vs collector’. Having a whole room full of carefully restored arcade cabinets and shelves of games isn’t a hoard, it’s a hobby. It might be junk to someone else, but it’s still a collection that brings joy to the hobbyist. A garage full of broken equipment that’s a visable stressor on the owner but that they also can’t part with or even access as it’s under a layer of other clutter that keeps piling up? That’s a hoard.
 
Pixelknight said:
I don’t know, I think items being neatly arranged and accessible, a hobby that’s clearly giving joy in curating it, is very different from hoarding behaviour to be concerned about. Maybe we’re using different definitions here, but I used to know someone who hoarded and it wasn’t a nicely organised (but huge!) collection of media, it was meaningless stuff- piles of old papers, bags of stuff and broken clutter. Sure, they had hobbies, but it wasnt a collection, just boxes of stuff they could barely access amidst the rest of it. Cupboards full of out-of-date food, entire rooms inaccessible as the hoard takes over. They couldn’t let anything go to the point their home was dangerous for even them, and it required professional help and a lot of care and time for them to even begin to confront it.

That’s what I think of when I think ‘hoarder vs collector’. Having a whole room full of carefully restored arcade cabinets and shelves of games isn’t a hoard, it’s a hobby. It might be junk to someone else, but it’s still a collection that brings joy to the hobbyist. A garage full of broken equipment that’s a visable stressor on the owner but that they also can’t part with or even access as it’s under a layer of other clutter that keeps piling up? That’s a hoard.
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Yup. Hoarding/hoard definitely implies pathology and suggests that the stuff being saved is just any old random junk. Maybe these people would describe themselves as collectors but that doesn't mean the act of collecting is the same as hoarding. Again the same reasoning can be applied to books, and saying someone with a few shelves of books is a hoarder is obviously silly.
 
Brock Reiher said:
Yup. Hoarding/hoard definitely implies pathology and suggests that the stuff being saved is just any old random junk. Maybe these people would describe themselves as collectors but that doesn't mean the act of collecting is the same as hoarding. Again the same reasoning can be applied to books, and saying someone with a few shelves of books is a hoarder is obviously silly.
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Exactly , I think hoarding is just done more on impulse to get more things, without thinking how to use them.

IE A close friend is a hoarder, I definetly wouldn't call this mount of games a collection because he doesn't play them and doesn't do it with an objective other than "look!!!! I got these 20 nes games for 100 MX yesterday on the flea market" throws them in the floor

ZqdhCZe.jpg


And yes, thats how the room looks like, I helped him once to at least put them in boxes, but it was like this a week later
 
I know hardcore collectors who play all of the games they collect, but they're usually streamers who do it as a full-time job or very dedicated people who basically have zero hobbies or major life commitments outside of gaming. Or I guess they're in their older years and they just naturally accumulated a very large collection having played games for decades.
 
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ermitron2 said:
Exactly , I think hoarding is just done more on impulse to get more things, without thinking how to use them.

IE A close friend is a hoarder, I definetly wouldn't call this mount of games a collection because he doesn't play them and doesn't do it with an objective other than "look!!!! I got these 20 nes games for 100 MX yesterday on the flea market" throws them in the floor

ZqdhCZe.jpg


And yes, thats how the room looks like, I helped him once to at least put them in boxes, but it was like this a week later
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damn, there's some good stuff there too
 
Curated collections are where it’s at. A game played once, then sitting on a shelf for years is worthless. Just sell them, don’t be shy.

I do a „purge“ of my collection every 1-2 years, selling stuff I don’t care about anymore. That’s enough time to figure out if I‘ll play it again or not.
 
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I don’t want to be "that guy" because I know the thread is done in good fun.

but isn't hoarding an actual mental health condition? so if we have people not OK in calling our hobby as "OCD" related because it's insensitive to actually diagnosed folks I believe the same sensibilities could be considered here, just saying.

On Topic: I’ve said many times in the past and i already come to terms with it, but my hobby has changed to actually just buy and collect videogames , rarely playing them even more rare in finishing them, my dopamine fix comes by bolded words mostly nowadays, need to change that.
 
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Collecting is more a nice way of replacing the word backlog, a lot of collectors actually do act like hoarders, where as others, we actually do use the stuff and even keep it nice looking :p
 
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Phosphorescent Skeleton said:
Good example of the difference between a collector and hoarder. I only get stuff I'm interested in, even if I go overboard sometimes. This person clearly has a pathological problem and needs help.
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Agreed.
If it was Resident Evil 4 then perhaps a case could be made in their favor. But 6 is crossing the line.
 
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ermitron2 said:
Exactly , I think hoarding is just done more on impulse to get more things, without thinking how to use them.

IE A close friend is a hoarder, I definetly wouldn't call this mount of games a collection because he doesn't play them and doesn't do it with an objective other than "look!!!! I got these 20 nes games for 100 MX yesterday on the flea market" throws them in the floor

ZqdhCZe.jpg


And yes, thats how the room looks like, I helped him once to at least put them in boxes, but it was like this a week later
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multiple triggers

If those poor controllers haven't suffered enough, at least set the damn tv straight!

shudders

This is almost Iwata basement levels of concerning.
 
a real beauty of nintendo games keeping their prices is that it discourages hoarding mentality. not everyone is gonna blow 60 on a whim so ur library remains manageable unlike the people who have like 200,000 steam games.
 
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Video game collecting is your grandma’s porcelain elephants collection.

*looks over at my glass cabinet filled top to bottom with amiibo’
 
I'm just going to say, having to clean out my house after my parents passed has really changed my stance on collecting.

Having some stuff you really like for sentimental purposes, or because you're really a fan of an specific videogame series, it's fine. But accumulating stuff just for the sake of it becomes a logistics problem that might spam multiple generations super easily.
 
Tangerine_Cookie said:
I'm just going to say, having to clean out my house after my parents passed has really changed my stance on collecting.

Having some stuff you really like for sentimental purposes, or because you're really a fan of an specific videogame series, it's fine. But accumulating stuff just for the sake of it becomes a logistics problem that might spam multiple generations super easily.
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My father-in-law seems to have mostly collected extremely heavy furniture. I wish it was discs and carts in small boxes that fit in standard envelopes :D
 
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Not really

A hoarder is someone that just purchases without control

A collector has limits, and knows when his collection is finished.
 
I think the book comparison is interesting but leads me to a question: When somebody has 4 shelves full of books they've all read over the years, and they have them all physically because they just don't like using ebooks, is that a collector? Or just somebody who likes to read and has enough room to not throw them away? (especially when they re-read books). Now same thing but with games, does somebody immediately become a collector once they reach an unedifned amount of games? I feel like it's usually viewed differently with games but maybe that's just me?

I myself don't think of myself as a game collector at all, I just like actually owning the games so I can play them on OG hardware etc but I guess I do have "a colection" of games...?
 
jirou said:
I think the book comparison is interesting but leads me to a question: When somebody has 4 shelves full of books they've all read over the years, and they have them all physically because they just don't like using ebooks, is that a collector? Or just somebody who likes to read and has enough room to not throw them away? (especially when they re-read books). Now same thing but with games, does somebody immediately become a collector once they reach an unedifned amount of games? I feel like it's usually viewed differently with games but maybe that's just me?

I myself don't think of myself as a game collector at all, I just like actually owning the games so I can play them on OG hardware etc but I guess I do have "a colection" of games...?
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I’d just call someone with four shelves of books a reader. I’ve taken hundreds to the charity shops over the years (in the same way I trade in a lot of games) and never really thought of myself as a collector despite keeping the few bits of shelf space I have full of my favourites. I think there’s a difference between, say, if you look at a shelf and it’s a mix of tatty well-loved paperbacks of all kinds of stuff- it’s probably someone’s favourite books/authors or whatever. But if there’s a set of hardbacks, all the same editions, of a particular author or series, that feels closer to a small collection sitting within a larger group of just books. They clearly mean a little more to the owner than the others. I guess that’s a bit like where someone might have a random shelf of games but particular special editions of one particular series sitting in prominence.

I think there’s also an element where a paperback might still be readable 100+ years later, and they are cheap by design. But computer games require hardware to play and new copies are, on average, much pricier than books. On top of that, kids are (rightly!) encouraged to read a lot too. So often reading isn’t really seen as much as a ‘hobby’ as computer games are, although for sure it is the same thing for many people. Some people just read a couple books a year in the same way they might dabble with Mario Kart etc.
 
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Pixelknight said:
I’d just call someone with four shelves of books a reader. I’ve taken hundreds to the charity shops over the years (in the same way I trade in a lot of games) and never really thought of myself as a collector despite keeping the few bits of shelf space I have full of my favourites. I think there’s a difference between, say, if you look at a shelf and it’s a mix of tatty well-loved paperbacks of all kinds of stuff- it’s probably someone’s favourite books/authors or whatever. But if there’s a set of hardbacks, all the same editions, of a particular author or series, that feels closer to a small collection sitting within a larger group of just books. They clearly mean a little more to the owner than the others. I guess that’s a bit like where someone might have a random shelf of games but particular special editions of one particular series sitting in prominence.

I think there’s also an element where a paperback might still be readable 100+ years later, and they are cheap by design. But computer games require hardware to play and new copies are, on average, much pricier than books. On top of that, kids are (rightly!) encouraged to read a lot too. So often reading isn’t really seen as much as a ‘hobby’ as computer games are, although for sure it is the same thing for many people. Some people just read a couple books a year in the same way they might dabble with Mario Kart etc.
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Hmm yeah I get that. I guess I collect Dragon Quest games based on your description, but everything else I just own. Though I do own the Dragon Quest games specifically so I can play them it was important to me that I have all of them. Thanks for your thought-out response!
 
I think if you're still buying physical books instead of borrowing from library, using ebook, or using audio book you're definitely coming from the same place as someone who wants to buy an authentic copy of a game boy game.

Barnes and Noble survived the pandemic thanks to people buying books with their favorite political figure on the cover to put in the background of their zoom calls for example
 
Brock Reiher said:
I think if you're still buying physical books instead of borrowing from library, using ebook, or using audio book you're definitely coming from the same place as someone who wants to buy an authentic copy of a game boy game.
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I think that depends on why you’re still buying them. I mean, I like paperbacks because I already look at a screen all day between my computer and my phone, so I like the tactile nature of them. I do still buy ebooks too as they are vastly cheaper, but I do like to have a couple of paperbacks lying around too just to give my eyes a break from screens.
 
Tangerine_Cookie said:
I'm just going to say, having to clean out my house after my parents passed has really changed my stance on collecting.

Having some stuff you really like for sentimental purposes, or because you're really a fan of an specific videogame series, it's fine. But accumulating stuff just for the sake of it becomes a logistics problem that might spam multiple generations super easily.
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I'm sorry for your losses.
And I agree, been sorting through all my Dad's stuff, feels like a Herculean task sometimes.
 
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Pixelknight said:
I think that depends on why you’re still buying them. I mean, I like paperbacks because I already look at a screen all day between my computer and my phone, so I like the tactile nature of them. I do still buy ebooks too as they are vastly cheaper, but I do like to have a couple of paperbacks lying around too just to give my eyes a break from screens.
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I have a sizable paperback collection, and my excuse is they look cool on the shelf and I look cool reading them on the train.
 
In all seriousness. I don’t really collect per se. I buy games that I want to play or that seem interesting and plan to giving a shot or that I always wanted to but never got around to it. I never sell my games really anymore since in my not in high school or college and have the money for new games as is, so I guess it became a collection. I have old games, like Saturn and GameCube, but I already had those from back in the day. They are currently in a box until one day I find room for them and manage to figure out a way to hook up my consoles without it looking like shit on my tv.

Every once in a while I do find a cool older DS game I always wanted to play and I will buy it, like the Crono Trigger remaster for DS which I got only a few years ago for 20 bucks brand new.

I tried collecting once, but I stopped. What’s the point? I’m going to keep buying only games that interest me and they just organically become a collection I guess, so in that sense, I buy almost all first party Nintendo games.

What I am ending up doing, and since it is my favorite series of all time, I’d start a very narrow collection. Legend of Zelda.

I started slowly re-purchasing Zelda games I now longer have anymore. For example, last month I picked up Phantom Hourglass and Spirit Tracks. Sometime soon I’ll pick up both NES games, since they are pretty inexpensive even with the manual.

So my goal now is just to have every Zelda game released physically. The only actually expensive ones are the GameBoy and GameBoy Advance entries, but, the Japanese complete in box versions are cheap, so I’m just going to pick those versions up instead (they have superior box art to the American releases anyway).
 
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eli said:
There are no good collections.
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That's not true. Family photos are collections, so are houseplants and other decorative house-items, and so is a personal library of books. If you want to stretch the definition so are clothes and notebooks and tools and jewelry and so on.

Collections are fine as long as they enhance life or simplify it, and as long as they improve our well-being and our ability to function.

It's ultimately a question of utility: The problem starts when we have to make big compromises just to gain small benefits. Filling an entire room with stuff you hardly ever use is probably pushing that limit.
 
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If you really want to equate having a physical collection with a disorder then I suppose owning any physical games (or even consoles) would count as well since basically everything can be emulated on PC now
 
This thread moving in the direction of consumption in general reminds me of something my father used to always say: "to live is to deprive others." Not only is there no ethical consumption under capitalism, there is no ethical consumption at all. For everything that I have, someone else has not.
 
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