Sometimes I like to think of myself as a reformed collector. None of the rooms in my house bear any resemblance to a forgotten branch of Gamestation anymore and my consoles hide quietly behind the doors of a TV cabinet, or sit snugly in their original boxes in cupboards.
Growing older, of course, has played a part – convincing your wife of the aesthetic values of an unboxed pile of Super Nintendo cartridges when weighed against fresh flowers and different sized glass bottles is a burden best avoided. Yet there’s no getting away from the fact that I still own hundreds of games. Across various digital accounts with a number of different companies, these games, or their licenses in most cases, belong to me. There’s no physical product there to look at, no dodgy PAL release artwork, nor worn boxes and manuals, but they are there and I’m still collecting them.
I still remember the first copy of C+VG I ever bought, probably swayed by the X-Wing on the front, and the wonder I felt leafing through page after page of computer game images despite not owning any of the featured systems. Games, and game consoles, were an unbelievable luxury to me, and while I had a much loved Atari 2600 with Mario Bros. and a 52 game cart, I was always captivated by the consoles and games my friends had, with Amigas and Megadrives and games like Street Fighter 2 and Turrican. It’s here that my love of games and compulsion to have them was born.
It was the sad loss of my grandfather that actually led to the start of my game collecting, as with a portion of my inheritance I was allowed to buy both a second-hand Megadrive and a Super Nintendo. Gaining two systems at once was indicative of my future obsession, and as they both came with a number of games, I’d instantly started a collection.
I don’t think I’m alone in taking pride in a shelf lined neatly with game boxes, perhaps ordered alphabetically, or maybe by genre, but as a boy it was to some extent a new found wealth, a visible wealth, that I’d never experienced before. The fact that each of these games opened myriad worlds and introduced hundreds of characters made them seem all the more incredible and utterly vital.
From a literal point of view, gaming is an obsession for me. If you’re reading this then the likelihood is that it is for you too, though as with everything there are differing degrees. I have to wonder whether the collecting aspect of it is, or at least was, an entirely separate obsession all of its own.
As my collection grew, the gaming experiences provided by each game diminished in some ways, as the box condition and inclusion of a manual became more important, as opposed to the game’s quality. My two primary collections, for the Sega Saturn and Sega Dreamcast, were certainly home to some of the most important games of my life, from NiGHTs into Dreams to Guardian Heroes and Metropolis Street Racer, but I also filled my shelves with licensed dross like the Street Fighter Movie and Dragonriders: Chronicles Of Pern.
The key thing is that the buying and ownership of the games outweighed playing them, and there have been many that I’ve owned without ever having the intention of playing let alone actually doing so. Even now, with most of my physical collections sold long ago, I am still buying a lot of games, and while I do now intend to play them, I lack the time. I’ve collected digital versions of games that would probably serve me for the next two or three years of my life, and I keep adding to this new collection. I’m not alone in this.
It’s become normal practise to own a “pile of shame”, a collection of games we’ve bought but never got around to playing. They’re probably not essential titles, most likely just a passing interest you grabbed when on sale in Game or on PSN, but they’re there, ready to be called upon at a moment’s notice. Perhaps they are a comfort, or perhaps they indicate that we’re all hoarders at heart, building our metaphorical pile of gold to curl up on.
I wonder whether I am simply a gaming shopaholic, as after a hard day’s work, I’m just as likely to fire up the PlayStation Store to browse new additions and offers as actually play a game. I have friends with huge piles of boxed titles, many left unplayed but bought as an investment in future gaming time. In my experience, that time is unlikely to ever come, and there’s always newer, more exciting content to override the existing collection. The wealth of content added by PlayStation Plus only adds to the problem. How much of that content goes unplayed?
In some ways, those digital titles now carry just as much meaning as the physical ones of my youth. They’re not so much a sign of monetary wealth, but still a badge of honour that shows where my passions and interests lie. They are there if the mood takes me to replay the Mass Effect trilogy, or return to the world of Burnout Paradise.
The only worrying factor is that we don’t know what will happen to these digital titles as time passes. Will there still be servers with my PlayStation 3 content in 30 years? We already know that multiplayer servers have a finite lifespan, so older games are increasingly losing their original complete form. Physical formats can degrade over time, but so can digital ones, just in a different but no less detrimental way.
The next generation is becoming the current generation, and brings with it a renewed focus on digital content. For those of us obsessed with gaming past, present and future, you have to wonder how long that content actually remains available to us in its complete form. Perhaps they’ll disappear and I’ll be collecting PS3 discs in thirty years time, but then, will those day one patches still be available?
Galgomite
Yep, I’m there with you. Nostalgia must release some sort of special endorphin in my brain, something addictive. When I was a kid, and all this was new, I had no emotional attachments to this stuff. I sold my NES for a Genesis. I sold my Genesis for a PSX, and so on. I’d say it was right around when I got to college and discovered eBay that something changed, and I needed to repurchase every game I ever owned. That didn’t take long, and before I knew it, I was buying up stuff I didn’t even like (Saturn, 32X), because… why? At this point I own every system and game that I should sanely want, and I play games less than ever. I don’t want to know what that means.
Galgomite
BTW Dominic, for the last few years I worried that game patches, etc. would render even physical media unplayable in 20 years. (Especially considering I’ve had a 360 and 4 PS3s break on me.) But the retro gaming community has been so vigilant and reliable up to now that I’m confident all these games will play just fine.
bunimomike
Good god, Dominic! That’s quite the…umm… habit you have there! I love that Collector Maniac sounds so much like kleptomaniac. :-)
lambchop
I’m rather proud of my collection of Every Dreamcast game released in UK,and I did have everything on NeoGeo Pocket Color at one time but I daren’t collect any more it could get addictive…….
Zimsalabim
Hi, Dominic
I know where you’re coming from! My collection of boxed games stretches to over 300 across all formats, of which a good half remain wrapped. Shameful. In past years though, I’ve restricted myself to never spending more than a tenner on boxed games, and even then, titles should have scored at least an ‘8’ in an EDGE review. By the time titles get down to that price, I’m usually looking at cracking deals on the likes of ShopTo, etc, or ‘GOTY’ editions including all DLC that, if I’d jumped in early, I might’ve been tempted by.
Yet here I am, wincing every time I gaze at the ‘Shelves of Shame’… The habit might be controlled, but who am I really kidding?
tactical20
Ha ha! Love it! I’m a collectoholic too, but I’m embarrassed, so tend to hide it all away. Games all get put in a cd wallet thing, and the boxes go up in the loft/under the bed. My vinyl collection is the most intrusive though. It has it’s own room (been spending £20-50 a week for the last 20 years) and my trainers are getting out of hand too. 100+ pairs (most never worn) take up the majority of the box room along with the wife’s shoes. Need to eBay a ton of stuff, especially as the house is getting overrun with toys for our one year old. Either that or buy a bigger house! What I’d say to anyone thinking of starting a collection is to collect expensive things. That way you don’t end up with HUGE collections that take up loads of space.
Youles
“Games all get put in a cd wallet thing, and the boxes go up in the loft/under the bed”
YES!! It’s not just me!! We must protect the boxes!! :)
Youles
I have a terrible habit of buying games – I have loads!! I’m a sucker for Special/Limited Editions too, but I would say I only buy games that I like or think I would like. I certainly don’t collect games I don’t have any intension of playing.
I also have multiple copies of some games as I’ve bought the GOTY editions – sometimes to save HDD space on the DLC and other times just because it’s convenient to have the DLC on disc; or because it’s a cool GOTY edition.
I did tell myself I would be “tighter” with my purchases this gen, as my kids are getting older anyway and my gaming time is getting less. Also, it makes sense to make the most of PS+ this time around!
simplebob
Brilliant article, think I’ll have to bookmark this in case my wife ever complains about my collection. I have a SNES and boxed games in the cupboard under the stairs, various PS1, PS2, PS3, Wii and Gamecube games in the living room and PSP, PS3 games in the bedroom including several collectors editions taking up a bit too much room (GoW, GT5, Bioshock2 etc). Keep thinking about cutting down the collection but never get round to it.
blast71
I know what you mean. In my spare room I’ve got about 200-300 VHS films but no longer own a VHS player! Plus about 3000 CD’s, and about 100 vinyl LP’s & cassette’s. Also I’ve been collecting 2000ad & Judge Dredd comics for the best part of 30 years. Rapidly running out of room to fit it all. HELP!
blast71
Also, my bedroom is getting snug, 400+ DVD’s & 50 odd Blu-ray films. Then there’s about 80 PS3 games. I have a problem…
Crazy_Del
Great article Dominic, kinda brings a smile to me there lol. I have just recently turned my spare room into a gaming room along with all collectibles.
I still have Sega, SNES, PS1, PS2, PS3, Xbox 360 PSP, PSP Go PS Vita and PS4. I wish I did not sell N64 :( loved some of the games like Goldeneye, Super Mario 64, Duke Nukem.
I still got all the games including Time Crisis guns and SNES Rocket launcher thingy lol
I am collector although GAME messed up my inFamous Collectors and was stuck with Limited Edition instead *Shakes fist*
I have far too many good games including PS3 as they are too good for a trade/sell and would like to play again in few years time…. maybe 10 years xD
I have kept them as I cannot see myself buying a new console in 20 years time (PS6?) So instead I’ll just replay all PS3/4 and older titles.
Now I rarely due to a new business and hopefully it’ll go well then I can start buying ridiculous special edition without a worry :)
All this talk of collectibles and games, going to McDonalds tomorrow to get a Happy meal just to get a Gaming toy! :P