RF Generation Message Board

I think I am beginning to reach a point where I don't want to collect any more. I can walk in to a game store and see stacks of games, but nothing really appeals to me. My thoughts were to keep only those things that I have an attachment to and sell off the rest. Have any of you considered this? For those of you that only buy to play, do you ever get the itch to want to buy sets of things?

This is partially because we have some debt that I'd like to get paid down as well, but I really considered the fact that I have a bunch of stuff that really doesn't mean anything to me except that I have it.

Thoughts?

I've never had this thought myself, but if the hobby isn't fun for you anymore I can understand. I'll be interested to see where you go with this.

Don't get me wrong, I really love playing games. Maybe I'm just transitioning back to being more of a gamer. I also geek out over seeing awesome stuff in the stores/in the wild, but I just don't have the drive to want to buy it right now. I can't tell if it's just something where I'm feeling overwhelmed with other stuff and I want to sell this off to take care of the other or what.

I think everyone goes through phases, and if it were me I would just wait for some time before I made huge selling decisions. I always hate reading those threads by people that sold everything off and have decided to start in again.

Honestly, I'm in the same boat as you. Some days, I feel like I'm only picking up things to add to the collection instead of actually wanting to play them, and having things just sitting around the house does me no good. I've found, however, that selling off the items I'm not interested in and making my collection more streamlined has renewed some of my interest in both collecting and gaming. Find something that you've got a strong interest in, like Nintendo DS or Wii, and pick up titles in increments. However, PLAY the titles that you pick up, even if only for an hour, and you'll likely find that some of your interest will return.

Thats what I'd say too. Sit on the decision for a while before making it. If you do decide to sell though..... dibs!!

You'll still hang around rfgen if you decide to sell, right?

I've gone through phases of wanting to sell everything for a couple years. I'm a little different in that I haven't lost the interest in wanting to play everything I buy because as soon as I started collecting, it wasn't my intention to play everything, or even a majority of it. From the start I wanted to collect for the sake of collecting, similar to the way people collect baseball cards or coins.
The main reason I've wanted to liquidate it all is for the simple reason that this stuff takes up a ton of space (I guess that's why more people collect the much smaller baseball cards and coins). A couple years ago when I moved my game room just down the hall it was a major hassle that took several days. Moving it to another house some day will be a major hurdle. I'd likely have more space taken up by my game collection than all my other possessions combined.
But I guess the idea that I don't have it all and that I'd essentially be giving up on my collection is enough to not only keep from selling it all, but keeping me buying even more.

Sometimes a fun part of the hobby for me is helping others in their collecting goals. It lets me streamline parts of my collection that I am not as interested in, and build the smaller part that I enjoy. It also helps from getting that collecting for collecting sake feeling.

Maybe pick through each console and decide what games you want to sell because you won't play or have no interest in. Thats my suggestion, that way you won't regret selling your entire collection for the good games you would miss.

I really can't say much because I just got bit by the collector bug, but I agree with Duke Togo.  Don't get rid of everything until you're sure it's what you want to do.  Collecting is a big commitment, and so is liquidating it.

After doing some more thinking, I think the right decision for me is to not purely liquidate, but to do as Duke and others have mentioned and just consolidate to games I know I'll play as opposed to collecting just to collect.

And don't worry, Crabby, I'm not going anywhere!

Can wait for the list of what you're getting rid of. :)

I seem to go through this like twice a year, haha. I end up feeling overwhelmed with my collection and sell off a bunch of stuff I'm not into playing. Then a while later I feel and itch to collect again and buy a bunch more games I probably won't play. It's a vicious cycle.

The thing really boils down to the fact that I have SO much that I just realistically won't ever play. I have no emotional attachment to either the ColecoVision or the 2600. I think a lot of the thing is that I didn't have a lot of money or a lot of games growing up, so now I want to buy them all! That's fine, but I think that I'm at the point where I'd rather buy what I want to play and keep around only things that I really enjoy having, not just having everything to have everything.

Smart plan, Bickman. Bring it back to what interests you, and help folks complete their interests in the process.

I think having financial woes, major or minor, forces you to view your collection through the eyes of a non-collector.  For me at least, I sometimes fail to see the my love for collecting, and instead see the money spent.  As selfish as it may be, you have to realize that its something that you truly loved doing at one point, and attempt to consider whether its some other factor that's afflicting that love.

Streamlining seems to be a great way to re energize. 

I guess this is a point many collectors reach when their collections gets too big. The collection gets so big it becomes a hassle to manage, store, display, clean, ... and the joy of every additional game purchase diminishes greatly.

Slightly unrelated: but I remember seeing a clip on TV about a guy who collected Panini stickers (stickers you buy in little packs of 5 that you can collect and stick in albums) and the guy's entire house was filled with stickers. And this was a guy in his 50ies or 60ies. He spent so much time organising his collection he didn't even seem to enjoy the process. What struck me the most was he kept all stickers faced upside down, because sorting by numbers is faster than by pictures. So, in effect, he spent all his time sorting a bunch of numbers.

Most of us probably got into collecting because we enjoy playing games. When a collection gets so big it gets in the way of actually playing games, I think it's time to reevaluate where your priorities truly lie.

I'm in the same boat as you bickman.  I've been killing off my collection over the past year and a half, simply because I don't have any desire to play certain things anymore.  I became fed up with all the space that everything took up, and the fact that I wasn't enjoying the stuff, either.  Since then, I've managed to cut my collection down by probably 1000 games or so, but the process is long and arduous.  Although, I still feel the need to trim a bit more from my collection (even some of my N64 stuff).

Recently, I have only been buying games that interest me enough to actually want to play them, or games that I can resell to fuel my collecting habits.  I find this approach to be more fun than collecting itself, as I get to make money and have a collection of the greatest games for each console.

Whatever you do, take a few weeks to imagine how everything will play out.  For me, it was simply better to get rid of a ton of stuff.

i agree with the trimming too, get rid of variants and duplicates, and games you know are bad but you got just to have (unless they're super rare). you don't necessarily have to keep only games you know you'll be able to play, but keep the ones you know you'd be interested in playing someday...it's good to have it small enough to know you'll be able to play them all, but it's also nice to have some choice too.

By selling off a lot of my stuff it has made my collecting more focused.

Pshh.  Focus is for Jedi. lol

OK, I think I'll be heading to storage tomorrow morning so I can grab a few tubs of stuff to start testing and listing. Keep an eye out in the Buy/Sell forum for updates!

I think I've been in that mode since 2010, so I can sympathize.  I mean, I still feel the need to dig through crap looking for PC games, but for the most part piles of games for anything else doesn't phase me (unless it's on The List). 

Are you sure that you don't have the Collecting Blues?

this thread inspired me to go through my games and get rid of some duplicates and old pc games that i don't want anymore. i only managed to get rid of about 20 or so games though XD

Wow. I can't imagine having so much stuff that I have to keep it in storage. At that point, why even continue owning it? It obviously isn't getting played, or even looked at!

Eh, I'm starting to do the same thing. Gonna be moving out of state pretty soon. I may sell a few things myself to make for some space and some $$$.

The reason is that we have a small house. If I had a larger house, I'd have it all here and set up. That's not the case and also may be part of the reason I'm choosing to slim down now.