Collection tracking software?

[Malygris]

Greets. I'm new.   

Does anyone have any suggestions about good collection tracking software? I've been digging around for awhile and I've found a few, but nothing that really fits the bill perfectly. I tried Game Collectorz (from Collectorz.com) and it's brilliant, but I'm not paying 40 bucks for it. (And before anyone suggests it, I don't do the piracy thing, so that's out, unfortunately.) I've spent a few hours playing around with GCstar, which looks interesting but has so far proven impossible to even install. (It requires external Gtk and Perl dependencies, some of which are refusing to fully install on my system. And people wonder why nobody takes Linux seriously.) I was obviously checking out the online options here, but I think I'd really prefer something "local," since I have a very bad dialup connection, and I'm also looking for a bit more detail in the information I want to store than it looks like the online tools here can offer. A spreadsheet in OpenOffice may be my best bet, it's certainly a front-runner, but I was hoping for something a bit more elegant.

So, that's my long story. Any suggestions from anyone?

[Ghost Soldier]

Welcome to RFgen.  This was copied from a thread over at AA  here is the info

Fair warning: If you don't have a GMail or other Google account, this tip may not be as useful to you. However, GMail has open registration now, so you can always open an account.

As most of you are aware, Google has released a mini office-suite in the form of Google Docs. This suite includes a pared-down Word Processor and a basic Spreadsheet program. If you're looking to replace your existing copy of MS Office or OpenOffice with it, don't even bother. However, it does have some redeeming qualities.

Specifically, Google's Spreadsheet application is an ideal method of cataloging and/or sharing a list of your collection. While it doesn't have as many features as Excel or OpenOffice, it does have several that make it more useful:
Share your spreadsheets with certain people or everyone!
Collaborate on improving the data. You can even chat about it in real time!
Your data is automatically managed and backed up by Google's servers.
Import your existing Excel Spreadsheet (Though you may have to redo charts)
Export the data to a variety of formats including Excel, OpenOffice, PDF, CSV, and a plain-ole' text file
Simple interface makes it easy to format the data
Revision Tracking allows you to go back in time
Ability to "publish" specific snapshots as publicly viewable documents
Easy to resort your data.
Auto-saving prevents your work from being lost because of a crash.
I've temporarily shared out a sheet I'm working on to give you guys an idea of what it looks like:

http://spreadsheets.googl...key=p1J...XBcMyzgCC_KCiMw

If you don't have a Google account, you can see the "published" version here:

http://spreadsheets.googl...key=p1J...XBcMyzgCC_KCiMw

Some possible uses I see for this:
Keep track of all your games by system (obvious)
Import your existing spreadsheet to share your collection with others. If you want to "sanitize" the data, you can always delete the columns you don't want others to see. (e.g. Price paid, estimated value, seller, etc.)
Share a wishlist of games with friends, family, and neighbors. (e.g. I've been sharing out a wish list of Wii games I want.)
Get a pretty PDF list of your game related data. (e.g. A classic game wish list to take with you to the MGC.)
Track classic game prices, and even collaborate with others on gathering the info.
Any more ideas on what this could be useful for?

To create a sheet like my example, follow these steps:
Create a new Google Sheet and give it a name to activate auto-save.
Rename the tab to the system you want.
In row #1, create a few header items.
Highlight your header items and set the text to bold, background to black, and foreground to white
Start entering data on line 2. If you run out of rows, right click and select "Insert Below"
Click on the "Sort" tab.
Freeze the top row to prevent it from getting sorted. This will also allow it to repeat on each page if you print it or export it to a PDF.
Click on a cell in the column you want to sort by. The text in the toolbar should reflect your selected column. (e.g. "Sort by Column A")
Click on "A-Z" to sort in ascending order.
Click on "Add Sheet" and repeat for the next system.

[Tan]

There's also a "Print Current List" link at the bottom of the page. You can make your collection here printer friendly and print the entire list sorted a variety of ways or by system if you choose. 

[Tynstar]

I use this site and Excel.

Dial up? Whats that?   

[Malygris]

"Dial-up" is a relatively unknown level of Hell reserved specifically for computer geeks.

Thanks for the suggestions. I keep thinking that there's gotta be something out there perfect for the job, but the more time I spend looking for it, the more I suspect I'm going to end up using this site and a spreadsheet myself.

[Fuyukaze]

Dial-up is the reason I hate humanity.

That said, I'd still sugest using an online site (this one's cool to!) in adition to online spread sheets.  Myself, back when I was still using dial-up I did my entire collection using it on IGN.  It took over 2 weeks just to do over 300 games, but it got done.  On a side note, I also got a good laugh at their collection value.  If I could sell my collection then for half they valued it at, I'd have done it in a flash.  I wonder what they'd say of it now that it's nearly 4x what it was then?  Excell will help some as it can go into greater detail for stuff like personal ratings of the quality of stuff in adition to more personal notes on each and and such.

[Tynstar]

"Dial-up" is a relatively unknown level of Hell reserved specifically for computer geeks.

With that kind of humor you will fit in fine here.

I suspect I'm going to end up using this site and a spreadsheet myself.

You make it sound like it is a bad thing to use this site.

[TraderJake]

...I'm also looking for a bit more detail in the information I want to store than it looks like the online tools here can offer.

The Black Perl will hate me for asking, but what do you desire in the collection tools in terms of information? I can't guarantee that what you desire can or will ever be added, but we do take suggestions. Perhaps you would like to make your desires known? We can't really consider it unless it is publicly desired.

[Malygris]

You make it sound like it is a bad thing to use this site.

Nah, that wasn't my intent. To be honest, I hadn't even consider using online tools. In fact, I didn't even know such a thing existed until a few months ago when a friend of mine from an irc channel showed me his list on a site somewhere. (Might've even been this one.)

As for what I want to track, most of it is fairly obvious - title, developer, publisher, genre, release year - but I'd also like to be able to track things like development team members (just the big ones, producer, lead programmer, lead artist, etc), media format, my own rating for the game, and obviously some kind of "notes" section where I can just enter whatever I want - like, Freespace 2 seal intact, or Ultima Underworld missing rune bag. I also want images of the front box cover, and ideally the rear cover as well.

The more I think about it, the more I think that one of the big appeals of doing this with a spreadsheet is that I can fairly easily add fields for different kinds of data as they come to mind. One thing that just came to mind, for instance, is a listing for what series or franchise each game belongs to - the Baldur's Gate games, say, or the Elder Scrolls games. With a spreadsheet, it'd be a simple matter of inserting a new column of cells and banging in the data.

(Which isn't to imply that I know anything about spreadsheets beyond where the shortcut to OpenOffice Calc is. I don't.)

A big stumper for me was the fact that I couldn't figure out how to insert images into a spreadsheet without them being big and huge, and throwing everything off. I wanted a system where the image would be there, but minimized within a normal sized cell; click the cell, the image maximizes, click it again (or a particular link on the image) and it reverts back to being "hidden" within the cell. Couldn't figure out how to do that, which was a pretty big negative (one of the things that led to my original post, actually) until I discovered I could insert standard hyperlinks into the spreadsheet instead. So now I'm thinking I can link to images either on a remote site like Mobygames, or possibly to a directory of cover images on my own system. Not a perfect solution, but I think it should work out well enough.

The big thing I like about the online tools here is the database. Entering all this information is a hassle, so being able to search out a game, click "add" and be done with it is great. I am a man who appreciates convenience. But I'm finding - and don't take this the wrong way, it's an observation rather than a fist-shaking criticism - that the database here is kinda spotty. In a wholly unscientific survey, I found that about half of the games I searched for (selected from what I could see from where I'm sitting) weren't in the database. And these are fairly high-profile games, too; neither System Shock title is listed, nor are most of the Elder Scrolls games. (Just Morrowind and Oblivion I think, but I could be wrong.) Which isn't END OF THE WORLD stuff, having half my games already listed is a whole lot better than none at all, but that's another reason I was looking for a Collectorz-style program: I want it ALL automatic.

And in case it wasn't obvious from the games I listed, I'm an exclusive PC gamer all the way, now and forever. Not that it's really relevant, but in case I ever make fun of anyone's console system (and I can pretty much guarantee that sooner or later I will), you'll know why.

[Tan]

As for what I want to track, most of it is fairly obvious - title, developer, publisher, genre, release year - but I'd also like to be able to track things like development team members (just the big ones, producer, lead programmer, lead artist, etc), media format, my own rating for the game, and obviously some kind of "notes" section where I can just enter whatever I want - like, Freespace 2 seal intact, or Ultima Underworld missing rune bag. I also want images of the front box cover, and ideally the rear cover as well.

We've got all that plus Part numbers, UPC codes, Controllers, ESRB ratings, reviews, overviews, screenshots etc etc. If you've got a game not in the database, fill out a game script for review by staff and it'll be added, it's just that easy. Here's an example of a complete page:

http://www.rfgeneration.c...nfo.pl?ID=U-076-S-03550-A

or this:

http://www.rfgeneration.c...nfo.pl?ID=U-055-S-00040-A

Your games can be as complete as you want them. Also if you choose detailed view when looking at your collection you can edit games to add personal notes and ratings.

I'm not trying to sell you on our services, they are here if you wish to use them. But you should fully explore the site first because you've probably missed a lot of it's features. 

[Malygris]

I've actually made five game submissions between my last post and this one. I'm definitely going to give the site a thorough shakedown. You're right, there's a lot here I haven't seen yet, but so far it looks pretty solid, System Shock aside.

When submitting games to the database, is there a certain minimum of information you require? For instance, if I didn't want to enter the UPC code for each (which would require me to get off my ass), is that a problem? (Yes, I did just skim the FAQ, thank you.)

[Tan]

Just add what you can when you can there's no pressure. When your ready to get heavy with the details you can submit a edit of the same page later on and add the missing info.

Most here concentrate on getting all of their games into the database first if they aren't already there, then swing back around later on and add scans, screen, reviews, pics of their gamerooms etc afterwards.

Don't forget that the database is filled by member info, so if there is a game missing it's because either no one here owns it or they haven't added it to their list yet. The majority of systems here have complete or near complete sections. PC game collecting is uncommon amongst most here that's why there are fewer PC games listed.

[Malygris]

I noticed pretty quickly that this site is very console-centric, but that's fairly common among game collectors. I suppose that level of dedication is more common among console gamers because consoles cater strictly to gamers, whereas the PC market tends to be more diverse. I also get the impression that a lot of PC gamers eventually grow away from gaming on the PC, usually as they become more casual in their gaming habits, and migrate to one console or another.

Since the database submission rules don't seem to be too overly demanding, I'll take your advice and just get the basic game information for now: the minimum information I'd want for my own collection. We'll see how it goes from there. How long does it typically take a database addition to be approved?

*edit: Oh. Not very long at all, I see.

[Tan]

It depends, the staff is here on a volunteer basis on their free time, it could takes minutes or several hours. 

[Lenneth]

Dial-up is the reason I hate humanity.

That said, I'd still sugest using an online site (this one's cool to!) in adition to online spread sheets.  Myself, back when I was still using dial-up I did my entire collection using it on IGN.  It took over 2 weeks just to do over 300 games, but it got done.  On a side note, I also got a good laugh at their collection value.  If I could sell my collection then for half they valued it at, I'd have done it in a flash.  I wonder what they'd say of it now that it's nearly 4x what it was then?  Excell will help some as it can go into greater detail for stuff like personal ratings of the quality of stuff in adition to more personal notes on each and and such.

yea, the unfortunate thing is you can't get a value next to each game, only in total so you can't tell which games are putting the valuation out of whack.
I still use IGN, mostly because thats where most of my collection is