Gaming has always been a large part of my life. I received my first gaming system: a Sega Genesis for Christmas in 1992 when I was 8 years old. I had no idea what a game system was, as I had never even seen one before, but once I got my hands on the controller and played Sonic the Hedgehog for the first time I was hooked. Flash forward 22 years to 2014 and things haven't changed; gaming is still a large part of my life but the collecting aspect is largely diminishing. I really got into collecting around 2005 or so. Almost like a light switch had been flipped and I transformed from a gamer to a collector overnight. My gaming habits had changed. I was no longer buying games to play, but buying them to collect. This was a very weird transformation. I was amassing large quantities of games, but I rarely played through them. Many were never played at all. I went on for years like this and it never really bothered me until my first son was born in 2010. When my son was born I realized that my hobby really wasn't sustainable anymore. Buying things just to have them didn't seem so tangible when money could be put to better use elsewhere. For a few years after my first son was born I found myself in sort of a collecting limbo. I found myself playing through more games but I was still buying more games then I could play. The reasonable part of myself couldn't handle this. I eventually found myself during this time period selling off parts of the collection or at least trying to. You see selling always seems easier than it really is. After spending years amassing a large collection I just couldn't find it in myself to let go of said collection. These items meant a lot to me but at the same time bothered me as they had become useless clutter in my eyes. In 2013 my second son was born and I also came to terms with my gaming and collecting habits wherein I combined them. To this date I no longer just buy games to buy them but I buy them to play them. At the same time though I do find myself keeping some of these games if I find them unique or having high replay value. I found myself on an amazing gaming journey over the years but now I feel as if I have found the perfect place for me as a hybrid gaming collector.
Posted on Jan 16th 2010 at 01:17:01 AM by (Barracuda) Posted under Swaptree
So I have been trading on Swaptree for some time now. I have done 30 trades so far with no plans on stopping.
--/--/-- - (Traded) for (Received)
01/06/10 - Fallout 3 (360) for Brutal Legend (360) 01/06/10 - Spongebob Squarepants Greatest Hits (CD) for Sid Meier's Pirates: Live the Life (Xbox) 12/19/09 - Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (360) for Disgaea DS (ND) 11/25/09 - My Sims Kingdom (NDS) for WTF: Work Time Fun (PSP) 11/25/09 - Star Wars Lego: The Complete Saga (360) for Sims 2 (NDS) 11/12/09 - Mass Effect (360) for Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon (NDS) 11/08/09 - Personal Trainer: Cooking (NDS) for Pokemon Diamond (NDS) 11/05/09 - Age of Empires: The Age of Kings (NDS) for New Super Mario Bros. (NDS) 11/03/09 - Mirror's Edge (360) for Super Mario Galaxy (Wii) 11/04/09 - Xbox Live Arcade Unplugged Volume 1 (360) for Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance (Xbox) 10/31/09 - Dead Rising (360) for Two Worlds (360) 10/01/09 - Petz Wild Animals: Dolphinz (NDS) for Professor Clayton and the Curious Village (NDS) 10/31/09 - Operation Darkness (360) for Ninjatown (NDS) 10/26/09 - Orange box (360) for Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance (NGC) & Baiten Kaitos Origins (NDS) (Trader sent the wrong game and let me keep both.) 10/14/09 - Turok (360) for Wario Ware: Smooth Moves (Wii) 10/08/09 - Dementium: The Ward (NDS) for Zenses: Ocean Edition (NDS) 05/15/09 - Super Money Ball Banana Blitz (Wii) for Zenses: Rainforest Edition (NDS) 05/13/09 - Super Mario 64 DS (NDS) for Lost in Blue 3 (NDS) 05/12/09 - Mister Slime (NDS) for Dementium: The Ward (NDS) 05/06/09 - Spore (PC) for Petz Wild Animals: Dolphinz (NDS) 05/06/09 - Just Cause (360) for Gears of War (360) (My only bad trade. The manual was missing, disc was scratched horribly, and plastic was falling off the case) 05/04/09 - Rayman Raving Rabbids (Wii) for Fish Tycoon (NDS) 04/29/09 - Virtua Quest (PS2) for Arc The Lad: End of Darkness (PS2) 04/14/09 - Half-Life 2 (Xbox) for Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel (Xbox) 04/07/09 - Nights Journey of Dreams (Wii) - Lost in Blue (NDS) 04/03/09 - Blade Runner (DVD) for Teach Yourself C++ in 24hrs (Book) 04/03/09 - Personal Trainer: Cooking (NDS) for N3: Ninety-Nine Nights (360) 04/01/09 - Cold Fear (Xbox) for Metropolismania (PS2) 03/31/09 - Rubik's World (NDS) for Army Men: RTS (NGC) 03/30/09 - Dead Head Fred (PSP) for Super Mario 64 DS (NDS)
Overall I don't think I did too bad. There were a few trades that I didn't make out so well on but that's the way it is. For anyone interested in a way to get new games on the cheap I would really recommend Swaptree.
