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After pulling out and starting to re-organizing the multitude of games I possess, I asked myself, what started this bout with borderline hoarding on my part? Can any of you remember the moment you decided to collect instead of just playing? What circumstances started your collection? Do any of you regret this decision?
This thought has brought to my attention many questions, but I think it would be safer at this time to generalize
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"Can any of you remember the moment you decided to collect instead of just playing?"
I find this statement funny because the reason I collect is specifically to play. Everything in my gameroom, with a few exceptions, has been or will be played before to long.
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@Crabmaster2000:
Same mentality here. Although I don't get to play everything I purchase, it's purchased with the intent of myself or someone else playing it. Very rarely do I purchase something just as a collection piece.
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I only collect what I'll someday play.
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I collect to play for the most part. Though admittedly, there are times when I purchase something just because it is a good price and I want to increase my collection. I am very early in my collection process, so I figured I would start out with games I actually want to play. Then, if the itch to increase my hoarde persist, I will move on to other games that I might not have as much interest in.
And the only regret I have ever had is the games I used to own and foolishly sold in my younger days.
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I've been gaming all my life and had always saved my old games (with a couple exceptions), but I started actively collecting one day after High School, I had stopped at a random garage sale and found a box of NES games for $5 or $10, so I bought them in order to relive some classic gaming of games I had never owned as a kid. It turned out a couple games were "rare" (rare for a newbie collector, I've since realized they're not so rare) so I thought it'd be fun to see what other rare games I could find, and it just snowballed from there.
Do I regret that decision? Well, I've lost countless hours to the hobby that probably could have been better spent. I've spent a lot of money, and I now have a huge ball and chain attached to me when I move. But, I've also had a ton of fun with the hobby, made some great friends, and I like to think that I've helped to spread my (and other's) knowledge around so that others can be more informed.
So, I may not always be happy with the decision I made to start collecting, but I certainly don't regret it.
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Believe it or not I kept almost all my game boxes when I was a kid and growing up with a SNES. A lot of stuff in my collection, especially the cartridge titles, that have the box and manual were games that I got as a child and just kept.
I had the collector's mentality long before I was a collector, unfortunately before I got into RPGs though.
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I agree with Rajaat. I used to collect anything and everything video game related, but once I realized that I'll never have the time to play all of it, I decided to thin out my collection to the stuff that I really want to play. Right now, my total game count is about half of what it used to be, but I don't regret a thing.
As for regretting collecting, no, I don't. I regret some purchases that I've made, but I'm sure that we all have at some point. I enjoy video games and all their history and trivia. I really enjoy the hobby, and it keeps me from being bored. 
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@Crabmaster2000: In Boshamp's defense, he did ask when "you decided to collect instead of just playing," which implies that you're not necessarily sacrificing playing for mere collecting. you can do both. Although I'll concede that the time devoted to one will definitely eat into that of the other. Hopefully, one can find the right balance.
@Shadow Kisuragi:Although I don't get to play everything I purchase, it's purchased with the intent of myself or someone else playing it.
That's pretty much my attitude. 'Course, it can get a bit frustrating when one have a mile-high stack of stuff one intends to play, and little free time to play it.
Very rarely do I purchase something just as a collection piece.
I'm pretty much the same way, especially with tie-in merchandise. Unless it's something rather rare or neat-looking to me, I'll give it a pass.
As for myself: I'll be chronicling the moment I went all-out in a future blog. It is a tale of triumph, tragedy, and regrets... for real.
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I've always been collecting something--rocks and seashells, when I was a kid. When I got an income of my own, as game prices began to drop, moving into game collecting was pretty natural. I was actually rather surprised to discover that it was possible to buy games faster than you could play them.
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It's always been in my nature to preserve things, and games were my first hobby. I kept most of the games from my childhood, and generally built my collection through games I bought and played. As I got older, it turned into fun to be on the hunt for games, even ones that I didn't intend on playing, or playing very little. It's the entertainment of finding great deals, picking up interesting items, and learning more about those finds. It's also fun to share the hobby with friends, and swap finds and stories.
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@Duke.Togo:
The hobby is more for documentation, preservation and history than collecting for me, honestly. Why else do you think I'm here at all hours of the day if possible? 
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@Shadow Kisuragi:Why else do you think I'm here at all hours of the day if possible? Grin
A complete and utter lack of a social life?
I can relate...
,,,all too well. 
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@pdrydia: I fit that mold. I was always collecting something. From childhood, the one fairly constant collection was sports cards, although I was a video game player the entire time and still have my first self-owned system - Atari 7800. Oh, and I always collected autographs. Cards very fun during the 80's till the market was diluted so much that I couldn't even get all the cards from my favorite players every season without spending a fortune. So I tossed that aside around the mid 90's, while I was in the military although I collected CD's for my DJing jobs at the time. Around 2002, I went back to cards and escalated to sports and music memorabilia. Since then I built quite a great collection. Every time I can; I get a band, actor, athlete to sign a baseball for me. It is one item that everyone enjoys placing ink to and I have some rare ones (Drowning Pool w/ Dave, Quiet Riot w/ Kevin). At some point with the highly expensive cost of just the base cards these days, that values fluctuate like the dog's water dish, and the fact that the price guides are completely full of crap and have lost their honesty; I stopping buying cards and concentrated on organizing them for storage. I started collecting games last year, kind of by accident. I was looking around on eBay for an idea of what an old robot radio I was willed from my grandfather was worth, and I was thrilled to see an Atari Touch Me on the screen. For those not familiar, it is essentially a smaller version of Simon. So, I bought it, loved it, wanted another handheld, and another, and here we go!!! Then I moved to home consoles against every attempt to ignore the drive. The thing that shifted my attention from game player to collector was really sites like this one. Everyone is helpful, supportive, and informative. This is definitely not the way I felt while collecting cards, comics, coins, books, or anything else. I have always loved the idea of collecting, and really enjoy someone saying, "Wow, where did you get that?" but game collecting is so much more fun because you get to play(with) what you buy. A $1 game could entertain for 100 hours. That's better than looking at cardboard. I know this may be far more than anyone would expect to read, but I have had a blast. But I may never catch up on the games I already own...
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Wow, I didn't expect the thought to expand so greatly, but I am very excited it did!
@Zagnorch: You elaborated more on my question and seem to have found the right way to say what I was thinking, I have been known to be terrible with translating my thoughts into the right words, and I thank you for doing so.
Really, I think my thoughts stem from my gaming habits compared to others in my life. I am the only one who seems to want to keep these games once I am done enjoying them, others will trade them in or sell them in some fashion, (or in many cases lately, give them to me to add to my collection once they finish). I have in many cases pulled a game out several times to play it over the years, but others for whatever reason seem to hold no reason to retain games for future play.
Looking into the responses, I believe I found the answer to my question, that collecting games has many beginnings, but provides common ground for us no matter why we started to keep them in our possession.
Also, another question that came to me before has been addressed, and as such, I will open another blog to discuss it.
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