An event so enjoyed by my Beloved and I that we plan half a year in advance and spend the whole day getting the most out of it.  It is mainly a vendor event, but it also has arcade and pinball tables set to free play, old PCs and consoles set up for fun, tournaments and competitions for prizes, and a Chinese auction spread throughout the day.  We've been going for over a decade and have yet to be disappointed.

This year was particularly memorable for several reasons.  We nabbed five (!!) more NES games for our set, over 50 PS2, GC, and Xbox games for a buck apiece, several C64 and Bally Astrocade carts, more systems and parts for our Xbox LAN (yay original Halo LAN!) along with lots more goodies.  We got to reconnect and chat with several convention buddies, and we tried Colombian cuisine for the first time, which was absolutely delicious.

Also, for the first time I found myself in a pseudo-argument with a gentleman selling me a game.





Because I have the memory recall of an amnesiac goldfish, I can't recall the exact conversation verbatim, but here's the gist;

Me: Oh cool, I don't have this game for Atari 7800.  Do you have a loose copy, or just this sealed box copy?
Vendor: Nope that's all I got.  I'm letting it go for cheap, though, it's only $12.
Me: That's a good price, but I'd almost rather let it go to someone who wants to collect sealed games.
Vender: That's all I got.  You want it?
Me: Yeah, I do, thanks.  (hands over $12.) I always feel a little bad knowing someone may be looking for this sealed when I'm just going to go home, open it, and play it.
Vendor: (eyes furiously burrowing a hole through my skull via angry willpower) DO NOT TELL ME YOU ARE GOING HOME AND OPENING THAT.
Me: (uncomfortably adjusting to new hole in skull) Do, uh, you want it back?  I really am planning on taking it home to play it.  If you know someone who'd rather have it-
Vendor: (recognizing psionic rage must be kept intact to continue business in public settings) No, no, you bought it.  It's just beyond stupid for you to go home and open it.
Me: I have to disagree.  I mean, you're here to sell games, and so we're looking at this differently, and I respect that.  But to me, one of the greatest tragedies in video gaming is a sealed game.  That's a game that has never fulfilled its primary purpose, which is to entertain, to play, to be enjoyed.  To put it on a shelf and treat it like a rare object robs a video game of its reason to exist, and strips it of the primary difference interactive entertainment has over any other 'thing.'  I understand why someone would pay more for a game that has never been opened, because that guarantees its condition, to a degree.  But to set it on the shelf never to be played?  That's very sad to me.
Vendor: Yeah, well, don't tell me if you are going to go home and just open it.  That's just stupid.  The only reason that game's valuable is because it's sealed.  Once it's opened, you just lost money.
Me: (trying to ignore my Beloved who is waving at the vendor through the new hole in my head)  Well, unless I'm spending that money to play the game and have fun.  Then I think it's worth it.
Vendor: It's stupid.  Just don't tell me if you plan on going home to open it.


I've had similar conversations with folks ever since sealed games became more of a 'thing' over the last few years.  And having worked in video game retail for a decade and a half, part of me understands.  The rest of me wants to take that part out back and rough it over, but still, I know basic economics.  In fact, for years I've considered setting up a vendor booth at CCAG and selling the doubles and extras we've acquired.


This year 'sealed' my decision not to get into the personal market of selling games.  And here's why;

If I were in the market to sell video games for money, then every game I look at would turn into a dollar sign.  I wouldn't look at Earthbound, Aero Fighters, or Metal Marines primarily as excellent SNES classics, but instead as games I'm looking to flip. 



I know the thrill of finding a copy of Secret of Mana at a pawnshop for $5.  I was excited because I had a buddy who never got to play it, didn't own a Wii for the eShop version, and I had a SNES in a box waiting to surprise him as a replacement for his childhood machine.  I try not to by materialistic, but if I'd have thought first about how much closer to a Beyond Shadowgate I could get by flipping that great find, I'd have struggled to give a good friend something he'd not likely get otherwise.

In fact, working game retail has revealed a sort of 'dark side' to how focusing on a game's monetary value changes folks.  I managed a mom-and-pop retro-focused video game store for several years, and when I first started working there, the owner was much like myself; enthusiastic about most kinds of gaming, willing to try just about anything, and enjoying the hobby in multiple ways.  As the years rolled on, however, he just began losing interest in gaming to play.  It started with apathy towards any newer games, and slowly spread until even the classics weren't much fun anymore.  There was some MMO action, but retro-themed gaming nights and LAN parties that were once such a source of incredible fun no longer held appeal.  The business focus and profitability aspect appeared to slowly seep away his enjoyment of video games in general.  Obviously there were multiple factors contributing, but I realized without a doubt in my mind that making video games a business destroyed his overall ability to enjoy the hobby as he once did.

Now as a small business owner whose livelihood is tied into seeing games as money, that naturally affected him differently than a gamer who makes profit on the side of gaming.  I hold out hope that Crabmaster and our fellow games-as-business entrepreneurs here at RFGen will not be affected the same way.  However, now that I've been working for a gigantic corporation whose primary business is used games, I've witnessed the same pattern in my co-workers over the years.  The part-timers are affected the least overall, but it does typically parallel that the more time a retail person spends around games-as-money model and less around the play-games-for-fun intent, their demeanor changes accordingly.  Not universally, but typically.  Most of my co-workers hardly play video games much anymore, with the occasional mobile or big budget release being the biggest exceptions.

As I reflected upon this trend, it reminded me of how metagame rewards once began taking away my play-for-fun gaming.  The more I became interested in achievements, the more it forced my gaming perspective and limited my enjoyment; for awhile I wouldn't even play non-360 games because it seemed needless to play something that didn't add to a meta-score.  After a year of intentional disconnection, breaking the 'chieve hunting' meant I enjoyed games much more thoroughly once again.

But Slackur, you're saying, does that new hole in your head whistle when riding a motorcycle, and also didn't you say you worked in gaming retail and still do?  Well, silly, I wear a helmet, so no.  Oh, about working in game retail; I buy, sell, and trade for the store, not myself.  Now I certainly pick up nifty stuff that comes through at discount, but I've been careful to place a professional wall of separation between work and home, and that includes my perspective on games.  It colors my perspective, sure; I have even less incentive to buy new when I see how quickly the value drops on a weekly basis.  It greatly helps to inform my purchases.  But if anything, working video game retail shows how fickle the entertainment market value is, and the importance of placing perspective on what I'm willing to spend.

I'm not going to blow $60 on a new game unless there's a special reason I want it out-of-the-gate.  It does happen; games I want to play with friends when it comes out, (Destiny, Evolve) games that won't quickly depreciate in value and several friends/family want to play together, (Smash Bros. U, Mario Kart 8 ) or even the occasional crazy Collector's Edition, (Sturmwind FTW!) but out of our collection, the vast majority was purchased at a steep, steep discount or special exception.  So while working in game retail for so long has indeed changed my take on gaming, I'm doing my best to reign it in toward the positive.

I'm not beyond basic psychology, though.  My enthusiasm for gaming flows on the same type of ebb and tide as anyone else's.  While I think I enjoy most aspects of video games as much or more as the average gamer, I'm not assuming I'm beyond the ravages of time or retail pressure.

But then that conversation with the CCAG vendor snaps me back to the now, and I recognize that my appreciation, respect, and overall enjoyment of the hobby is so entrenched, I'd rather open a nearly 25 year-old game and play it than worry about a video game losing value.

And I'm perfectly fine if you disagree.  Just don't stare a hole in my head when I tell you, cool?

   

Permalink | Comments [14] | Digg This Article | Tweet