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We have all seen it. The Sell Off. Whether it be a relative newcomer to the hobby or a lifelong collector with rooms filled with decades of gaming memories, at some point, some people make the hard decision to sell their collection off. [img width=700 height=525]http://i.imgur.com/7YWeMyD.jpg[/img] This is done for various reasons, but it usually boils down to three categories (and there is even some overlap between them): 1-Serious Financial Trouble
2-Need a large sum of cash for a down payment (usually on a home)
3-Time to move on/No interest in collecting anymore
1-Serious Financial Trouble[img width=700 height=525]http://i.imgur.com/mmKpaid.jpg[/img] A sell off can happen for a variety of reasons. It could be irresponsible financial planning or the loss of a job. It could be an injury that takes you away from work with limited benefits or it could be that a loved one needs to be cared for so you take a break from your job because you have to. It could be identity theft. Life is funny like that, it keeps throwing things at you and you just have to deal with them as they come along. Sometimes even great planning isn't enough to avoid a financial hardship and at the end of the day, almost everything else in your life is worth more than a pile of video games, no matter how much you enjoyed them. We should keep all of these factors in mind when someone decides to sell off some or all of their collection. 2-Need a large sum of cash for a down payment (usually on a house)...
But it could also totally be for a Jet Ski[img width=600 height=440]http://i.imgur.com/Ei4GcOY.jpg[/img] Buying a home is a major milestone in anyone's life. Whether it is a house, condo, apartment, or trailer, homes cost money (and maintenance costs more). For those who aren't familiar with the home purchasing process, if you do not have at least 20% of the purchase price to put down on the house, you will have a PMI payment rolled into your mortgage. This is insurance that protects the bank in case you end up defaulting on the loan. That's right, when you don't have enough money to put a large down payment, the bank charges you more money because they are afraid that you don't have enough money. Anyway, homes are expensive. I don't blame a single person who makes the decision to sell off to be able to afford their home and not (completely) lose their shirt. 3-Time to Move OnIt's hard to let go of the past. High School quarterbacks don't want to let go of the times when they were idols. Aging actors and actresses don't want to leave the spotlight. None of us want to believe that our favorite band will never write another song. Things change and time keeps moving forward. Some people can hold onto the relics of their childhood forever, while others prefer to look forward to the future. Many of us enjoy a mix of the two perspectives. It may depend on how sentimental, nostalgic, or romantic we are. Saying goodbye can be hard but many times, it is necessary. In my case, My wife and I bought a house last year. We have an amazingly perfect son with another boy on the way this September. After much deliberation, and considering just how expensive kids and home ownership is...I've decided to start selling off parts of my collection. Does this mean that I won't be collecting anymore? No, certainly not. I'll still hit up the flea market every Sunday. I'll still frequent the forums. I'll still write blog articles. I'll still do the Collectorcast with Duke and Crabby (if they'll have me). I'll still play games and I'll still buy games. It just feels like time to make a shift in the way I approach gaming. The other part of the reason I am selling a whole bunch of stuff is that for a long time I have felt like I am spending more time shopping for games than playing them. I'd like to play games again. I think it makes sense to start with the parts that I will miss the least. Over the next few weeks I'll be putting together a list for "The Sell Off: Phase I". There are parts of the collection that I don't want to get rid of (at least not yet) and there are others that it would surprise you to find out that I would be willing to part with. In these final few weeks, I'm sure that more than a few games that I haven't played in forever will get fired up one last time before the long goodbye. It makes me happy that a lot of these items that have just been sitting here for months and/or years will be enjoyed by someone else. I was happy to acquire these things, I was happy to own them, and now I'm happy to pass them on. When you think about it like that, it's not really sad at all. [img width=700 height=525]http://i.imgur.com/sjGCJLb.jpg[/img] Could the beloved NES collection be on the block soon? The answer is: Not all of it...
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Nice article Bill! At the end of the day you have to do what is best for you and your family. Have you thought about buying a flashcart?
If you have a Darkwing Duck for the NES you want to part with let me know and good luck with you sale!
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I stopped being a collector a year or so ago. Since then I've realized that I enjoy the games I do play so much more. I still buy games - but mainly when I'm ready to actually play them. Doing this, I've found that I stick with a single game far longer and often see it through to the end, rather than constantly playing a bit of various games here and there. It's more rewarding for me big time.
That said... dibs on your big box PC games? :p
And seriously, good luck and good for you man. Not an easy decision. But I promise that purging your shelves of games you never play, and seeing the remaining smaller collection of just games you enjoy (plus money in pocket) is a good feeling.
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You and I are very much in the same boat. The money wasn't critical (but it is handy with a house, kids, jet skis...), but at a certain point, you have such a large mass of stuff that you have no ties to. It's just stuff to have stuff. I have no ties to the Atari aside from playing it a couple of times at a neighbor's house when I was a kid. But I have several consoles and a bunch of games collecting dust.
My purge (which is still going on... ugh...) is taking out stuff I don't want to play or simply won't play. But the SNES is my favorite console, so that stuff is staying.
I think I realized it was time when I would see something I didn't have, but didn't have the drive to buy it right away. The hunt was boring because even with 3000+ pieces of hardware and software, there was so much more out there to get and I didn't want it... Now, I have a goal in mind. I want to work on getting an SNES set. I can be more picky about how a cart looks instead of getting it just because I don't have it. Also, I can be on the hunt for others. I find a great deal of pleasure in being able to find something that another person is looking for. I can use what's at my disposal to help others in their collecting.
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I keep going active/ inactive on collecting more games. I am at my main goal ( all US released Sega Games for Sega Systems) but I still like to make mini goals, nothing as grand as my Sega stuff. @Addicted I have a CIB Darkwing I might let go for something close to its value 
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Great article, and some awesome responses as usual. I really like what Noiseredux said about being able to focus on a single title for longer.
I've been wrestling with the collecting thing for a long time now. Disposed Hero and I pm each other about it a lot.
The whole thing has really hit home with my move to Texas. When I think about the fact that my wife and I had to rent a two-bedroom apartment as opposed to a one-bedroom because we needed an entire extra room for my video games, honestly when I think about that, the only feeling I have is embarrassment. Paying the moving company cost us a fortune due in no small part to the fact that I had about thirty large boxes filled with games not to mention the shelving units to put them on. Furthermore, on my recent trip to see my wife, I spent a ridiculous amount of time setting up this room because I felt like I had to. Ugh, the more I think about it, right now, I'm disgusted with myself.
Meanwhile, you've all seen small-scores. I'm not stopping! Despite having my PS3 with over 300 games in my download queue from PS+, I can't help but constantly have a steady stream of physical games coming in. It's a disease. It's irrational. It's embarrassing.
Please don't get me wrong, of course I'm not trying to besmirch anyone's large collection. I'm just wondering what the hell it is going to take for me to realize that like Bil, "hey, maybe owning this many physical games just isn't right for me and my life."
Rant over. LOL
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When you start collecting, it's fresh, fun, and exciting. However, the more you accumulate, the less you typically take in. In my area, the pawn shop owners got wise a few years ago, Goodwill takes all the good stuff and puts it online, flea market game sellers have dried up, and a retro store came in to funnel all the sellers (I can't complain about the last too much, it's been great to me). I guess what I am saying is that feeling of striking "gold" is much much fewer and far between these days. It was that feeling that really kept me going and energized me with fun.
Still, I like my games and I love everything I own. Sure, there's a lot of nostalgia attached to it, but there is nothing in the world like the feeling of having a completely s@$ty day at work and coming home to being surrounded by things that bring me back to a time when I didn't have any "adult" cares. That's a feeling I like to pass along to friends who visit, and even my kids.
With this said, I did go through my collection a few years ago and sell off my O2, Jaguar, GG, 3DO, and a good deal of my N64 stuff. Sure, this stuff was cool to have and made great conversation pieces, but they weren't systems I grew up with or cared about; to this day, I have zero regrets in making that decision. The money was nice and I directed to one of my other nostalgic hobbies (I'm sure most of you can guess it). I'm not saying that collecting like I do is the right way. The only "right way" is doing what feels best to you, but like Bil said, understanding that someday the funds may be needed or you may not feel the same way about your collection at any time.
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i've been selling off way more than i've been adding to my collection over the past year and a bit. even a couple days ago i decided to trim down my PS2 collection further. i think what will really help me is that i plan on making a set list of games that i want for every system i own, excluding N64 which is still going for a full set. obviously the list could increase if i came across something really good that i didn't know existed before, but every game will be researched. i won't be buying anything just because it "might" be good, i'll only be buying games because i had already watched videos of them and know what i'm getting into.
there will always be some subsets that i want to have everything for, like Legend of Zelda (excluding variants), Call of Duty, etc. but for the most part my plan is to be much more selective about what i'm buying to reduce the chance of wanting to sell it off later.
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I totally feel your pain, Bil. I ended up doing the same thing many years ago, and that decision has come to affect me even to this day. The older I get the less likely I am to go back and repurchase the things that I once deemed "cool" and it all has to do with the rational I forced onto myself when I sold that stuff off. Sure, I do want it back (all of it, as a matter of fact), but I cannot come up with a rational reason as to why I need Arc the Lad Collection, or why it is so important to own Bad Fur Day on both N64 and Xbox. And as much as I want to jump back into that bandwagon again, I find myself only buying physical games when a cheaper digital alternative is not available.
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I agree with all of the above comments. I pretty much quit collecting after the PS2 era, once I realized that last-gen and current-gen games aren't going to go up significantly in value, especially now that PSVita and most PS4 games don't even come with manuals anymore. I've been buying considerably less games last year and this year. I no longer buy Limited/Collector's Editions like I used to - they don't hold their value anymore and are basically just overpriced versions with cheap junk thrown in, or worse, exclusive DLC that you can't get with the regular editions. I've already sold off my beloved NES collection and most of my Genesis collection, and may start selling the SNES, PSX and PS2 games, as much as I don't want to. Emulation just makes the decision even easier for me. Once the digital model hits (it's a question of when, not if), that ends my days as a collector for good. That and space is becoming a major issue for me.
I used to collect every rhythm game ever made, now that market is practically dead. I will pretty much end up selling all my rhythm games sometime in the future. I just don't get any joy out of collecting retro games anymore, and modern gaming just depresses me. I feel like I'm getting squeezed at both ends. I can see why people still retrogame though.
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Necrosaro, we need to play some rhythm games online or something. I love the Genre, but there's no competition anymore since I live 45 minutes from the nearest arcade. 
I'm currently going through the same situation right now, though mine's more related to loss of income due to my wife's illness over the past 3 years. We moved into a large house to support our two roommates, who consequently almost ruined my marriage (in no large part due to my own actions in not supporting my wife), ruined what was left of my savings trying to support them, and damaged my house in the $1000+ range while they were here. I eventually kicked them out, but there's not enough money coming in to support our staying in this house, and it has bad memories for us.
We're looking to get a clean start at a new house, but unfortunately I'm stuck under a mortgage I've been unable to pay, and can't get a new loan. My wife's been doing a lot better, so she's looking to get back into the workplace and get a full-time job so she can get the loan for the new house (which I can afford with my own paycheck), but we're leveraging the collection to buy us time right now and fix up the damage to the house to make it more appealing for sale.
Most of the games I own were either from when I was a kid and raided the flea market every weekend for 10+ years, or from when we had a ton of disposable income and I picked up ~1500 games in 2 years. I'm not happy with the shape my collection is in, and selling it off will allow us to focus the collection efforts in conditions that we'll be happy with, provided I don't have to sell off everything to buy more time on the mortgage.
Being an adult sucks, and it seems like when most people hit 30 (age for kids/marriage/house) that they're selling off their collection. I applaud those that can stay in it with kids, or get back into it after taking care of their major life expenses, and of course I'll still be around to support the site if I do sell my entire collection.
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As GrayGhost said, this is a topic we've given a lot of thought and discussion over the last several months. The decision that I came to is that I only want to keep games that I legitimately want to keep/play. It just wasn't worth keeping certain games (even the hot collector pieces) if I had no personal desire to keep them myself. I don't need a group of collectors on the internet telling me what should be in my collection (no offense guys).
The example I like to keep going back to is the Lunar games on Sega CD. I knew I would never play these games (I would personally opt for the PSX versions), so they were doomed to sit on the shelf for the rest of their existence collecting dust. And I don't know a single person who would come over to my house, see those Lunar games on the shelf, and say "Cool, Lunar on Sega CD!" Anybody I know would be much happier to see something like TMNT, Streets of Rage, and other classic favorites over any high value collector's item. So I just said screw it, threw those Lunar games on ebay, and made a few bucks off them. A decision I haven't regretted yet.
So I occasionally sift through my collection and weed out games that either I have played before and know I will never have any desire to play again, or games that just always looked unappealing in the first place. This has become necessary mostly due to space limitations, but most importantly, life is too short to waste on bad games.
But at the same time, unless some major catastrophe happens or I have a drastic change of perspective, I will most likely always have a ton of games in my collection. There are still a ton of games that I own that I want to play but haven't gotten around to them yet, and then there are all the old favorites of mine and my friends. Having a friend over and playing some classic NES, SNES, or Genesis games on the original hardware is still such a cool experience for us, and is a big reason why I doubt I will get rid of all of this stuff any time soon.
In a lot of ways, I don't really consider myself a collector anymore in the traditional sense. I'm just a gamer with a ton of games on hand, and I'm fine with that.
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I plan to be buried in a coffin made from my melted down game hardware and software. My tombstone will be a NES cart and on it will be a musical staff with the notes to Mario's death jingle.
But seriously, great article. I've been there myself.
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@Cambot
Awesome. Lol
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I still collect, but sporadically. Just depends on $$ and what is available.
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I've been busy lately pulling value out of my collection while still actually retaining what I have by swapping over a lot of my NES/SNES stuff to their Famicom counterparts. I never cared about what this stuff was "worth" but especially in the last couple years the value gap between east and west is too large to ignore.
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i read all your comments with great interrest, and most of them i could relate in one way or another. i think most off them show, how much effort we all put into the hobby. even in some cases, every one should be aware, that that collecting isn't becoming some kind of addiction. at the end of the day these games are just things...of all the consoles i own, i would only "need" 3 off them at the end, to be reminded of my child-hood. it is the hunting, the talking, the conversations with others, the ebaying, the looking at the shelves that makes it fun for me. i sold my older consoles twice, so one day i decided to not do this again...since then i collected more an more. the only thing i don't like about the size of the collection, that moving gives you some trouble...like all earthly belongins put some weight onto you soul..as to say. but with a great job offer or the right house to buy, i would have no problem to sell everything and keep only my SNES / Saturn / 360.
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btw: there are only absolute great games in the first picture above
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