2y ago

My friend sold his Video Game Collection, it just made me have a midlife crisis at 29. Is this normal?

My friend and I collect old video games. But all my physical media just sits on my shelves and collects dust. Why do I even collect them? I literally just emulate everything. Is there a purpose to what I do? People ask me why I collect and I never have a real answer because I don't even know. If I never play my stuff, is it worth just selling?

70 comments

Two questions to ask yourself:
Does it make you happy?
Does it hurt anybody (yourself included) in any way (including financially)?
- Collecting physical media is very valuable if you are a passionate gamer. Time has proven that the older a game gets, the harder it will be to legally obtain it. Yes, emulation is a thing but doesn't quite beat the experience on the original hardware IMO. And of course emulation is under constant legal scrutiny to the point where it's only a matter of time before enough money passes hands and emulation itself could be outlawed or heavily restricted.
  Unless you have extraordinarily rare games, likely you will not see any financial benefit. If you do not want to play any of your games ever again, and you will never have kids or anyone you want to pass history onto, then likely the collection holds no value.
  
  Yes, emulation is a thing but doesn't quite beat the experience on the original hardware IMO
  This is why I think the best solution is original hardware with flash carts. The correct experience but no clutter.
  
  . Yes, emulation is a thing but doesn’t quite beat the experience on the original hardware IMO
  Depends on which hardware. I have had more fun with emulators than I had when I was a child with a real NES, because I could play more games with an emulator, and was easy af.

Look mate. Sometimes we do things just because we want to or just because we can. I feel like in the world we currently live in, everything has become a struggle to squeeze out every last drop of our life to generate money, reputation, fame or whatever else.
It's ok to just have something you do that's just sits there and it makes you happy or relaxed or even if you just look at it and not have to worry about anything else.
- That's a good piece of advice. I went from being a carefree teenager to a highly "efficient" grown-up who's always asking how I can get more by doing less. I mean, that are obviously perks in setting goals and being time and money savvy, but in the process I've lost the child in me -- the child who wonders and has multiple hobbies. I couldn't even sit down to play a game without feeling like I was wasting my life away.
  So yeah, like you say, fulfilling one's responsibilities is important, but don't go crazy chasing after the next shiny thing. It's perfectly fine to want to do nothing and just enjoy ourselves sometime.
  
  I relate to your comment so much. I’ve actually been trying to “go back” by making more time for myself. Simple things like taking naps, playing my console (instead of just watching YouTube videos about it), getting more physical activity in, etc. I don’t know if I’ll ever fully reconnect to my inner child but I’m closer than I was a few years ago that’s for sure.
  
  I couldn’t even sit down to play a game without feeling like I was wasting my life away. I've only recently managed to tackle this particular problem : I now play while commuting.

Why do people collect cars when they don't drive them ever? What about stamps (who use stamps anymore)? Pokemon cards? We keep things that bring us memories and make us happy from time to time. If they have ever made you feel proud or happy, I would say keep them. It definitely worths more than the monetary gain from selling them.

If collecting brings you joy, do it. It keeps retro hardware out of the landfills.
- It will still go into the landfills, eventually, when op is gone.
  
  Sure. But eventually is better than now. Because as long as it isn't in a landfill, and it's not broken, it can still be experienced. Honestly, even when I'm not using my Nintendo 64 games, I like just looking at them.

I am a big believer in decluttering and getting rid of stuff that no longer has value to you. But I also take photos of everything before I get rid of or sell them. Old letters, drawings from children, small collections, large collections. Maybe I’m sentimental, but I don’t need the physical object to remember the feelings associated with it. But a photo helps

Congrats dude, you have a hobby. Enjoy your time, life it's all about the small things :)

Some people like collecting physical objects. It is a weird thing that some humans do.
Do you enjoy collecting? If you do, that is good enough. If you don't, then maybe you should sell off your collection.

I collect planes that just sit around and look cool and I can say I have them. I’d never sell them because I love planes and they make me happy, some of them are toys from when I was a kid and I don’t play with them anymore but that doesn’t mean I’m gonna get rid of them, they bring me great joy. I’d look at it that way if I were you

I think it's a virtue to be the type of person that tries to preserve the past. Hold on to memories and the things that represent them, so that you can share it with others later.
Museums of all types are filled with things that people like you have saved.

I'm personally not the collector type but I do blow money on other things, but usually it's either hobbies or tech (not to mention all the gear I use for my work).

I think it's just up to if that's something you enjoy and gives you value then it's worth it.
I'm similar with books. I personally prefer to read ebooks because I find the experience a lot easier and better, but there are some books or authors that I really enjoy so I like to get the hardcover books as well. Some books I have both digitally and physically even though I've never read the physical copies but I like and enjoy them so I keep them even though they "collect dust" as you say.
If you are thinking of paring down or downsizing, mayve just think of what games are really special to you and that you find meaningful to keep.

I'd be more worried about what you're gonna do with the last 29 years of your life

You can download pictures of stamps and butterflies, but people keep collecting those for some reason. Unless you've got issues with hoarding or it otherwise affects you negatively, don't worry about having a collecting-based hobby.

I also like to collect old video games but I don’t think I ever stopped to think about why I do it. I just like having them, even just seeing them all lined up on a shelf, knowing that I have pieces of gaming history in my room just makes me happy. There doesn’t need to be a real reason, sometimes we do things just because we feel like doing them. Do things because you feel like doing them and not because you have to justify them to other people.
- There doesn’t need to be a real reason, sometimes we do things just because we feel like doing them.
  This all sounds like good, but it isn't.
  What if we need to feel a purpose to do things? I am not a hoarder, just because of this reason. I only play or buy games that me or my children would play. Because hoarding, for the sake of hoarding doesn't make sense to me.
  You say that we don't need to have an excuse to do things you do, and I disagree with that, because to feel good about my actions, I need to make sense of my actions. Otherwise it all feels purposeless.
  
  Life is purposeless! There’s literally no meaning to all of this we’re just here for a lil while and then we’re gone! let people enjoy their game collection or whatever holy shit
  
  It isn't hoarding. People really need to stop throwing that around so casually.
  And Im sorry to hear you can't just do things. Needing a purpose all the time sounds exhausting.

Are you buying things just to collect them? Or do you have a collection of stuff you bought when you were younger and are holding on to that for nostalgic reasons?
I don't really actively buy any retro stuff anymore unless I'm wanting to play some particular game or something. It's just too expensive.
But I would have a really really hard time selling things with sentimental value. Maybe that will change someday but for now it's too recent (20-30 years ago for me for most of it).
The other thing is, unless you really need the money (or space) now... Physical video game paraphernalia is not likely to go down in price over time. It necessarily becomes more scarce as time goes on. So that's something to consider even if you're just collecting to gain value.
- I disagree on the last point, sure, the supply won't go up, but the demand is likely to go down. Prices have ballooned hard in the past several years. The bubble has to burst at some point
  
  I guess time will tell. I kind of doubt demand is going to drop until the people who are nostalgic for these things start to die, and that is many years off. By that time supply will have dwindled even more.
  I think the exponential growth is a bubble that will burst but I'm not sure I can see values actually dropping.

It's kind of a tough call. In my case I keep a library of Blu-Ray and DVD disks. I've ripped them to network storage so I don't actually need them, but I did spend an amount of money collecting them. So at this point I just keep them for posterity.
In general I have a rule about not keeping stuff I don't use, but there's always exceptions. There's been a few things I've wished I had not parted with, but if you never get rid of anything you're just hoarding. I'm more of an anti-hoarder and it's cost me before. On the other hand there's too much "material stuff" in life. Best to keep it minimal.

Sounds like you enjoyed the experience of the hunt, but don't enjoy feeling like a hoarder. That's fine, and perfectly healthy I'd say. If you don't have space or don't get enjoyment from the collection, by all means sell it and experience something else you enjoy. If you think it will appreciate in value, or you know someone you'd like to pass it on or donate it to, then maybe keep it around for now.
- It's also fine to have a change in hobbies as well. They liked collecting games, and now they don't. It was not a waste of time.

I'm similar, except I collect rpg books and I'm 30. I haven't sat down read a paper book properly in years, I just don't have the attention span (thanks undiagnosed ADD). But I keep collecting because it brings me joy to do so and I enjoy the thrill of the chase going through second hand bookshops looking for deals.
These sort of hobbies are also great for bringing together like minded people, like you and your friend, so there are additional social benefits to them too if you're looking for that. This is something Ive come to really come to appreciate more as I've aged and fallen out of contact with school friends and it gets harder to meet new people outside of your social circle.
Sorry for the ramble but I guess my main point is to ask yourself whether it brings you joy to continue collecting or not and if it doesn't maybe to hold off for a few months and check back in with yourself then as you may feel different.

I’m a fellow collector and I also emulate a lot but even still I collect. For a few reasons.
I will always have the original copy in case I need to make a backup and archive.org is shut down and the cloud providers delete my backups for copyright reasons.
I can display and rotate the games I choose to display. Even if no one besides me see the games I choose to display, they are important to me and I’m glad I can enjoy them.
I can recreate formative gaming moments from my childhood and share them with my children accurate to the way I experienced them
That being said, emulation does bring many conveniences and so I do emulate most of my collection on my phone but I still maintain a physical collection and I do break out the old consoles from time to time

You probably enjoyed collecting it. That means finding the games and then putting them together in a neat collection.
You probably did it because you enjoyed finding the games and wanted build the collection because you thought you enjoyed owning them as well.
Goals change, priorities change. Appearently he didn't enjoy it anymore, and that's fine. It's probably hard to realize that you no longer share the same joy about it with your friend.
That said, that has nothing to do with whether you still enjoy it. And regarding your questions: do you? If so, it's totally fine to own something just because you enjoy having it around. Maybe if you need the money urgently or the space, there's an argument there to trade that for you enjoyment of this, but that's up to you.
I hope that whatever you do, it's because you decided it for yourself and didn't decide it because of whatever your friend did :)

Is there a purpose to what I do? People ask me why I collect and I never have a real answer because I don’t even know.
No one honestly understands why they do anything - some people are just better at making up plausible explanations.
We're just animals, we do things. Sometimes we have a good guess as to why, sometimes not.

You planning on dying at 58?

Pretty normal to reevaluate things from time to time. I went on a cleaning binge recently and let go of a lot of hobby stuff that I wasn't using any more. It's created more space for the hobbies i currently enjoy, and it's so much easier to keep my place organized and clean.
At the same time, there were things i don't use but kept anyways, either because there are good memories associated or i really want to pick up the hobby again in the future.

If they just sit around and you don't play them, I'd probably just sell them. Emulating is so much more convenient.
But who cares what I'd do? Your life is your own. If collecting retro games brings you joy, then go for it.

Yep. It's tough to feel like you're directionless and lacking purpose. I get it. I felt this way about my job. Personally I found solace in volunteering and doing things that helped people.

I only collect the ones I want.
I had a friend over who was unaware of my collection and he said it was pretty big and valuable, but I don't see it that way. I have it stashed out of sight, safe a few things that I take out to play on. He was completely flabbergasted though.
There have been things in my childhood that I couldn't have, so now that I can and have the disposible income I look out for these.
A good example is my game gear's TV tuner. Analog TV has been gone for years, but I really wanted it so I got it. Makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside. I take it out from time to time and connect external stuff to it, like an XBox, just for the heck of it.
Most of the things I own I bought to play. Only a few things I don't care for came with a larger sale.
Anyway, just wanted to say that I limit my "collecting" to things I actually want to play or use, and not just for the sake of collecting.

It's an opportunity cost thing. You could sell them and get some money from it. Do you like having those games and the thought of playing them? Or the idea of collecting one more? Or would you get more enjoyment or use out of the money you would get?

It your stuff. Keep it or get rid of it when you're ready. There is no obligation either way.
Case in point. I just gave away a PS1 with FFVII and FFVIII, plus a PS2 with GOW1/2, FFXII. We're moving house and I packed the PS1 in a box and then I realised right then, I didn't want it anymore. A switch flicked. Inmy case I didn't want to sell, just give to someone who would treasure them.
If you no longer have a connection to the stuff, maybe free up the space always good to declutter - but don't get rid of it just because you think you should.

Depends will price go up tomorrow?

Do you think people use coin or bottle cap collections for anything functional? The point of collecting stuff is to have your own personal little museum to look at and enjoy based on your interests. If you don't enjoy keeping them, then don't, but if you do enjoy keeping them, because of nostalgia or sentimentality or because you just like having physical copies, then keep them, and don't worry about whether they serve a function or not. In that case their function is that they make you happy.

Collections add a little something real to an interest. You are into baseball? Collect baseball cards and baseball memorabilia. Some find a tactile connection improves their enjoyment. For some people, it may be old video games, for others it may be coins, stamps, achievements in video games. Yes they are digital, but you can see them in your achievement/trophy list. I think some people are drawn to collections more than others because they favor a certain learning style over another. I'm not educated in behavior in any way so I am qualified to share my opinion on the Internet. There's nothing abnormal about that. The collecting part. Not the part where I have no real knowledge on a topic but I feel my opinion is worthy of being heard. That's actually normal, too, probably. But it shouldn't be.

There comes a time where everyone has to grow up and put childish things away.

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