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The $5,000 decision to get rid of my past (Polygon Opinion)

MC Safety

Member
I know full well the gut punch that is coming home to a looted apartment. The thieves stole everything I had and then left the front door open to mock me.

The San Francisco cops were less than useless. One told me the thieves shimmied up a thin, poorly affixed pipe and landed on a dusty balcony ledge to get in. I asked the cop why the dust hadn't been disturbed and he got angry at me. I knew I was pushing it, but I put my hand down on the dust and made a handprint.

The worst part was having to live in that shithole apartment until I could find a better place.
 

grumble

Member
Wasn't a huge collector, but had a nice shelf and all the consoles. But games played a part in my divorce.
I've started to build a modern collection and I'm loving it. I can afford everything I want and surround myself with people who appreciate it.

She left you because you played too many video games?

This might have come off as harsh. Not meant that way genuinely curious.
 

Redd

Member
Thankfully Gamestop recently care of most of my old games. Now I've got tons of room where I kept my old games.
 

Bar81

Member
Sounds like someone that needs to meet with some mental health professionals. It's quite a brave thing to share that with the world, but liquor and regret are not the way to go. I found collecting to be tangential to that story - the guy is still not in a good place and he needs to get better before his family ends up suffering.
 

Flarin

Member
As many people in this thread have mentioned, I feel like building a collection like that is chasing a feeling and not necessarily the content. Although I think both can be true.

I remember when I rediscovered classic JRPGs when I moved to South Korea in 2009. I wasn't really into modern games much, but I brought my PSP with me. Playing those classics like Wild Arms, Lunar and Grandia was so amazing. I fell in love with them again so much that I started buying the physical versions of every PS1 JRPG I could find on eBay and had them shipped back to my family's home back in America. Coming home and opening them all up was one of the best things ever.

I don't necessarily feel like I was chasing a feeling or place in time per-say, at least not in an escapism way, but I did want those nostalgic feelings back. Nothing brings me back to my childhood like a JRPG from the PS1 with shitty 3D graphics lol.

If you're gonna collect do it for the love of collecting or because you really want to play these games. Trying to fill a hole in your heart by trying to go back to a place in time can be super dangerous.
 

TI82

Banned
Collecting, while fun, is far too addictive of a hobby and ultimately it comes down to material goods that mean little. Buying things to rekindle old memories is a unhealthy way of living imo, and a more minimalist lifestyle leads to more happiness.

At least for me.
 

Masagiwa

Member
I really do feel for the author, but please for anyone moving in to a new place get an insurance so at least you get something even if the games have sentimental value.
 
Great read. I collect myself but not for the same reasons. I love the the industry and the history of it all. When I was younger I had to trade and trade and trade to play the next big thing and had to sell most of my stuff to help my mom with the bills and again when I moved in with my dad for a while as they both were not doing well financially. Been on my own for the last 4 years and have replaced and added a bunch of games I didn't have. Sitting north of 400 right now without digital. My friends and I use all of it. In the last week and a half we have played Castlevania 2, Conkers bad fur day, Jedi Knight Jedi Academy, Mario Strikers and Here Comes The Pain. It's always random what we want to play and I'm glad I have it here.

*side note. One of my customers in the industry I'm in gave me all of his video game collection last November because he knew my friends and I would put it to good use (he went out for drinks with us one time and met us all). Didn't charge me a single penny cause he knew it was going to a good place where it would be used and not sold or mistreated. All Nes, Snes, Xbox, and Ps2 stuff. Got some great stuff from it like Sercret of Mana, Mega Man 2, Ducktales, A Link to the Past, contra, and so on. He new the value of it all but didn't want to sell it off to someone who would just sell it again. Guy has become a great friend/client over the years.
 

Ouroboros

Member
I'm doing this exact thing right now. Rebuying consoles and games I had during my childhood...

I'm setting a limit though to only games I owned or really enjoyed as a child. Not the super rare games like Earthbound (I never played it as a kid).

The reasoning for this is to replay my favorite games on original hardware, down to the CRT television. I just recently got married and when the time comes to have kids I would want them to have the chance to play the games that I grew up with, with me (if they even enjoy playing video games, oh god please let them enjoy playing video games!)

It does make me sad sometimes, or is it just nostalgia? Busting out the N64 and popping in Mario or Zelda, it brings back Christmases I spent with my family. Even the phantom smells enter my brain of Christmas dinners and me sitting on the carpet floor, face planted on the screen saving Hyrule.

Oh well, whatever. I probably need a therapist but I'll just play Yoshis Island instead. PEACE!
 

g11

Member
I don't get people that hold on to the past like that, especially with games. Old games just feel so clunky and often look terrible today. Why go back and play a game I've already beat when there's thousands of new things I could play instead, a not insignificant number of which are emulating those old games but with crisp, widescreen HD resolution graphics and more modern mechanics, but otherwise evoke the same type of feeling as the old ones (Shovel Knight for example)?
 

Ouroboros

Member
I don't get people that hold on to the past like that, especially with games. Old games just feel so clunky and often look terrible today. Why go back and play a game I've already beat when there's thousands of new things I could play instead, a not insignificant number of which are emulating those old games but with crisp, widescreen HD resolution graphics and more modern mechanics, but otherwise evoke the same type of feeling as the old ones (Shovel Knight for example)?

Playing games emulated for me is like watching the original Star Wars Trilogy with the added CGI scenes. It just doesn't feel right. Plug in the NES to a CRT TV and holding the orginal controller...I don't know, it just evokes a sense of purity to me. Like this is how the original devs designed the game to be played. I'll get off my high horse now.....
 

Nipo

Member
As cliche as it sounds Chuck Palahniuk was right when he said "the things you own end up owning you."

I'm sure he got the idea from the Buddhist belief that you should think of everything you have as already broken or lost.

Looking for happiness in things isn't ever going to work out. The hole in you won't be filled.
 

//DEVIL//

Member
I used to sell allot of my stuff. but recently I started collecting again and I have now allot of games from the PS1 PS2 PS3 PS4 Nintendo DS, WII, GC and Gameboy color. some of them are even are sealed.

but as I move to PC recently. I am starting to question my collection. I mean, I will never play those games I collected ever again unless somehow I wanted to go old school and I rarely do have time to play even new released game I bought. let alone go back.

I even have PS2 backward compatible PS3. and another PS3 slim 320gig that is almost brand new ( and funny enough hackable version too still in box. I have a brand new sealed PS2 slim and an almost new PS1 fat model. I have 2 Gameboy micro 20th anniversary editions and 2 silver models. . Gameboy color brand new and brand new Gameboy sp

all those collecting dust and I spend my time either reading gaf or playing couple of games.

my collection at this point is just for bragging purpose only in front of my other gamer friends who like to collect as well.
 

g11

Member
Playing games emulated for me is like watching the original Star Wars Trilogy with the added CGI scenes. It just doesn't feel right. Plug in the NES to a CRT TV and holding the orginal controller...I don't know, it just evokes a sense of purity to me. Like this is how the original devs designed the game to be played. I'll get off my high horse now.....

Sorry, I meant emulating as in new games (Shovel Knight) emulating old ones (Mega Man, I guess?), not actual ROM emulation. But I'd probably do that before keeping five old consoles around too. Though I'll probably try to score a SNES Classic just like everyone else on the planet.
 

Fugu

Member
I will never - not for one minute - understand this intrinsic value that people place on things that are new. I would have a far easier time selling my new stuff than my old games. I own many timeless classics that I revisit frequently and I'm still acquiring games that, while old to the world, are new to me, and frankly my tastes are a lot more aligned with what was happening in the industry 20 (or even 30) years ago than with what's happening today.
 

TLZ

Banned
I can't understand someone married with kids still hanging on to a past like that. She was supposed to be gone and forgotten when he met his current wife, even more when the babies came around.

The dude's weird.
 

yyr

Member
I can't really sell Xbox games cause most of them are worth less than $10.

Just because something isn't worth a lot doesn't mean you can't sell it. Even if you sell 50 games in a lot for $100, it is still something. You have more space, you have less stuff, you have some money that you didn't have before. If this sounds good to you, it's really easy to sign up. And if you do feel like replaying any of those games in the future, it's likely that you'll be able to easily re-acquire them.

I don't get people that hold on to the past like that, especially with games. Old games just feel so clunky and often look terrible today. Why go back and play a game I've already beat when there's thousands of new things I could play instead, a not insignificant number of which are emulating those old games but with crisp, widescreen HD resolution graphics and more modern mechanics, but otherwise evoke the same type of feeling as the old ones (Shovel Knight for example)?

This is like asking

"Why go back to that old pizza place in your old neighborhood? There are lots of places with good pizza."

Or

"Why go back to that old playground you grew up with?"

With all 3 of those questions the answer is the same. Because it's THAT SPECIFIC one. I don't want any old pizza place, I want that favorite one from my hometown that gives me the taste I grew up with, unchanged all these years later. Because it's THAT playground, where all those things happened with my friends. Or, because it's Bob-Omb Battlefield.

Movies and video games are in a unique position, in this regard. Playgrounds can be paved over or re-zoned. Pizza places can close. Homes can disappear. But video games and movies, 10, 20, 30 or more years later, are exactly the same. You can relive that experience at any time, now and forever, and it will be 100% identical to what it was years ago, with no exceptions, for better or worse. And while some folks won't care to relive those experiences, I, personally, from time to time, will always go back to Super Mario World, and Kirby's Dream Land, and Mega Man 2, and Sonic Adventure 2, and others, again and again, whenever I feel like it, until such time that I can't hold a controller any more, because I want to again experience those specific games that I love so much.

I know that you don't feel that way personally, but I hope this helped you understand why others do.
 
Wow. If you think buying physical games is a waste, wait till you hear about digital! It's the same thing, you'll have dozens or hundreds of games you don't play but they have zero value and can't even be given to friends or family.
 

jstripes

Banned
I've spent the last couple of years slowly selling off my collection of classic games. SNES, PlayStation, Dreamcast, etc. Some of the games have gotten me $300 each. Mostly goes to pay bills, though.

I'm kind of sad doing it, but at the same time they've mostly been in a box in the basement of my dad's house for 10~15 years, and other people out there are searching them out, so...

I the last 10 years I've sort of sworn off collecting. I still buy things I like here and there, but buying things for the sake of a collection is just trying to fill a hole in your life through material means. Once one collection is complete, you move onto the next. It never ends.
 

Bioshocker

Member
I just moved from a two room apartment to a six room house. One room is for my game and console collection. I basically stopped collecting when every new thing I bought immediately ended up in the storage. Now I don't have that issue anymore, but I wonder if I am just as invested in my Dreamcast collection as before. I'll notice when I have the room ready.
 

Alebrije

Member
Well, if a hobby becomes an obsession and is specially linked to try to recreate "good" old days , it will never ends and won't let you move forward.

My collection is just no more than 40 PS2 games , most of them horror survivor games. But after PS2 stoped my game attaching so only have 3-4 PS3 games and 5 PS4, once I finish one trade it no matter if it is a great game like Bloodborne or Horizont.

Think most people gets nostalgic with old software and this is the reason retro consoles are successful ( mini Nes, mini SNES, Atari flash back). But also most of people after a few hours playing retro consoles get bored and send them to the closet for eternity.

So If you are collecting games just for fun os fine but if the reason is because you want to bring back those "good" all days and your life focus on that , maybe is time to get some help.
 
I collected sneakers for a while. I was getting custom ones made from Nike and had a pretty large collection and enjoyed turning into a Hypebeast in general. My house got broken into and the sneakers stolen exclusively (definite inside job imo... they literally walked past like $5K in music and video equipment and computes to steal 50 pairs of shoes)

It sucked. I started to recollect some of the stuff, but some of them were custom shoes and the materials/colors weren't even available to choose on the site anymore so they were lost for good unless I wanted to pay something absurd to try and get Nike to make me a one-off shoe with stuff not available on their customization site). And then it was like... it wasn't the same. I didn't have any of the love I had for the originals and it was just spending money to get back to zero on luxury items, which was hard to justify.

Anyways, my days collecting sneakers and clothes died a few months after the break in. I doubt I'll ever go back to it. It was a time of my life that got murdered and cannot be resurrected.
 

Vire

Member
Sounds like he still yearns for his ex girlfriend based on the passage and he has a wife and kids...

Yikes.
 

ghibli99

Member
It's an interesting read. It's sad to me that it sounds like he has all these fond memories of his ex, but just mentions his current family in passing with a rather apathetic-sounding "everything's fine, right?" attitude. Not sure how to take that. Is he really happy? Maybe the ambiguity is the point.
 

jstripes

Banned
It's an interesting read. It's sad to me that it sounds like he has all these fond memories of his ex, but just mentions his current family in passing with a rather apathetic-sounding "everything's fine, right?" attitude. Not sure how to take that. Is he really happy? Maybe the ambiguity is the point.

He admits that everything is not alright in the comments.

I'm kind of torn on him airing his relationship problems in this way. It's cathartic, but it's also deeply personal for all involved and his partner may not appreciate it.
 

JeTmAn81

Member
It's an interesting read. It's sad to me that it sounds like he has all these fond memories of his ex, but just mentions his current family in passing with a rather apathetic-sounding "everything's fine, right?" attitude. Not sure how to take that. Is he really happy? Maybe the ambiguity is the point.

Kuchera isn't a good writer, and bad writers often communicate messages they didn't actually intend.
 
I can relate. Had my home burglarized once. Took mostly electronics and jewelry in the house. Used the sheets off our beds to haul it out. I didn't lose my entire game collection since the old stuff was in unmarked boxes in my bedroom closet, but it still sucked. Fortunately we had insurance. Funny thing is I didn't bother re-buying most of the games that were taken since I didn't think I would ever play them again. Just moved on to new things.
 
I'm gonna add that the reason for keeping some of these games can fall under how you got them. Some games me and my sister spent ages saving up for (in Canada, Secret of Mana was like 80 bucks with tax at the time it was released), other games and consoles came from Christmas, etc.

At the very least, the consoles/hardware stuff makes sense to replace. Much like a car, it'll get to a point where you'll want to sell it if it doesn't work anymore, and no one in their right mind will keep a broken car around even if they had bought it used for 5k and it was their first one.
 
I'm gonna add that the reason for keeping some of these games can fall under how you got them. Some games me and my sister spent ages saving up for (in Canada, Secret of Mana was like 80 bucks with tax at the time it was released), other games and consoles came from Christmas, etc.

Exactly, or there may be some other sentimental reason for keeping a game outside of it being one of your favorites.

Again, I'm all about the "keep the games that mean the most to you and sell/trade in all the rest" mantra.
 
I can't understand someone married with kids still hanging on to a past like that. She was supposed to be gone and forgotten when he met his current wife, even more when the babies came around.

The dude's weird.

I thought the same thing. I'm married and planning to start a family soon and I can't imagine still ruminating on past failed relationships like this. I wonder how his wife felt reading this.

Ben Kuchera is pathetic in the same way as a band like Blink 182 still writing whiny, angsty songs about girls and being bored well into their 30s, except Ben doesn't have the money or fame that make it understandable.
 

KaYotiX

Banned
Only old games I have are at my parents house and it's mostly old SNES games that cost $80 a piece :)

Saving up for those was a huge feat for me back in Jr high
 

shintoki

sparkle this bitch
I have officially decided to sell my Steel Batallion with Xbox.

I really just don't feel like I have time anymore nor care for holding on to a collection.
 
I'm a collector have like 30 consoles and over 1,200 physical games (most are digital thx steam!) But I love my games and they are apart of me I still to this day enjoy it I get annoyed by lack of room sometimes sure but it's a hobby a thrill a passion and will be there with me forever. Nice read though.
 
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