I thought comic book collecting was cutthroat and competitive...

[Tiger Topher]

I've been buying and selling comics for years now, and I've seen how cutthroat and competitive it can be at times. However, in my experience, comic collecting has got nothing on the world of retro video games. I've been buying and selling games a lot recently and I can't believe how awful people are in the hobby. Sellers don't honor deals, other buyers try to screw with your transactions, and you get stabbed in the back left and right. It's like some of these people have no ethics whatsoever. At the end of the day, comic collecting isn't so bad after all. Can you guys think of any other hobbies that are more cutthroat and competitive than comics?

[mrmyst]

Jarts.

[NoMan]

Why do you think video game collectors act is such a reprehensible manner?

 

I don't collect video games, don't know anyone who does, I'm just interested in human behavior is all.

 

thanks

[Bronty]

I've been buying and selling comics for years now, and I've seen how cutthroat and competitive it can be at times. However, in my experience, comic collecting has got nothing on the world of retro video games. I've been buying and selling games a lot recently and I can't believe how awful people are in the hobby. Sellers don't honor deals, other buyers try to screw with your transactions, and you get stabbed in the back left and right. It's like some of these people have no ethics whatsoever. At the end of the day, comic collecting isn't so bad after all. Can you guys think of any other hobbies that are more cutthroat and competitive than comics?

 

younger guys less steeped in collecting etiquette. There's also a lot more potential for the average schmuck to make a quick flip than in comics - go a garage sale and find a $100 game for $2 kind of thing, which feeds into greed and leads to the worst behaviours

 

I started collecting sealed NES in 2002 and you should have seen it back then There was only a few of us but cliques formed and it was like the crips vs the bloods

 

what do you collect anyways, Tiger?

[Tiger Topher]

Why do you think video game collectors act is such a reprehensible manner?

 

I don't collect video games, don't know anyone who does, I'm just interested in human behavior is all.

 

thanks

I assume it's because of greed. Retro video games are hot at the moment and a lot of the people taking an interest in them right now are only in it for the money. I don't think it's too dissimilar from what we've seen with comics and sports cards in the past.

[Bronty]

Why do you think video game collectors act is such a reprehensible manner?

 

I don't collect video games, don't know anyone who does, I'm just interested in human behavior is all.

 

thanks

I assume it's because of greed. Retro video games are hot at the moment and a lot of the people taking an interest in them right now are only in it for the money. I don't think it's too dissimilar from what we've seen with comics and sports cards in the past.

 

took the words out of my mouth, I literally just edited my post to say the same thing. Its about money at the end of the day.

 

Comics you really aren't going to luck out and find a big stash worth a fortune that you can buy for nothing.

 

That can happen with games - not like 10 years ago, but it can happen.

[NoMan]

are antique games fun to play? seems like you would want the latest kind of graphics kinda thing? again, never played video games except the kind you put a quarter in at the mall arcade.

[Tiger Topher]

I started collecting sealed NES in 2002 and you should have seen it back then There was only a few of us but cliques formed and it was like the crips vs the bloods

 

what do you collect anyways, Tiger?

 

Short answer: Almost everything. I'm always on the lookout for NES, SNES, N64, GameCube, Wii, GameBoy, DS, 3Ds, Famicom, Super Famicom, Genesis, Game Gear, Saturn, PlayStation, PS2, PSP, Xbox, and Xbox 360 games that look interesting.

 

 

[Bronty]

are antique games fun to play? seems like you would want the latest kind of graphics kinda thing? again, never played video games except the kind you put a quarter in at the mall arcade.

 

I'm not sure antique is the right word

 

The most collected stuff is from the mid 80s to mid 90s, not actually ancient

 

as for graphics, nah, there's a couple issues with that statement. 1) you're assuming the only reason to collect them is to play them - not true - just like people don't buy Detective 27's to read them, and 2) realistic graphics are actually kind of limiting in a weird way. Every game looks the same and plays the same, to make an unfair generalization. You can almost have more variety with less. In addition, today's games take a freaking life investment of time. The old stuff you can play for 30 minutes and have fun.

[NoMan]

[grebal]

Not exactly Zelda or Red Sea Crossing or anything, but I recall when 1994's (new, sealed) Master of Master for PC was selling at 40 or 50 on ebay. Once it got patched it was one of my favorite games for PC, sort of a fantasy Civ.

 

Not surprised that there's a segment that collects scare/popular/unique video games, but they probably all collect comics too, no? ; )

[Tiger Topher]

are antique games fun to play? seems like you would want the latest kind of graphics kinda thing? again, never played video games except the kind you put a quarter in at the mall arcade.

I prefer the old stuff to the new stuff. I don't even own any of the latest consoles. I may pick them up when the kids move on to the next generation of consoles and the prices drop.

[Tiger Topher]

In addition, today's games take a freaking life investment of time. The old stuff you can play for 30 minutes and have fun.

This. I have a baby at home and another on the way. I don't have a lot of time that I can devote to any one game.

[the blob]

Why do you think video game collectors act is such a reprehensible manner?

 

I don't collect video games, don't know anyone who does, I'm just interested in human behavior is all.

 

thanks

I assume it's because of greed. Retro video games are hot at the moment and a lot of the people taking an interest in them right now are only in it for the money. I don't think it's too dissimilar from what we've seen with comics and sports cards in the past.

 

took the words out of my mouth, I literally just edited my post to say the same thing. Its about money at the end of the day.

 

Comics you really aren't going to luck out and find a big stash worth a fortune that you can buy for nothing.

 

That can happen with games - not like 10 years ago, but it can happen.

 

maybe not a "fortune", but plenty of us luck out finding $10-$100 stuff at flea markets and garage sales that have been badly mispriced, heck, even a comic shop!. 50 cents for an X-men 266 type of thing. scores are out there, but harder to find as a lot of people know there might be some value in comics, less so with old video games from 20 years ago.

 

 

[Ken Aldred]

are antique games fun to play? seems like you would want the latest kind of graphics kinda thing? again, never played video games except the kind you put a quarter in at the mall arcade.

 

I'm not sure antique is the right word

 

The most collected stuff is from the mid 80s to mid 90s, not actually ancient

 

as for graphics, nah, there's a couple issues with that statement. 1) you're assuming the only reason to collect them is to play them - not true - just like people don't buy Detective 27's to read them, and 2) realistic graphics are actually kind of limiting in a weird way. Every game looks the same and plays the same, to make an unfair generalization. You can almost have more variety with less. In addition, today's games take a freaking life investment of time. The old stuff you can play for 30 minutes and have fun.

 

Also, a lot of newer games are much easier to work through and finish, with generous save points, autosave or manual options, and also gentler learning curves and much more guidance.

[the blob]

I have a shoe box of 5 1/4 inch floppy disks full of Commodore 64 games. I hate to toss them because so many hours were spent with my 300 baud, and then 1200 baud, modem downloading them or getting them mailed from "crackers" in Europe...(is it still a copyright violation if i was 12 and it was 32 years ago?)..I'm not sure where my C64 is (probably in my mother's storage locker) or if it still works, but I hate the idea of throwing them away!

 

 

Let's see if I can remember..

 

 

Load "$", 8 for the directory

 

Load "___", 8, 1 if the game is in machine language..

 

 

Ahh, good times, but no wonder the software companies stopped making games for those computers, I don't think anyone paid for them except for the copy they bought to crack and distribute

[Bronty]

Why do you think video game collectors act is such a reprehensible manner?

 

I don't collect video games, don't know anyone who does, I'm just interested in human behavior is all.

 

thanks

I assume it's because of greed. Retro video games are hot at the moment and a lot of the people taking an interest in them right now are only in it for the money. I don't think it's too dissimilar from what we've seen with comics and sports cards in the past.

 

took the words out of my mouth, I literally just edited my post to say the same thing. Its about money at the end of the day.

 

Comics you really aren't going to luck out and find a big stash worth a fortune that you can buy for nothing.

 

That can happen with games - not like 10 years ago, but it can happen.

 

maybe not a "fortune", but plenty of us luck out finding $10-$100 stuff at flea markets and garage sales that have been badly mispriced, heck, even a comic shop!. 50 cents for an X-men 266 type of thing. scores are out there, but harder to find as a lot of people know there might be some value in comics, less so with old video games from 20 years ago.

 

 

that's just it, you can still have scores in comics, but they will, relatively, be much fewer and further between..

 

everybody's got a price guide or can look on ebay, or whatever. Its getting that way with games, but there are still sellers who have no idea what they have, and that's what fuels the bad behaviour from buyers.

[Bronty]

are antique games fun to play? seems like you would want the latest kind of graphics kinda thing? again, never played video games except the kind you put a quarter in at the mall arcade.

 

I'm not sure antique is the right word

 

The most collected stuff is from the mid 80s to mid 90s, not actually ancient

 

as for graphics, nah, there's a couple issues with that statement. 1) you're assuming the only reason to collect them is to play them - not true - just like people don't buy Detective 27's to read them, and 2) realistic graphics are actually kind of limiting in a weird way. Every game looks the same and plays the same, to make an unfair generalization. You can almost have more variety with less. In addition, today's games take a freaking life investment of time. The old stuff you can play for 30 minutes and have fun.

 

Also, a lot of newer games are much easier to work through and finish, with generous save points, autosave or manual options, and also gentler learning curves and much more guidance.

 

that's true, I hadn't thought about that as either a positive or negative, but yes, working thru an old one is an accomplishment of sorts, working thru a newer one is closer to just putting the time in.

[GM8]

Virtual items. That's where all the scoundrels too scoundrelly for video game collecting flock to. Syndicates out of eastern europe and Russia, but there's plenty of scamming galore from US gamers too.

[Bronty]

Virtual items. That's where all the scoundrels too scoundrelly for video game collecting flock to. Syndicates out of eastern europe and Russia, but there's plenty of scamming galore from US gamers too.

 

paying for virtual stuff is just bizarre to me.