How much is too much?

[GeekDragon]

I room with my brother. We combined our video game collections. I'm currently collecting for 2600, Intellivision, and dabble in other systems. But, between us, we have 23 systems and over 1500 games, not including handhelds. We also collect other things, like comics, action figures, etc. We have cut back on our buying, and only buy what we like, instead of every thing and anything. A few years ago, we did purge our collections and sold off the items that we bought way back when that sat in closets for years. So, my question is, when does it get to a point where its just too much? Or, will it ever get to that point?

[RugglesTx]

I room with my brother. We combined our video game collections. I'm currently collecting for 2600, Intellivision, and dabble in other systems. But, between us, we have 23 systems and over 1500 games, not including handhelds. We also collect other things, like comics, action figures, etc. We have cut back on our buying, and only buy what we like, instead of every thing and anything. A few years ago, we did purge our collections and sold off the items that we bought way back when that sat in closets for years. So, my question is, when does it get to a point where its just too much? Or, will it ever get to that point?

Oh it gets there!

 

Im a balancer now, sell some things to buy other things. Selling video games now and buying board games. Not really the one that come to most peoples mindset Games like Field Commander Napoléon, Elder Signs, Dragonfire, Power Grid, Todays Target, Consulting Detective Sherlock Holmes, Village Crone etc. Picked up two more today (Tiger Leader and Cargo Noir) to add to the collection.

 

With the advancement in solo playable Wargames and boardgame (many many of the modern games play solo wonderfully) Its a addicting hobby! Heck a bunch of todays games are designed for solo play only.

 

 

These two link together, the 2600 cart is for size comparison.

 

So its video games, baseball cards, comics, board games and toy soldiers for me. At this point Im winding down on all of them. Just a few baseball cards yearly and some more Wargames For me ;0

Edited August 6, 2018 by RugglesTx

[Swami]

I room with my brother. We combined our video game collections. I'm currently collecting for 2600, Intellivision, and dabble in other systems. But, between us, we have 23 systems and over 1500 games, not including handhelds. We also collect other things, like comics, action figures, etc. We have cut back on our buying, and only buy what we like, instead of every thing and anything. A few years ago, we did purge our collections and sold off the items that we bought way back when that sat in closets for years. So, my question is, when does it get to a point where its just too much? Or, will it ever get to that point?

I think you start to slow down when you find yourseld out of places to put new bookcases and shelves for games and piling boxes full of peripherals along the edge of your hallway. Usually, in your apartment if your single and in your gameroom if your not. If you are not single and in an apartment, I doubt it ever gets very far without the spouse breaking consoles in exasperation. Then you have more room again.

[RugglesTx]

I think you start to slow down when you find yourseld out of places to put new bookcases and shelves for games and piling boxes full of peripherals along the edge of your hallway. Usually, in your apartment if your single and in your gameroom if your not. If you are not single and in an apartment, I doubt it ever gets very far without the spouse breaking consoles in exasperation. Then you have more room again.

 

Good point space is a limiter. I have nothing boxed but I could see that happening :0

[Atari030]

Same issue, Guitars, Action Man/Joes, Star Wars, Atari's/Amigas/Consoles, Hi-fi, Firearms, Train set......

 

I just bought a bigger house.

 

In saying that, now I have things where I want them I find I aren't that interested in buying tons more. I have most of what I want so I guess age comes into it as well. When you are young and starting out you can't afford squat, as time goes on you accumulate a lot of things. Lately I have started purging what I don't want, which has been hard to do.

[RugglesTx]

Same issue, Guitars, Action Man/Joes, Star Wars, Atari's/Amigas/Consoles, Hi-fi, Firearms, Train set......

 

I just bought a bigger house.

 

In saying that, now I have things where I want them I find I aren't that interested in buying tons more. I have most of what I want so I guess age comes into it as well. When you are young and starting out you can't afford squat, as time goes on you accumulate a lot of things. Lately I have started purging what I don't want, which has been hard to do.

Lol buying a bigger house sounds like a bad ideal to help control collectIng

 

I went they my firearms collectIng as well ( higher end 1911s mostly) and WWII rifles :0

 

 

But hey at least no classic cars :0 thats some crazy money.

[Lord Thag]

I have a very simple formula I follow with this. I used to have a much bigger collection. I run retro-gaming conventions so for years I've had good access to deals and whatnot. So my room kind of exploded. I sold over half of it because it became a burden. So here's my simple formula, two questions:

 

1. Is owning this causing stress or creating unnecessary work in my life?

2. Do I use, appreciate, enjoy and share this with others (even if only occasionally)?

If the answer yes to the first or no to the second, I get rid of it.

 

Things, stuff, whatever... if things becomes a burden, they are like a chain around your neck. Life is too short for that. Keep what adds value, discard the rest.

[+x=usr(1536)]

Been there, done that. For me, it was realising that I was renting storage units (note the plural) to house everything - mostly arcade games, which eat up space like you wouldn't believe, but also a reasonably-sized collection of computers and consoles, none of which I ever actually did anything with because they were almost entirely in storage units along with the arcade games.

 

I sold everything off over the space of a couple of years and forced myself to understand that you can't save them all, and there isn't infinite space or time to keep or enjoy them in.

 

Other than that, there is no secret to it. Step one: identify the problem. Step 2: develop a plan to eliminate the problem. Step 3: adhere to the plan and actively pursue it. Step 4: don't fall back into old behaviours.

[phoenixdownita]

I think once you start asking the question on a forum about videogames that's your clue it's enough.

[Swami]

I have six racing wheels now that cover PSX,ps2, ps3, oxbox, game cube, usb pc and vintage pc. I kinda wish to thin them out but some are higher quality and some are more adjustable and , as I said, different ones cover different consoles so it is a bit perplexing with these monsters taking up space.

[InactiveX]

I've been thinking recently about what will happen to my collection (general, not Atari) when I die. I don't want to leave a whole load of stuff behind and have it being a pain in the neck for my nearest and dearest to dispose of.

 

You can't take it with you.

Edited August 8, 2018 by InactiveX

[Flojomojo]

I totally agree.

 

To wit: https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/carolyn-hax-take-my-mother-in-laws-stuff----please/2018/08/06/118d9ed0-9761-11e8-80e1-00e80e1fdf43_story.html

[atarilovesyou]

Yngwie Malmsteen said it best:

 

"How can less be more? It's impossible! More is more, that's all there is to it."

 

I think we could all learn from these sage words.

[Skippy B. Coyote]

When you no longer appreciate what you have and collecting stops feeling fun. The exact quantity is going to be very subjective from person to person, but for me it was once I got to around 120 games or so. I hit that number with my Atari 2600 and Game Boy collections a couple years ago then promptly sold everything, and regretted it like a knife in the back 6 months later.

 

In retrospect it probably wasn't the volume of games I had amassed at all that made me lose interest in playing and collecting for these systems, but other unrelated life circumstances making me depressed that put a damper on my desire to play and collect games for a while. If I could do it all again I would have waited a year before deciding to sell my collections, because by then the circumstances in life that were really getting me down would have changed and I wouldn't have wanted to part ways with my collection. Now I'm stuck slowly rebuilding the collections I used to have and it's a major pain, not to mention a lot more expensive than when I bought it all the first time around.

[Inky]

I decided that I'm going to leave all my retrogaming equipment to Chicago's Museum of Science and Industry.

[Flojomojo]

Chicago's Museum of Science and Industry called, they already have enough My Little Pony stuff.

[Keatah]

..when your collection looks like a GameStop diorama.

 

(Full of duplicates, triplicates, quadruplicates, of controllers and carts you'll never play)

[Skippy B. Coyote]

Chicago's Museum of Science and Industry called, they already have enough My Little Pony stuff.

 

Then he can send them my way, I could always use more.

[privateers69]

When you ask yourself that question.

[BassGuitari]

I think once you start asking the question on a forum about videogames that's your clue it's enough.

 

When you ask yourself that question.

 

These.

[+thanatos]

It's probably nearing too much when you open a storage container, see an unexpected game and think "When the hell did I buy that?"

 

Also, when you buy a game, go to put it in a storage location or shelf, and see you already have one. Or two. Which, to prevent happening again, you start a spreadsheet. Then your wife asks "Are you really entering your games into a spreadsheet right now?"

[R.Cade]

I find that I can easily get "addicted" to selling off things as much as buying them. Currently I am selling off... It feels great and lets you collect some other things you might not have done before you cleaned out the space and padded your funding.

[Skippy B. Coyote]

I find that I can easily get "addicted" to selling off things as much as buying them. Currently I am selling off... It feels great and lets you collect some other things you might not have done before you cleaned out the space and padded your funding.

That's totally true. Once you start getting rid of stuff you haven't played in a while and you see that money in your account it's easy to go overboard with it and sell stuff you might end up regretting. I've sold tons of stuff that I'm happy to have gone and don't care if I ever see again, but I've also sold some stuff I later regretted and bought back. What I personally learned from the experience was not to sell systems and games that I owned growing up, because that stuff all ended up being special to me and were things that I later repurchased, but anything that I didn't own during my formative years was never missed once it was gone.

Edited August 8, 2018 by Jin

[+sramirez2008]

...Then your wife asks "Are you really entering your games into a spreadsheet right now?"

 

Lol! Nice to know this didn't just happen to me.

[Video]

You can never have to much. More is always more!

 

Though if you get to the point your no longer enjoying having it, it probably is to much. True of everything really. Once you start asking yourself, let alone other people, you've probably hit that point.