Topic: My Big Game Collection - Or a bunch of stuff I have amassed over the years!

Due to the many cardboard boxes I have in my loft, all full of games, controllers, consoles, merchandise, leads etc. etc. I have often wondered does this mean that I am a games collector or am I just a hoarder! These have all been collected over 40 years and has some real gems, if I was a real collector! Such fond memories and for so many reasons but ultimately other than a random sift through ever now and again they just all sit in the loft doing nothing.

So if I am a hoarder and don't really have need for these things then should I sell?

If you ask me you're only a hoarder if your collection is so massive that it's interfering with your life as in there's literally no room for people in your house. If games are piled to the ceiling and you can barely make it to the front door then yeah you're a hoarder. If it's effecting your life outside of gaming it's a problem. A few boxes in a single room is not a big deal.

I too have been collecting games for nearly 40 years but it's still not enough to fill more than one area.

@dew12333 Nobody has a need for them. And why resort to labelling yourself as a collector or a hoarder?

I you like the fact that you still have it all and have no pressing reason to sell, then keep them. If you dislike it being there, get rid.

I’m in a similar position, with my games dating back to 1993. In my mind there is a difference between ‘having a collection’ and being ‘a collector’. The former is simply the stuff you have amassed over the years and hung onto. I have Mega Drive games from back when I was a kid and the MD was relevant (I don’t have any of my ZX Spectrum, Game Gear or Master System stuff from before that) and a solid collection of everything I’ve bought since, along with any retro title I’ve picked up that I missed along the way or to replace the odd game I sold or traded when I had less disposable income. I also have just shy of 30 systems and handhelds. I’ve held onto all the boxes from the Wii onwards too, but that’s simply because I have room in the attic. So I have a personal collection but as I have no particular aim I wouldn’t call myself a collector.

A collector to my mind is someone who might have what I have but then aims to have full sets of things. So someone who seeks out a complete set of PAL NES titles is a collector, whereas someone who may have a sizeable number of carts but is not interested in a full set simply ‘has a collection’. I’m not basing this on anything other than my subjective way of looking at things, but even my collection of games and systems pales in comparison to the real collectors on YouTube.

Those are the best kind of games collections. I.e. the ones you build up over time out of games that you've - mostly at least - played, enjoyed and finished. Anyone can go on eBay with $10000 and buy an instant collection but without the memories to go with them it's pretty meaningless.

I'd think that the red flags are if you're buying games that you're never intending to play, have no system for keeping track of what you've got, or they are just gathering dust in boxes never to be played again.

My physical collection ran to about five hundred games a few years back, but I had a massive cull to get it down to two hundred of the very best, so that I can just have it all on a single set of shelves and it's a rare occasion that I miss any of it.

I also buy most of my games as digital downloads these days - bar a few special editions for the keepers - as it's easy to keep a vast selection handy to play without it taking up much space. Emulating older systems where possible isn't a bad idea either, although I'd accept that it's not quite the same experience.

Oh, and if you can still see the floor in your house, you're not a hoarder.