Stacks of video games sit under the coffee table I turned into a TV stand. There’s got to be 100 of them, and more in random spots around my apartment.
Some days, I try to guess how much I’ve spent on all this stuff. There have been games I got for cheap. For others, I spent a lot of money just to get another rare game in my collection. Add in the consoles I need to play them and I’ve spent $10,000, or more.
To be honest, I don’t even play most of them. They’re taking up space and, to most, they seem useless. I’m sure other people must want them, maybe I should sell them and make a few bucks.
There are times when I’m trolling eBay for good deals on games and some of the prices shock me. Could I sell my stuff for this much? For a few minutes, I consider it.
But as lame as this sounds, they’re a part of me. I can look at my collection and find out things about myself. When I bought a game, why did I buy it? For most of them, I heard good things. Maybe a friend suggested a game and I trusted their opinion.
It isn’t always about the good things, though. I’ve bought a few games because they’re so bad they loop around into being fun again.
The biggest reason for it is that I just like owning these things. Some people collect CDs or vinyl records. I collect video games.
Being a collector means being faithful to your collection, even when it’s tough to do it. There’s a part of me that feels bad seeing used games on the shelves at a store, or covering tables at flea markets.
Some people just buy a game to play it, beat it and trade them in to buy a new one. I can’t do that.
I’ve only sold a game a few times in my life, and I really hated them. Somehow, I knew I wouldn’t play them again. I didn’t even like looking at them.
Five or ten years down the road, I might pick up a game again that I’ve ignored since I bought it or beat it. For me, this is like a journal. I’ll look at it, maybe read the manual and play it for a while. Then the memories come flowing back.
This is a way that I remember things about my life. They help me place myself, which is useful because I’ve always had a bad memory.
Would you sell your memories, even if you could make decent money doing so? Unless I end up on the streets, I’ll find a way to keep my games.
Call me crazy, but I’ll find some way to keep a roof over my head, just as long as my games are under that roof with me. This isn’t a way of flaunting some kind of non-existent ‘gamer cred’, this is a kind of addiction.
So, if you’ve got a collection, I urge you to keep it. I’m not only talking about games at this point. If you’ve got something you like to own, try your best to keep it. Think about the time and the money you spent to get that stuff. You’ll only regret giving it away.
