Prime Blue said:
There's a positive and a negative meaning. Here, it describes something (an action or ability) that makes you look down on someone.
Ok, i understand, thanks for the answer!
In this case, why should people look down at someone who wants to use much money on a video game?
Prime Blue said:
I was talking about the item, obviously. Everyone can do with their money what they want to, but collecting things is like stealing chances from other people to really gain something from an item (e.g., reading books, playing games), other than just owning it for the sake of owning it.
I think i know what you mean, but i beg to differ. The collectors who are willing to spend much money on something also gain something from this as well. The satisfaction/enjoyment of owning a rare and/or special game is something that most collectors gain/gets when they buy a rare game, or else i dont think that they would have been willing to spend this much money on a game (at least when we talk about video game collecting). So it is not just the people who want to play the game (when we are talking about video game collecting) for fun that gain something from owning the game, at least in my opinion.
By the way, doesnt this goes both ways? If someone decide to sell a rare game cheap to someone because they want to play it instead of selling the game to a collector that are "just" going to put the game on the shelf, doesnt the seller in this case steal the chances to the collector for adding this game in his/her collection?
On of the common reasons why things sell for a high price is because the supply is low and several of people wants it. In cases like this, who decides who that have the most "right" (or what i shall say) to get the item? Is it the people who are willing to pay the most or is it the people who are going to use the item?
To take another example, Ferrari cars are quite expencive. One of the reasons for this is because that several of people are willing to pay what a Ferrari cost (another reason is because that Ferraris arent mass produced though, but still, if people are willing to pay much money for a Ferrari, then it isnt that much reason to lower the price on a Ferrari, at least in my opinion). Seeing that many people wants to pay what a Ferrari car costs, does this mean that these people are stealing the chance for people who have less money to buy a Ferrari? If people wasnt willing to pay the current price that a Ferrari car cost, then Ferrari would have to drop the price so people would buy their cars. And a lower price means that more people could afford the car
Maybe this example isnt exactly the same as you mention though, but i think that the principle is a bit the same, that some people are willing to pay a higher price, which means that other people with less money might have a less chance to buy it.
Is there any reason why some people should be more entitled to own something just because they want to use it for other things than "just having it on the shelf"? Honest question. Some people might gain just as much (or perhaps even more?) by knowing that they have something rare in their collection compared to those who gain the enjoyment from playing the game(s).
And people who really wants something might be more likely to spend much money on something, so i guess that it might be possible to say in some cases that those who are willing to spend much money on something have more to gain from it compared to people who are willing to spend less money on something
(of course, there are also people who really, really want something, but unfortunately they cant afford it).
You might say that the result of collectors buying expencive games will result in that people who really wants to play the game, but who cant afford it, wont be able to get the game, and in this way it might the same result as "stealing", i agree. But using the world "stealing" in this context, in my opinion it sounds a bit like the collectors are the bad guys. And i dont think that collectors are the bad guys just because they want to spend more money on a game compared to what other wants to spend on a game. So i wouldnt exactly say that collectors are people who steals chances from others to own something, but that is just my opinion
It is a free market (in most cases at least), so everyone who wants has a chance to buy games if they want and/or can. Maybe this isnt what you ment though, so please correct me if i missunderstood what you ment
If someone has a different opinion about this, then that is no problem for me, i think that it is good that people have different opinions about things, at least in most cases
There are probably some collectors who also plays their rare games, so it is not sure that they buy an expencive game just to put it on the shelf and never play it, at least when we are talking about video game collecting
I am sure that this happends several of times though, that people mostly buys an expencive game "just" to have it in their collection, but i also belive that some collectors also takes the time to play the game some time as well
By the way, in this case about the 20,000 US dollar video game, this game contains 3 games which are all common games (Super Mario Bros 3, Pin-Bot and Dr. Mario). What makes this cart valuable is that it is pretty much a one of a kind item. But if people wants to play the games that are on this rather unique cartridge, then they can just buy Super Mario Bros 3, Pin-Bot and Dr. Mario seperately for a much cheaper price
Prime Blue said:
Collecting is like buying some highly sought-after concert tickets and throwing them away.
I know what you mean, but i would say that there is a difference. Those concert tickets would probably be rather useless once the concert is over. Video games are things that can last for a long long time.
And collecting doesnt always have to be about buying rare and valuable stuff by the way. I am sure that there are several of people who are collecting, but that mostly buys the more common and cheaper things instead. I guess that you are mostly thinking about people who spend a lot of money on something to add something to their collection though, but i just wanted to mention this anyway
EDIT: I added some text.
EDIT 2: I am sorry for the very late edit here :\ But there were some more text that i wanted to add
I am sorry for the quite lenghty post here, but i just had much that i wanted to say