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Game Consuming Is Out of Control

Unk Adams

Banned
Anytime something special edition comes out whether it's Skyward Sword joycons, Monster Hunter Amiibos, etc. scalpers with bots who treat reselling as a full time job buy them all up and then sell them for several times their MSRP on auction sites. People complain, but buy them anyway. Limited Run Companies are releasing tiny file digital games in retail packages, do limited preorders and then overcharging for them. People are now overpaying for old cartridges (which were basically worthless in value not too long ago) they will never actually play because of "nostalgia". All of a sudden Pokemon cards are worth lots of money when most people threw those out years ago because no one wanted them after the Pokemon card fad was over.

My solution? Stop caring about this shit. I collect, but I'm not a "consumer" who sets up bots, wakes up in the middle of the night, camps at stores, overpays, etc. just to get a controller with a Zelda logo on it that you're just going to keep in the box. They will keep coming up with more special edition plastic stuff every single year and it's neverending. You won't use this stuff because you are too busy consuming.

These are not game collectors. These are game consumers. You are being taken advantage of by companies and resellers and are developing unhealthy habits similar to OCD. You don't need to purchase old cartridges to keep on a shelf that you're never going to play again to relieve your nostalgia.

If you want something cool and manage to get it, fine. But don't go crazy over it. If you miss it, you miss it. You're most likely just going to acquire it, forget about it and then move on to the next "rare" item that the company would easily mass produce if they chose to do so. None of these are essential items. You don't even need to buy new consoles at launch, it's fine to be patient until they are easy to find for MSRP in retail stores because most of them don't have good libraries for at least a year or more anyway.

It's just sad to see that collecting, once a cheap and fun hobby that only "lame outcasts" enjoyed has now been commercialized and made into what it is today. This is why gatekeeping sadly exists - once a hobby goes mainstream then normies are guaranteed to destroy anything good about it in the first place.

I have more respect for some dude in a basement who has a smaller collection of games that he actually has fun with than someone who spends thousands of dollars every month on whatever item is "limited" at the moment.
 

Unk Adams

Banned
Are you really telling people to stop collecting so you can collect cheaper? I’m confused on the intent here.

Video games used to be cool, but now that it’s more widely acceptable, it’s not as cool
Collecting used to be a hobby where people just bought stuff they wanted to show off and have some fun with. Now it's become an obsessive hobby where people spend thousands of dollars every single month to collect every single special edition item and they get stressed out about it. When gaming wasn't mainstream collecting was just a fun hobby, now it's like some sort of competition where you have to prove who has the most valuable plastic junk over the other guy and spend any amount of money to get there. Companies and resellers have noticed this and are now taking advantage by either purposely making tons of special edition items per year such as special controllers and artificially inflating the value of the items by purposely not manufacturing enough items for demand.
 
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Kuranghi

Gold Member
Yeah those idiots, total dummies!

*switches over to Steam Deck preorder page tab to see if its active early*

I also am not interested in the vast majority of special editions and palette swapped stuff they put out. Its mad to me that you'd spend a significant amount of your income on that, but people would look at my outgoings and think spending all my money on X was mad too I'm sure.
 

SCB3

Member
Its part of the reason I stopped collecting as much, I had to sell a lot of my collection during the beginning of the Pandemic last year as I lost my job at that time, now I just wanna focus on getting things I enjoy, such as older consoles and a few games on each (kinda like a top 10-15 on each) rahter than Collectors Edition, hell I just cancelled my Zelda joycons as my 4 now work fine and I preordered the OLED version anyway


Yeah those idiots, total dummies!

*switches over to Steam Deck preorder page tab to see if its active early*
Same here, on that page now refreshing!
 

JOEVIAL

Has a voluptuous plastic labia
I get where you're coming from OP. In a way, I think you miss the old days of collecting, and so do I. The early 2000's were a treasure trove of truly rare collectibles at amazing prices. Gaming used to be niche hobby in the 90's, and early 2000's really... and collecting was even more niche. Nowadays gaming is mainstream and collecting is mainstream. There used to be a point in the early 2000's were people would think you were a social outcast for having a game related t-shirt, or talking about having a game collection.

But now it's totally acceptable and it's the norm really for most folks to have a few collectibles, shirts, and so-on.

Gaming and especially collectibles are so commercialized now. Collectibles used to not be that way back in the 90's and early 2000's. Most collectibles were never sold in stores, they were usually given away at shows, or used as display pieces in stores (man I loved the standees back then).

And one of the best part about collecting back then was that there was usually about 10 or so collectibles for each game or even an entire series. I collected for Elder Scrolls collectibles back then, and besides the games and different boxes, there really was only 10 or so collectibles to find out there. The rarity of these collectibles also added to the fun, scouring all the forums, and of course keeping tabs on the golden years of Ebay. I collected for Fallout also right around Fallout 3's release, and there were about 15 or so different collectibles out there. Only 2 were sold in stores. Now just look up all the merch for Fallout... there's got to be over 1,000 unique and different collectibes.

Anywho... this is getting too long. I've stopped collecting for the most part, and I'm actually selling about 50% of my collection this year. Collecting can be considered a mental health issue, and I was feeling I was getting to that point so it's time to part with most of it.
 

Kuranghi

Gold Member
Same here, on that page now refreshing!

I just got a new phone and I forgot to open Steam app on it to sign in, so I had to get my authenticator code for confirmation on steam desktop, went to new phone, steam app wasn't logged in and I lastpass isn't working for some reason so I had to get the password manually, then when I get into the steam app on the new phone it wants the auth code (from the old app i presume), so I'm in a right pickle lol
 

SCB3

Member
I just got a new phone and I forgot to open Steam app on it to sign in, so I had to get my authenticator code for confirmation on steam desktop, went to new phone, steam app wasn't logged in and I lastpass isn't working for some reason so I had to get the password manually, then when I get into the steam app on the new phone it wants the auth code (from the old app i presume), so I'm in a right pickle lol
Y'know I had a similar issue yesterday, I got a new phone a few weeks ago and forgot to deathorise my old one on Steam, luckily I remembered yesterday to sort it out
 

Kuranghi

Gold Member
Y'know I had a similar issue yesterday, I got a new phone a few weeks ago and forgot to deathorise my old one on Steam, luckily I remembered yesterday to sort it out

Mine just keeps failing to perform the payment, not sure if this'll work. Where you at?

edit - I keept getting:

"An unexpected error has occurred. Your purchase has not been completed.
Please wait a few minutes and try again.
If you encounter this error repeatedly, please contact Steam Support."

in a yellow box at the top of the page
 
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Damigos

Member
I was a collector too, for more than 15 years. In the end all my games and special editions and memorabilia etc took up so much space that i didnt have a room anymore, but a storage space. In the last 8 years i ve gone full digital (and deals only) and i am so happy all that clutter is gone.
 

SCB3

Member
Mine just keeps failing to perform the payment, not sure if this'll work. Where you at?

edit - I keept getting:

"An unexpected error has occurred. Your purchase has not been completed.
Please wait a few minutes and try again.
If you encounter this error repeatedly, please contact Steam Support."

in a yellow box at the top of the page
All pre ordered and confirmed, I used the website instead, a lot smoother
 

Markio128

Gold Member
I have a mate who has an amazing collection of special editions and rare games. I’m not into it myself, but a hobby is a hobby and I know people who spend a lot more money on other types of hobbies.
 

A.Romero

Member
I don't care for collectibles. Collector's stuff is overpriced even without scalpers.

The only thing that really hurts right now is the lack of GPU's at retail price.
 

Chastten

Banned
I live in the Netherlands and I've never had much trouble getting the Collector's Editions that I wanted for MSRP. Only Fire Emblem Fates I had to import from the UK. Guess scalpers around here just don't like Nintendo or something?

That being said, even if I wouldn't be able to get my hands on a CE because of scalpers I wouldn't care. It's just some mass produced plastic. I mean, I like them for their artbooks or in some cases, some other collectible, but I can live without them. If other people are willing to pay scalpers prices just because they NEED a CE in their lives, then hey, more power to them. Doesn't hurt me.
 

LRKD

Member
For a while I was buying all the collectors editions of everything, I had a lot of disposable money, and enjoyed purchasing them. Started selling a lot of the ones that I didn't enjoy the games of though, sold Horizons Zero Dawns CE a while back, was nice cause I sold it for around what I bought it for, maybe even more. I'd love to sell the God of War CE, but nobody wants it lol. A lot of CE's either sell out immediately, and it's price goes skyrocketing, or they produce so many they sit in amazon warehouses, and end up being $40 by the end of the year. God of War, Mirrors Edge 2, Recore, to name a few Collectors editions that went super cheap. I think companies just need to find a better middle ground between overproducing and underproducing CE copies. That and a lot of the CE's have literal garbage sometimes, like that Marvel fighting game that had Easter eggs. That or the game itself is plain flat out trash.

Limited Run games, I love the Idea, but that company goes about it in very scummy ways. Producing physical games, of games that would've been digital only though is a great thing. Many people don't want to be tied down to a digital only, you own nothing dystopian future, I've purchased a few games from them, was super happy when the games finally arrived, good products. But the way they sell them makes 0 sense. Before they even sell or produce them, they limit copies to XXXX amount. Then once they sell the number they already predetermined, they then start production of the copies, and ship it months later. They either need to produce copies earlier since they already have a preset amount of copies they will sell. Or remove the 'limited' number, and sell however many people preorder, then produce and ship it months later.
 

SCB3

Member
I thought this game was about people buying hundreds of games and not playing any. IMHO that is a problem. I had a friend that owned 300+ games. Beat maybe 4% of his library on steam.

I don't wanna play that game, when I last looked at GoG, my digital library alone was over 1500 across all consoles, Steam and various PC launchers
 

R6Rider

Gold Member
I don't buy bigger collector's editions very often, but I do tend to go for steelbooks as long as they aren't too much more.

Lots of people go overboard and have rooms completely filled with stuff. But hey, it's their money.
 

M1chl

Currently Gif and Meme Champion
All of this ended in me with PS4/X1 generation. All digital since then and I think I spent less money, than buying useless shit with my games.
 

Calverz

Member
Yeah those idiots, total dummies!

*switches over to Steam Deck preorder page tab to see if its active early*

I also am not interested in the vast majority of special editions and palette swapped stuff they put out. Its mad to me that you'd spend a significant amount of your income on that, but people would look at my outgoings and think spending all my money on X was mad too I'm sure.
You getting steam deck? Got any of those dread amiibos???
 

Rival

Gold Member
The only thing I’ve not been able to get that I want is a new gpu. But at this point I’m just waiting until the next refresh and better availability to build my new pc.
 

Kuranghi

Gold Member
You getting steam deck? Got any of those dread amiibos???

Nah i missed out on the Dread amiibo, same as the Metroid Dread physical SE.

I just got Skyward Sword HD in the post there so might get an NFC "backup tag" (lol) on ebay for faster fast travelling, but I don't know if its really necessary.
 
Ah, yes, give me all the poor quality plastic figures and other crap they shove into these special editions:lollipop_expressionless:. Honestly, any time I look at some special collectors edition of any game, I can't help but think how that will look when all that crap is floating in the ocean or some garbage dump in China. Bethesda, I'm looking at you.
 
Jim Carrey What GIF
 

Kataploom

Gold Member
I'd stop caring about it, OP, but deep in my heart, deep deep inside, and even not that deep inside, I know that I actually never cared what people do with their money.

It's a shit situation but there's a lot of market for it, can't blame people for doing business if the demand way higher than the offert
 

MaDBrute

Banned
I'd stop caring about it, OP, but deep in my heart, deep deep inside, and even not that deep inside, I know that I actually never cared what people do with their money.

It's a shit situation but there's a lot of market for it, can't blame people for doing business if the demand way higher than the offert
Its only a fucking heart, how deep can you go? 5-10cm?
 

MrFunSocks

Banned
I used to “collect” games and special editions, buying things to keep rather than use. I realised how big of a waste it was about 10 years ago and just stopped. Have basically bought not a single physical game since then, not a single “special edition” controller, no preorder “collectables”, etc. just buy the console once, then just buy digital games. It’s just so much easier and nicer.

If I didn’t get a series X on launch day, which I was lucky to get, I would have just waited. It’s not life or death to have a new console immediately. You’re not losing anything by getting it later, especially in the case of the PS5 since most of their big games are single player - you can pick them up in 18 months time when they’re $10 and miss nothing, unlike online MP games.
 

nush

Member
Well OP has convinced me, you'll find all my collectors editions in the dumpster behind my house tonight.
 

fermcr

Member
Lots of idiots out there with money to spend. Developers are simply taking advantage of that... can't blame them.

"A Fool and His Money Are Soon Parted".
 

BizzyBum

Member
I used to be big on wanting to pre-order and collect all the different CE's for games. I mean shit, I even bought that $150 SWTOR CE back in the day.

Then one day I just randomly told myself, "why the fuck am I wasting my money on this shit. Most, if not all of it just stays in the box or gets stuffed in an attic/closet." So I just stopped.

Maybe if you have a dedicated gaming man cave and want to display a ton of shit but after awhile it just becomes clutter.
 

KungFucius

King Snowflake
Just because you see some products being resold on ebay it doesn't mean that it is a significant fraction of all items sold. It's really kind of stupid to assume as much and then whine about it. There is more demand than supply so things sell out quickly and some get resold because people know there is more demand than supply. You scalper whiners act like scalpers are manufacturing the scarcity themselves which is utterly absurd. Some of these things go live as soon as they are announced and sell out. How the fuck would scalpers get their bots trained to buy an item that didn't even exist 30 minutes prior to selling out? Do you also believe in magic?
 

Warnen

Don't pass gaas, it is your Destiny!
I stopped giving a shit about colectibles when I switched to digital for everything (movies, books, games, music). So much nicer living in a uncluttered home.
 
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Sometimes I buy collectable type things but very rarely. Don't care that people do, and I'm not going to call them idiots like some folks are doing. It's their money. I'm sure everyone buys shit that isn't completely necessary. Do what you want with your cash.

But can we just stop using the words "consume" and "content" when referring to videogames/movies/videos/etc.?
 

MagiusNecros

Gilgamesh Fan Annoyance
Scalepers(that's right they are Scalepers now) are stealing all the SE's so I can't buy them at a good price. And preorder bonuses went to shit a long time ago so no point there.

I remember the days you preordered a game, got your goodies and sometimes they gave you a free poster or two just for showing up and not being terrible.

Nowadays you have to buy the game, download the game, install the game, sometimes patch the game and then finally play the game.

Last SE I bought was Bravely Default Flying Fairy. I thought about Metroid Dread and SMT5 but that ain't happening.
 

Darkskill

Member
I actually wish I’d have been more of a collector in the past. Typically I would buy games/consoles, play them, then sell them and use the money to buy more games/consoles and so on. Now, I miss a lot of the games and consoles I used to have.
 
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