Collecting a Complete Set

As I've expanded my video game collection over the years, I've really enjoyed talking with other collectors online and watching YouTube videos on how people collect and what people collect. YouTubers like the Immortal John Hancock, Adam Koralik and the guy from the documentary, Nintendo Quest (that I just watched last night); while entertaining to follow and learn more about I don't get it.

Now before anyone spews hellfire and brimstone at me, let me try to explain myself. I'm a collector...of a lot of different things. Just check out my various other blogs and you'll see that I collect trading cards, comics, toys, and music to some degree. The idea of collecting doesn't escape me, but that's not what I don't understand. I've never been a completionist with many of my hobbies. I nearly amassed a full original Transformers Generation One collection of toys, before I realized that I really didn't care about (most of) the Action Master toys that released at the end of the series run. However as a trading card collector (or comic collector) I get the idea of wanting all of the cards/comics in the series...it just makes sense. Video games however are a whole different animal.

I've had this inner debate before of whether I'm more of a gamer or a collector. Part of me loves acquiring new games and putting them on display. Just take a look at part of my shelved collection below. I have a good many games spread out over a lot of different systems.

I know I have more games than I have time to play, however I don't see the point in buying a game I know I'm not going to play. Outside of the occassional baseball game, I don't care for sports titles so it doesn't make sense for me to buy a sports game because I know I'm not going to play it. The idea of collecting an entire set of games for any one console just seems meaningless to me. Now I'm not going to tell someone how to collect or how to spend their money. Lord knows I couldn't have made smarter choices when it comes to my expendable income, however I only have so much money to spend on my hobbies (have you noticed how many hobbies I have?!) and I only have so much space for said hobbies in my home.

To me, and only to me, it just seems like a waste of money and space collecting games that you know you aren't going to play. I guess this could be extended to those who collect variant versions of the same game (different regions, etc,). If I'm going to spend my hard earned money on anything, I want it to be spent on something I know I'm going to enjoy. Now I guess people that collect for their favorite system do it because they have fun. Hey, more power to ya! I just don't get it.

Surely I'm not the only one with this opinion. It's not a slam against anyone. I'm just one guy with a blog and an opinion. I would however like to get some feedback on this topic. Why are you trying to complete a full set for (fill in the blank) console? Is it the thrill of the chase and hunt that makes it so entertaining? Or why don't you fell it's necessary to buy every game for (again, fill in the blank) console? Thanks for reading my rambling words. Peace.