“Hustle Culture” takes a heavy toll, but being a hoarder consumerist does too. Collecting physical media can be a harmless hobby, but it could also be a sad and futile attempt at recapturing a nostalgic time from when you were young that never really existed. Think about “why” you are doing something and ask yourself when enough is enough. Don’t worry about what others think, you should only care what you get out of it and what your goals are for it.

Why do people collect cars when they don’t drive them ever? What about stamps (who use stamps anymore)? Pokemon cards? We keep things that bring us memories and make us happy from time to time. If they have ever made you feel proud or happy, I would say keep them. It definitely worths more than the monetary gain from selling them.

deleted by creator

I collect planes that just sit around and look cool and I can say I have them. I’d never sell them because I love planes and they make me happy, some of them are toys from when I was a kid and I don’t play with them anymore but that doesn’t mean I’m gonna get rid of them, they bring me great joy. I’d look at it that way if I were you

Congrats dude, you have a hobby. Enjoy your time, life it’s all about the small things :)

I’m personally not the collector type but I do blow money on other things, but usually it’s either hobbies or tech (not to mention all the gear I use for my work).

I think it’s just up to if that’s something you enjoy and gives you value then it’s worth it.

I’m similar with books. I personally prefer to read ebooks because I find the experience a lot easier and better, but there are some books or authors that I really enjoy so I like to get the hardcover books as well. Some books I have both digitally and physically even though I’ve never read the physical copies but I like and enjoy them so I keep them even though they “collect dust” as you say.

If you are thinking of paring down or downsizing, mayve just think of what games are really special to you and that you find meaningful to keep.

Sounds like you enjoyed the experience of the hunt, but don’t enjoy feeling like a hoarder. That’s fine, and perfectly healthy I’d say. If you don’t have space or don’t get enjoyment from the collection, by all means sell it and experience something else you enjoy. If you think it will appreciate in value, or you know someone you’d like to pass it on or donate it to, then maybe keep it around for now.

I’d be more worried about what you’re gonna do with the last 29 years of your life

deleted by creator

You probably enjoyed collecting it. That means finding the games and then putting them together in a neat collection.

You probably did it because you enjoyed finding the games and wanted build the collection because you thought you enjoyed owning them as well.

Goals change, priorities change. Appearently he didn’t enjoy it anymore, and that’s fine. It’s probably hard to realize that you no longer share the same joy about it with your friend.

That said, that has nothing to do with whether you still enjoy it. And regarding your questions: do you? If so, it’s totally fine to own something just because you enjoy having it around. Maybe if you need the money urgently or the space, there’s an argument there to trade that for you enjoyment of this, but that’s up to you.

I hope that whatever you do, it’s because you decided it for yourself and didn’t decide it because of whatever your friend did :)

You can download pictures of stamps and butterflies, but people keep collecting those for some reason. Unless you’ve got issues with hoarding or it otherwise affects you negatively, don’t worry about having a collecting-based hobby.

I’m a fellow collector and I also emulate a lot but even still I collect. For a few reasons.

I will always have the original copy in case I need to make a backup and archive.org is shut down and the cloud providers delete my backups for copyright reasons.

I can display and rotate the games I choose to display. Even if no one besides me see the games I choose to display, they are important to me and I’m glad I can enjoy them.

I can recreate formative gaming moments from my childhood and share them with my children accurate to the way I experienced them

That being said, emulation does bring many conveniences and so I do emulate most of my collection on my phone but I still maintain a physical collection and I do break out the old consoles from time to time

Are you buying things just to collect them? Or do you have a collection of stuff you bought when you were younger and are holding on to that for nostalgic reasons?

I don’t really actively buy any retro stuff anymore unless I’m wanting to play some particular game or something. It’s just too expensive.

But I would have a really really hard time selling things with sentimental value. Maybe that will change someday but for now it’s too recent (20-30 years ago for me for most of it).

The other thing is, unless you really need the money (or space) now… Physical video game paraphernalia is not likely to go down in price over time. It necessarily becomes more scarce as time goes on. So that’s something to consider even if you’re just collecting to gain value.

I also like to collect old video games but I don’t think I ever stopped to think about why I do it. I just like having them, even just seeing them all lined up on a shelf, knowing that I have pieces of gaming history in my room just makes me happy. There doesn’t need to be a real reason, sometimes we do things just because we feel like doing them. Do things because you feel like doing them and not because you have to justify them to other people.