Collecting - The Disease

An anonymous reader writes "Gamers With Jobs has an interesting piece this morning on the nature of collectibility in games. While primarily a personal account of one man's journey into the hell that is Magic: the Gathering, it raises interesting questions about the difference between real-world and virtual-world collecting, and the economic motivations behind both." From the article: "I sit down. I play. I get schooled by a 12-year-old for two hours as he teaches me the ropes with a condescension reserved for teenagers with grownups by the throat. Each game is a bet — loser gives the winner the top card off his deck: Ante. I leave a dozen cards short. I had discovered a great game, and people to play it against. But that's not why the night sits burned into my brain with razor sharp clarity. No, it's because that Tuesday night in San Francisco, I became a collector."

Comments

Cardboard Crack

[spun]

Thurgood Marshall is in a group for people who are addicted and need help.

Thurgood: Hi, I'm Thurgood.
Entire Group: Hi, Thurgood.
Thurgood: and I am addicted to marijuana.
Entire Group groans
Addict: You in here for some marijuana?!? Marijuana!?!? Man, this is some BULLSHIT!
Bob Saget: Marijuana is not a drug! I used to suck dick for Magic: The Gathering cards!
Addict: I seen him!
Bob Saget: Now that's an addiction man! You ever suck some dick for Marijuana?!
Addict: HUH?!
Thurgood: No, I can't say I have.
Bob Saget: Yeah I didn't think so...
Addict: Boo this man! BOO!!!

Everyone "boos" him and throws bottles and trash at him

Collecting leaves me feeling cheated

[Total_Wimp]

once you realize that the value of your collection doesn't lay in it's internal value (they're just cards or china or whatever) or your enjoyment using the collection (most collections are sealed away. Even if you do use them, how could you possibly get real use out of 100 cars or 1000 beanie babies?), then the only thing you have left is monetary value and bragging rights. And you only have monetary value and bragging rights, really, with other collectors. Did you tell your aunt polly about your Star Wars figure collection? What did she say? "Bad-ass"? Sure she did.

I have been caught up in the collecting bug in the past and as soon as I'm done, I just wonder where all my time/money/space/soul has gone.

Where are you Pogs now?

TW

Re:Collecting leaves me feeling cheated

[nelsonal]

I collect stock certificates, some are even uncancelled. :)

Re:Collecting leaves me feeling cheated

[twistedsymphony]

Well I suppose it all depends on what you collect. Collecting is a desease of sorts. I collect all sorts of things, My largest collection is of DVDs. Always double dipping for the newest ultra limited special collectors edition box set. But I can usually hock the older version on eBay and some $$ back. Lately I've been good on keeping up with the news and I can get rid of the older versions before the newers one even hit the market. I had the complete Cowboy Bebop DVD set... I had found the discs on sale when I first got it and bought it for about $70 total. When I heard they were re-release it remixed in surround sound I sold the collection on eBay hoping to get $50 or $60 but wound up going all the way to $110. And unlike beanie babies I can watch my DVDs meaning I and my friends get enjoyment out of my addiction.

Another example is a card game that I collect called Killer Bunnies. Similar to Magic but there are only small number of rare cards, the rest are part of standard booster packs so there are no surprises. When the rare cards first come out they're usually pretty easy to find. They can be found on eBay between $4 and $10 a piece (a lot for a card to a non collector I know). However it would seem that the value of such cards increases as time goes on. The first two rare "Omega" cards I have and purchased for $10 a piece I've seen up for auction on eBay recently for over $175 a piece. This might seem silly to some people but I still play with those cards. To me using those things is just as much fun as trying to complete the collection.

Some collectors will go out of their way and pay any price to complete their collection but I find with a bit of research, digging, and patience you can find what you're looking for without making worthless investments.

Re:Collecting leaves me feeling cheated

[Aladrin]

The fact that there are freaks and fanatics doesn't change the fact that the cards are -useable- for enjoyment, other than bragging rights and dollar value.

Kids these days...

[Psmylie]

I play some against adults, and against kids. Most of the time, when I'm against a kid, he's usually using some "unbeatable" deck he found off the internet. I really hate that. In my opinion, playing the game is only half of it. The other half of the game comes from building a functional deck. To simply copy a killer deck found online takes a good chunk of the fun out of it.

I may lose a few, but I build my decks myself, from cards I get either from lots, pre-built decks from WotC (which I buy to get used to new mechanics, and usually rip apart after a few games) or booster packs. When I beat someone, it's with a deck I built, not one I copied from someone else.

Collecting: The Moneywasting

[TooMuchEspressoGuy]

Like your average geek, I used to play Magic: the Gathering. I also spent a ton of money on Magic: the Gathering. I played casually, sometimes in "serious" tournaments, went to pre-releases, busted open booster boxes to find cards I needed for my collection, the works.

And, what did I get out of it in the end?

The friends I made playing casually weren't interested in much else, and subsequently, I found that I wasn't much interested in them. Tournaments and pre-releases are filled with trash-talking, cheating, and rules-lawyering, making them decidedly unfun. And the money I spent on cards could have been better spent on something that's more fun, more social, and just as fitting to my geeky lifestyle (like, say, video games.)

In other words, I got nothing beneficial from it, aside from the occasional interesting friend, triumphant tourney moment, or excellent deal on old cards. Consequently, this summer I made the decision to sell my entire $2500 collection via CardShark. Now, I'm raking in a load of cash, which I'll probably re-invest in music or games (i.e. things that are actually fun), all for a bunch of pieces of cardboard.

And that's not even getting into my whole rant about how Wizards hasn't given a damn about the gamers since the Ice Age block. But that would be getting off-topic.

So, if you take one thing from this post, let it be that, if you're on the fence about quitting and selling your collection, do it. Your life and your pocketbook will be all the better for it.

Oblig

[MrCopilot]

The Collector. Worst Super-Villian .... Ever

Thank You.

My Toys only got more expensive...

[thebdj]

You see, I once used to collect innocent things...Star Trek figures, Star Wars figures...I even had a few CCGs...Star Wars, Overpower and M:tG come to mind. None of these really broke my bank. I worked a steady job in high school and since I was really only paying for gas and insurance, I had loads of money to spend. I actually had somewhere near $2000 saved up before college, so I didn't have to work in order to eat out and have fun doing things my parents weren't paying for (which was just school and books, and that nasty meal plan).

Well, now my new "toys" are computers and electronics. When I spend money, it is a lot less frequent, but the items I am buying are much more expensive. I guess it comes with my more grown up interests. I have tons of DVDs and buy many used CDs now. The real disaster comes from my electronics though. I am about to purchase another computer. (Well, build it myself, but you know...) I own a Dell Inspiron 8600 and recently got a G3 iBook (nice and white, 800MHz, DVD/CD-RW, etc.) on ebay for $300. I also have a lot of electronics, HDTV, media player, and audio-phile 5.1 system.

My other interest include guns, which are not cheap by any definition of the word either. I have managed to curb some of my PC/console gaming, though I really think I am just stashing up until it comes time for the Wii. Actually the new PC is mostly for Oblivion and maybe the next UT. The fact is, even these are typically 10x or more expensive then my old habits and I am not really making 10x as much as in high school. Well actually I am, but I now have real bills...like electricity, water, gas...oh and that pesky rent...

The point is, any hobby or habit can get really expensive. I guess it just eventually comes down to what kind of money you are willing to spend and what you find interesting.

Where are parts 2 and 3?

[The-Bus]

I thought this article was a bit... light. It gives you a good sort of back-of-the-cereal box review of collecting, but it doesn't go any deeper. I won't be expanding on the article, but I had a few thoughts relationg to the topic.

Collecting is here to stay. It will never go away. That's pretty much a given; it is important, however, to differentiate between two types. First, monetary collecting: your Magic cards, Warhammer figures, etc. Second, non-monetary collecting: "earned" items in MMOs, unlockable costumes/endings/characters, etc.

The good news with monetary collecting is that the internet helped implode a lot of markets. With Magic: the Gathering, I remember in the late 90's one card, a Juzam Djinn, carried a pretty hefty price, upwards of $150 if I recall correctly. It should be $175 or $200 now, if we're to believe increasing returns on collectibles and inflation (or eBay sellers with 0 bids). But quick look on eBay shows prices in the $100 area, per card. The most expensive card, the Black Lotus, also goes for about half of its previous price ($1000+).

(Now, some Magic player is going to rebut about how the changing of tournament rules is affecting cards. That might be true to a point. But in the past ten years we've seen the same thing happen with sports collectibles, comic books, term life insurance, and countless other markets; opening a market will have the effect of reducing prices since it reduces scarcity).

Now, monetary collecting in gaming is pretty bad in my eyes, especially for games kids play, since it puts kids without well-off parents at a distinct disadvantage over equaly skilled kids whose parents give them huge allowances or equally skilled working professionals with large discretionary budgets.

Thankfully, in non-monetary collecting, time and skill are the real investment. Most "collectibles" in these games require no money: unique armor for your MMO character, unlockable costumes for your fighters/adventurers, or hats for your Nintendogs, etc. Still, there's some inequality, as people with time but not money constraints pay for training, gold, etc.

Collecting, be it virtual or real, is intrinsic to gaming, video and otherwise. What's a sports player always work for? A Super Bowl ring. Or the Stanley Cup. Or a gold medal. Or any number of physical objects that represent victory. There's a reason there are physical things attached to these victories. It's not that the jewelry is more important than the championship, it's just that it's an object. In MMOs where items serve (usually) a useful purpose it's nice to get a trinket to show you defeated some boss. But it's nicer to get Ashkandi, Greatsword of the Brotherhood.

If Collecting is the Disease ...

[WrongSizeGlass]

... then eBay is the cure ;)