Table Talk - Am I A Collector?
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- Опубліковано 2 жов 2024
- We like to play games. We like to buy games. How much are we buying to play and how much are we buying to collect? Let's discuss our relationship to our gaming collection!
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to ask a question in the UA-cam comments below.
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BREAKING NEWS: Board game market collapses overnight after controversial UA-cam video
Uplift-Your Daily Pickup and second-hand market sees record highs!!
Why are you attacking me so blatantly, personally, and directly like this on UA-cam? Uncalled for!
Note to self: wasn't subtle enough...
I am sorry. I hope you were joking, Drive Thru. He was trying to get his stream of consciousness out there for the viewers to know where he was coming from. He was very specifically trying to be as polite as possible. In fact, Rodney clarified many times that he wasn’t directly judging others opinions but moreover, he was questioning his own reactions to their choices. Slight distinction, but an important one.
I truly appreciate your candor Rodney. You tried very hard not to step on anyone’s toes. Thank you for this video. It made me think, and as it stands from my reply, made me grow as a person. Thank you ! !
Rikhavok I know. Rodney and I are good friends. I was just giving him a hard time :)
@@DriveThruReview Yes, this was all in jest :)
@@rikhavok Drive Thru Games was totally joking. I've seen these two play games together before. They're good friends.
A major problem are the people like me who have great board games, but few people to play it with. So you are not collecting, but the games just sit on the shelf which makes one feel like it was an unnecessary and wasteful purchase.
So true. It's why I really appreciate it if games support solo play.
same here... the gamer in me become the collector all of sudden...
Had the same problem. Than I started looking for game nights and clubs in my area, made a project out of it. I found out there wasn't any in my city but there was nearby. So I started by visiting the game club and started my own monthly game café night and now I can play a game every day if I would want to. Only thing I need now is time. But working on that also. But since I started meeting new people I have been playing at least once a week. I even organized my first boardgame fair (300 people attending, all people just like us)! What I'm trying to say is there are so many people out there who wants to play but don't have a "collection" to choose from, it only takes a little effort to meet them. Maybe it's an idea, I'm sharing this because it enriched my life and I wish everybody to have fun at playing the great games that are out there.
I feel the same.
I'm in the same case 😔
I have bought some games in the hope I will be able to play them someday. If I don't buy them than maybe I don't have the chance later on
I am almost done buying games...A few more kickstarters and I will be done.
Agreed. I can quit anytime.
@@pixxelwizzard You and me both. I don't have a problem .... (comments while funding yet another Kickstarter)
GROAN don't talk like that. hits too close to home haha
And then comes Essen ...
My goodness; this is wonderful. There are other people out there just like me! I can't wait to tell my councilor. ;)
My husband and I were a huge fan of "the cult of the new" and were weary about that getting out of hand (mostly financially). We were buying games just because they were new and not necessarily something we would play. We got sucked into the hype of it all and didnt want to miss out. It also didnt help that the boardgameing community is awesome :) and thats what most gamers talk about -the new stuff. Our wallet suffered somewhat and we had to change our habit. We stopped following kickstarter and new releases blogs, and have been keeping track of how many times we play each game in our collection. We try to rotate playing our games to make each purchase worthwhile. We very much fulfill our "player" side... and when we do purchase a game, we spend a lot more time researching or perhaps playtesting. We still collect, but it's a lot more hand picked with attention to detail. We have found that our fear of missing out on new games fell away because we are focusing on good games that already exist on our shelf (and there are many!). If it is new, we make sure it's something worth adding to our shelf. Our collecting style changed to "anything and everything" to "personally curated for us."
The board game wall is now it's own work of art and conversation piece - specifically as to why each game on our shelf is chosen to be there. Anyone else been there? :) Great topic Rodney!!
Yeah I like that comment. I think you speak a lot of sense.
i dont mean to be off topic but does someone know a trick to log back into an Instagram account..?
I was dumb lost my login password. I would love any help you can give me
@Kevin Reid Instablaster ;)
@Luciano Evan I really appreciate your reply. I found the site through google and Im in the hacking process atm.
I see it takes quite some time so I will get back to you later when my account password hopefully is recovered.
@Luciano Evan it did the trick and I finally got access to my account again. I am so happy:D
Thank you so much you really help me out!
In my case, I guess, I picture myself playing the game with my friends, but we never get the chance to do it. I fall more in love of the potential fun rather the fact that the moment may never even happen. And to make it worse, I do feel regrets to a certain degree after I buy the game. What I have done to mitgate this is, play at Meetups! This helps calming my game craving, and I find myself buying less games now.
same here
It didn't take long for my gaming group to start turning down good games for one reason or another (sometimes to play a party game on the couch, too many people, or just didn't like the look of it) so I stopped pretty quickly buying games for them. Now I only buy games I can play (and have fun playing) solo or that my wife would enjoy. I have a couple games (like Captain Sonar) sitting in my closet and I cringe every time I see it. The last time someome said "Hey, have you heard of Betrayal at House on the Hill?" I said, "I have! You should get it and we'll play!" I still haven't seen it.
@@staticklingon2182i am pretty much like u but i dun have a wife to play with, i wish i had one
@@seadoglonelyseal That sucks. But my wife doesn't play often, honestly. If it weren't for solo games I'd be hitting up my local gaming store a couple times a week to play.
@@staticklingon2182 yeah, iam full on solo mode now, i just need to complete my lotr lcg collecrion then i am golden. And iam still desperate for a wife lol. Local game store is a nono here for me, too many people make me uncomfortable. Lucky i still have cousin to play with sometimes but this wont happen when they turn aldults
collecting? hoarding.. .NO SIR.. im just getting ready.
Prepping for civilization as we know it to end so i can finally enjoy my games without the distractions of electricity and internet. (and i can finally find someone to play my games with?.. ill be the entertainment king of the cave!)
ive found that sitting thru a complete play thru video of a game helps disdain most of the impulse buys.
100% same. lol. One day when the power goes out, I'll be king!!!
Lol I tell my wife this all the time, “When the economy collapses these will board games....”
Ha ha. I've said the same thing many times. In the post-apocalyptic world to come me and my family will have everything we need to keep us happy in the bunker!
EMP Plan. Yep.
Just make sure you print any FAQS, instruction edits, etc!! Don't want to be without the answers to messed up instructions! LOL
Great video and topic! I think that a few publishers have noted that the bulk of boardgame purchases are made by people new to the hobby. After people have been in it for a few years, they start to either settle into a game group, figure out how much they actually CAN get played, who actually wants to play with them, what they like, and then they start to slow their purchases and potentially reduce their collection.
This isn't true of all people obviously but I remember getting into the hobby and I always kept track of my collection on BGG and logged game stats. I remember when I hit 100 owned games and would see people with 500, 1000, or 2000+ games and think, "WOIW, I'll never get that many games." Then about 4 years ago, I saw that I was creeping up on 700 boardgames in my collection and started to get panicked. I had been playing for just about 4 years at that point and I was acquiring an average of 175 games a year!!! Granted, I bought many of them cheap through auctions or thrift stores thinking, "For a dollar, I'm sure I can have fun with this game." But then I realized that that dollar didn't buy me a a fun night, it bought me an obligation, a piece of property that I had to store and deal with. I had to contemplate getting rid of it at some point. I had to decide what value I placed on it. "Sure, I bought it for a dollar but it was worth more than that! I can't sell it for a dollar?!" Even if I did sell it, I had to deal with listing the games, communicating with buyers, and shipping or meeting up with people. All of that to more than likely break-even or make a few bucks after fee's.
I did a variety of steps to get to the point I'm at now (just under 400 games but still culling). First, I made it a New Years Resolution to get my number of Unplayed games down to zero. That meant either playing those games, selling them, or just donating them to get them out of my collection. I got my unplayed's down from 170 to about 35 that year. The next year, I did the Net Zero challenge where I could only spend money on boardgames if I had sold boardgames to make the money to buy them. This did 2 things, it reduced my spending and also made me more cognizant of the amount of money I spent on games. At the end of it, I was net positive $1000+ but I still had spent around $600 on games and game apps. $600 doesn't seem like a lot when you factor in some new Kickstarters are $100+ but still, I was aware of every dollar I spent during that time frame and knowing I could've put an extra $50 a month towards something wasn't nothing. The next year, I committed to getting under 500 games by years end. And this year, I'm going to end with under 400 owned games and over 850 previously owned games on BGG.
I still buy new games from time to time. It's still very, very hard to pass up a deal on a game I KNOW is great but what helps a bunch is keeping a picture of all the games in my collection on my phone and when I'm ready to make a purchase, I stare long and hard at that picture and look at all the games I haven't played for years and ask myself honestly, "Is this game just going to be another one in this stack? Can I play any of these other games instead of this one and have similar fun for the group I'm imagining playing it with?" And the answer 99% of the time "yes". I still buy games though but I'm at least more aware of it than I was before.
Your story is similar to the owner of BoardGameCo.com. He now runs a large business trading, buying, and selling board games after auctioning off his unplayed and getting a taste for turning a profit.
Thanks for the awesome comment! I got a lot of useful tips out of it for myself.
I prefer to collect Kickstarter Exclusives and throw out the base games they're associated with. If any old plebeian can have the base game part, it's of no value to me. I just want the exclusives and nothing else.
All in all, this game was a blast to throw away.
10/10 would throw this game away again.
So you would pay 100 s on a game to keep 3-15% exclusive content? What a waste of money.
@@papabear3x I'm not sure you completely understand satire... in fact I'm fairly sure you don't.
I prefer to just buy the Kickstarter exclusives on eBay for games I don’t own for the same reason. Then I keep them mint, in box, with the hopes of selling them all in 35 years to retire. No 401k’s or pensions here, just exclusives!
🙃
I think the one of the reasons Kickstarter exclusives are ruining the gaming experience is because of the fear of missing out. A lot of our emotions are relative to the situation we are in.
Just knowing there is some stuff that could potentially increase the fun out of the game, and we will never have it, puts a dark shadow on the base game experience. This is deeply tied to are human psyche. Humans are more sensitive to loss than they are to rewards. Even imagined loss (such as not getting something you now expect to have, such as KS exlusives most people think they should be in the base game as well) hurts the same.
Imagine somebody is selling a game with 300 cards, almost new, but 10 cards are missing. They don't have a big effect on gameplay, but I think a lot of people will not be interested in buying the game even at a big discount. It's the same with KS exclusives. On top of that it's a cheesy sales trick, as well as early birds and other promos. Heck, even stretch goals are a sham when they promise stuff that should obviously be in the game.
Not just kick starter, but the exclusivity factor too. Game sells out on Amazon, panic and buy it elsewhere because it will never be available again...which can be true or not sometimes (Battlestar Galactica I'm looking at you). Publishers feed this frenzy just as bad through their print and reprint choices as they do with kick starter, I'm just sayin. You'll NEVER not be able to find a copy of Monopoly somewhere, but other games get scarce and valuable (real or imagined) quickly sometimes.
Kickstarter exclusives suck and like Rodney pointed out, it loses sales. Because if you have an element that could make your game fun, IT SHOULD BE IN THE FINAL COPY! I'm hesitant to buy a game knowing that they kept pieces out of the final version to reward the backers.
Exactly. If I don't get everything, I don't buy the game.
Rodney's post struck so many chords with me. But I think the one that I thought nobody would ever relate to was the "chasing experiences" part. For the longest time, I thought I was the only one who was playing and relentlessly collecting boardgames, because I wanted to recreate that "magic moment" when I first fell in love with boardgames.
I can still vividly remember the first time I played Dominion with a couple of friends at the office. We were huddled around a small coffee shop table, giggling while buying "Duchys" and "Coppers". I can still remember the time my girlfriend gifted me a copy of Small World from her trip in Singapore in 2010. It was my 2nd ever boardgame. Now my BGG profile says I have over 200+.
And what I've found, is those "magic moments" are so hard to recreate. Even with 200+ boardgames. There will be more downs than ups while in this hobby. Don't get me wrong. In my 9 years in the hobby, I've been fortunate enough to recreate a couple more "magic moments". But those are like 1 percenters. 99% of the time, you're reading rulebooks, trying to find enough people to play with, scheduling gamenights, getting cancelled on, meeting obnoxious people in the hobby, organizing components, thinking of storage solutions, spending way too much money, etc. But what keeps me coming back is every once in a while, there will be a really "magic moment", where you think, man this hobby is the best! Where you think, man I love these guys I'm playing with, and we can be the bestest friends!
And that's what keeps me collecting. It's almost like a drug. Craving that "magic moment", that is actually so deceptively hard to experience consistently in this hobby. I keep on buying thinking, "man I think this game will be really fun, everybody says it's fun, I should probably get it man, just in case".
Great topic Rodney! I definitely have the collector's bug, it doesn't show itself through buying games but I have a hard time getting rid of games that i don't play anymore or even want to play anymore just because i like having a big collection!!
Myself, I'm a bit of messy. I have a hard time getting rid of _anything_. You never know when you might need it again!
Fantastic subject. Time for some self reflection....Done. Conclusion: “don’t let my wife watch this” 😁
I fall somewhere in-between -- which is I want to have a wide enough variety of games to satisfy my mood on any given day and to give friends a choice so that we can always have something to play. And I always feel as if there's something missing and I see something that I think might scratch that itch. Plus I have enablers. You know who you are!
Damn Rodney. I always respect your opinion, but have never felt compelled to comment. But your insight into the Collector in me vs. The gamer in me hit home...close to home. I have definitely been a collector first, and a gamer second. I even started a gaming group to play the games I was collecting, but would find myself just staring at my collection, instead of playing any of it. I did this with comics too.
I may have to reassess some of my kickstarter projects, and why I feel a fomo. Thanks Rodney
This is why I wanted to but never got into comics. I could read one in an hour then it would go into the pile and just sit there staring at me.
Omg I just look at my games an smile
I found myself falling into that collector category way back when we played Killer Bunnies. Even though we had quit playing it by the time expansion 10 came out, I still NEEDED them all. Although I do occasionally find myself falling back into that, I do try to really make careful decisions when I purchase games. My collection is at about 200 and I am slowly culling it. Made a goal this year to play at least 2 games each month that haven’t been played in years to decide if we keep or replace!! Of course I will never stop buying. But at least now I make sure we really will play it in our group. (I say, as I wait on 11 Kickstarters to arrive)
I identified with this very much. I find that I am unable to trim my collection of games, for one reason that you did not mention. I have this feeling that someday I will be able to pass on this collection to a younger person who will not be able to have it or get it in other ways, and it will be such a great gift. It might be my child, my niece or nephew, or just some person in the community. I feel like my collection is my personal legacy and I want someone to keep the games and carry on with them. I don’t know how sensible or not this really is.
It's funny that you say "shelf of shame". I used to keep all my unplayed games on one shelf, and that's exactly what I called it.
I’m new to board games and oh man I’m a player and I’m a collector, seeing your shelf full of games blows my mind, I know I couldn’t very easily be there but I have to be slow and methodical, my wife will notice if I have so many games
Rodney: NOW... on the subject of being a collector. I FEEL YOU! I have been riddled with this same illness and am now bringing myself down to Earth. Let me explain... I cut my teeth as an Avalon Hill wargamer when I was 16 (I'm NOW actively in my 60's). There were NO Euro games, or any of the explosions that we see now... you had the standards... Chess, Checkers, Go, Cards (Poker, Cribbage, Bridge, etc), domino's, and a handful of Milton Bradley, Parker Brothers games, etc. . Games have exploded and I had to look into the chaotic possibility of TOO MANY GAMES. SO... which one's would find their way to my "table" consistently enough? Which ones would have the game mechanics and allure to give me a new challenge? Which one's would tax my abilities and sensibilities? EVERY GAME just wouldn't do! Every theme and game mechanic wouldn't be of interest to me. SO... STAY with your core! I'm a war gamer, and YET... NOT EVERY war game appeals to me. How many games do you need on Gettysburg, Stalingrad, WWII, D-Day, etc? This is where I watch reviewers tirelessly! Does the game mechanic seem new and intriguing. Is it a rehash of a game I already own or can "house rule"? Recently, I've been intrigued by Columbia Games and their block system... I'd been pushing "Cardboard" forever, enjoying mini's for quite a while (remember Ral Partha pewter figures for Space 1889? or Heroquest?)... and LASTLY, do I even know enough people to play the game with? THEN... there's the price of a game. Bear with me here... my first AH games were around $6-7.00 a piece. AH improved so did SPI, and eventually I was paying around $7-10.00 a game... no big thing. "Napoleon" by DVG (pushing cardboard) comes in at around $80.00... "Warfighter" (complete) around $200.00. Nuff said, I hope. I'll stand by Dan Verssen and ALL his games because, as a mostly solo gamer, he always had my back with a quality game and product. I'll extend that to Academy and Flying Pig games who have consistently put out fabulous games... I'll add Fantasty Flight as well. I still shop EBAY for bits and pieces of AH games and variations. *** Maybe all I'm saying IS THIS... Rodney, it's OK for you to collect... it's OK for for Jason Levine to have a every X-Wing ship every made! It's OK for Tom Vassel to own thousands of dice and even more board games! It keeps us mentally stimulated, and healthy! ALL THAT being said... reason must intervene at some point. Just quite worrying. Be happy!
I personally don’t like the Kickstarter exclusive idea. I do not have much money to spend, and before unpaid reviews of the games show up, I can’t go and pay for a game. But, by the time I decide to buy it, it’s either half of what I could get from Kickstarter or not available at all.
For collecting games, I go to game meetups and there is always someone who brings the newest coolest game available. Maybe I’m fortunate in that case. After playing it, if I feel like I can play it with my other friends or if I want to make sure I could play it again, then I go and buy.
However, I can not deny the excitement I get from opening the box the first time.
My motto that prevents me from buying too much is “You do not need to buy a game to enjoy this hobby. It’s all about getting together with people, playing a new game comes second after the laughs.”
Thanks for the video!
First of all, thank you for this video, it is very important IMO and made me think a lot.
I want to tell a little bit of my own story before addressing the video.
I've known of the board gaming world for a while now, but some how didn't really get into it.
I had an old copy of citadels, I'd heard of Settlers of Catan, and I knew there was more out there, but I didn't really have time to delve into it.
Two and a half years ago, I moved into a new apartment and thanks to two of my neighbors (one more than the other), who are gamers I truly dove into the deep end of the gaming world. what do I mean by that? I have around 70 games I've bought over these last two and a half years.
In the beginning I bought like crazy, today I still purchase games but much more moderately. I think at first it was part of the thrill, I really got excited about every game I laid eyes on. Today I am much more focused, I tend to know what I like a lot better and don't get worked up over every new thing.
So yes, I have games in my collection that I rarely play if at all (ROOT for example), but I'll probably not buy any more games like it, I'll keep it cause it's special. I'll only buy new games that are ones that I'll like.
I think most people go through a similar experience. Buy a ton of games in the beginning until they understand and refine their taste, but will still buy something special once in a while, for example I'm planning on buying the century series even though I think there are better games because they'l look nice on the shelf.
I think that those of us who are here and watch your channel, are mostly collectors, and this is another point I wanted to address, the abundance of games lately and the overflow of information drive the need for more games. When every two days you see a video about a new game, it's really hard not to want that game. And then what happens? Another game you don't have time to play finds it's way into your collection. It's sort of a catch 22, you're interested in this hobby, you want to learn about it, but then you fear you'll miss out and you buy more and more. It is a sort of addiction on some level, A true gamer IMO plays more games than he watches videos.
I'll say one final thing about kickstarter, I've never supported a game there, I probably never will, not that I don't want to, I do very much, but because of the crazy shipping costs to Israel that are usually charged that can double or even third the price. I'll probably not be bummed about a game if I don;'t get to play it. On the other hand, if I do play it and really like it, I'll be upset for missing the campaign (lately its happned to me with Gugong).
This is a great video and topic Rodney! I have definitely spent some time on and off myself with this topic. I got so excited by the hobby years ago and can remember my collection starting to grow, and at first so excited by it as i deeply enjoyed exploring different types of games. And still do! But at some point I had a similar realization to what you describe, that i was just acquiring new games for the sake of "oh that looks neat, i'm sure i'll play it eventually!" or "oh man, i better jump on this now as who knows if it'll go out of print". As that started to happen, i definitely reached a point where i had more unplayed games than played games, and kinda went "what the heck am i doing?" At this point, i have reduced my overall collection and made an agreement with myself (well, and also my wife who is not a fan of piles of games on the floor) to limit my collection to a certain number of shelves. i have a bit of a "1 in, 1 out" policy that more or less stays in place. I think part of it for me too is that i have now been in the hobby long enough to have refined my tastes and am more aware of what i do and don't like. This makes it a bit easier to watch a video (have i said thanks recently for your contributions on this point?) or download and read the rules to help determine if its something that makes sense to have in my personal collection. Anyway, thanks again for starting such a great discussion! I'm curious to read others comments and see where they fall on this topic
Very good introspective. This hits home for me. I now see that I need to have a long talk with myself tonight. I am not joking.thanks
Hi Rodney, it doesn’t bother me an awful lot, collecting the gems (that is, the games that tick all the right boxes/aspects when it comes to my taste in games) happens to simply be another aspect of my love of boardgames. I lost sight of the games in my collection at a certain moment in time, so I made this little digital catalogue with filter (amount of players, playing time etc.), which among others makes it easier to pick a game to play when friends come over. Making this little catalogue was fun in itself, since it just happened to be another way to be involved in boardgames. Kinda like people with a cool car, who aren’t driving in their car all the time, but also simply love to work on their car every now and then. Maybe this goes for you too in a way when making the video’s about boardgames? It’s simply yet another way to be involved in a great hobby. Also, as someone else stated, the joy alone that comes from the idea of being able to play a personal gem of a game in the future that’s on your shelf already, makes it worthwhile for me to acquire it. I guess it’s simply a matter of personal preference in the end.
This describes my current situation with great detail. I found myself also just becoming a collector. My solution was to stop buying games and start focusing on expansions. But then as time flew, I realized I was just doing the same, becoming a collector of expansions. As you stated, there is 365 days in a year, (knowing that I currently own about 100-120 games with expansions) I know I am not going to get with my gaming groups all the time to play them quickly enough. That statement alone assisted me in making my decision to just slow down my purchases. Currently space is my major issue, so instead of getting rid of my games, (and as much as it pains to me get rid of the box it originally came in), I am more driven to research and collect items to help reduce and organize what board game's I currently have in stock to save space. But it is also is a great time for me to determine what games to donate or sell if I notice I never get to them, like them or find a game that is similar to another game that I own that I would prefer to play. I think once I feel I've done all I can to make space I may back to buying newer games. Or add them to a Christmas list (which makes shopping for me easier for everyone). In the meantime I find myself getting more content with my collection as I clean up the area. (PS I just realized I own 5 unopened different versions of RISK, as I stare at my back wall...time for some more decision making)
For me I buy games and immediately play them with my friends/family. My collection is ever growing but it is growing only because there are sooo many games that I wish to play and believe would be good games for my group. The problem I run into is a game I truly love and would play all the time often gets put on the backburner while we play the newer games and it takes a while to get back to some of those original favorites.
I have a whole list of games that I want to play and own but as previously stated I get them to be played not just to have...however I can see the "backburner problem" surfacing more as I expand my collection as I aquire the long list of games that I must play. It will be interesting to see how this goes but I believe I will always value play over display. Gamer > Collector, although I am currently a bit of both.
Love this video and I can fully relate! For me there is definitely a compulsive aspect to the collecting - it creates stress knowing how many games I own that I have not yet gotten to the table, and yet I love the thrill of walking out of the boardgame shop with yet another shiny box :-). I guess for me it is also about both hope and denial; I know logically I will never play half of my games again - but I like to pretend time is limitless and live in the hope that "oneday" I will get around to all of it..... Maybe that´s not such a bad way to live either :-) . Finally, I am impressed that you raised such a potentially sensitive topic with such candour when it would be easier (and potentially more profitable) to simply fuel the "collector" in us all! It has really made me reflect! But either way (for both the gamer and collector) - this remains a wonderful hobby to be afflicted with and I hope I am never fully cured!
When streaming was a blossoming technology, I had friends who asked me, "Why are you collecting all these DVDs and Blu-Rays?" Part of my answer was "I like looking at them on the shelf." And its true -- I take enjoyment of seeing a well-stocked game shelf as I do one of my bookshelves or my rack of movies. So, yes, there's something about collecting that appeals to anyone. And the idea that I'll buy something just to have it resonates with many of my colleagues. I'm an English prof, and indeed I've got friends who'll buy books they won't read, books of which they've already got other editions, etc.
That said, a much higher percentage of my movie and book libraries go unconsumed than my game library. I think that's for two related reasons. First, games are much more social, so I buy with an eye toward my group. It feels like there's more "at stake." I consider what my group likes, what they own, and what would work as a 2p game with my wife. I'd likely not buy anything that my group's already got or something that is too similar to something we already play. I'm also more aware of my tastes now, after collecting for 3 years. I know what will and won't hit the table at my house or at game night. And it's a lot less of an investment than a $10 copy of the next Expanse or Harry Dresden book because I know I'll get to that eventually.
I used to be a collector / completest... I needed to have everything if I liked the game : the expansions, the promos, etc. I've since, decided to stop that practice. In fact, I had so many unplayed games and expansions, that my mission for this calendar year was to only play games from the shelf of shame...
I definitely am walking the line of collecting and the hobby of gaming. I know that I'm around 200 games, and that collection will grow. For me, I am looking at my tipping point as to when I am not playing often. So I play solo (and that's what I've been buying more of recently), but I'm also always trying to run board game nights and have friends over to play games. But I don't want it to just be a collection and I do cull from time to time stuff t hat will just be collected and not likely to be played again or stuff that I didn't love like I thought I would have.
You set that topic up so well. I think acquiring games is a game of its own that creates a similar feeling as playing a game. You have to research it, find the best price, and find a place to display it. And, of course, you get to tell other people that you have it. I experienced this same “collecting” phenomenon with comic books, books, records, CDs, VHS videos, DVDs, and Blue Rays. In fact, I upgraded some movies from VHS to DVD and never watched either of them. In some ways, I think stacks of games (like books and movies) serve as decorations and even identification.
Games are also trophies (or, to use another phrase, a sign of conspicuous consumption). When I know you have the premium game with the Kickstarter rewards, I want it too or my trophy seems diminished. Of course, that’s the pinnacle of acquisition-that I can go on eBay and buy those special cards for 5 times the price they were originally purchased. Some people buy big houses with pools or fast sports cars. Other people buy games. I buy games because I think I'll like playing them, but maybe there's something in the back of my mind that makes me addicted to finding and acquiring them as well as a little pride in the conquest.
Rodney ... I found this channel about 10 years ago when I first bought mansions of madness 1st edition. 10 years later and me and some buds just played second edition 'Escape from Innsmouth'.
However, we decided to finish the game with the movie Dagon.... And man... You're a replica of the protagonist in this story . Eerie!! If you haven't seen it... You must watch this movie. In fact, I literally just made us pause this movie so I could do two things .. 1: show my friends what you look like and 2: write this comment lol
Just realized that I have the same problem. I will watch a video about some new game and think: that looks like a cool theme, or that's a really interesting mechanic. Some games I get because I think they are interesting, but never come out because my gaming group doesn't want to devote that much time to a game. I don't buy nearly as many games anymore because I have limited myself to a certain number and can only get new games if I'm willing to sell or trade old ones. Great topic!
I feel I relate to this fully. And I have given it some thought why I always want more games, and I'm happy to share them.
Firstly, for me playing and collecting games is a shared hobby of me and my girlfriend. So, when we play or buy a new game, it is not just the joy from having something new, but also from seeing her having fun, and us having fun together. This does mean we don't really hold each other back on buying more, though. We have a shared google sheets document to keep track of our games and their numbers. (If we go play with a big group, we apply a filter for the amount of players, and voila!) We recently added a column played/not played, because we found we buy them faster than playing them. This way, we can keep track and hold back a bit on the buying.
Now, here's my thoughts on the matter. Board games have one sole purpose of you break it all down. Having fun. That makes it such an innocent and joyfull thing to collect. Also, the artwork of games is often a real piece of art. So where other people have a painting on the wall, I have a shelve full of paintings. Then, our game group is always very happy they have some choise when they come over. And their joy fuels mine again. So I'm happy to provide the service. And lastly, I think I am always searching for that one game that rules them all, if that even exists.
For the matter of kickstarter content. I do buy games if I van't get the kickstarter content, but if I buy a game on kickstarter and have the chance of adding exclusive content, I almost always add it. Indeed for the purpose of having it complete.
Excellent discussion. Very relevant. I brought half of my games to a flea market and made a lot of people happy. I am a designer and have the excuse: "buy to learn the mechanism and what is trending". In truth it is also because I want to own the "BEST" games so I don't appear behind the times. Nice vid. Lord Hass
I feel the same in a way... tbh on other peoples collection videos i love seeing big collections full basements,game rooms,bookcases full but for me i always been fairly curated in the way i buy everything in my life, in general I NEVER want more than 50 in anything and i think honestly i feel that way in board gaming as well hmm... lack of decent funds until recently,limited people in daily life to play with, than add on being very picky as of now iv only just started "collecting" less than half a year ago i only own like 14 board games and a couple card games so im no where near even my own curated small-medium 50 number with that said i dont mind since it is since a small number having most my games be just for collecting and not exactly play as much as i love gaming im pretty bad at it so i need simple games that the whole family would want to play since no one else is into it that can be explained quick. Once i reach my 50 number goal i dont think i will mind if most my games are for having purposes with having about 10-15 i can play regularly.
This really resonates but for a different aspect of gaming. I play and collect roleplaying games. There's so many books now that just go on the shelf without opening them. Like you mention, to tick the box 'I own it'. I have made some changes in my purchasing habits and added more focus. I'm now specifically looking for games published by Chaosium for example, which means I haven't purchased any of the D&D 5th edition books.
I can relate to where your coming from. I had the same issue with 100 games rather than 500. I culled games down to those I had a personal enjoyment for and those that were played often at gaming nights. I enjoy playing many games but just because they gave me one good experince I had to teach myself that it doesnt mean I should collect it myself.
Very, very relatable. I recently made a big cull of the games that were standing on my shelf (of shame). I felt relief and dread at the same time.
In addition to Kickstarter exclusives, there's convention promos. King of Tokyo comes to mind with bonus characters. When I bought the Sheriff of Nottingham expansion at gencon, I was given a free sheriff miniature.
Great topic, Rodney! And it was a pleasure to meet you at Origins in Columbus! My thoughts are that collecting games has replaced people's interest in collecting books.
You had mentioned stamp collecting in the video, but a gaming library I feel is more akin to one that would have a library of books. Many would buy and collect books without necessarily reading them all. And I think the mindset of a game collector is similar. It's comforting to know you have the potential for adventure & discovery at any moment. Games, and previously books, are both able to provide that personal satisfaction.
So even if one doesn't play a game (or read a book) that they feel that they would enjoy right away, there's a feeling of comfort in knowing it's "there".
Just my $.02.
I use lists to keep track of games I want, I try not buy purely on impulse, by listing first and then seeing how exciting it seems 2 months later it reduced regret purchases. The big issue often for me is the ‘who will I play this with’. I have a couple of games I have yet play as even though I love the idea, there is always something holding me back when thinking what is the group of players I am planning for going to enjoy. If I know someone dislikes deck building putting Arctic Scavengers out seems a bad idea. It can be tough as you can feel the pressure as a host to make sure people have fun, and sometimes this can hold you back from certain games.
Interesting topic Rodney. I used to want to buy games and get all the expansions and extras for them even if I knew I would never play them all Arkham Horror and Firefly where two of these. My game collection is now around 500 and a lot of them don't get played regularly so I am now starting to cull my collection down to games my family and I like and play the most. I still pick up new games and back Kickstarters occasionally but I have a set of criteria I follow for them 1) Can it be played solo 2) If not is it a nice family friendly game everyone will enjoy 3) Is it reasonably priced including shipping. 4) If it's a Kickstarter is it worth waiting until it hits retail instead of backing now. I am now getting back into playing games for the fun and enjoyment of it and not bothering so much if I miss out on he latest hot game.
I was a total collector for years. I’d buy those big Kickstarters and they would just sit there for years. I never bought a game with the intention of not playing it, but eventually reality set in and I realized I was being incredibly wasteful. I culled my collection and then culled it again and I’m continuing to cull it. I no longer want games that I have the intention to eventually play. It’s hard getting rid of some games. For instance I have a fully pimped out version of Terraforming Mars. I know I won’t play it anytime in the near future, but I don’t want to let it go not because I played it once and liked it, but because of how highly thought of that game is and how can I let a popular game like that go? Truth is my family’s not going to play it with me. I could play it solo, but I have other games for that and I know people in the area that have it so I don’t even need it for my game group. There is no reason for me to keep it. I have like this. I just want to get to the point with my collection where it’s full of nothing but games that we enjoy regularly.
Rodney i was soooooo hoping you would do an imitation of those mini wheats commercials...
"The gamer in me loves playing games!"
"But the collector in me has gotta have every last freakin exclusive!"
(It was funnier in my mind!)
Rodney
The difference between collectors and gamers boils down to one word, *value*. I made a list of my top 50 games (a few years back) and began to collect the ones I could get my hands on. I like owning stone age but don't really enjoy playing it, same can be said of ticket to ride and about 20% of my collection. As time passes my tastes change, a collector is someone who buys a game its upgrades and expansions (not something I do), a hobby gamer obtains a collection but is more concerned with gameplay results. What do you value, is the real question?
I'd say I definitely struggle between collector, fomo and wanting a game because it looks fun for me. But I want to add two more dimensions. One is the social aspect of owning a game, meaning sometimes I think that a specific group of people I play with would enjoy the game even if I wouldn't necessarily love it. I realized I enjoy bringing people together and introducing them into something that they would really like and sharing joy with other people. for example I own a copy of Dominion that I've only played a couple times. I don't dislike the game but I would pick a different game given a choice but I keep it on my shelf because I know other people like it and wouldn't miss it if I got rid of it. The second reason I might buy a game that doesn't necessarily look like I would love to play everyday is because I like to think of myself as a beginning game designer. If a game has interesting new mechanics or new rules or themes or a new combination of them I want to play the game to get a feel for the experience. I do this probably more as a collector of "tools" for games I *might* make in the future. Meaning I don't want to miss out on exposure to new "tools" because it *might* stifle my growth as a game designer even though I may never get a game to a publisher. I don't live in a big city and so I don't have a game store that has copies that you can borrow and play. So if my friends or I don't buy the game I may never get the chance to play it. To be honest it's one of the reasons why I watch your channel. It's the opportunity to experience a game and get a taste for its design without having to buy it.
As always great video, and thank you for what you do for the community!
Great tabletop talk, im about to hit 250 games at some point. Im a gamer collector for sure. But like you ive reached that tipping point. Im on a self imposed buying ban until end of October. I love receiving new games, i love having loads of games. Do i play all my games No. i have 20 on the sell, trade pile. But its hard to let them go too..... i have space and the income to buy more but im slowing down and would love to trim the collection. Its so hard to let them go as the question “ill play it again one day or even it will get played eventually. Looking forward to the next episode
I’m relatively new to tabletop gaming, so my collection pales in comparison to yours. Having said that, there are many games that tend to go unplayed on my shelves, but my game group does tend to play our new games quite extensively before “retiring” them to the closet. There are exceptions of course. A few of my very first game purchases are still fan favorites when I host game nights, and there have definitely been new games that just missed the mark and haven’t been called upon since their first run. I can already tell that I may have a problem though. I’ve been known to buy expansions for games that we haven’t played for months just because I feel like they are incomplete without them.
Wow! You really read my mind!
I buy games for the potential to play them. I like the idea of being able to play medium and heavy-weight games. However, I really do not have the people to play those kinds of games with. While I would like to go to my Game Nights, I haven’t in a while. One reason is because I really do not have a set group, but there are a ton of people whom meet up at a gaming store and they all like different types of games.
For me, I like to watch playthroughs of the games online to see if it would be a game which I am interested in buying to play at some point. However, those playthroughs do not show everything about the games. I still need to read the rules booklet and that takes time. Then I would need to open up the box and set it up. Needless to say, there is just a lot of turnover time from the time I receive a game to that of getting it played. These are some reasons as to why I have a bunch of games I have bought, but have not played.
This is in contrast to the video game industry. All I would have to do after receiving a video game is open it up and put it in the machine. Most of the time I would not even have to find people to play it with me. I could start playing and figure out how to play the game due to the nature and interface of video games as opposed to board games. I do not even have to figure out how and take the time to set them up.
Now disregarding my last paragraph, if I had a choice between board games and video games, I would pick board games 90% of the time - because board games are more social. I get to interact with people a lot. But it is hard to coordinate. I really enjoy the idea of turning the clock back with board games and doing an activity without technology for a change.
Lastly, I will say that in my experience, board gamers tend to be a lot more social and likely to respond to my comments (on BGG and UA-cam) more so than video gamers.
I am a gamer who recently knew board game world (since April 2019). In my hometown, board game player is rare. We don’t have board game store in town. And even most of us only know Monopoly is a board game. They don’t know any other game in mind when thinking about board game.
What I notice about board game industry is that the supply of the game is limited. And it takes so long to reprint it. That’s what makes me buy the game as soon as possible even though I won’t play it immediately. I watch the review and the playthrough to know if it suit me or not.
Absolutely love this topic. I struggle internally and with shelf space. I now am very picky about what I buy. I do find I buy some thing for their beauty and artistic ascetic. I recently bought Ashes and found as the game is dead that I wanted to only own the cards from the original artist. Since playing it though the gamer in me bugged the collector in me to reconsider as there are some really cool decks that can be built from the cards of the second artist. So I’ve been having these two talk it out. :)
“Hello, my name is Bob and I’m a board game collecting addict”.
*not my real name
Hi Bob!
I spend more time watching game reviews, top 10 lists and playthrough than actually playing games. I guess I'm exposed to a lot of advertising and it's effect on me is wanting to get more and more games for the potential of having a great time playing them with friends. What doesn't makes senses is that we only play games a couple times per month and I already have 4 unplayed games on a rather small (+15) games collection.
Rodney! You made sure to drop this on Prime day didn't you?
For the On Mars kickstarter, there was one (1) retailer exclusive card not available to kickstarter backers and people complained. In hindsight I think that was an error of judgment, because retailers don't need that card as much as backers do.
To your larger topic at hand - we are all gamers and collectors. Most people in the hobby, love both aspects, opening new boxes of games like toys at Christmas and seeing all the awesome bits. But the one difference between gaming and collecting, is that the collection continually grows and we have to question how big a collection we need. There really isn't a magic number of games to own for everyone, it just depends on how much money you are willing to put into the hobby, the time you can spend on your games, and the space to store it all. For you it was 250 games - at 500 games, you'd have to spend twice as much money, time and space. A 250 game collection at $50 a game is $12500. I think people will get to this point on their own naturally (games pile up at home - I've seen it on Twitter), but your video is a good reminder to question the size of our collections.
Great video. It's important to practice mindfulness about what we enjoy doing. Glad to see this topic being discussed. Keep it up! 👍
I don't want to spend my money on an "almost" complete copy of a game.
I'd rather the few board games I own be the complete experience.
Just because I didn't know about/buy a game as soon as it was released, doesn't mean I should get a lesser product than someone else who did.
These are not questions I wish to address within myself....too scary
I buy games with the intent to play them dozens of times for decades. Games tap into the nostalgia and fond-memories part of my mind. But there are so many, and I can buy them faster than I can play them.
I'm an optimist, so I hang on to the hope that I'll get to fully enjoy them some day, but who knows. I'm a lot more picky now, and get rid of the ones that don't become favorites.
I've been playing board games for years, but recently bought into the hobby. Even in the last 2 years around 15 games left my collection (thanks God) I still own way to many to be honest - around 55 or so. I played maybe 35 of them, and repeatedly played 5 plays or more a significant fewer number. And then it hit me I'm not a gamer nor collector. I'm on a verge of becoming o just became a hoarder. Half of the games I play are not from my collection anyhow.
I just started giving a pass to games. Of course it's new, shiny, one of a kind and surely the best board gaming experience ever (aren't they all?) but enough is enough. The same goes for rare games - from years back. The truth is I am not going to play them as often as I would have liked, or maybe not gonna play them at all for an extensive period of time (maybe even years).
What is the difference between a game I own (and have never played) like let's say "Elysium", "Imperial 2030", "Pixie Queen" or the new fresh game I really really wanted to buy like "Gutenberg", or older ones I really "needed" to have and planned to buy like "Teotihuacan"? Well, the difference is around 6 months probably. They would have become my new versions of "Elysium" ...
I'm definitely somewhere in the space of being both a gamer and a collector, which is true of all of my hobbies. I do make a serious effort to try to play all the games though and once I've played a game through, if it doesn't make make my top 100, I often remove it from my library, unless it serves a secondary purpose, like games for when I babysit or if it falls under a special interest collection. There are lots of games I've purchased speculatively either because it was likely to go out of print or it's on sale and it shares something in common with other games I love. And once I decide I really like a game I definitely end up buying most of the expansions for it. It's those games that have started growing a little out of control because once I like a designer, I do tend to collect their games with the hope of playing them and, even if I they don't fit into that top 100, I might still keep them anyway.
Because many games do sometimes go out of print, there is some sense of FOMO about not getting a game that I'm interested in and it doesn't look like it will be a mega-hit and I think that's why I probably have more games than I can reasonably play. But it's that feeling that I'd like the option to play them and if I don't get them, what-if-they-go-out-of-print-then-I'll-have-to-pay-$150-to-buy-it-if-I-feel-like-playing-it-suddenly that ends up driving some of the collecting. I'm still working on finding that balance and I have made some progress in slowing down my purchases of new games and selling, trading, and giving away games I'm no longer interested in, but I'm sure more can be done to find a healthier balance.
For me, it’s as though I’m looking to buy that perfect game. The one that the wife and the kids want to play. The one that ticks all of the boxes in regards to cool mechanisms, immersive artwork, extremely thematic. Not sure this game exists but it’s fun looking ! (But expensive)
Totally relate to this. Maybe we should hope for a day where we can have established board game libraries so we can borrow for a short period of time. Or maybe a board game rental service called BOARDBUSTER. Hopefully the hobby grows to justify that one day!
Great topic!
My two cents would be that "rebalancing" is something that is happening in greater numbers among those that have been with the hobby for a long time. Simply put, there are just TOO MANY games coming out every year that could warrant a purchase and this, I believe is starting to make even collectors more critical of potential purchases or their current collections. While I'm not say the oversaturation of games is causing a reduction in the quality, it could create pause among gamers due to the potential of a game being similar enough to a game already owned. This will naturally make the buyer consider either forgoing the purchase of the new game or eventually culling the older one that doesn't offer the same enjoyment.
Thanks again for the topic!
This is so funny. I had this exact same thought recently. Collector vs Gamer. Yes, I am a collector. But I really want to be more the gamer. So, this is what happened. I bought Arcadia Quest: Riders on Kickstarter. When it arrived, I thought “Wow! Maybe I’ll finally play Arcadia Quest.” Then Cthulhu: Death may die went on KS, and I said.. Have to have it but if I don’t like it, I’ll just sell it (lying to myself, I know). Then Starcadia quest came out on KS. And, I thought.. ooh ooh GOTTA HAVE IT.” They added so many exclusives and add-ons that the price for “All in” was so high that it made me take a step back.
I realized that I would never get to play all of it. So I thought just the base game... then though why bother at all? This actually brought me to think about my thinking about the whole collecting vs playing thing. I realized that there were over 50 games in my collection that hadn’t even played. I set a challenge for myself, In May, I posted a list on my game group page of 50 games. I need to have 25 of them played before the end of the year. (I have 9 played so far) Strangely, I found that one of them is now one of my top ten favorite games of all time. This whole thing did something to me. Whenever I look at a game to buy, I think who would I play it with and if I cannot think of it that way, why get it?
Ready for this.. Writing this above made me look at my Kickstarter spending. I have 14 Kickstarters still outstanding (only one am I worried about). But, that’s just too much. I’m done for awhile.
BTW.. The Big Cthulhu from Death may die is AWESOME!!! I am almost done paining it.
Hahahah so right as this post went up, I get a notification that the new Roll player expansion just funded. What a slap in the face. This game gets a lot of player though.
I feel like I just had the best therapy session of my life...
I am definitely one of those “completionists”. A game doesn’t feel complete to me unless I have everything associated with it....if I enjoy the game. If I don’t think the game is absolutely amazing and a fit for me I don’t feel the need to have everything associated with it. As the years go on in the hobby I do feel I “need” less games. In the beginning when you want to try out everything and “taste test” different kinds of games, then it’s hard not not start amassing a large collection. After you’ve played many many games I think people
find they want to own less. They are able to sift through similar games they already own. They know better what types of games they like and don’t like. I’m a gamer first. Collector second. But man to I love collecting games.
It depends on how much the game changes with more stuff... I had the same idea - if I like a game I need every expansion. The turning point for me were two expansion, one I bought and the other one I researched and decided "No, this will make the game worse for me".
The one I bought was Journeymen for isle of Skye. I really like to play Isle and journeyman adds some interesting elements, but I figured out I liked Isle f sky partially because of its simplicity, journeyman takes it away to saome degree, the game feels different (it might still immprove the game for someone else). I noticed that I like Journeyman, but I do sometimes just ask my wife to play base Isle if I don't want that extra layer on top - so I noticed - if I would have known that earlier I probably wouldn't have bothered with the expansion (I still like it, but it didn't add much to my collection, but now I already have it so why not use it from time to time).
The one I never bought was the expansion for 8 Minute Empire Legends. It changes how the draft works and adds a speed element, which I strongly dislike. I understand why it is made the way it is - mr. Laukat wanted to have a higher player count without making the game longer. But the changes that accomplish that goal make the game less enjoyable for me (and I don't need the higher player count).
Hi Rodney!. Great topic, as usual. For a collector, there is no problem or doubt at all: he must/need/etc collect, and try to collect everything (of a kind at least). BUT, collector/gamer collecting is much more interwoven. The thing is why a persons who declares himself as a gamer buy as much as a collector? I have a friend who buy games every months, then he sells the games, a lot. Sometimes he plays a game just once or twice. His collection grows very slowly. I think trying to play everything (or so) is a way of collecting: to collect games played. Which in the end maybe is not a completely fulfilling experience, because if you sell a game is because you do not want to play it anymore, which means it was not a good choice. So, this collector drive in a gamer (collecting games played) may be a little frustrating.
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PD:
I like to propose another topic which I think is related with this, with Kickstarter and KS exclusives: Replayability in games
I see what you are doing here mister Smith...this is reversed psychology! you DO want us to buy more games! The trick is clearly visible :-D. Wait, or is this my mind reversing your message? That can happen, right? But on the serious side, this is very, very true. And I recently, after a few months of being less gaming-focused, came to a likewise conclusion. I became a collector too much and I subconsciousness blamed myself for it and stopped playing altogether! It felt as if that beautiful wall of games came crashing down on me. Certainly due to FOMO, wanting more of those experiences and the promise that " someday" they get played is hitting the mark. I do like the hunt for new games and the whole process of that, it is a part of my board game enjoyment. But it is all about the balance you were talking about. Thanks for your great content, insights and creating awareness on stuff besides the games themselves. Keep it up, Rodney!
The Collector in me is like some kind of addict and Kickstarter is the worst bit of my habit. This month especially has been a bloodbath for my wallet because of Kickstarter Middara, Etherfields, Trudvang Legends, Super Fantasy Brawl, RollPlayer Expansion....good luck to all my fellow collectors and would-be players.
You are a completionist Rodney, I suffer the same thing. When I game comes out I look for expansions and buy them sometimes.
Everdell was the game that soured me on kickstarter exclusive. I don't buy many games but the ones I do buy I want the ability to enjoy it to its full potential. I bought the retail everdell and couldn't get the legendary creature cards. This led me to selling the whole game (which I really enjoyed). I know this may be a flaw in me that I have to trick out every game I own, but that is my personable preference for my games. And everytime I played everdell I was just stuck with the thought of, "but what could it be like?"
This video couldn't have come at a better time. Just three days ago I finally bought my first dedicated game shelf. Until now I hadn't really grasped how amazing my collection has become.
For the past few months I have been in more of a collecting phase than a gaming one (hence why I just got the shelf). Of the 54 games I own there are 10 games that I have yet to play.. nearly 20% of my collection. But, as I sit typing this comment while looking at my beautiful collection... I can confidently say I have absolutely no regrets with how I've approached the hobby thus far.
The impact this hobby has on my life is so much deeper and meaningful than most people would think when I tell them I like playing board games. Board games foster social interaction, togetherness, competition, and conversation. I love that my wife, our friends, and our family can come together around the same table and enjoy each other's company while simultaneously exercising our minds.
To me my collection serves as three major things: a living piece of art, a catalyst for social interaction and fellowship, and an inspiration for others to explore the hobby themselves. As my collection continues to grow I feel like these three aspects will only improve, even if I do have a bunch of games I haven't played yet.
But... to spice things up, my shiny new Excel spreadsheet coupled with a random number generator is going to help me get some of my less played (or yet to play) games to the table!
Great thoughts, I totally agree :)
I feel like this one would should be called therapy time with Rodney. I think most gamers have two personalities as you describe. For me some may go unplayed but I like having the option as I do with my book library. I have found it helpful to sell a few who don’t jive with my current group, time frame and such.
Maybe this is not an entirely valid comparison, but I remember when I first started collecting CDs. Every year new music came out, and I would buy the latest releases from my favourite bands, and get into new bands, and my collection would grow and grow. I would listen to my older CDs less and less, because of course I wanted to listen to only the new music. At one point, I looked at the shelves of hundreds of CDs, and wondered... isn't this enough music? How much variety of music do I really need? Listening to a CD can take anywhere from 45 minutes to an hour (like some games). And it's true that sometimes I wouldn't listen to a CD for YEARS. But then... one day... I would pull out an old CD from a long forgotten band, put it on... and remember why I loved it so. And why I kept it.
This honestly is wonderful.
A joke skiers make is when someone tells them they have too many skis, you stop talking to them because you don't need that level of negativity in your life. Some skis are like art, they look cool. A bunch of skis together look even better. But I'd never buy a ski just to put on the wall. I have skied on them all. I feel the same way about the games we buy. I don't want to buy games I'll never play, but I don't see myself wanting to get rid of old games any time soon. We take so much pleasure in learning the games the first time. Once we have learned a new game we may decide we didn't like it (recently what happened with Petrichor) but the box looks cool or we may have just moved on to different types of games (I don't like Catan anymore but we have a lot of Catan). These games though still look cool on the wall in our collection.
Collecting games is not necessarily a bad thing. If someone enjoys collecting, then that is one aspect that they enjoy about the hobby. I enjoy owning games. However I enjoy PLAYING games more. Now there are a few games that I will own because no one else in my gaming group owns the game. Once I play that game for a while, if I don't like it as much after a dozen plays then I will get rid of it. Otherwise, I will keep it.
It seems that people feel bad about having a large collection of games because they are running out space and have no time to play them. If space and/or time were not issues I don't think people would worry about having a larger collection.
When I started my collection like ten years ago I just enjoyed collecting and have then in my shelf. At that time I used to play with my friends very occasionally and we don´t have many game stores here in my city.
Five years ago I started a new relationship and my girlfriend really enjoyed playing boargames with me. Also my son is now 11 years old and he is also enjoying playing boardgames.
I´ve been buying more games in the last five years then in all the years before, but now I have someone to play altought a few titles keep geting dust in the shelf. I believe I am a mix of a collector and a player with my 40+ games collection. I avoid Kickstarters at all costs and to keep my collection interesting I try to get games of different themes and mechanics and to play a game more then once before buying it. But is always hard to resist a new release or a game that is getting a hype for the community.
I do not like having unplayed games on my shelf for the same reason, I don't want to spend money just to have them sit on the shelf, I want to play them! Although, I do get a lot of satisfaction from my games being organized and fitting each cube of the shelf just right. Anyway, the issue is as complexity/duration of a game increases, the number of people I know that would enjoy playing them drops rapidly. More often, I am around extended family who enjoy party games. So, even though I don't enjoy them as much, I have found value in party games because of the amount of play they get. But as a gamer, I value my games that have few to zero plays more than the ones that actually get played. I need to organize more game nights, but I tend to procrastinate making that happen.
I hope my wife doesnt see this video. She already thinks i need to join a support group for "collecting" board games vs playing board games. I believe we collect because at any point 2 to 5 people may show up at my house wanting to be entertained. I need to be ready to have a game that will do that. Plus, i need something to pass down to my grandkids. Great video!
Hey Rodney! Thanks for bringing this subject in.
It's sometimes hard to draw the line between a gamer purchase and a collector purchase at the time you buy.I often find myself backing kickstarters for the rush of excitement that a new experience brings but most of the time the game will show up on my door at an unexpected moment when I got no time to play it. I'll find the time to open the box and explore the rulebook but that doesn't mean it will get played soon.
Worse, when I have friends at home for a game night they will asks for games that they already know and those new shiny boxes will stay on the shelf.
The reasonable thing would be to only buy games to replace the ones I get rid of since I already struggle to play every one I own on a regular basis. The hard thing with that is that once your start to get interested and follow content creators, publishers and other hobby related medias the is always something igniting your desire to throw money at it.
Before i started playing board games i played TCG, as a rule of thumb if i dont want cards i just dont buy packs to get random cards, they'll eventually clutter to the point you dont know what to do with them, i apply the same principle to board games as in will i start playing this game very soon, if not then dont buy.
I'm relatively new to serious board gaming. I can already feel my need to 'collect' expansions for Descent (current game of the month for us) for instance. You mentioned Magic the Gathering... My family & friends were at Madness Comics in Texas playing "Dungeon!". They were having a Magic tournament at the same time (which was cool), but I can see the money sinkhole that game would become. Perhaps I look for the best bang for my $$$ in board games. I've come to the conclusion that my 'gamer' side is far more important to me and I don't have to get every expansion ever unless I feel I need to spice up the gameplay a bit.
I have created a solid pattern when determining whether to buy a new board game or expansion. I'll 'watch it played' and get your take on it. Then I'll try it on Tabletop Simulator (in VR of course) to see if it makes sense for my circle of friends/family. That seems to narrow down the games I purchase. It's all about the replay/fun values for me.
Excellent video as usual. Thanks!
I dunno what you're talking about. Collector Rodney sounds like a highly intelligent person with a great perspective on life that should be emulated by everyone.
Also, I see you have Liberty or Death in the background there. Just picked that up myself yesterday! Do you, Collector Rodney, also have 3 friends that I could borrow for a night of hardcore wargaming? They also need to be quite knowledgeable about wargaming because I myself have no idea what that even is. Thanks!
It's great Kickstarter projects are funded regularly but I'm leery of and adverse to speculation. Production value certainly adds to the gaming experience but I'd rather wait to see if the game is worthy of my collection. Many games look great but fall short on mechanics or vice versa. The boardgames that balance both are the ones I gravitate toward.
The main reason I buy so many games, although restricted to the specific genre I like, is the fear of wanting one day to play a game that has gotten out of print and has become impossible to find or too expensive to procure.
For the first point, I consider Kickstarter exclusives similar to pre-release DLC for computer games. My opinion on it is aesthetic bonuses are ok (such as premium components or a nicer box) but if there are gameplay altering bonuses, I would want the game developer to make those additional game-altering features available for purchase to anyone, even if it is a cheap expansion pack.
To the second point, I recently culled my own collection down a bit. I have always had a philosophy of not holding onto things which I don't use. I tell myself if I haven't used it in a full year and I am not likely to use it next year, get rid of it. I apply this to everything, not just games.
This is too painful, Rodney. STOP PEERING INTO MY SOUL!!!
I consider me as a collector myself (about 500 entries in my personal collection - including expansions) but I am not striking for complete packs of all kind of games. I (nearly) do not care about Kickstarter bling if this does not help the gameplay.
There is a bit of acquisition disorder in most of us - I guess.
I am surely not Chris (Secret Cabal) ;-) but if I really love the game I might hunt down additional content and feel bad if I see other people have what I miss ...
I am about to rebalance my collection but unfortunately most of the games I do not like are not well paid for in the 2nd hand market. Time will tell where I will end up with my current gaming room ...
I like this topic and have found that I am just starting but I am falling into this same boat. I see a game that looks fun in the review that I watched or in the playthrough. I get it or want to get it but don't have the time to actually play it at the time. There are some game that would be better played with more people but I know that my group of friend wouldn't be interested in playing. I definitely fall into the Collector vs gamer syndrome.
Hey Rodney. Great vid. Btw, what are the brand of those sweet shelves you have and where did you get them? I'm looking for shelves.
I only own 5 board games: Monopoly, Catan, 7 Wonders, Ticket to Ride and Coup. Board game nights happen maybe once every 2 months and among my friends, we have enough to keep going for a long time. I don't see myself buying a new game unless I really think I will enjoy it after reading and watching many reviews on it. In the same way that my bookshelf only has my most prized books, I will only buy games that I am certain to enjoy for years.
I don’t feel at all bad for my “shelf of shame”. I’m a collector at heart and if I get to play the games too GREAT! Sometimes just talking about them is good enough for me. For instance “NY slice” is a horrible game that’s no fun at all. But I’ll probably hang onto it forever because the artwork is so good!! I guess I’m half collector and half gamer.
Rodney - we need to figure this out. I am exactly all of the things that you mentioned in this video. I need to cull, badly.
I do have a sort of collectors mindset i suppose as i get into the hobby, but I remember going to a next door neighbors house as a kid and they had a really cool collection and this was in the early 90's stuff I had never heard of before and didn't know existed like Pente and Regatta. My children are 5 and 9 at the moment and as they get older I want them to have that same feeling. Right now we play a lot of Dungeon, Sleeping Queens, Tiki Topple and Dragonwood (god almighty I'm tired of Dragonwood) As they get older I hope we can play more complicated games, honestly I think board games are one of the healthiest things a parent could be addicted to. In a short time I have seen my children become better readers, team players and thinkers...it's also important for children to learn how to lose and deal with those emotions appropriately. GAME ON!
While I was watching this video... I stare at my shelves of games...... sh*t.... I have an addiction problem.
In the beginning when I discovered the wonders of Kickstarter... I backed so many types of games as long as it had appealed to me.. art wise and theme wise.... I didn’t really care to research or watch gameplay videos. These days i am more careful. I watch Kickstarter previews, read the rulebook... and I considered if this was something my Boardgame group of friends would play....
Great topic. I feel 100% the same about games. I have shelves and shelves of them, many I haven't played, and still feel compelled to buy more. I believe it is sometimes the aspiration of playing them that trumps logic. Just like buying that book you hope to read. I may need to surrender my credit card to someone more responsible. :P
My video game collection is getting out of hand. I own more than I could even finish in my lifetime, and I'm 27. I buy games more just to feel the joy of buying something, and rarely even put any time into them.
Board games are the same for me. I live with my fiancee, and we play maybe 1 game every 2 weeks. A lot of the games I bought were for when I had a gaming group of sorts. Now I just have shelf filler that, while I would never want to get rid of it, it never really sees any use either.