VideoCast 1! Is It Mature to Sell Our Childhood Collections
Added 2021-04-05 09:22:19 +0000 UTCHi Everyone,
As promised here is the reworked patreon episode! It is a videocast, the topic being the question of whether or not it is time for me (and perhaps my fellow players) to sell our childhood games, for both economic and philosophical reasons :-)
I'm really looking forward to hearing everyone's thoughts
https://archive.org/details/is-it-mature-to-sell-our-childhood-game-collections-patreon-vid-cast-1
Comments
Can you get it back back?
Steve-Fiction
2023-11-12 12:21:47 +0000 UTCOh snap let me see if I can get it back!
The Electric Underground
2021-11-03 16:46:04 +0000 UTCHi Mark, the video is down, is there another way to access it?
Retrocyko
2021-11-01 16:14:01 +0000 UTCThere actually are valuable VHS tapes that go for hundreds on eBay. But they tend to be rare weird horror movies that had tiny print runs. And then things like the initial 80s run of Star Wars, a sealed version of the first movie can go for $3500. But your average tape is worthless, granted. Though I do wonder how much that has to do with it being literally the worst film format there ever was, and one which warps & degrades with use and time. But yeah, nobody should be holding out hope for their copy of Super Mario + Duck Hunt to pay for their retirement.
Philip Mason
2021-04-21 18:49:42 +0000 UTCI do think that vintage games and things of that nature will always be valued by our generations. What I really wonder though is if they will still hold this value for the upcoming generations. I can see how comic books and other collectables have been able to retain their value but I think that a lot of luck has been involved in this outcome for some stuff like Marvel. Where, before becoming the gaint they have become, Marvel a few decades ago was on the verge of slipping out of the mainstream and might not have had the value it does today. I'm a bit more skeptical that this value will hold out for video games for the next generation. For example I have a collection of VHS tapes from my childhood and while many of these films are iconic and well regarded, like the LOTR trilogy, the VHS tapes themselves are essentially worthless. I think this is because the VHS or DVD is considered just a vessel for the real content, which is the film itself. I sort of suspect this could be the case for video games as well, not for the people who grew up with nintendo but for our children and grandchildren.
The Electric Underground
2021-04-21 16:38:12 +0000 UTCI like your points, I agree that they will always have some value because it's a physical object. Using that same logic and applying it to the 2021 used crt tv market is interesting. Becuase emulating the look and feel of a crt isn't really thete yet, I wonder if crts will also go the way of the gamecube. Like pvms and bvms were expensive back then. Then they were basically free if you knew someone. Nowadays it's a different story haha. Very expensive, up to 7000 sometimes. All for something that is worn down, and basically hand me downs by the time you have it. Imo MyLifeinGaming and others have made scanline porn videos with them, and it makes gamers want to be able to have those scanlines too. I see consumer tvs go for over $100 now on ebay and fb marketplace. Though most on fb are free, I do give those a hard time for selling a normal ass 32" consumer crt tv for $250. I mean, I'd pay that much if they DELIVERED it.
Robert St.Angelo
2021-04-19 10:33:40 +0000 UTCSooo...funnily enough, the Gamecube seems to be emerging as the 'hot' thing from that generation. In 2012 average GC game price was $5-6, by 2018 $10-11, in 2021 $20+. SNES stuff has nearly quadrupled in the past decade. Take a look at pricecharting.com before making a decision with your collection: https://www.pricecharting.com/console/super-nintendo The retro market has gone insane during the pandemic, so that could come down a bit when everyone has to go back to work, but the working world might also not look the same when it's all over. One other thing is that there are Nintendo collectors, just like there are Marvel or DC collectors, who have an attachment to the properties rather than personal nostalgia for a specific iteration of it. The Switch & Wii's success will lead to a lot of them. For a zoomer example, look at Scott the Woz, he's like 21 and his videos get millions of views and they're about Wii & GC games half the time. Dunkey does a lot of old school Nintendo stuff too. The PS2 has been creeping up steadily the last 6-7 years too. The average is dragged down by the huge library, but there are already a couple dozen games in the $100+ range, some in $4-500 territory. I have no idea where the game market will go, but I will say I don't think emulation really matters that much. There are just people who are physical object people. There's absolutely no reason for there to be a vintage book market. Don Quixote is public domain, you can google it and have a pdf in seconds. But an old printing is worth tens of thousands. Exact same thing is true for the comics market, you can get a free scan of Action Comics #1 in seconds, but the last copy that went on sale in 2014 went for $3.2 million. PCs are way better for electronic music creation these days than stand alone instruments, but the synth industry has exploded the past 10-15 years. I think a lot of people just like having a connection to something in reality in a world where everything is digital, disposable and transient. But my thing with gaming in particular is this - it's not about the generational swings. Gaming is bigger than the film industry. It's bigger than the music industry or publishing. If you had a curated collection of silent film reels, you'd have a priceless collection. It's not a 1:1 comparison because those weren't mass market items, but the fact remains that we're on the ground floor of a dominant medium that's only going to continue to evolve and proliferate over the next century. At the same time, discs are gonna scratch & rot. Instructions & cardboard boxes are going to keep vanishing. So I think about not what this stuff will be worth for me, but in my grandkids' time as a form of numismatic generational wealth.
Philip Mason
2021-04-18 17:54:17 +0000 UTCyeah and I need to figure something out for hosing the video version, maybe I'll try my luck with an alt youtube account next time, or daily motion.
The Electric Underground
2021-04-06 06:57:40 +0000 UTCDuh, just seen the audio post, never mind me XD
72pct_Water
2021-04-05 20:06:09 +0000 UTCIt's probably just my shitty internet but I'm having real trouble getting this to play. I can't see an option to lower the video quality. Is there an audio only version?
72pct_Water
2021-04-05 20:03:06 +0000 UTCYeah maybe the follow up question would be something like what is the most healthy way to approach selling our childhood games, is there right and a wrong time? That would be an interesting follow up I think. For now I might start with just selling off the games that I'm not as attached to and see how I feel about it.
The Electric Underground
2021-04-05 17:53:38 +0000 UTCI sold my games except my first gamecube games. What I regret selling though was my Gameboy player +disc for like $35 together back in 2013. Nowadays I have more fun playing on emus with a boss crt and crt monitor. Makes ps1 rpgs tolerable. ;P P.s answering the overarching question, as a kid I thought it was a betrayal. But now it was the right thing to do. If they're sold they'll at least get enjoyment. I can/do always mod my consoles and play them that way anyways.
Robert St.Angelo
2021-04-05 14:47:33 +0000 UTC
