My Latest Project

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VideoGameCritic
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My Latest Project

Postby VideoGameCritic » August 25th, 2019, 9:53 pm

So I'm sure a lot of people can relate to this. I started a game room so I could keep all my stuff in one place. But after collecting for a few years/decades that room starts to fill up. Next thing you know stuff is migrating to closets and eventually the attic, much to the consternation of the wife.

I had accumulated quite a few empty boxes in my attic. System boxes, game boxes, special controllers, you name it. I kept everything in good condition but didn't have any place to display it. They take up a lot of space.

Recently I decided to repurpose an unfinished storage room in my basement for this purpose. I cleaned it up and lined the walls with shelves. I'm not the most handy guy so it was a hell of a lot of work. However, I'm pleased with how it turned out.

So I pulled out all those boxes from the attic and closets. I was also able to make room in my game room by moving out my Wii/PS3/PS4/Xbox One games to the new room (I play those systems in the basement anyway). I put everything on the shelves and now it looks like a freaking museum down there! It's pretty remarkable I'll have to share some pics.

One lesson I learned is out of sight means out of mind. There were a lot of games and special controllers I had totally forgotten about! Looking at the old Atari game boxes really gets the juices flowing. When you see those awesome illustrations on those colorful boxes with 27 (or whatever) variations you really want to play! I feel bad for the kids facing an all-digital future where they never will be able to get to experience that same feeling.

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Re: My Latest Project

Postby bluenote » August 26th, 2019, 7:06 am

Looking forward to seeing some pics critic!

I also love 2600 game boxes. I've been on a 2600 kick lately, and it's amazing that you can still buy many common 2600 games, brand new sealed for around 30 bucks! Its really cool opening brand new 2600 games from 40 years ago.

I dont display any games in my basement. Not much room, so I keep them in boxes which are separated by console (one box for 2600 games, one for nes, etc). These are neatly stacked in my basement closet. I only buy complete in box games so my collection is pretty modest. (Quality over quantity for me).

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Re: My Latest Project

Postby Gentlegamer » August 26th, 2019, 8:19 am

Did any of this inspire you to downsize your collection?

I have a mere fraction of yours and I recently looked at my games and realized there are several bad/redundant games I need to dispose of, as well as 'good' games I have no interest in playing again. In fact, I started wondering if I should flip my games more often so as not to accumulate games like a pack rat.

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Re: My Latest Project

Postby VideoGameCritic » August 26th, 2019, 3:16 pm

Not really serious about selling off games, but a lot of these boxes could go. I mean, a PS4 box is pretty nondescript. Do I really want it taking up room? Then again, it's in perfect shape so maybe I should store it away.

I hate the idea of putting stuff back up in the attic, because the only difference between me and a hoarder is that my stuff is very neat and well organized.

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Re: My Latest Project

Postby Gentlegamer » August 26th, 2019, 3:27 pm

Do you keep low scoring games? If so, why?

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Re: My Latest Project

Postby Retro STrife » August 26th, 2019, 6:13 pm

Looking forward to the photos!

I am definitely taking over the house with too much gaming stuff, and I've been very fortunate that my wife puts up with it reasonably well, but I know it won't last once we need room for kids. When we bought our house a couple years, we made a deal that I could use an upstairs bedroom as my permanent game room (sorry future kids.. get your bunk beds ready..). I slowly pieced the game room together and I love it - every wall is full of games and systems, very well organized, and it's a great hang-out spot.

Problem is - I still have overflow of gaming stuff into two extra bedrooms, and random gaming junk in the hallways, stairway, and other rooms in the house. That stuff is not organized at all. The deal is that I'm supposed to fit everything into my game room, but it's not looking promising - and I have no idea what to do. (Adding to the chaos are the arcade machines in the living room, and modern systems/games in the family room, but that's a separate issue from the game room).

You're definitely right about "out of sight, out of mind". Before this game room, I didn't even really know what I had.. everything was in boxes in storage as I went through college and all that. One problem with that is I unknowingly bought tons of duplicates over the years. Also, I notice that I actually bought a lot more gaming stuff *before* I had a game room - seeing how much I have and the lack of room finally motivated me to stop buying giant lots of games/systems. And I wish I could sell all my duplicate stuff on ebay, but just don't have the time.

It's interesting that you've moved your stuff down the basement. Do you worry about water damage? Even if it was a long shot, I would still always worry about water damage in my basement. I've only put a few things down there - mostly things I don't care if I lose. That's why I was always insistent about using a bedroom for the room.

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Re: My Latest Project

Postby VideoGameCritic » August 26th, 2019, 8:48 pm

Retro -
I think you should probably halt any new acquisitions until you can properly account for the stuff you already have. That means organizing and maybe selling off the extra. I don't want to be responsible for a divorce!

As for the basement, water damage is a concern, but I have a watchdog sump pump that has a battery backup in case the power goes out. It's a good investment.

I also have everything off the floor (on shelves and boards) and the stuff on the lower shelves tends to be the less valuable stuff.

As for me, I'm going through everything and getting rid of the junk.

Gentlegamer: Actually the low-scoring games are some of the most endearing, so I choose not to part with them. Not yet anyway.

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Re: My Latest Project

Postby Gentlegamer » August 27th, 2019, 7:05 am

Youtuber Metal Jesus had a problem with mold in his basement: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nXAQngTXg0U

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Re: My Latest Project

Postby Retro STrife » August 27th, 2019, 9:23 am

VideoGameCritic wrote:Retro - I think you should probably halt any new acquisitions until you can properly account for the stuff you already have. That means organizing and maybe selling off the extra. I don't want to be responsible for a divorce!


Haha - fortunately I have toned it down a lot compared to how I used to be! I just need to get motivated to clean up again.


VideoGameCritic wrote:Not really serious about selling off games, but a lot of these boxes could go. I mean, a PS4 box is pretty nondescript. Do I really want it taking up room? Then again, it's in perfect shape so maybe I should store it away.


Boxes are always a tough issue. On one hand, they take up a lot of space and they're relatively useless. You might display a few, but most just sit in storage. On the other hand, it's hard to throw away a perfectly good box if you have a collector mentality, especially when they can add a lot of value to a system. A lot of older systems (even common systems) add $25-$50 in value just by having a box. And keep in mind, the PS4 is modern now, but it will be retro someday. If you're the type that looks back fondly on a Playstation 1 box, you might do the same with a Playstation 4 box in 25 years - as crazy as that sounds.

I learned my lesson with my Dreamcast box, and now I never throw them away. Back in like 2003, my DC box got thrown out by a family member who thought it was stupid to have an empty box laying around. I was a little annoyed then, but got over it. But years later I wished I still had it. Once I had my game room, I wanted a DC box to display, so finally I bought an empty DC box on ebay. It cost me $30 for that dumb empty box, but I justified it as being worth it because (1) I display it in the game room now, and (2) it finally cured that silly annoyance of mine from it being tossed in the trash years ago.


Gentlegamer wrote:Do you keep low scoring games? If so, why?


VideoGameCritic wrote:Gentlegamer: Actually the low-scoring games are some of the most endearing, so I choose not to part with them. Not yet anyway.


For me, it might be harder to get rid of low scoring games, because they're usually not worth as much. Common/bad games that are worth like $5 just don't provide as much motivation to off-load them. At that price, selling is more hassle, so I end up keeping them around on the off-chance I want to play them again. Duplicates are the easiest to sell of course, and that's followed by rare/valuable games (like if a game is worth $50 or $100 or whatever, would I rather use it to buy something else?..).

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Re: My Latest Project

Postby Gentlegamer » August 27th, 2019, 9:26 am

I bundle up my common/bad games for modern/near-modern systems to Half-Price Books and get a few dollars, which is worth it to me to not store games I'm never going to play again.


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