An interesting debate sprang up today regarding the collecting of sealed games on a forum I frequent. This came after a new member posted a link to his own forum: sealedgameheaven.com.

I saw the post earlier today before people had had the chance to reply and before I could properly collect my thoughts on the matter. Despite my own affinity for collecting, my initial reaction was actually surprise that such a community of game collectors even exists. I collect a lot of video games for various systems (though I don’t aim for sealed copies) and I do make my best effort to play all of them but some are still in the “to play” pile thanks to pesky things like work getting in the way. But I still found it odd that someone would pay big bucks for a sealed game and then not play it.

On the other hand, I used to also collect all kinds of Star Wars and Transformers memorabilia and kept about half of it sealed. Yet now for the life of me I can’t figure out why I did it. I have crates of sealed action figures and although cracking open the boxes is a bit of a Christmas morning-like thrill, it’s also a disappointing realization that I’ve spent that much money on stuff I never really got to enjoy and probably never will.

We all have this regret about something. I’ve never met someone who hadn’t looked back on their adolescence and not thought they spent a lot on unnecessary stuff. I guess Star Wars and Transformers were my vices, considering I wasn’t ever much of a partier and didn’t smoke or drink heavily.

Considering my obsessive-compulsive tendencies, I can certainly relate to people who collect things and keep them sealed. I can relate to them, but I can also see that this type of behaviour is ridiculous. Yes, even when I do it.

In his book Bad or, the dumbing of America (1991, Touchstone), author Paul Fussell criticizes and deconstructs mainstream Western culture and pokes holes through it. I read it about six years ago now but one passage really stuck with me, one in which he defines “collectibles” as “objects mass-marketed by the cynical for sale to dupes imagining that they are laying up ‘exclusive’ art objects which will increase in value and thus become valuable heirlooms to be passed on to grateful offspring.”

He goes on to state that the point of collecting, it seems, is not so much for personal happiness as it is to show off the collection. I believe he’s right. When was the last time you talked to someone who collected something and didn’t mention something he/she recently bought?

However aside from the few games on the market with “Collector’s Edition” variations, the game industry doesn’t seem to be a proponent of games as collectibles. In fact, don’t most people who make games want people to actually play them?

Perhaps the thing I find most disturbing about all this is the fact that I can understand where these kinds of collectors are coming from. In fact, with the amount of sealed junk I’ve got lying around, I shouldn’t be one to talk. But like the smoker who knows it’s bad and still sneaks a puff or two from a friend’s cigarette, I know it’s bad. In fact, if I was in a position where I made a ridiculous amount of money, I’d probably be on that forum, too, hunting down sealed copies of who-knows-what.

Still, the cynic in me thinks they may be onto something. Who needs to actually consume the things they buy? Isn’t the very act of purchase synonymous with consumption anyway?

Let’s keep our shoes in their boxes, our food in its packages, and our TVs in their crates! Who cares about actually making use of the things we have because the point is to have them and show them off, not to actually enjoy them yourself. When is collecting going too far?

Do people who collect sealed games buy one to play and one to “collect” or do they just not play games at all? I’ll still admit that seeing a complete collection, or even a single sealed gem is an interesting thrill despite not being quite the same as playing a game for the first time.

Thinking about all this brings to mind yet another quote that stuck with me the first time I heard it. Wasn’t it Tyler Durden who said “the things you own end up owning you?”