So.  As my signature states, I just recently dove headfirst back into NES / retro game collecting after about a 10 year absense and one thing I've noticed that I keep wondering about is why everyone basically seems to ignore the unlicensed games. 

It seems like they are basically just, well not ignored, but it seems like most people focus their collection on licensed only.  Why is that?

For me personally, back when I was in my original NES heyday an NES game was an NES game.

I actually used to get pretty excited when I saw one of "them weird looking" games out in the wild.  I didn't really care about whether or not it was licensed. 

My dream is still to have a complete collection, wich includes all games. 

Either way, I'm just curious.  Thanks.

Tons of us collect unlicensed, not sure where you are getting this "everyone" information from.

In fact, I would say those that are strict licensed only are in the minority. 

I think it's hard to make a blanket statement. I can say for me (as someone who basically ignores them), I was in a part of the country that didn't ever see any non-licensed game except for the Tengen releases. You never saw those games in Nintendo Powers and rarely in other magazines, so there is little emotional connection to them. I have all of the Tengen games and some of the non-licensed stuff but it's hard to consider them part of the set (at least for me) when I had never seen them until collecting as an adult. (The fact that 99% of them suck doesn't help their case much either!)

I collect unlicensed. Alot of people do.

For the people that dont imo either want a defined licensed list to go by and dont want to debate what counts, and others imo just dont want to spend the money on them so its easier for them not to count them.

Yeah, I guess I shouldn't have said "everyone," but it definitely feels that way.

Remember I just got back into this and this question is based off of initial observations returning to this after a decade away. It was an honest question.

I only collect liscenced. For me its these reasons.

1. Having attainable goals. It's very motivating to have a set number of games to get. 
2. Its very clear what is and isn't a game and the list isn't up for interpretation.
3. Just because it plays in a nintendo, doesn't mean its a nintendo game.
4. Price is a factor
5. Where do you draw the line between an unliscenced game and a homebrew?
6. Unliscenced stuff is mostly low quality games. 
7. I am just a neat freak and like the way the gray carts all look on a shelf. Nice and uniform format. 

There are lots of people here that collect unlicensed NES games, homebrews, and variations. You'll see some more threads about this stuff just give it more than a week on the forums

I collect nealy only homebrew,repr,translation games i even think to sell my liscenced game and buy everdrive,power pack

I would think that most full NES set collectors also collect unlicensed, myself included. With unlicensed games have a higher percentage of difficult to obtain and expensive titles, less nostalgia, and generally of lesser play quality, I can see why some folks chose to keep focus on the already difficult task of full licensed set.

I enjoy the coloured carts, different designs; something different and more obscure.

Unlicensed meaning Tengen and such right? Not homebrews?

I have a few unlicensed games. Like...two...seriously. I find them hard to...find. I don't avoid them...I just can't find them. I like unlicensed games because they often have weird colored carts.

I also have some repros/hacks. I think I own one for the NES...the rest are SNES and other systems.

I avoid homebrews because of the price. I'd get them...if they were priced cheaper.

But I am focused on getting licensed mainly. After a nearly full set of licensed, I might go after unlicensed. But again...hard to find them.

I didnt collect unlicensed for the longest time because they would not work on my nes. I imagine that and the fact that there are several bad games is the reason most folks dont care aboot them.

I've been contemplating collecting unlicensed. I know I wouldn't ever finish the "set" of 91 because there several I would never buy but there are a few odd balls I want. Right now I don't own any unlicensed.

Not even Tengen? The black Tengen set is a very easy subset to complete. Plus, many great but often overlooked titles!
 

Like I said, I want to get some because as you mentioned Tengen would be an easy subset to do. I've had them all before except Shinobi I want some Color Dreams game too. They look so odd and just fun lol

Probably ocd.

I would collect unlicensed carts if it's something at I would actually play, but that goes for licensed carts as well. I don't discriminate between the two.

I'm on the opposite spectrum where I find the unlicensed games a lot more interesting and fun to collect. I'm down to the end thou with just a couple big hitters and some color dreams variants left. I think the draw was part of the unique history of all the unlicensed game companies and how they got started, plus the carts and boxes are way cooler!

Unlicensed is the spice of NES life.

For me it is just a target I have set for my collection. I have nothing against unlicensed, but i decided early on to focus on games and accessories approved by Nintendo (With The seal). So a simple decision without too deep philosophy.

The only unlicensed games that I'm set on getting are Tengen. Mostly because Tengen eventually obtained licenses for their games. If I find the other unlicensed games at reasonable prices (and CIB of course) I'll buy them.

Well I collect for nostalgia and unlicensed doesn't do it for me. I did have some Tengen games though, so I collect those. I also appreciate the Panesian games for their uniqueness, but everything else is forgettable to me. Unlicensed was basically gone by SNES and I think that has hurt their longevity as a collectible. If there were a handful of decent unlicensed games on every platform I bet they'd be more popular.

oh is that how it works? Cool I guess stadium events, f2 and little Samson don't count for me. I have no emotional attachment to those and I've never seen them when I was a kid

I think licensed is easy to define, so it's something to shoot for. If you start to include unlicensed, you have to set parameters and it gets messy.

The only one I have is Rolling Thunder because its one of my all time favorite games. Other than that I don't have any others. But then again I have no interest in obtaining a whole set, just the games I enjoy.

While this is true for the Nintendo consoles (SNES had very few unlicensed games, N64 had none I guess), in the larger scope, it is quite far from truth.  Sega Mega Drive was the next mecca for unlicensed games, and I would suspect just as many unlicensed games (if not more) were released for MD / Genesis as for NES.  And if we throw portables into the mix, there were tons of unlicensed games developed for all versions of the Game Boy, up through the Advance.  Not all of those were just by Taiwanese outfits either, some were from the UK, etc.  

A lot of people deny it, but I still feel it is an issue of price.  10 or 15 years ago, there were very few people talking about "going for sets" and excluding the unlicensed games, but as the OP posted, now a lot of people are opting for this choice.  I find this to be a shame, and as a few other "pro unlicensed" collectors have mentioned, I consider those products to be the spice in the collection.  Nudity, violence/blood/gore, swasticas (okay probably actually the Hindu symbol), bad language, etc can be found in those games.  

I personally feel that the unlicensed games are misunderstood and nowadays they aren't given a fair shake.  Here's some of the reasons I've heard against collecting those games:

-Most of the games suck.  
What about the Codemasters games?  They were good, for the most part.  Same with Tengen.  What about some of the puzzle games (Shockwave, Dudes with Attitude, Krazy Kreatures, Tiles of Fate, etc)?  They were also fun.  What about Solitaire and Blackjack?  I haven't played those games in ages, but unless someone screwed up something terribly with them, I just don't see the suck factor either, over other games of a similar nature that is.  And if we look at ALL of the unlicensed games worldwide, there are some that are in the same league as some of the popular licensed titles.

-Nostalgia
I didn't know about unlicensed games until about 1998 or so, the only thing I knew prior to then was Game Genie and a few unlicensed controllers.  At the same time though, I also didn't know Stadium Events, Flintstones 2, etc.  Later when I began collecting unlicensed games, I went back through my brother's stash of gaming magazines and a lot of them did feature reviews of unlicensed games, alongside the licensed stuff.  

-Uniformity
Sure, the unlicensed games don't look the same as the licensed stuff.  But what about the two Zelda carts?  They aren't the same either, being golden in color.  What about the various colored Game Boy carts?  Why does Tengen receive a pardon by so many people?  And finally, what about stuff like Mega Man 6, why does the (common) version get a pass in so many collections, when the box isn't uniform with the rest of the series?  Etc, etc.  

There is a lot of misinformation and excuses thrown around by those who don't collect unlicensed games.  I believe that people should collect whatever they see fit, but at the same time, I think some of the wrong information just needs to stop being spread.

Edit:  If you aren't going for a complete set, then the whole thing is a moot point.  But if you are going for a complete set, some points (like nostalgia), did you really have nostalgia for Barbie?!  Lol.