I totally know what you mean and what I do is just change what I am into. With games I like collecting, playing, and modding. I tend to move around within those phases to keep things fresh. Right now I have been gaming and not really buying much. When I feel tired of that I will take on some projects like RGB modding CRTS or fixing consoles for friends.

Then when I feel like collecting again I start picking up stuff. It's suppose to be fun and if it isn't then time for another hobby. Having several hobbies is also a great idea.

Just take a break. I hit this a couple years ago, and I jumped back into console modding, and all my spare cash and time went into that for a while (how have I been ignoring this?? This is LIFE) and then after a few months I opened up my old collecting spreadsheets and remembered all the stuff I was looking for, and I jumped back into it and all my money steered back to collecting. (how have I been ignoring this?? This is LIFE) It would have been a very bad idea to sell it all off.

The other thing that helps me is trimming the fat. I get the pointless-black-hole feeling when I spend too much time on collections I don't care enough about. Like it wouldn't even make me happy to finally finish some of these sets.

But I'm a collector, player, and modder, so I've never really dipped all the way out. I might focus on other hobbies for a week at a time though.

Are you done? Is this endgame? Is it time to just... enjoy your existing collection? No... impossible...

Yes, probably all of us do. That's why I asked you a while back when you "joked" about selling, if you were kidding or not. Who knows, you might wake up tomorrow and the massive accumulation of stuff just won't seem worth the space/sticker price/etc that it used to. At that point is where some people hit this weird wall, like they "have" to keep collecting, almost as though it's become a part of their identity, something others associate them with because it's the crux of their online presence. People don't want to give that up almost as much as collecting itself, their identity as a known collector.

Nobody could ever blame anybody for changing collecting focuses or shifting their interests, it's just the reluctant realization for most of us that purging our collections at some point in our lives very likely *is* an eventuality. That's totally ok. I watched a difficult-to-watch Youtube video from this known Switch collector girl named DestinyFomo the other day, and she basically was at a crossroads with her collecting. She was very emotional and honest talking about how she was overwhelmed with the volume of new releases, that she couldn't/didn't want to keep up with the constant stream of games (calling it "stressful", "annoying", "brutal") and that she didn't know where to go from there. For most people watching, the answer was obvious: Slow down or stop collecting, your unhappiness with it is written all over your face. 

Here's where that weird factor comes into play: It was very obvious (both by her language and tone, as well as by her blatantly stating so) that she had adopted "Bigtime Youtube Nintendo Switch Collector" as part of her identity and ego, and was having a whole separate issue about potentially letting that go as well. She said things like "I want to stop collecting...but I feel like I can't. This is kind of my thing now, I'm well-known for it, so it's like I can't stop, I have to keep collecting   ....". That was cringe-worthy as hell for me to hear, and it will bum me out if she doesn't stop collecting or seriously slow down. Her problem is that she now has too much personal stake in being "Destiny, the Switch Collector", and does not know how to carry forward being just "Destiny, some girl". Not explicitly saying you have the same complex, but have you ever looked at it from that angle? Like would you be ok with everyone knowing that "Ben the well-known sign and display collector" sold all his stuff, and is now (un)known as a guy named Ben from Iowa? You very well may be totally cool with that, and might lol at me for suggesting that there's a connection between collecting and personal identity/ego. I just thought it was an interesting thing that seemed to be factoring into DestinyFomo's decision making, and wondered if it's doing the same to others who may not be so vocal or upfront about it.

 

If you have your identity tied to playing and/or collecting video games you seriously need to rethink your life.

Collecting is just one aspect of it. I do work 50 hours a week that consumes me as well. :-) 

 

This is hard to think about. Will I still be collecting when I'm 75? How many of us will still be collecting in, say, 15 years? If you think you're going to quit someday, is it wise to just stop now and spend your time/money on something else?

I say no. I say do the thing that is fun for you today. Don't staple yourself to things that used to be fun but aren't anymore, and don't downplay things that are fun today. If collecting is losing its luster, take a break for two months. Then see if you're happy to revisit that world, or if you dread it. Opportunity costs, sunk cost fallacy, etc.

That girl's name is DestinyFomo? The Fomo part is apt. Becoming a YouTube personality seems to do that to a lot of people. There's even videos discussing various YT personalities and the changes in their behavior and likability as they have become more and more well-known. Name that movie: "if you're not enough without it, you'll never be enough with it."

I collect until I get bored, then I resell and keep my legitimate investment pieces. Then I get an itch and start a new collection. Been working on ps3 jrpgs and ps2 classics lately. Id like to get into amiibo, but my kids like them too much. I fear they would get destroyed.

Yep.

I'm also pretty bored, and also not interested in quitting/selling off.

idk if there's really a fix for this past what you've already done (playing them).

The boring part of it for me is the lack of finds. I mean I can buy games online all damn day but that's not where I get my excitement. I get it in the hunt. And it's just getting harder to find older games out there. Most people have already sold them/gotten rid of them, or just won't part with them. I ask everyone I can when I go out to yard sales...it's just not happening as easy as it used to.

I'm still collecting in the sense that I'm still buying games...just...not old games and not out in the wild. I'm mainly buying LRG stuff. It keeps me collecting but there's no real pleasure there...it's just a few clicks and I'm done.

What I've been doing is I'm actually buying old toys/plushies/comic books/whatever...stuff I had or wanted as a kid. It's fun and 9 times out of 10 I can easily find the stuff at yard sales/thrift stores. It takes the sting out of not finding games...and just makes me not as bored as I was. So maybe start collecting something else that makes you as happy as video games?

Good stuff bro. Much appreciated. 
 

yeah that chick has huge boobs.

 

Thanks everyone for a good gut check and some awesome perspective. Much appreciated.

Looked per request.