The Internet is Killing the Collector in Me

[Fappy]

I used to be a big collector (video games and comics, mostly). Now with the advent of digital games, movie and TV streaming sites, and other avenues for digital content I've found that I don't really "own" a whole lot of new stuff. I mostly play games on PC these days, and while I typically buy physical disks if they're available, the vast majority of my PC games are digital. I can't even remember the last time I bought a physical film or tv series!

I know, I know, this is basically the epitome of "first world problems", but I get kinda sad thinking about it. Like, what about fifteen years from now when I want to show my kids stuff from the late 00's and on? Am I just going to type the name into Skynet Google and instantly download whatever it is I want to show them/play with them? No fiddling with cords and ancient video inputs? That's part of the charm! Right?

Bah! I think I am going to try collecting stuff again. I've already started again with comic TPBs (I don't buy comics week-to-week anymore), and I am considering buying $300 worth of Berserk manga so I can read it the way it was meant to be read (i.e. not scans).

Anyone else feel this way, or am I just a grumpy fuckhead?

 

[Zhukov]

Eh, I used to kinda collect things. Souvenirs, games, books, various trinkets. Never did anything with them. They either ended up sitting in boxes or being chucked out when I moved house.

I'm fine with storing my crap digitally. Although I do still buy books.

Besides, quite frankly, it's unlikely your kids will be all that interested in some dusty comics from 2007. Maybe if they're good kids they'll look at them to be nice. Then they'll find it one day when they're going through your stuff after you die, and be like, "Hey, here's those comics dad showed us when we were kids." "Aww, good ol' dad." "So... keep or chuck?" It's a tale as old as time.

 

[Fappy]

Eh, I used to kinda collect things. Souvenirs, games, books, various trinkets. Never did anything with them. They either ended up sitting in boxes or being chucked out when I moved house.

I'm fine with storing my crap digitally. Although I do still buy books.

Besides, quite frankly, it's unlikely your kids will be all that interested in some dusty comics from 2007. Maybe if they're good kids they'll look at them to be nice. Then they'll find it one day when they're going through your stuff after you die, and be like, "Hey, here's those comics dad showed us when we were kids. Keep or chuck?" "Chuck." It's a tale as old as time.

I imagine that's the case with most families, yeah, but can't a man hope that his kids will do his weird nerdiness justice? My step dad's old comic book collection and tales of his old college D&D days acted as the catalyst for our eventual bonding, and if his comics were ever handed down to me I'd never dream of 'chucking' them.

Call me materialistic--maybe even a tad insecure--but I like to have tangible things that represent me if I can help it. Being able to hold the DVD case of my favorite anime in my hand and think, "this is a part of who I am" is weirdly heartwarming. Is that the right word?

I really need to stop posting at 5 a.m. I come up with some loony shit.

I'm so sorry, Zhukov.

 

[Sleepy Sol]

I really need to stop posting at 5 a.m. I come up with some loony shit.

Never stop. ;_;7

I can get the feeling, but I kinda fall in with Zhukov here. I'd love to keep some old physical mementos of my interests to show to my nieces and nephews and possibly children, but at the same time I'm not even sure if they'll even have any real interest in the first place. Just seems really situational in all honesty. I think I'd much rather just wait for them to express their own interest before pushing anything like that on to them. And I don't often put much value in my belongings as far as memorabilia of this or that goes, so it kinda just sits there gathering dust. The biggest value I place on stuff like that is just prints and portraits I've bought at conventions and hole-in-the-wall game stores, which are pretty quick permanent fixtures to my walls.

 

[Zhukov]

Call me materialistic--maybe even a tad insecure--but I like to have tangible things that represent me if I can help it. Being able to hold the DVD case of my favorite anime in my hand and think, "this is a part of who I am" is weirdly heartwarming. Is that the right word?

Sure, if that's what does it for you.

I dunno, I used to keep mementos in the belief that they would come to hold some kind of sentimental value to me. Then ten years later I'd look at it and it was just a thing taking up space on a shelf. Sometime the memory or person with which it was associated had faded into irrelevance, rendering the item equally irrelevant. Other times the memory or person had become precious to me, in which case I already had what mattered, so what purpose does the item serve?

These days I ditch anything I don't use.

Except books. Because.... books.

I'm so sorry, Zhukov.

Wut?

 

[Fappy]

Wut?

I'm apologizing for being a crazy person

I really need to stop posting at 5 a.m. I come up with some loony shit.

Never stop. ;_;7

I can get the feeling, but I kinda fall in with Zhukov here. I'd love to keep some old physical mementos of my interests to show to my nieces and nephews and possibly children, but at the same time I'm not even sure if they'll even have any real interest in the first place. Just seems really situational in all honesty. I think I'd much rather just wait for them to express their own interest before pushing anything like that on to them. And I don't often put much value in my belongings as far as memorabilia of this or that goes, so it kinda just sits there gathering dust. The biggest value I place on stuff like that is just prints and portraits I've bought at conventions and hole-in-the-wall game stores, which are pretty quick permanent fixtures to my walls.

Your avatar reminds me that Aniplex is charging up-the-ass for KLK blu-rays. I have no clue what they're smoking. With three popular streaming sites owning a license, they're only ever going to make sales on the rare few hardcore western otakus. Seriously, fuck Aniplex.

What was I talking about, again?

 

[Sleepy Sol]

What was I talking about, again?

The possible futility in attaching oneself to physical mementos of their favorite entertainment mediums?

I mean, that's the impression I got, but if you want to talk about a team of warrior corgis rocketing to the moon to fight space Nazis with their stumpy corgi legs, that's okay too. And I can't ever see myself paying for anime dvds. Just seems...bleh.

 

[Fappy]

What was I talking about, again?

The possible futility in attaching oneself to physical mementos of their favorite entertainment mediums?

I mean, that's the impression I got, but if you want to talk about a team of warrior corgis rocketing to the moon to fight space Nazis with their stumpy corgi legs, that's okay too. And I can't ever see myself paying for anime dvds. Just seems...bleh.

I buy from Funimation on the rare occasion that I buy anime at all. They typically offer really good deals, all things considered. $25-30 for a blu-ray box-set of a series + extras is reasonable to me. Back when they first released the re-mastered DBZ DVDs you could find them super cheap everywhere.

Also, speaking of ridiculous things that have no bearing on the conversation:

 

[Sleepy Sol]

Also, speaking of ridiculous things that have no bearing on the conversation:

Well, it has some bearing if we go with corgis fighting space Nazis. Kung Fury does have Nazis in it.

SIEG HEIL, KUNG FÜHRER!

But really, I think you should just do you. If collecting fulfills a niche in your heart that you don't want gone, keep doing it.

 

[SweetShark]

This is one of the reasons I want to create List with the Things I do with my life.
I mostly have a GIANT collections of pictures which are the things I played/watched/read all these years.
I only buy things I KNOW I need to get it in physical form to enjoy it properly. However I will admit it is very nice to think all these with the nostalgic glasses we all own.

I get repetitive, but owning both versions of LMS: Killbook of a Bounty Hunter, make me very happy.
Having both books side by side and seeing the difference they have, is enjoyable, which of course you can do this if you own it in digital form.

So in other words, buy it physical when you know it worth buying it like that.

 

[Casual Shinji]

I'm still a collector, if that's what buying my entertainment physically is called nowadays. I've got shelves filled with DVDs, blu-rays, and games, and I wouldn't have it any other way. The only games I own digitally are the ones I couldn't get physically.

No real interest in holding on to it for prosterity, I just like browsing in stores and finding things I was either looking for or things I never expected to find at all -- It's like a little treasure hunt. I like striking gold and then bringing my loot home. I like opening cases and books and having the media in question in my hands before I activate it. It creates a nice degree of anticipating.

I recently bought the blu-ray of The Tale of Princess Kaguya just for the hell of it, because I figured this'd be the only time I'll ever come across it in stores. Then the movie turned out to be fantastic and now it's proudly sitting amongst the rest of my collection. Now if only I could get Princess Mononoke and Spirited Away on blu-ray...

Bah! I think I am going to try collecting stuff again. I've already started again with comic TPBs (I don't buy comics week-to-week anymore), and I am considering buying $300 worth of Berserk manga so I can read it the way it was meant to be read (i.e. not scans).

I've got the first 22 volumes sitting here on my shelf.

 

[Zykon TheLich_v1legacy]

Nope, if anything I'd say it was the opposite.
Suddenly, thanks to the internet, I can find pretty much anything I want really easily, too easily, and being old (for this forum at least)I can now afford a lot of the stuff I couldn't when I was younger. Though if you were specifically talking about collecting current stuff, then no, I'm not really interested, but that's nothing to do with the internet.

 

[Queen Michael]

Eh, I used to kinda collect things. Souvenirs, games, books, various trinkets. Never did anything with them. They either ended up sitting in boxes or being chucked out when I moved house.

I'm fine with storing my crap digitally. Although I do still buy books.

Besides, quite frankly, it's unlikely your kids will be all that interested in some dusty comics from 2007. Maybe if they're good kids they'll look at them to be nice. Then they'll find it one day when they're going through your stuff after you die, and be like, "Hey, here's those comics dad showed us when we were kids." "Aww, good ol' dad." "So... keep or chuck?" It's a tale as old as time.

In my fmaily, my brother and I--mainly I--were really interested in all my mom's old comic books right as we learned how to read. I've still got them.

 

[happyninja42]

I don't really mind the digital stuff. I've worked in a comic shop, and the level of collecting was kind of scary honestly. Also, one of my best friends has a house stuffed with things he's collected. He really needs to do a purge, but I know he won't, because he's "a collector". He's starting to use digital stuff now, like a Marvel digital comic subscription, and that's good. But still, I've never understood Collecting, and think you're better off not gathering up tons of stuff that you won't really do much with other than simply "collect".

 

[L. Declis]

I also used to have collections, but honestly, it's just more useless material crap (and I don't want to get all Tyler Durden, but honestly, if you haven't look at something for 6 months, you probably don't need it).

But I do agree with the gist of your argument; this movement to digital has created a system where I don't actually OWN very much. If P.T. has shown me anything, digital copies ultimately amount to fuck all in the face of the companies, but my copy of Metal Gear Solid 2 will be there as long as I take care of it.

There is also the tactile feeling of the physical; I do digital art, which is nice and gives me all of the tools of real life, but it doesn't have the responsive feedback of an actual paintbrush and actual canvas. It's why even if Warhammer moved to the digital, or when Magic moved online I didn't or won't follow; because the feeling of the cards or the models is half the reason I enjoy the hobby, and the digital just takes most of that away.

 

[Jux]

I limit my collectors urges to jazz fest posters and star wars comics (variant covers nomnomnom). Which may not seem like a lot, till you see how much some of this crap costs. I self justify by saying it's an investment, but really I have zero intentions of ever selling any of this stuff. I suppose whoever gets it after I croak will benefit from it though.

 

[PsychicTaco115]

The only recent thing I've started collecting is records

They're just nice things to have, plus sometimes they come with a digital download code

It's a win-win

 

[Sleepy Sol]

The only recent thing I've started collecting is records

They're just nice things to have, plus sometimes they come with a digital download code

It's a win-win

It's even better when the code is long-expired.

Am I right or am I right?

 

[PsychicTaco115]

It's even better when the code is long-expired.

Am I right or am I right?

That's.... that's just mean