We've all seen the people with the walls of video games in their houses. Boxes upon boxes, controllers, consoles, posters, the whole nine yards. People like MetalJesusRocks have made names for themselves on Youtube, talking about their collections. And with good reason! It's a passion, it's a motivator. It drives them to find that next item!

(Image Source: Go Motivational Posters! Facebook group. Downloaded circa 2007, image author unknown)

All snarky jokes aside, collecting anything can be a lot of fun. It's a rewarding hobby, but it's very easy to turn into a hoarder without trying. It's also very easy to drop a lot of money into a collection. So today, I'm going to break down a couple things that can help you in the long run.

1. Figure out what you want to collect

This is by far the most important part. It's very easy to want to collect EVERYTHING, but this is simply impossible. Instead, focus on one or two things that you really like, and build out from there. Case in point, one of my obsessions is Dance Dance Revolution. Back in 2015, I picked up 5 DDR mixes while visiting Tokyo:

When I got home and looked at all the games I owned, I realized that it wouldn't be terribly difficult to take this and start going for a complete set of PS1 DDR mixes. After looking into how many mixes were in existence, I started researching prices, and watching eBay. Eventually, I found the last piece, at a decent price, and I pounced on it. With that, I had a complete set!

Once you finish one collecting goal, THEN you move on to the next one. But don't try and bite off more than you can chew. It's very easy to find yourself holding bits and pieces of incomplete sets. But, that does lead me to my next tip:

2. Know what you want to collect, and be happy with your stopping point

Having a complete set of EVERY game released on a platform is a huge undertaking. Consoles have hundreds of games released, and grabbing all of them is very, very difficult! That makes collections like Kacy da Game Nerd's Wii collection so impressive:

But you don't NEED to be like that. You can make a decent collection of the games that matter to YOU. And when you show your collection, it's personal, it's yours, and you should be happy with what you have. Now, this isn't meant to shame you if you want to go for a complete plaftorm lineup. If you want to go for it, go nuts! The important point is to be happy. Especially if budgets are a concern. Speaking of...

3. Be aware of your budget

This is the important one. We're not all made of money, we can't afford everything we want in the world. So it's important to buy when you feel the time is right. And a lot of times, if you're looking to start collecting, the best time to start is at the end of a console's life cycle. Stores like Gamestop are liquidating their inventory, regularly offering Buy 2, Get 1 Free specials. The prices are lower, too! Case in point, my N64 collection:

The majority of these games were purchased around 2004-2007. My copy of Goldeneye 007 was $7. Mario Kart 64 was $20. Nowadays, they're worth a lot more. But the local EB Games was trying to get rid of their N64 inventory when I was buying. I'm kicking myself for not picking up Starcraft 64 when they had it for $30. That was a mistake!

Obviously, you'll want to plan your budget according to what you're looking for. I'm in the process of tracking down the last two PS2 DDR mixes for a complete PS2 set. They're going to set me back $80 and $130, respectively. Whatever you're looking to grab, timing can be just as important as finding it.

4. Never understimate the power of secondhand charity shops

This one is huge. Goodwill stores are a great place for chance encounters with rare video games. Case in point, my Sega Saturn. Managed to pick it up with a 6 button controller, a 3D controller, and an arcade stick, for $20 back in 2006. It's now worth about $150. The only downside to Goodwill stores is that they now watch for what they think will be valuable, and a lot of it goes into their silent auctions now. But if you're lucky, you can snag a great game at a killer price. When that does happen, be happy, but realize it's not a common occurrence. Still, it's worth poking your head in the door on a regular basis.

5. HAVE FUN!!!

This is the most important one. collect because you love what you're collecting. If you're not enjoying it, you're not going to be successful. Make sure you love what you do, and have fun doing it. That's the most imporant part!

While this isn't very deep on specifics, I feel like this covers a lot of the important concepts that are really relevant to game collecting. But, you can apply a lot of this to collecting pretty much anything under the sun! If you like content like this, mash that like button. It helps me know what content I should be making here on Steemit.