Note: This is a re-posting on my blog originally posted here, on my personal video game collecting site, The Callidus Collection.

It doesn't really matter what one collects - be it beer cans, cars, toys, books, video games, or third-world countries - the act of collecting is mainly about pride... with a heaping side of obsession. Inevitably, one's collecting habit grows into its own living, breathing monster... with the collector spending more time collecting than actually enjoying the collection. I think this phenomenon is probably more prevalent among video game collectors. This is largely due to the nature of the object of our obsession.

Video games, especially games of today, are designed to be immersive experiences that span hours upon hours of gameplay. Many games don't even truly hit their stride until several hours in... and don't even get me started on the time requirements of my favorite genre - RPGs.

As a collector, I am constantly adding games to my collection: games I remember fondly from my childhood, games that were must-play titles for a system, games that were just too good of a deal and/or find to pass up. As I write this, my current game collection count is 578 titles, spanning 19 game systems. Of these 578, I cringe every time I think about the percentage of them that I have never even tried.

I have talked to people who have collections two, three, and four times the size of mine. Really, mine is still pretty small in the grand scheme of things, and the fact that I only collect complete games will probably continue to limit the size of my collection in terms of raw numbers. But even at 578 games, if I were to spend just two hours sampling each title, I would be gaming for over 48 full 24-hour days.

Such is life's lot for video game collectors. As the collection grows and grows, the number of unplayed games grows with it, until it reaches daunting levels. The collection becomes less about the collectible and more of an outward reflection of whatever the psychological stigma is that we have personally attached to it - be it a harkening back to our youth, an obsession with possessing the biggest and the best XYZ on the block, or what have you. And once that metamorphosis occurs, the collecting becomes about the collection and we spend more time collecting than enjoying.

Some of us will mask that fact by claiming that it has become the thrill of the hunt involved in collecting that drives us. However, in today's age of eBay, Craig's List, GameTZ, and any other number of world shrinking avenues, the thrill and challenge of the hunt has devolved into something akin to playing Madden on Rookie difficulty.

And yet, here we sit. Still as devoted and determined to grow our collections.

Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go search eBay.