Re: [SWCollect] Rarity Scale

2004-01-31 Thread BL
I use AuctionChief, which works well enough; I have some 20 different
automated searches on an hourly interval, and it works quite well.  You can
even export it to Excel; perhaps something like that could be considered.

- Original Message - 
From: C.E. Forman [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]; [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Friday, January 30, 2004 8:20 PM
Subject: Re: [SWCollect] Rarity Scale


 The problem we'll run into here is, how do we differentiate between
someone
 selling a complete game and someone selling just a loose disk in a lot
with
 50 others?   I've got a script I run that does my automated eBay searches,
 but it's really just opening a URL to eBay with the appropriate keyword
 search parameters.  I get tons of false positives, but it's quick to
glance
 through them.  That wouldn't work so well with this.

 - Original Message - 
 From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
 To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
 Sent: Wednesday, January 28, 2004 9:09 PM
 Subject: Re: [SWCollect] Rarity Scale


  If anyone can write an app to poll eBay for a given list of games and
 track the numbers, our job is done.  This whole scale can be automated.
 Game rankings can change in real-time based on actual eBay data.
 
  Hugh
 
  -Original Message-
  From: Marco Thorek [EMAIL PROTECTED]
  Sent: Jan 28, 2004 9:39 PM
  To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
  Subject: Re: [SWCollect] Rarity Scale
 
  [EMAIL PROTECTED] schrieb:
  
   That's the spirit, C.E.!
  
   I think we could at least start a running list and watch it grow over
   time.  It has to start somewhere.  I'll host it on GOTCHA unless
   somebody has a better suggestion.  I can start with about 100 games
   I've searched for regularly on Ebay over the years.  I have a pretty
   good feel for them in terms of availability.
  
   You guys could then go through and make comments where you think
   they're wrong.  I've seen 50 of those on eBay in the last
   year...that's not rare.  You can also grow the list with your own
   personal searches and experience.
 
  Do you think about using a CGI script?
 
   I'd like to base the CURIOUS Scale solely on a game's availability on
   on-line auctions.  This represents the general availability to the
   buying public and is as good an indicator as I can think of.  It would
   work like this:
  
   In the last 2 years, a complete (VG/VG or better) version of this game
   has appeared on an on-line auction approximately:
  
   20 times or less = Rare
   21 - 80 times = Uncommon
   More than 80 = Common
 
  You could put condition into the formula as a modifier.
 
   Imaginary, Unique and Oddity would have to be determined by the group.
 
  Hm,
 
  Imaginary - Not even a single appearance
  Unique - 5 times or less
  Oddity - Any game that was not a regular publication
 
  You could combine Oddity and the other gradings.
 
   Obviously this is based on complete speculation, but who would be
   better to speculate on it than us?  Honestly, I think auction
   availability is a better indicator of availability than just about
   anything else (including production runs).  Since it is an indicator
   of how many are for sale on the open market.  Sure there may be a box
   of Drash's in a warehouse somewhere, but how many of us will ever have
   a chance to buy them?  We won't...unless they show up on eBay.
 
  Well, any grading will always be subjective. We as individuals choose
  certain factors in our grading and collectively we can arrive at a
  common denominator that represents us as a group. Others might choose
  other factors.
 
  Marco
 
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RE: [SWCollect] Rarity Scale

2004-01-30 Thread Hugh Falk
The problem with tracking prices is that it should really take into
account condition as well (which we can't automate).  As long as the
price was clearly stated as a novelty and stated that it was simply an
average sales price irregardless of condition, I guess it couldn't hurt
to include.

Hugh

-Original Message-
From: BL [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] 
Sent: Thursday, January 29, 2004 10:29 PM
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Re: [SWCollect] Rarity Scale

Hey Hugh,

Yea, a rarity/availibility guide would be cool - but the price info is
there
as well, so even if for novelty informational purposes only, it would
still
be interesting to have that as well.  Totally agree about titles only -
and
there would probably have to be a verification area, where we could
verify
found auctions before they are perminantly put into the DB.  I do admit
that
it would be a moderately ambitious project -- It wouldn't be the first
time
I've parsed Ebay, actually had a very well working one as part of
computergamecollector.com (http://www.computergamecollector.com/ebay/).
Any
user could set up detailed searches and save them, allowing very long
include/exclude strings, longer than ebay allowed at the time.  But
because
ebay changes thier website so much, projects such as these are very
dependent and highly re-active to any changes that ebay makes.  As you
can
see if you do a search, my once perfectly parsed page is now just a big
mess.  :)  But, it would be a good starting point to update to at least
figure out how they've changed thier pages; which looks to be quite
drastic.

Brad

- Original Message - 
From: Hugh Falk [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Friday, January 30, 2004 12:03 AM
Subject: RE: [SWCollect] Rarity Scale


 I think we'd have to limit it to hits in the title only.  Otherwise,
we
 would get hits for people who put things like, Come to my site and
see
 pictures of Ultima: Escape from Mt. Drash.  And it would look like
 there are 30 Drash's out there at any given time :-)))

 Also, let me reiterate, I'm not trying to do a price guide.  I don't
 care about value.  I'm simply doing a rarity/availability guide, which
 will be challenging enough.

 Brad, if you're serious about it, let's talk off-line about details.
 I'd be more than willing to work on it.


 Hugh

 -Original Message-
 From: BL [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
 Sent: Thursday, January 29, 2004 8:13 PM
 To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]; [EMAIL PROTECTED]
 Subject: Re: [SWCollect] Rarity Scale

 Well, I've thought of that, but there's a lot of factors involved,
like
 condition etc that will effect prices.  If we pioneered an ebay title
 posting format, then well, it would be pretty easy.  Or alternatively,
 we
 could only use those entries that have certain information in the
title,
 or
 yet another possibility - just use all found auction data, and make
 that
 the middle of the road average.  I'd be interested in something like
 this,
 and  could code the DB and app.

 - Original Message - 
 From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
 To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
 Sent: Wednesday, January 28, 2004 10:09 PM
 Subject: Re: [SWCollect] Rarity Scale


  If anyone can write an app to poll eBay for a given list of games
and
 track the numbers, our job is done.  This whole scale can be
automated.
 Game rankings can change in real-time based on actual eBay data.
 
  Hugh
 
  -Original Message-
  From: Marco Thorek [EMAIL PROTECTED]
  Sent: Jan 28, 2004 9:39 PM
  To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
  Subject: Re: [SWCollect] Rarity Scale
 
  [EMAIL PROTECTED] schrieb:
  
   That's the spirit, C.E.!
  
   I think we could at least start a running list and watch it grow
 over
   time.  It has to start somewhere.  I'll host it on GOTCHA unless
   somebody has a better suggestion.  I can start with about 100
games
   I've searched for regularly on Ebay over the years.  I have a
pretty
   good feel for them in terms of availability.
  
   You guys could then go through and make comments where you think
   they're wrong.  I've seen 50 of those on eBay in the last
   year...that's not rare.  You can also grow the list with your own
   personal searches and experience.
 
  Do you think about using a CGI script?
 
   I'd like to base the CURIOUS Scale solely on a game's availability
 on
   on-line auctions.  This represents the general availability to the
   buying public and is as good an indicator as I can think of.  It
 would
   work like this:
  
   In the last 2 years, a complete (VG/VG or better) version of this
 game
   has appeared on an on-line auction approximately:
  
   20 times or less = Rare
   21 - 80 times = Uncommon
   More than 80 = Common
 
  You could put condition into the formula as a modifier.
 
   Imaginary, Unique and Oddity would have to be determined by the
 group.
 
  Hm,
 
  Imaginary - Not even a single appearance
  Unique - 5 times or less
  Oddity - Any game that was not a regular publication
 
  You could combine Oddity and the other gradings

Re: [SWCollect] Rarity Scale

2004-01-30 Thread Edward Franks
On Jan 29, 2004, at 10:12 PM, BL wrote:

Well, I've thought of that, but there's a lot of factors involved, like
condition etc that will effect prices.  If we pioneered an ebay title
posting format, then well, it would be pretty easy.  Or alternatively,  
we
could only use those entries that have certain information in the  
title, or
yet another possibility - just use all found auction data, and make  
that
the middle of the road average.  I'd be interested in something like  
this,
and  could code the DB and app.
	Good luck parsing this auction correctly  
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? 
ViewItemitem=3074939557category=3561.  ;-)

	Between the typos and the combined auction you're in trouble.  Also,  
you are going to *have* to deal with the auction descriptions, if only  
to separate out all the permutations of game and parts.  A listing for  
Ultima IV that pegs an auction of just the disks with an auction with  
everything will royally mess up your rarity scale.  Even if there is an  
app scraping eBay for the basic info, I can still see people spending a  
lot of time making judgment calls about where each auction fits.

	I'm not saying it can't be done, but I think you'll spend more time  
hand massaging the data than you might realize.

--

Edward Franks

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Re: [SWCollect] Rarity Scale

2004-01-30 Thread hughfalk

If we wanted the guide to be perfect, you're right; there would be a lot of hand 
scrubbing.  But I'm really just looking for it to be a solid point of reference with 
some implied margin of error. For example, we could just deal with games properly 
labeled in the title and make an assumption that this only accounts for about 50% of 
the games that show up on eBay (due to spelling errors, bulk listings and titles like 
old game for sale.).

We would certainly do some hand scrubbing for special items (like Drash), but it 
wouldn't have to be overwhelming.  Also, input from knowledgeable experts would always 
override the automated system.  For example, if Tom has been searching for Ultima II 
every week for the last three years on eBay, I would trust his judgment on its rarity.

Hugh

-Original Message-
From: Edward Franks [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Jan 30, 2004 9:25 AM
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Re: [SWCollect] Rarity Scale


On Jan 29, 2004, at 10:12 PM, BL wrote:

 Well, I've thought of that, but there's a lot of factors involved, like
 condition etc that will effect prices.  If we pioneered an ebay title
 posting format, then well, it would be pretty easy.  Or alternatively,  
 we
 could only use those entries that have certain information in the  
 title, or
 yet another possibility - just use all found auction data, and make  
 that
 the middle of the road average.  I'd be interested in something like  
 this,
 and  could code the DB and app.

Good luck parsing this auction correctly  
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? 
ViewItemitem=3074939557category=3561.  ;-)

Between the typos and the combined auction you're in trouble.  Also,  
you are going to *have* to deal with the auction descriptions, if only  
to separate out all the permutations of game and parts.  A listing for  
Ultima IV that pegs an auction of just the disks with an auction with  
everything will royally mess up your rarity scale.  Even if there is an  
app scraping eBay for the basic info, I can still see people spending a  
lot of time making judgment calls about where each auction fits.

I'm not saying it can't be done, but I think you'll spend more time  
hand massaging the data than you might realize.

-- 

Edward Franks


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Re: [SWCollect] Rarity Scale

2004-01-30 Thread C.E. Forman
The problem we'll run into here is, how do we differentiate between someone
selling a complete game and someone selling just a loose disk in a lot with
50 others?   I've got a script I run that does my automated eBay searches,
but it's really just opening a URL to eBay with the appropriate keyword
search parameters.  I get tons of false positives, but it's quick to glance
through them.  That wouldn't work so well with this.

- Original Message - 
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Wednesday, January 28, 2004 9:09 PM
Subject: Re: [SWCollect] Rarity Scale


 If anyone can write an app to poll eBay for a given list of games and
track the numbers, our job is done.  This whole scale can be automated.
Game rankings can change in real-time based on actual eBay data.

 Hugh

 -Original Message-
 From: Marco Thorek [EMAIL PROTECTED]
 Sent: Jan 28, 2004 9:39 PM
 To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
 Subject: Re: [SWCollect] Rarity Scale

 [EMAIL PROTECTED] schrieb:
 
  That's the spirit, C.E.!
 
  I think we could at least start a running list and watch it grow over
  time.  It has to start somewhere.  I'll host it on GOTCHA unless
  somebody has a better suggestion.  I can start with about 100 games
  I've searched for regularly on Ebay over the years.  I have a pretty
  good feel for them in terms of availability.
 
  You guys could then go through and make comments where you think
  they're wrong.  I've seen 50 of those on eBay in the last
  year...that's not rare.  You can also grow the list with your own
  personal searches and experience.

 Do you think about using a CGI script?

  I'd like to base the CURIOUS Scale solely on a game's availability on
  on-line auctions.  This represents the general availability to the
  buying public and is as good an indicator as I can think of.  It would
  work like this:
 
  In the last 2 years, a complete (VG/VG or better) version of this game
  has appeared on an on-line auction approximately:
 
  20 times or less = Rare
  21 - 80 times = Uncommon
  More than 80 = Common

 You could put condition into the formula as a modifier.

  Imaginary, Unique and Oddity would have to be determined by the group.

 Hm,

 Imaginary - Not even a single appearance
 Unique - 5 times or less
 Oddity - Any game that was not a regular publication

 You could combine Oddity and the other gradings.

  Obviously this is based on complete speculation, but who would be
  better to speculate on it than us?  Honestly, I think auction
  availability is a better indicator of availability than just about
  anything else (including production runs).  Since it is an indicator
  of how many are for sale on the open market.  Sure there may be a box
  of Drash's in a warehouse somewhere, but how many of us will ever have
  a chance to buy them?  We won't...unless they show up on eBay.

 Well, any grading will always be subjective. We as individuals choose
 certain factors in our grading and collectively we can arrive at a
 common denominator that represents us as a group. Others might choose
 other factors.

 Marco

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Re: [SWCollect] Rarity Scale

2004-01-30 Thread C.E. Forman
 Good luck parsing this auction correctly  
 http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? 
 ViewItemitem=3074939557category=3561.  ;-)
 
 Between the typos and the combined auction you're in trouble.

My favorite typo is the Onk.  B-)


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Re: [SWCollect] Rarity Scale

2004-01-29 Thread BL
Well, I've thought of that, but there's a lot of factors involved, like
condition etc that will effect prices.  If we pioneered an ebay title
posting format, then well, it would be pretty easy.  Or alternatively, we
could only use those entries that have certain information in the title, or
yet another possibility - just use all found auction data, and make that
the middle of the road average.  I'd be interested in something like this,
and  could code the DB and app.

- Original Message - 
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Wednesday, January 28, 2004 10:09 PM
Subject: Re: [SWCollect] Rarity Scale


 If anyone can write an app to poll eBay for a given list of games and
track the numbers, our job is done.  This whole scale can be automated.
Game rankings can change in real-time based on actual eBay data.

 Hugh

 -Original Message-
 From: Marco Thorek [EMAIL PROTECTED]
 Sent: Jan 28, 2004 9:39 PM
 To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
 Subject: Re: [SWCollect] Rarity Scale

 [EMAIL PROTECTED] schrieb:
 
  That's the spirit, C.E.!
 
  I think we could at least start a running list and watch it grow over
  time.  It has to start somewhere.  I'll host it on GOTCHA unless
  somebody has a better suggestion.  I can start with about 100 games
  I've searched for regularly on Ebay over the years.  I have a pretty
  good feel for them in terms of availability.
 
  You guys could then go through and make comments where you think
  they're wrong.  I've seen 50 of those on eBay in the last
  year...that's not rare.  You can also grow the list with your own
  personal searches and experience.

 Do you think about using a CGI script?

  I'd like to base the CURIOUS Scale solely on a game's availability on
  on-line auctions.  This represents the general availability to the
  buying public and is as good an indicator as I can think of.  It would
  work like this:
 
  In the last 2 years, a complete (VG/VG or better) version of this game
  has appeared on an on-line auction approximately:
 
  20 times or less = Rare
  21 - 80 times = Uncommon
  More than 80 = Common

 You could put condition into the formula as a modifier.

  Imaginary, Unique and Oddity would have to be determined by the group.

 Hm,

 Imaginary - Not even a single appearance
 Unique - 5 times or less
 Oddity - Any game that was not a regular publication

 You could combine Oddity and the other gradings.

  Obviously this is based on complete speculation, but who would be
  better to speculate on it than us?  Honestly, I think auction
  availability is a better indicator of availability than just about
  anything else (including production runs).  Since it is an indicator
  of how many are for sale on the open market.  Sure there may be a box
  of Drash's in a warehouse somewhere, but how many of us will ever have
  a chance to buy them?  We won't...unless they show up on eBay.

 Well, any grading will always be subjective. We as individuals choose
 certain factors in our grading and collectively we can arrive at a
 common denominator that represents us as a group. Others might choose
 other factors.

 Marco

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RE: [SWCollect] Rarity Scale

2004-01-29 Thread Hugh Falk
I think we'd have to limit it to hits in the title only.  Otherwise, we
would get hits for people who put things like, Come to my site and see
pictures of Ultima: Escape from Mt. Drash.  And it would look like
there are 30 Drash's out there at any given time :-)))

Also, let me reiterate, I'm not trying to do a price guide.  I don't
care about value.  I'm simply doing a rarity/availability guide, which
will be challenging enough.

Brad, if you're serious about it, let's talk off-line about details.
I'd be more than willing to work on it.


Hugh

-Original Message-
From: BL [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] 
Sent: Thursday, January 29, 2004 8:13 PM
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]; [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Re: [SWCollect] Rarity Scale

Well, I've thought of that, but there's a lot of factors involved, like
condition etc that will effect prices.  If we pioneered an ebay title
posting format, then well, it would be pretty easy.  Or alternatively,
we
could only use those entries that have certain information in the title,
or
yet another possibility - just use all found auction data, and make
that
the middle of the road average.  I'd be interested in something like
this,
and  could code the DB and app.

- Original Message - 
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Wednesday, January 28, 2004 10:09 PM
Subject: Re: [SWCollect] Rarity Scale


 If anyone can write an app to poll eBay for a given list of games and
track the numbers, our job is done.  This whole scale can be automated.
Game rankings can change in real-time based on actual eBay data.

 Hugh

 -Original Message-
 From: Marco Thorek [EMAIL PROTECTED]
 Sent: Jan 28, 2004 9:39 PM
 To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
 Subject: Re: [SWCollect] Rarity Scale

 [EMAIL PROTECTED] schrieb:
 
  That's the spirit, C.E.!
 
  I think we could at least start a running list and watch it grow
over
  time.  It has to start somewhere.  I'll host it on GOTCHA unless
  somebody has a better suggestion.  I can start with about 100 games
  I've searched for regularly on Ebay over the years.  I have a pretty
  good feel for them in terms of availability.
 
  You guys could then go through and make comments where you think
  they're wrong.  I've seen 50 of those on eBay in the last
  year...that's not rare.  You can also grow the list with your own
  personal searches and experience.

 Do you think about using a CGI script?

  I'd like to base the CURIOUS Scale solely on a game's availability
on
  on-line auctions.  This represents the general availability to the
  buying public and is as good an indicator as I can think of.  It
would
  work like this:
 
  In the last 2 years, a complete (VG/VG or better) version of this
game
  has appeared on an on-line auction approximately:
 
  20 times or less = Rare
  21 - 80 times = Uncommon
  More than 80 = Common

 You could put condition into the formula as a modifier.

  Imaginary, Unique and Oddity would have to be determined by the
group.

 Hm,

 Imaginary - Not even a single appearance
 Unique - 5 times or less
 Oddity - Any game that was not a regular publication

 You could combine Oddity and the other gradings.

  Obviously this is based on complete speculation, but who would be
  better to speculate on it than us?  Honestly, I think auction
  availability is a better indicator of availability than just about
  anything else (including production runs).  Since it is an indicator
  of how many are for sale on the open market.  Sure there may be a
box
  of Drash's in a warehouse somewhere, but how many of us will ever
have
  a chance to buy them?  We won't...unless they show up on eBay.

 Well, any grading will always be subjective. We as individuals choose
 certain factors in our grading and collectively we can arrive at a
 common denominator that represents us as a group. Others might choose
 other factors.

 Marco

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 the swcollect mailing list.  To unsubscribe, send mail to
 [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of 'unsubscribe swcollect'
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Re: [SWCollect] Rarity Scale

2004-01-29 Thread BL
Hey Hugh,

Yea, a rarity/availibility guide would be cool - but the price info is there
as well, so even if for novelty informational purposes only, it would still
be interesting to have that as well.  Totally agree about titles only - and
there would probably have to be a verification area, where we could verify
found auctions before they are perminantly put into the DB.  I do admit that
it would be a moderately ambitious project -- It wouldn't be the first time
I've parsed Ebay, actually had a very well working one as part of
computergamecollector.com (http://www.computergamecollector.com/ebay/).  Any
user could set up detailed searches and save them, allowing very long
include/exclude strings, longer than ebay allowed at the time.  But because
ebay changes thier website so much, projects such as these are very
dependent and highly re-active to any changes that ebay makes.  As you can
see if you do a search, my once perfectly parsed page is now just a big
mess.  :)  But, it would be a good starting point to update to at least
figure out how they've changed thier pages; which looks to be quite drastic.

Brad

- Original Message - 
From: Hugh Falk [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Friday, January 30, 2004 12:03 AM
Subject: RE: [SWCollect] Rarity Scale


 I think we'd have to limit it to hits in the title only.  Otherwise, we
 would get hits for people who put things like, Come to my site and see
 pictures of Ultima: Escape from Mt. Drash.  And it would look like
 there are 30 Drash's out there at any given time :-)))

 Also, let me reiterate, I'm not trying to do a price guide.  I don't
 care about value.  I'm simply doing a rarity/availability guide, which
 will be challenging enough.

 Brad, if you're serious about it, let's talk off-line about details.
 I'd be more than willing to work on it.


 Hugh

 -Original Message-
 From: BL [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
 Sent: Thursday, January 29, 2004 8:13 PM
 To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]; [EMAIL PROTECTED]
 Subject: Re: [SWCollect] Rarity Scale

 Well, I've thought of that, but there's a lot of factors involved, like
 condition etc that will effect prices.  If we pioneered an ebay title
 posting format, then well, it would be pretty easy.  Or alternatively,
 we
 could only use those entries that have certain information in the title,
 or
 yet another possibility - just use all found auction data, and make
 that
 the middle of the road average.  I'd be interested in something like
 this,
 and  could code the DB and app.

 - Original Message - 
 From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
 To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
 Sent: Wednesday, January 28, 2004 10:09 PM
 Subject: Re: [SWCollect] Rarity Scale


  If anyone can write an app to poll eBay for a given list of games and
 track the numbers, our job is done.  This whole scale can be automated.
 Game rankings can change in real-time based on actual eBay data.
 
  Hugh
 
  -Original Message-
  From: Marco Thorek [EMAIL PROTECTED]
  Sent: Jan 28, 2004 9:39 PM
  To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
  Subject: Re: [SWCollect] Rarity Scale
 
  [EMAIL PROTECTED] schrieb:
  
   That's the spirit, C.E.!
  
   I think we could at least start a running list and watch it grow
 over
   time.  It has to start somewhere.  I'll host it on GOTCHA unless
   somebody has a better suggestion.  I can start with about 100 games
   I've searched for regularly on Ebay over the years.  I have a pretty
   good feel for them in terms of availability.
  
   You guys could then go through and make comments where you think
   they're wrong.  I've seen 50 of those on eBay in the last
   year...that's not rare.  You can also grow the list with your own
   personal searches and experience.
 
  Do you think about using a CGI script?
 
   I'd like to base the CURIOUS Scale solely on a game's availability
 on
   on-line auctions.  This represents the general availability to the
   buying public and is as good an indicator as I can think of.  It
 would
   work like this:
  
   In the last 2 years, a complete (VG/VG or better) version of this
 game
   has appeared on an on-line auction approximately:
  
   20 times or less = Rare
   21 - 80 times = Uncommon
   More than 80 = Common
 
  You could put condition into the formula as a modifier.
 
   Imaginary, Unique and Oddity would have to be determined by the
 group.
 
  Hm,
 
  Imaginary - Not even a single appearance
  Unique - 5 times or less
  Oddity - Any game that was not a regular publication
 
  You could combine Oddity and the other gradings.
 
   Obviously this is based on complete speculation, but who would be
   better to speculate on it than us?  Honestly, I think auction
   availability is a better indicator of availability than just about
   anything else (including production runs).  Since it is an indicator
   of how many are for sale on the open market.  Sure there may be a
 box
   of Drash's in a warehouse somewhere, but how many of us will ever
 have
   a chance to buy them?  We won't

Re: [SWCollect] Rarity Scale

2004-01-28 Thread Pedro Quaresma

I like the idea! S could also stand for Super-Unique, Special or even Super-Duper! ;)

Perhaps we could also make a scale for general covetedness (does this word even exist?!) of a game? I for example have several extremely rare (probably an U on the CURIOUS scale ;) ) RPGs that aren't coveted by anyone, hence they are usually sold cheap.

--
Pedro R. Quaresma
Salvador Caetano IMVT
Div. Sistemas de Informação / Systems and Information Division
Administração e Desenvolvimento Lotus Notes / 
Lotus Notes Administration and Development
[EMAIL PROTECTED] // +351 22 7867000 (ext. 3492)

Toyota Prius '01, Aqua Ice Opalescent, 37K km., Esperanza
 
'People don't quit playing because they grow old. They grow old because they quit playing.' - Oliver Wendell Holmes









  


Para: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
A/C: 
Ref: 
cc: (bcc: Pedro Quaresma/SCAETANO)
Assunto: [SWCollect] Rarity Scale


Hugh Falk [EMAIL PROTECTED]
28-01-2004 04:44


Solicita-se resposta a swcollect


Hey guys,

This group has tackled the issue of a condition grading scale. Does anybody think it's worth trying to put together a rarity scale? You knowto judge how common a game is. I'd recommend we call is the CURIOUS scale:

Common
Uncommon
Rare
Imaginary
Oddity
Unique
Shameless placeholder to complete acronym


Seriously, there are a few sites that do this specifically for cartridge-based media, but wouldn't it be nice to have one for our hobby? How would we judge rarity? We could poll the list of collectors for starters. A place like Brad's computer game collector site (http://www.computergamecollectorcom) would be ideal for tracking this info if it was supported by most of us. We could then add more subjective info like the number of times a game was spotted on eBay. It would be great if we could actually track this as part of the DB.

Anyway, I know this is ambitiousa lot more ambitious than the condition grading scale, but what do you think?

Speaking of ambitious, I'll be looking into hotel conference rooms this week.

Hugh





ToyotaShopping - A sua Loja Toyota Online
http://www.toyota.pt



Re: [SWCollect] Rarity Scale

2004-01-28 Thread hughfalk
First of all, the acronym was basically a joke, but if it sticks, that’s cool with me. 
 Another reasonable option is to name it after whatever site is going to host the list 
(like the Mobyscale.)  But if we do go the acronym route:

- Imaginary is meant for games that are only rumored to exist.  For example, Mt. Drash 
before any of us had one.  Or the fabled green-box Ultima VII (I just made that one 
up).  Suspended is not Imaginary.

- Oddity is a bit of a stretch.  I don’t even know if it’s useful, but it could be 
used for bad production runs, etc.  Maybe it is a modifier.

- Unique means one of a kind.  This would apply to a master disk/cart or if there was 
only one known copy of a game in the world.  Lets avoid saying a game is “more unique” 
or some similar designation.

I, O  Unique would be very rarely used.  These would just be used to account for 
weird stuff out there.  99% of all games would be C, U or R.

I like “S” standing for “scale.”  Makes sense although CURIOUS Scale would be 
redundant as Dan points out.


One more note – this is a rarity scale.  It is not meant to imply value.  It is just 
meant to designate rarity.  Value and rarity do not necessarily go hand in hand.  Of 
course, one of the benefits of having a scale is that “worthless” games designated 
Rare might go up in value if the market grows and pays attention to the scale.  

Production numbers aren't needed, but could certainly be helpful if known.

Having this integrated into eBay would be awesome.  Of course, if it were going to 
happen it would likely be a feature for other (more popular) collectibles first – 
comics, baseball cards, etc.  If we have our act together, we could certainly apply 
the feature to games as well.  In the meantime, it would be great to see people on 
eBay regularly referencing the Mobyscale for condition and the CURIOUS Scale for 
rarity just in the text of the ad.

Hugh


-Original Message-
From: Dan Chisarick [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Jan 28, 2004 5:54 AM
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Re: [SWCollect] Rarity Scale

I love the idea.  While a clever acronym I'm not sure what is more rare 
than 'unique', let alone what word starts with 's' that embodies that.  
I'd suggest just letting 's' stand for 'scale'.  Of course then you run 
into usage like ATM Machine (where if you expand the acronym the 
sentence sounds silly).

As for rarity assessment wouldn't production numbers be needed?  I mean 
there are loads of worthless games out there that you never see on ebay 
because no one would buy them, not that they are uncommon.  Also the 
effect of one game selling well tends to 'scare' other copies up for 
auction.  Someone commented that its hard to find Black Magic, but I 
found it in the first 30 days of looking.  But its possible that if one 
or two of these sold that others may follow.

Still, I don't think that stops us from taking a swing at it.  Start 
with a list, and amend it over time.  Its bound to be a little off 
until it  gets some feedback into it.

I'd humbly suggest the original Akalabeth and Mt. Drash would be 
Oddity.  Stuff like Starcross and Suspended would probably be 
Imaginary.

What'd be *incredibly* cool would be to get the grading scale and the 
rarity scale integrated into ebay :)  They have drop-downs for lots of 
other things, why not this?


On Jan 27, 2004, at 11:44 PM, Hugh Falk wrote:

 Hey guys,

  

 This group has tackled the issue of a condition grading scale.  Does 
 anybody think it?s worth trying to put together a rarity scale?  You 
 know?to judge how common a game is.  I?d recommend we call is the 
 CURIOUS scale:

  

 Common

 Uncommon

 Rare

 Imaginary

 Oddity

 Unique

 Shameless placeholder to complete acronym

  

  

 Seriously, there are a few sites that do this specifically for 
 cartridge-based media, but wouldn?t it be nice to have one for our 
 hobby?  How would we judge rarity?  We could poll the list of 
 collectors for starters.  A place like Brad?s computer game collector 
 site (http://www.computergamecollector.com) would be ideal for 
 tracking this info if it was supported by most of us.  We could then 
 add more subjective info like the number of times a game was spotted 
 on eBay.  It would be great if we could actually track this as part of 
 the DB.

  

 Anyway, I know this is ambitious?a lot more ambitious than the 
 condition grading scale, but what do you think?

  

 Speaking of ambitious, I?ll be looking into hotel conference rooms 
 this week.

  

 Hugh



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Re: [SWCollect] Rarity Scale

2004-01-28 Thread Howard Feldman
Sounds cool.  I'd agree that TWO ratings might be better - one for 
'rarity' and one for 'value'.  The Giant list of Classic Game 
Programmers is a good source of game names and authors for starts. 
Digital Press publishes a rarity guide for video game cartidges (and 
some computer games), avaiable for $25.  Thus I imagine it would be 
something along these lines?

I agree the best way to start is we all make our own rarity lists and 
then we average the results or something.  It would also be important to 
distinguish between different versions of the same game, which may very 
greatly in value.  For example, Ultima II comes in a large box, a small 
sierra box, and a small Black on-line box.  Wizardry II comes in a flat 
folder package, and a shiny box like wizardry I.  Each of these has 
different rarities.  Even the rarity for different computers can vary 
although this is generally less important since most of us (?) do not 
collect the saem game for multiple computers unless there are other 
differences besides the floppy disk.

Common 

Uncommon 

Rare 

Imaginary 

Oddity 

Unique 

Shameless placeholder to complete acronym 
--

Howard Feldman
Author of the Search for Freedom Computer Role-Playing Game
Visit its homepage at:  http://deep.mshri.on.ca/people/feldman
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Re: [SWCollect] Rarity Scale

2004-01-28 Thread Lee K. Seitz
Dan Chisarick stated:

What'd be *incredibly* cool would be to get the grading scale and the
rarity scale integrated into ebay :)  They have drop-downs for lots of
other things, why not this?

Because everything would become Mint Shrinked and Unique. 8)

-- 
Lee K. Seitz
[EMAIL PROTECTED]

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Re: [SWCollect] Rarity Scale

2004-01-28 Thread Lee K. Seitz
Stephen Emond stated:

Rarity, value and desirability are all difficult things to measure with
any accuracy - especially when relying on eBay for information.

I'd consider desirability to be a very subjective thing.  Most of you
would love to have a MS Mt. Drash, but it wouldn't really do anything
for me.  (Please don't burn the heretic.)  Theoretically, value should
be equivalent to some equation combining rarity and demand.  The
problem, as you pointed out below, is demand/desirability fluctuates
as people come and go, lack or have extra funds, etc.

For rarity knowing production numbers WOULD be great, but finding the
original numbers would not be easy. It also wouldn't take into account
how many copies exist today.

Agreed.

Value is something that could be more accurately measured but it would
take a LOT of research. Values also have a way of hitting extreme highs
and lows based on how the auctions are advertised, who sees them, who
has the money at the time, etc, etc, etc.


With VGs (for the most
part) you only need to worry about the overall condition a minimal
amount of contents: Cart/CD, Manual, and Box.

True, but let me give you a bit of background.  I believe the first
video game rarity list was created by Craig VGR Pell for Atari
2600 games.  IIRC, the early drafts only had four or five ratings:

C = common
U = uncommon
R = rare
ER = extremely rare
NR = never released

ER is the one I forget if it was there at first.  Later, he added:

UR = unbelievably rare

which I believe he used primarily for games that only existed as
prototypes.  (It was between ER and NR.)

Obviously, there's a few problems with this; mainly too many Us and
Rs.  Other people started their own rarity lists for other systems
with slightly different variations (for example, futher breaking
things down to C- (really common), C, and C+ (common, but not as
common as just C), etc.), but most did something along these lines.

I don't have the earliest Digital Press Guides, but as some point they
decided to implement a numeric system from 1 (common as dirt*) to 10
(mind-bogglingly rare*).  Atari Age (www.atariage.com) followed suit,
although they and Digital Press often disagree about precisely what
numbers best describe some games.  Then DP realized that just because
a game is rare doesn't mean it's value is necessarily high, so they
added prices to their guide.  However, if a game is so rare that an
actual dollar figure is impossible to suggest, they simply use $$$.

* That's not what they actually call them, but that's the intent.

All these factors can make creating such a rarity / price guide
difficult - but not impossible. I'd say the best way to create such a
guide is to start with a database. Since everyone here has their own
particular interests (Ultima, Sierra, Infocom, etc.) we could all
contribute based on those interests. Useful fields could include:

- Game Title
- Platform / Format (5.25 / 3.5 / CD / etc)
- Version / Printing
- Completeness

This could be hard to arbitrarily and succinctly note.

- Overall Condition (to be useful this shouldn't be too obsessive - I
  suggest a simplistic Good / Fair / Poor system with perhaps a
  separate option for shrinkwrap)

I suggest using the abbreviated MobyScale form (e.g. Good/Fine).

- Auction # (reference only - to avoid information duplication)
- Auction Date (to see how many copies turn up monthly / yearly)
- Final Bid (obviously for determining value)
- # of *Unique* Bidders (not counting multiple bids by same bidder - to
  help measure desirability)

This is a good idea.  For a time, I created my own spreadsheets of
prices for Pac-Man Fever items and Rom action figures.  You can find
the summary of my findings at
http://home.hiwaay.net/~lkseitz/cvg/PacmanFever/ and
http://home.hiwaay.net/~lkseitz/comics/Rom/actionfig/where.shtml,
respectively.

The most difficult thing to determine from an eBay auction is
condition, particularly if there's no photo.  And given that not all
sellers are collectors, determining version, completeness, or sometimes
even platform might be difficult, especially if they don't answer
e-mail.  Keeping these lists up took a fair chunk of time, though,
which is why I eventually gave it up.

If there are any suggestions please add them. If there are volunteers to
actually manage such a database, good luck :)  I'd actually consider
starting a project like this but I'm already in the middle of two
massive collector's guides. A third would likely kill me.

Mind if I ask what kind of guides?

-- 
Lee K. Seitz
[EMAIL PROTECTED]

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Re: [SWCollect] Rarity Scale

2004-01-28 Thread Jim Leonard
Lee K. Seitz wrote:
Atari Age (www.atariage.com) followed suit,
although they and Digital Press often disagree about precisely what
numbers best describe some games.  
..and further complicating matters is that the guides are limited to 
their fields of expertise or opinions.  For example, I own 250+ 
Dreamcast games, and I can assure you that DP's Dreamcast section is all 
out of whack (same goes for the suggested dollar value).  I can only 
assume this because no single one of them is a DC fanatic or was very 
much into the DC scene.
--
Jim Leonard ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
World's largest electronic gaming project:http://www.MobyGames.com/
A delicious slice of the demoscene:http://www.MindCandyDVD.com/
Various oldskool PC rants and ramblings:   http://www.oldskool.org/

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Re: [SWCollect] Rarity Scale

2004-01-28 Thread Lee K. Seitz
Jim Leonard stated:

thing that it would be impossible to tackle it with any degree of 
accuracy.  For example, knowing production numbers isn't enough -- there 
are games that had extremely high production numbers that fetch high 
numbers on ebay; by the same token, there are games that had very low 
production runs (1 or less) that are not in demand and sell for 
prices in the single digits.  So it is my personal opinion that any sort 
of rarity scale would have no common frame of reference or definition.

Jim, I think you're mentally associating terms that don't necessarily
go together.  I see a similar problem in the MobyScale FAQ, now that I
look at it:

   Rare isn't an indication of condition; it's an indication of value. 

This is incorrect.  Rare is an indication of how easy or hard it is
to find an item.  Rarity and demand combine to create the game's
value.  As I believe you yourself have said previously on this list, a
game can be extremely rare, but if no one's interested in it, the
price (value) remans low.

If one could attain omniscience, one could instantly assign a rarity
to any computer game given an agreed upon scale.  (Agreeing on the
scale is a whole other matter.)  It would only change when sufficient
copies of the game were destroyed to knock it up to the next level.

Given our limitations, though, we can only make educated guesses for
rarity.  There would be regional differences, but those would
theoretically even out (I think).  Also, if a large stash of a
particular game were found, the rarity might go down.

A rarity list is certainly possible, however it would take a lot of
work by a dedicated group of collectors over a long period of time.

-- 
Lee K. Seitz
[EMAIL PROTECTED]

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Re: [SWCollect] Rarity Scale

2004-01-28 Thread Jim Leonard
Lee K. Seitz wrote:
   Rare isn't an indication of condition; it's an indication of value. 
You are right!  I have corrected that in the MobyScale right now.  The 
new entry reads:

Q: Why isn't Rare on the grading scale?br
A: Rare isn't an indication of condition; it's an indication of 
availability.

Thanks for catching that.
--
Jim Leonard ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
World's largest electronic gaming project:http://www.MobyGames.com/
A delicious slice of the demoscene:http://www.MindCandyDVD.com/
Various oldskool PC rants and ramblings:   http://www.oldskool.org/
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Re: [SWCollect] Rarity Scale

2004-01-28 Thread Edward Franks
On Jan 28, 2004, at 2:47 PM, Jim Leonard wrote:
[Snip]
When I tackled the grading scale along with Chris, Hugh, Tom, et al, 
it was because we were all using *different* terms for the *same* 
things. It was an effort to define logical/sane grades, what made 
something fall into each grade, and assign them terms that were 
consistent.  All of those elements were never under debate; only their 
terms (and how to arrange them) were.  But a rarity scale would be 
constantly debated: Are production run numbers the only factor to 
consider?  Or is it the demand for that item compared to its 
availability?  If the latter, how can you determine demand and 
availability accurately enough for an official rarity list?  (hint: 
you can't)
	Even worse is that production numbers are really being used as a rough 
indicator of surviving copies.  _That's_ the number you need and the 
one you'll never really know.

--

Edward Franks

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Re: [SWCollect] Rarity Scale

2004-01-28 Thread Dan Chisarick
Ultima II is also in the Ultima Trilogy :)  Distinct from the others 
because the splash screen says Origin and not Sierra.



On Jan 28, 2004, at 1:18 PM, Howard Feldman wrote:

Sounds cool.  I'd agree that TWO ratings might be better - one for 
'rarity' and one for 'value'.  The Giant list of Classic Game 
Programmers is a good source of game names and authors for starts. 
Digital Press publishes a rarity guide for video game cartidges (and 
some computer games), avaiable for $25.  Thus I imagine it would be 
something along these lines?

I agree the best way to start is we all make our own rarity lists and 
then we average the results or something.  It would also be important 
to distinguish between different versions of the same game, which may 
very greatly in value.  For example, Ultima II comes in a large box, a 
small sierra box, and a small Black on-line box.  Wizardry II comes in 
a flat folder package, and a shiny box like wizardry I.  Each of these 
has different rarities.  Even the rarity for different computers can 
vary although this is generally less important since most of us (?) do 
not collect the saem game for multiple computers unless there are 
other differences besides the floppy disk.

Common
Uncommon
Rare
Imaginary
Oddity
Unique
Shameless placeholder to complete acronym
--

Howard Feldman
Author of the Search for Freedom Computer Role-Playing Game
Visit its homepage at:  http://deep.mshri.on.ca/people/feldman
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Re: [SWCollect] Rarity Scale

2004-01-28 Thread Marco Thorek
Pedro Quaresma schrieb:
 
 I like the idea! S could also stand for Super-Unique, Special or even
 Super-Duper! ;)

Oh silly me! I just now understood what Hugh meant with completing the
acronym slaps head

Marco

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Re: [SWCollect] Rarity Scale

2004-01-28 Thread Marco Thorek
[EMAIL PROTECTED] schrieb:
 
 That's the spirit, C.E.!
 
 I think we could at least start a running list and watch it grow over
 time.  It has to start somewhere.  I'll host it on GOTCHA unless
 somebody has a better suggestion.  I can start with about 100 games
 I've searched for regularly on Ebay over the years.  I have a pretty
 good feel for them in terms of availability.
 
 You guys could then go through and make comments where you think
 they're wrong.  I've seen 50 of those on eBay in the last
 year...that's not rare.  You can also grow the list with your own
 personal searches and experience.

Do you think about using a CGI script?

 I'd like to base the CURIOUS Scale solely on a game's availability on
 on-line auctions.  This represents the general availability to the
 buying public and is as good an indicator as I can think of.  It would
 work like this:
 
 In the last 2 years, a complete (VG/VG or better) version of this game
 has appeared on an on-line auction approximately:
 
 20 times or less = Rare
 21 - 80 times = Uncommon
 More than 80 = Common

You could put condition into the formula as a modifier. 

 Imaginary, Unique and Oddity would have to be determined by the group.

Hm, 

Imaginary - Not even a single appearance
Unique - 5 times or less
Oddity - Any game that was not a regular publication

You could combine Oddity and the other gradings.

 Obviously this is based on complete speculation, but who would be
 better to speculate on it than us?  Honestly, I think auction
 availability is a better indicator of availability than just about
 anything else (including production runs).  Since it is an indicator
 of how many are for sale on the open market.  Sure there may be a box
 of Drash's in a warehouse somewhere, but how many of us will ever have
 a chance to buy them?  We won't...unless they show up on eBay.

Well, any grading will always be subjective. We as individuals choose
certain factors in our grading and collectively we can arrive at a
common denominator that represents us as a group. Others might choose
other factors.

Marco

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Re: [SWCollect] Rarity Scale

2004-01-28 Thread Marco Thorek
 Stephen Emond schrieb:
 
 For rarity knowing production numbers WOULD be great, but finding the
 original numbers would not be easy. It also wouldn't take into account
 how many copies exist today. It's hard to even imagine, but there are
 people out there who just toss old games in the dumpster - who would
 want a 25 year old game??? (Ok, you can put your hands down now...)

As others mentioned, I don't think production numbers are that much
important. What matters is what turns up on ebay, the one place
accessible to all of us. They are probably thousands of Ataris E.T.
catridges still buried in some desert in New Mexico, but they will never
turn up on ebay - still you got a pretty high production number for that
cartridge.

If we include production numbers into a formula, we'd have to include
many factors we can't determine: production number total, percentage of
said production destroyed due to being not sold, sold but destroyed by
owner, etc.

Marco

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Re: [SWCollect] Rarity Scale

2004-01-28 Thread hughfalk
If anyone can write an app to poll eBay for a given list of games and track the 
numbers, our job is done.  This whole scale can be automated.  Game rankings can 
change in real-time based on actual eBay data.

Hugh

-Original Message-
From: Marco Thorek [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Jan 28, 2004 9:39 PM
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Re: [SWCollect] Rarity Scale

[EMAIL PROTECTED] schrieb:
 
 That's the spirit, C.E.!
 
 I think we could at least start a running list and watch it grow over
 time.  It has to start somewhere.  I'll host it on GOTCHA unless
 somebody has a better suggestion.  I can start with about 100 games
 I've searched for regularly on Ebay over the years.  I have a pretty
 good feel for them in terms of availability.
 
 You guys could then go through and make comments where you think
 they're wrong.  I've seen 50 of those on eBay in the last
 year...that's not rare.  You can also grow the list with your own
 personal searches and experience.

Do you think about using a CGI script?

 I'd like to base the CURIOUS Scale solely on a game's availability on
 on-line auctions.  This represents the general availability to the
 buying public and is as good an indicator as I can think of.  It would
 work like this:
 
 In the last 2 years, a complete (VG/VG or better) version of this game
 has appeared on an on-line auction approximately:
 
 20 times or less = Rare
 21 - 80 times = Uncommon
 More than 80 = Common

You could put condition into the formula as a modifier. 

 Imaginary, Unique and Oddity would have to be determined by the group.

Hm, 

Imaginary - Not even a single appearance
Unique - 5 times or less
Oddity - Any game that was not a regular publication

You could combine Oddity and the other gradings.

 Obviously this is based on complete speculation, but who would be
 better to speculate on it than us?  Honestly, I think auction
 availability is a better indicator of availability than just about
 anything else (including production runs).  Since it is an indicator
 of how many are for sale on the open market.  Sure there may be a box
 of Drash's in a warehouse somewhere, but how many of us will ever have
 a chance to buy them?  We won't...unless they show up on eBay.

Well, any grading will always be subjective. We as individuals choose
certain factors in our grading and collectively we can arrive at a
common denominator that represents us as a group. Others might choose
other factors.

Marco

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[SWCollect] Rarity Scale

2004-01-27 Thread Hugh Falk








Hey guys,



This group has tackled the issue of a condition grading
scale. Does anybody think its worth trying to put together a
rarity scale? You knowto judge how common a game is. Id
recommend we call is the CURIOUS scale:



Common

Uncommon

Rare

Imaginary

Oddity

Unique

Shameless placeholder to complete acronym





Seriously, there are a few sites that do this specifically
for cartridge-based media, but wouldnt it be nice to have one for our
hobby? How would we judge rarity? We could poll the list of
collectors for starters. A place like Brads computer game
collector site (http://www.computergamecollector.com)
would be ideal for tracking this info if it was supported by most of us.
We could then add more subjective info like the number of times a game was
spotted on eBay. It would be great if we could actually track this as
part of the DB.



Anyway, I know this is ambitiousa lot more ambitious
than the condition grading scale, but what do you think?



Speaking of ambitious, Ill be looking into hotel
conference rooms this week.



Hugh








Re: [SWCollect] Rarity Scale

2004-01-27 Thread Marco Thorek
 Hugh Falk schrieb:
 
 Common
 
 Uncommon
 
 Rare
 
 Imaginary
 
 Oddity
 
 Unique
 
 Shameless placeholder to complete acronym

Better to have than having sex? ;-)

 Anyway, I know this is ambitious…a lot more ambitious than the
 condition grading scale, but what do you think?

Seriously, I think it's a pretty neat idea. Every member of this list
could jude it on personal experience and you could calculate the mean
and the median. 

Marco

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