>So I'm actually not surprised that anyone who "collects"
>anything has a slight bit of a neurological disorder.
It would explain a lot of odd, quirkish behavior. And I myself am mildly
obsessive-compulsive in other areas of my life besides collecting.
>I purchase 2 of everything: 1 to appreciate, and the other to crack the
>shrinkwrap on.
I'm this way with my Infocoms (you just have to be able to get at the
props), but I've got to know: If you get a shrinked copy BEFORE you get an
opened copy, do you personally (1) break the wrap first and risk not being
able to appreciate another wrapped copy for a long long time, or (2) hang
onto the wrapped copy until you find another wrapped copy or one that's
already been opened, and take the chance that the disk media will go bad
while you're waiting? Jim, from what you write after this statement it
sounds like you're definitely in the first category... How about everyone
else?
>(!!!) Yes, I break original shrinkwrap so that I can
>release the game to the public domain if nobody else has. Why do you
>think the hardcore oldwarez community is so eager to get their hands on
>Chris' copy of Cyborg? Because it may very well be the last copy that
>exists, and we want to copy the disk before it goes bad and fades away.
This raises an interesting dilemma, and the main reason I continually refuse
to open it: Suppose I did break the wrap, I went to copy the disk... and
it's already bad? The retrogamers are upset because they won't be able to
play it after all. I'm out my shrinkwrapped package with absolutely nothing
to show for it. But there's no way to tell that until I do crack it.
Classic "Schroedinger's Cat". I don't gamble with my collection.
(I've dealt with my other reasons in Shoppe columns enough times that I
won't bore you reciting them again here.)
>Sadly for us -- and detailed in an old conversation that you can look at
>in the archives -- Chris and many other collectors place much less value
>on the diskette than the entire package.
I've thought about this one for a long time, and yes, the software is
definitely worth less to me than the package. Why? Because the package is
PHYSICAL. Only a certain number of game packages were ever produced. Once
all the others have been lost or thrown out, that's it. Mine is the only
one left, and there will never be any more. But software does not exist in
any physical sense. One very last copy easily becomes 8 million copies. So
it's far easier to obtain and thus of far less value to someone who prizes
rarity.
>Me personally, if I crack open
>a rare game only to find that the disk is bad, the entire thing is
>nearly worthless for me.
Exactly. So why take the chance? (BTW, if you ever open any rare adventure
games that turn out to have bad disks, I'll cut you a good deal on those
"nearly worthless" items. B-)
>What good is a game that you CAN'T PLAY? :-)
Like you said, for admiring. (Otherwise why keep shrinkwraps at all?) And
it's an excellent catalyst for long theoretical discussions like this one.
B-)
The thing is (using Cyborg as an example), you CAN play it... provided
you're willing to expend a little extra effort and download an Apple II
emulator and the disk image. This exists on the web, I've seen it. The
problem I've run into is that there are so many picky-shit players out there
who absolutely MUST play the PC version, nothing else will do. "They don't
have pepperoni pizza, only sausage, so I guess I'll just go hungry." It's a
little hard to feel sorry for people like that.
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