Feldhamer, Stuart wrote: ******************************************************************** Actually, I had dinner with a friend recently...we used to play games together in high school such as Pool of Radiance, Lurking Horror, etc. (I know I'm dating myself). He said to me, "Stuart, those games were awesome, but I don't get it...why would you want to collect the boxes??? I can understand keeping the code, but why the boxes?" I said something like, "Well, remember those Infocom games with all the props, blah blah blah..." but he didn't get it. It made me feel sort of weird since he still remembered those days fondly but still couldn't understand the collecting. *********************************************************************
Stuart and I have already discussed this personally (and YOU would have TOO, if you had been to Philly Classic, you HEATHENS!) :) I agree with Jim in the fact that I get a feeling of rememberance and accomplishment from having my old games, but it personally goes much deeper than that for me... In our generation, we didn't have many 'famous firsts' in regard to collecting--Baseball card collecting was well established, with stamps being 'old hat'. Comic books and Star Wars cards were something that *everybody* was doing. I believe that computer game collectors are a different breed. We were just a touch 'outside the norm' when we were teens, with D&D and computer games preferred over football or 'Top 40'.......or perhaps I'm generalizing--tell me if you disagree (I'm SURE you all will!) :) In the preservation of classic computer games, WE are the pioneers, gentlemen. I take a lot of pride in that. Also, collecting for me is a way to preserve not just MY past, but the past of the games themselves! This industry is changing faster than any of us can upgrade--we've all been witness to these changes...can anyone else follow this entire timeline? (backwards from the present...) *loss of hard copy manuals *changes in box sizes *loss of CD cases *loss of story line *Change from 3.5 to CD-ROM *Single 3.5 disks *The 'Platform Wars' *Individual developers for full games *3.5 replacing 5.25 *EGA *monochrome (do I need to continue?????) What I'm trying to say is, that this time in our history is VERY important, and will all but disappear if we don't preserve it. Consoles will always have a collectors base, but that's because noone throws away atari carts--they just get passed on forever! :) I am also a student of old recordings. I can find old Edison phonograph recordings on the internet today--they're interesting to listen to, BUT: being able to actually remove a wax cylinder from it's cardboard case...smell the oil in the mechanics of the phonograph...adjust the huge flowered horn...turn the spring-powered crank...hear the scratchiness FIRST HAND....all of this turns it from an interesting exercise, to an all-out EXPERIENCE of what the dawn of sound recording ACTUALLY WAS! I could go on, but suffice it to say that I feel the same way about game collecting. Like Hugh Falk said to me one time,"..it's more than just cardboard and floppy disks..." collecting these games to me helps me to re-live my experiences, and preserve those same experiences for the future. The programmers and designers during the 'Golden Age of Computer Gaming' looked at their craft more as an art form--not a way to get rich. They cared about quality. The extras in the box were there to draw you into the story line--to pull you into the monitor--to give you not just a game, but an experience! So translate your cloth map, try on the mask, hold the ankh in your hands, put the saucer on your head, read the book of history... (no, really--read the Book of History!)--and experience the game...not just play it. "Preserving Worlds..." Joe Garrity Curator of The Origin Museum --------------------------------------------------------------------- Express yourself with a super cool email address from BigMailBox.com. Hundreds of choices. It's free! http://www.bigmailbox.com ---------------------------------------------------------------------
