What causes Folks to 'Leave' the hobby?

Phetishboy

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I guess for me, I have always loved arcade machines and pinballs, and always will. I collect, buy, sell, restore, play and stare at them in awe. There has been a recent trend of mass exodus lately. What gives? It seems like a lot of dudes who dedicated whole buildings or at least large rooms to these machines are the first to go. Folks like:


BrentRadio
Steve 23
Peter Hirschburg
GorfChampion
Chris25810 (talks about selling and leaving the hobby daily)


Just to name a few. Now I know Hirschburg had a death in the family(friend's son) and has recently had some health issues. I guess he has never officially said he is 'getting out' but I have heard a few folks mention that that might be a possibility. I also heard GorfChampion is cutting his collection down, but not totally leaving. I guess it just kinda makes me sad that collecting seemed to be a temporary phase for so many. I get a bit overwhelmed with projects, but I have never once considered selling them and 'getting out.' What the hell is going on? Anyone else notice this trend, or is it just me?
 
I think some people fail to pace themselves and get burned out.

There are other people who it is more about the chase than the catch and once they have everything they want they lose interest.

I also know people who always chase trends. The idea of collecting these machines was cool at first but the actuality of it was not as fulfilling as they had hoped.
 
I believe there becomes a realization that you have too many pieces of equipment for no good reason except a collection that you will never truly be happy with for very long.

At my largest, I had a hundred-odd pieces on the road and 8-16 at home.

I now have 5 pins and 8 uprights and that's all I need. I change a title here and there but I don't go overboard. "Everything in moderation" will keep you from going bonkers.
 
I think it will be a sad day when my kids get to that age where they may not see the arcade games as quite as magical anymore. I will still enjoy playing them obviously, but when that day comes, I'll have to return to me being the only person in our home who gets so excited about seeing them power up.

I hope that day never comes..
 
I believe there becomes a realization that you have too many pieces of equipment for no good reason except a collection that you will never truly be happy with for very long.

At my largest, I had a hundred-odd pieces on the road and 8-16 at home.

I now have 5 pins and 8 uprights and that's all I need. I change a title here and there but I don't go overboard. "Everything in moderation" will keep you from going bonkers.

Good to see you out of witness protection, brother Gary.. :)
 
I believe there becomes a realization that you have too many pieces of equipment for no good reason except a collection that you will never truly be happy with for very long.

At my largest, I had a hundred-odd pieces on the road and 8-16 at home.

I now have 5 pins and 8 uprights and that's all I need. I change a title here and there but I don't go overboard. "Everything in moderation" will keep you from going bonkers.

I hear you sir. I still have no idea how someone can be going full tilt one week, then decide it's not for them the next. When I hear, "I lost my job and am selling my collection to help with bills", or "I have medical bills and am selling my collection to help pay for them" I always wonder, how much are you really going to get for them, and how long the money going to last? It's hard enough trying to sell one machine, much less 10-12 at a time. I guess I feel that getting $275 for that Outrun, or $350 for that Galaga really isn't going to help much with a $2000 mortgage payment, or a $10,000 doctor's bill. Know what I'm saying? It's not like your video game collection is going to become a 10 year cash cow that never stops giving.
 
I still have no idea how someone can be going full tilt one week, then decide it's not for them the next. When I hear, "I lost my job and am selling my collection to help with bills", or "I have medical bills and am selling my collection to help pay for them" I always wonder, how much are you really going to get for them, and how long the money going to last? It's hard enough trying to sell one machine, much less 10-12 at a time. I guess I feel that getting $275 for that Outrun, or $350 for that Galaga really isn't going to help much with a $2000 mortgage payment, or a $10,000 doctor's bill. Know what I'm saying? It's not like your video game collection is going to become a 10 year cash cow that never stops giving.

I can comment on this because I've lived it, and done so recently. When I lost my job in March of '08, and picked up my current job in Sept of that year, I had to take a 30% pay cut. Yeah, the funds may not cover a full mortgage payment, but when you know that utility bill is coming up very soon, or a car payment, or hell even the trip to the grocery store, you know the little bit of cash you get for that game is going to be badly needed until things balance out. It's now 2010, and my wife and I are just finally starting to see the waters calm a little bit. But it took that long for it to happen.
 
"You can check out any time you like..." ;)







"But you can never leave."
 
Phet,
for me it was the divorce that sent me running at first. I had a great collection of 12 games then sold all of them except one to pay for mutual debt. I then moved into a two bedroom apt and slowly started gaining back a few here and there. Money of course is way tight and so now i live in a one bedroom apt with 6 games total. I rarely post here but I do lurk and read and see whats going on. I have though several times about just selling everything off and waiting till later for more money and stable life but if we all waited for things to happen we'd miss it all. So I shall keep what I have, work towards a better situation and move hopefully soon and start to build on what I have. I'll never get out of the hobby per say but am scaled back and hunting where no one can see me...
 
Phet,
for me it was the divorce that sent me running at first. I had a great collection of 12 games then sold all of them except one to pay for mutual debt. I then moved into a two bedroom apt and slowly started gaining back a few here and there. Money of course is way tight and so now i live in a one bedroom apt with 6 games total. I rarely post here but I do lurk and read and see whats going on. I have though several times about just selling everything off and waiting till later for more money and stable life but if we all waited for things to happen we'd miss it all. So I shall keep what I have, work towards a better situation and move hopefully soon and start to build on what I have. I'll never get out of the hobby per say but am scaled back and hunting where no one can see me...

Yeah, I guess I forgot about the divorce thing, which strangely has happened to at least 6 members since I've been here. Good to here from you Jake. There have also been 3 deaths that I can recall. Both of those scenarios are understandable.
 
Correct me if I'm way off base here but, I would guess that most collectors don't have a large group of friends who stop by and play their games on a regular basis. So for most of us we more or less collect the games to play them ourselves. I find that most folks don't regularly play their games. Even those who only own 5-10. So when folks start to own 30, 60, 100 games, it's bound to get to a point where most of the games don't get played. THey take up a bit of space, and they would bring in some cash that could be spent on something else if they were sold. So I can see where folks get burnned out and want to slim down their collections to just the few games they played the most. I can see how it would be appealing to just have a few games that were all in working order and you didn't have to constantly repair. If you weren't searching for parts or to buy any games, then I could also see how many folks wouldn't have much need or desire to post on a forum like this any more. Personnally I don't ever plan on getting out of the hobby but I can understand why some others do. Of course in the end the hobby is what you make of it. There are more ways to participate in this hobby than just buying and playing these games.
 
I guess as long as I have the job I have now, I will always be "in" the hobby. Even were I to sell off all the projects and spare parts, I'd still keep games personally. It would take something catastrophic personally or financially for me to get rid of EVERYTHING, although I would most likely begin again once things got back to normal....
 
Another deal breaker would be the collectors who are not technicians. They are losing money.

I usually try to buy broken games that will be worth more when I go to sell them, hence a self-sustaining hobby that makes me proud, rather than an endless money pit.

And yes, p1899m hit another nail on the head. FRIENDS.
If you got games, you best be having friends over to challenge.
 
I have seen something of what your talking about. Although not necessarily people that had a large number of games. When I used to visit the RGVAC news groups years ago I remember seeing a guy named Zinfer who set up an entire website and all kinds of info on restoring games only to just dissapear. Clay Cowgill as everyone know built many multi-kits and even had/has his own arcade in Seattle seems to have dissapeared except for his once a month post in the vector list. The most notable thing to me is how so many websites that used to be around seem to have vanished. Some that are still up have last updated dates of 2002.

Luke
 
This all innocently started with the wife saying"It might be kinda fun to have a Donkey Kong machine". 7 years later and the train has been running off the track for way too long. For me it's as simple as needing to re-focus, get back to homebuilding as my main job and let the arcade business side of things go away. It's been a great source of income for 2 1/2 years solid which also allowed me to spend crazy money on machine purchases/restorations and bank the rest to finish off the remaining projects i have. Most of all, i'd really like to walk out in the garage knowing i have nothing but one machine to work on, that's how it started and that's what i want to go back to.

I've said this a million times before that this hobby is expensive. The economy blows and though you may pick up a game on the cheap, it's still gonna cost hundreds to make it look nice and function well. Anybody can have a room full of $50 games but where you go from there is all about how much you wanna spend and right now, too many people have no money or worse.
 
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I think lots of factors go into people getting in and out of the hobby.

One of the first factors is money. I think there were a lot more involved in the hobby in early part of decade because games would sell for such lucrative amounts...I think as the money dried up those people got out...

With those people leaving that brought in others who could afford to pick up some games cheap and realistically have a nice collection without breaking the bank.

I think some people are just wired differently when it comes to hobbies..some peope move from hobby to hobby as they get bored and others will stick with certain hobbies..even if you get tired sometimes..

Sometimes I don't touch a game for weeks..and other times I'm working on them everyday when I can....

Factor in personal factors like divorce, death, and health issues and you have a pretty good idea of what is going on.

The other thing is I do think some people become compulsive buyers and that can cause more stress than actual enjoyment of the hobby when you have games sitting all over your house...I know..I've been there...you just have to find a way to curb your enthusiasm and remember why you got into hobby....to have fun..not stress about the room you lost..:D

My solution...build a building specifically for games...right or wrong..I can't wait because the ultimate in this hobby for me is to share your finds and hard built collection with others who can appreciate it...
 
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