I can't help but continue to watch auctions

[Gelert]

I still love the old boxed games and I'm always keeping one eye open to add to my dust-gathered collection. A few still elusive. I spend very little nowadays, though. I'm a good Gelert.

This finished today. I watched it purely to see where it would end up. I have it, but unsure whether mine is English, like this seems to be.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Mortville-Ma ... true&rt=nc

Mortville Manor

[middletoe]

I do the same thing.
I like hard copy, being able to hold the game in my hands. But it isn't just that.
If I don't have hard copy, I lose the games.
Did I buy such and such game at GOG?
At ShinyLoot?
At Humble?
At AG store back when it existed?
At Fireflower?
At Shadow Tor?
At the now-defunct version of DosEMU from 2011 (back when they looked like they might become an alternative to GOG for certain adventure games GOG turned up their nose at?
And if I have the game from more than one place, which version worked best?

Having hard copy means you can collect everything to do with the game in one box/case.
No "one DVD of the game is over here, one over there, one in the box in the basement."

[LadyKestrel]

Back in 2006, I once paid $90 (including shipping) at an eBay auction for Puppet Motel. I now own 3 more copies, which came in one of the boxes Jen sent me when she was clearing out her old games. In my defense, I grabbed any Mac game that came into view because they were hard find. However, that auction price is out of my league.

[Kickaha]

Thanks Gelert! Assuming the winning bid was genuine I am more than surprised at the amount. Each to their own!

[Ghostlady]

I would not spend that much on a game, no matter how bad I wanted it. Wow.

[middletoe]

I wouldn't spend that much on that particular game.
But for people who have a lot of money, even that much may not be that expensive.

[Ghostlady]

My greatest feat is buying Cassandra Galleries off EBAY for $20, at a time it was always selling around $50, and selling it on EBAY for $100.

[Gelert]

I don't remember exactly, but I think the most I've ever was £70 (British pounds), for Alice An Interactive Museum. I don't regret that one.

The next most expensive was, I think, in my very early days of collectomania, when I paid £50 for a new (in shop), Riven for Playstation 1.

For the remainder, I've either traded games or paid up to £30, but mostly far less. Perhaps I'm forgetting a couple that were pricy, but very few.

I do love the boxed games with feelies and paperwork though. The artwork was amazing on so many. Love, care and attention to details.

One of my favourite boxes is Heart Of China, but many others as well that slip my mind.

I'm always on the lookout for digital games that get picked up by independent boxed version publishers, such as Indiebox.

Also, I try my best to watch for small independent developers who produce their own disc versions.

Games like Harvest, Scavenger Hunter, Lunar Deep, The Arangement, Bad Milk, The Adventures Of Fatman, Future Boy, Funny Pizza Land, Final Destination, Cracking The Conspiracy, Acalius, 1893: A World's Fair Mystery, Lifestream, Agapito (originally shareware), Ghostlady's lovely games, Starlite's too, as well as Escape From Delirium (unsure whether it was boxed), Gilbert And The Chemystical Island and Zonen (Force Majeure) come to mind. But many more.

Not all are good, but all worth a look because some were made by passion-filled hard-up developers. Some are strange worlds of weirdness, the products of an over-imaginative developer's mind; Not always worth playing. Some are excellent though. Lifestream, for example. The same goes for DVD-case games over the years. In the absence of old-fashioned boxes. Games like Thimbleweed Park and The Stanley Parable, in large-ish boxes are a lovely reminisce back to olden times.

I've played a fair number over the years, but actually missed some classics, which I must play someday. The Dig is one! :\

I suppose the truth is, if I played downloadable games as well, I'd never play the ones I accumulated in my collectomanic years. Although, I always watch to see if games I DO fancy playing, like What Remains Of Edith Finch? ever emerge as hard-copy versions. I know I miss many contemporary digital-only classics; But, my lifespan is finite!

Anyway, I talk too much, once I get started. I do intend returning to playing as soon as I can. Babysitting duties permitting.

[skeeter]

My poor games are sitting in two giant boxes in my shed. If I want to play one I get it online, as it's too much hassle finding it, and often they are diffcult to run. I really need to get rid of some, but I figure none of them are collectible, so noone will want them.

[Gelert]

I loaded up Black Mirror last night, as I fancied playing it again. Of course, dreaded Starforce prevented it running on Windows 10 (not using the noCD download). So back out with my old Windows 98SE PC it was. It loaded and played like a dream. I loved Win98SE.

[Ghostlady]

I agree. I never had a problem playing games on the Win98SE. I'll be pulling mine out soon for some of my older games I want to play.

[LadyKestrel]

Many of the boxed games I bought when I first started playing in 1998-99 are collapsed into folders in my game file cabinet because I just didn't have room for them then. When my late husband build a big wall unit for our record collection and music CDs and tapes, I used the upper 2 shelves for boxed games and those on DVDs. (My jewel case games are in a 12-drawer apothecary-type unit.) However, because books take up so much room in this house, I now have books up there and my boxed games are hiding in a cabinet. I must admit that the books have a neater appearance there, but I do miss looking at my hodge-podge collection of boxes.

Keeping old computers around is a must for using many older discs. Right now I'm playing Lighthouse on my little iBook with OS 9.1 installed. I do use ScummVM on my newer iMac whenever possible, but sometimes it's nice to have an alternative.

[Gelert]

Have you always played mainly Mac games LadyK?

I agree. Books look tidier. But my games on shelves are fun to look at and reminisce. I've never put them in alphabetical, or game developer/publisher, order. It's more enjoyable 'hunting'. Although, sometimes a pain in the bum. Haha!

[LadyKestrel]

Yes, I'm a diehard Mac user, Gelert. Fortunately, many more games are being ported to Macs, and there are still old DOS games that I own but haven't yet played. Those that don't work in Scumm will work in Boxer, which is DOS Box for Macs.

[Gelert]

Aaaah! I always wondered whether there were some you just couldn't play. I understand now.