Collecting old computer games
 

I've found that I've built up a substantial collection of old games - stuff I played back in 1995, 1990, 1985, even before then, on a wide variety of systems (the Commodore 64, the Tandy Color Computer, etc.) Oddly, I don't find myself playing these games any more - I just take some weird geek pleasure in knowing that Zork III and Warcraft 1 are tucked away on my hard drive, if I should ever get the urge to play it.

I've also found that my habit goes beyond this - I find myself collecting games I never actually played, but I was told that they're good games. Populous, for example, or X-Com, or Neuromancer. Just knowing that they're supposed to be good makes me want to keep them on hand.

But it gets <i>even worse</i> - I find myself collecting junk games that were <i>notoriously</i> bad, and that I never played, but that bring back memories. Stuff like Heroes of the Lance, or Battlecruiser 3000 A.D., or :shudder: SimEarth.

Am I the only d0rk on the planet who does something like this?

- David Stein

I NEVER threw out game boxes/cds/floppies, I've still got my original Prince of Persia box w/ 5.5in Floppies. Unfortunately, I believe my old C64 collection has long since dissapeared.

birrman54

To clarify: I meant collecting the data, not necessarily the original materials. I <i>do</i> still have my old Commodore 64 collection - including Ultima games, complete with the dinky cloth maps/napkins :lol: - but that stuff is squirreled away in an attic somewhere, and it's likely that the disks have all succumbed to bit rot.

But I maintain a lively and thriving digital archive of all of this stuff, and that's really what matters to me. I've even got it backed up onto two different hard drives. I think it's partly a consequence of having absurd amounts of free disk space... your mind just starts thinking, "Now how could I fill this up?..."

- David Stein