I usually only buy Collector's and other unique editions of games I'm interested in, usually because they come with some pretty neat physical items.
The Prestige editions of the Call of Duty games after Modern Warfare 2 always come with neat items (Quadrotor, RC-XD, Night-Vision goggles). The Helghast edition of Killzone 3 came with a helmet & a Helghast scout figurine.
Some super expensive and hard to find collector's editions of games are definitley the Blizzard ones. I think I saw a guy selling WoW vanilla - cataclysm collector's editions in mint on eBay for over $3000.

So the point I'm trying to clumsily make is just start buying the unique/ collector's editions of games you like. Then I'd say expand to the unique editions of popular titles (e.g. snap up Blizzard ones pronto).

I buy copies of older games and collect em. Older is better :)

I was a big collector until last year sometime. Had a ton of big boxes and bought every collector's edition possible. Then I suddenly realized it was all fucking stupid and rooted in a consumer addiction bordering on depression and I stopped. Sold all my boxes, went fully digital, am happy as hell.

I collect old big boxed PC games. I`ve got a pretty big collection, but it has grown even bigger after getting a steady job. However I have bought 99% of what I want. Missing Fallout 2 big box. Those are bloody expensive. I love these big boxes with (mostly) big manuals. It`s like travelling back in time. I have the original box of Master of Orion 2 and Master of Magic for instance. Bought MoO2 for Christmas back in 1996. Little did I know then that 16 years later I would still play it. Same with MoM.

That's sort of like me, I used to obsessively keep my boxes until I ran out of room. Then I realized that the discs and manuals were what I really needed and got rid of the boxes. I just wish that I would have known how valuable some of those boxes have become before I got rid of them.

But yeah, physical stuff is great if you're rich enough to own a home or you don't do much traveling. But I do so much traveling now that I'll pirate before I buy a physical copy if there isn't a digital only version available. And even at home, I don't have much space for things that really do need to be physical.

Well I know there are quite a lot of people who build some sort of complete collection (probably impossible on the PC but doable on consoles like Dreamcast, Jaguar etc.). This being regardless of the quality of single games. I would stick to games that are either interesting to myself or atleast considered good by a large portion of the player base. Or you could try to complete a certain publishers/developers portfolio, certain genres like point and click adventures or hunt for special collector editions of games.

Collecting retro stuff has some special problems associated with it so if you are into that rather than getting more recent games it's probably going to cost more and be more time intensive. Expected lifetime of retro floppy disks and tapes has already been exceeded by a couple of years now and more and more disks become defective. On the other hand, if you want to follow that road it's probably better to start sooner than later because this situation isn't going to improve. Less problems with module/cartridge based retro consoles but you still have the occasional save battery leak/exchange problem, the consoles itself will experience bursted caps and getting TVs which still can operate those old consoles 100% fine are getting rare, too. Lifetime on modules/cartridges is better than with disks but still limited.

Well, I started playing with Duke Nukem 3D, so I have a ton of stuff from back then, What have I got, well too numerous to mention I guess, I have System Shock 2 which seems probably like a collectors item from the way people here, react at the mention of the game, but I have even games like Daikatana, Devil Inside, Ultima Ascension etc. so there is a lot of different quality titles in my collection. I even have the boxes lol, I miss those most of all, taking a crap has never been the same since DVD cases became the norm.

I still have PS1, PS2, N64, Dreamcast, Gamecube and black xbox, all working, plus a lot of games for them.

As regards "getting into" collecting games, make sure you have a PC that will play them, so older games will not work past XP, Nocturne springs to mind.

That sucks about Nocturne. I literally encountered this game for the first time a few hours ago and it looks awesome so I was on the hunt for it today.

If "collecting" means getting big box editions, no. The big boxes full of nothing always irritated me, and I was only happy to see PC retail games eventually go to DVD box size, just like console games. You would never see me buying an overpriced extra edition with figurines, "making of"-DVDs and whatnot.

Ultimately, I only care about the digital content, ie. the game itself. GOG games are the best editions I can think of (free of boxes, yet no umbilical cords to authentication servers), as long as they include all the relevant official expansion packs, and GOG does not remove sound setup executables from DOS games. These kind of games I love to collect.

Even in GOG, the only "extras" I really care are manuals, if they are needed for learning/playing the game, and in some rare cases the soundtracks, if hearing them inside the game is too much hassle (e.g. have to play to certain level or part of the game to hear that music you like so much... like the Roland MT-32 music in Ultima 7, when the Avatar meets those little furry creatures (moogles or mungies, or maybe twinkies) that tell a story about a heroic human. Let alone the ending music (outro).

But then, there is also Youtube...

I do collect but on my Darkadia digital shelf now, i do own a few boxed copies of some oldies though. Day of the Tentacle, Shadow of the comet, Harvester, The Dig, discworld 1 & 2, the Dame was Loaded, whole Legacy of Kain series, Prisoner of Ice, Toonstruck.. Most ScummVM games, GOg unreleased or lacking French langage, actually.

I made a list of some rare consoles out there: http://www.squidoo.com/rare-consoles2

I actually owned the neo geo aes before. I wish i had kept it for longer!

Edit: Just realised it's a PC specific thread, but i did see consoles mentioned by people in posts.

What I'm looking for these days are games that were dear to my heart but are not released digitally. I have tons of games on my Steam and GOG accounts already but unfortunately due due legal issues I'm sure there are many games we won't see on these new digital platforms anytime soon.

I,m not realy a collector but I love GOG for bringing back all the old games that I love and miss.

I just hope that they keep it up and resolve any legal issures so we can all enjoy even more GOOD OLD GAMES.

I'm not a collector as in owning all pieces of certain sets, but what i own I want to own as the "proper" version. Usually that means the nice box and the full manual. I just love that stuff and I only buy games i intend to play, so I'm not running short on room. The only thing that annoys me is when the box contains too much wasted space, like for example my vopy of Baldur's gate sould have easily dit into a box a quarter of the size. not to mention the expansion pack which is a thin manual and a jewel case. The box is literally 90% empty. That's just stupid. The Temple of Elemental Evil had a reasonably sized box considering the size of the manual, oly slightly thicker than a DVD case. The Age of Wonders II and Shadow Magic boxes are great as well, they are just as big as it needs to fit the DVD case and the (pretty large) maual inside them, no space wasted.

I will go for digital though if a box is impossible to get or just plain too expensive. or if there is nothing worth having in the box, like just a disc and a three-page manual.