Lonely feelings of the old gamer

[ASSEMbler]

I've been packing up my vast collection into boxes with the intention
of storing them untouched for 30 years. I know my life is going to get
a lot more unpleasant soon as the economy has basically ruined my
business and it's not going to get better any time soon in the U.S.

I am a businessman with no business anymore, and I have decided to
go back to university.

As I am packing all these items, it brings up memories of people
who have died , or people who I don't know any more. Many people
get so involved in family and the struggles I never see them but once
a month.

So here I am packing all these games and hardware and the reality is
I have none of my old friends to even online game with anymore.
Life has taken up their free time.

So when you outlast all your gaming buddies it's a very sad thing.

[HEX1GON]

That's really sad :(, there are plenty of games I played with my friends while in high school.. I don't even speak to any of them except 3 which were not even in my level. How does these things happen?

Best of luck in university and hope you get to where you want to be again, the world is such a harsh place.. Keep your head up:thumbsup:

[Yakumo]

Many of my gaming buddies vanished many years ago however there are still a few. One of which I meet for a night of drinking when I go back to the UK. It really is a great feeling to meet friends who you gamed with when you were a teenager so late in life after you haven't met in years.

[Cyantist]

I think people get sick of collecting.

For a while I lived in an incredibly small space for all my posessions(probably 6ft sq). It was difficult to traverse and I got sick of seeing it all everywhere I went. I'd effectively wasted a good five years of my life collecting and playing video games. I sold most of it and now emulate anything that isn't pc games.

[angelwolf71885]

having a family is a great way to keep the gaming spirit alive
because then you have someone to pass the games down to
and you can introduce them to each era as you got introduced to them as a kid

a wife husband or significant other that likes games also helps
playing with your joy stick alone is never any fun:lol:

[graciano1337]

Work has killed my gaming spirit. I've been working six days. I don't have much time to play much these days. And when I do have time, I'm usually tired, or I feel like I should be doing something a little more productive.

There used to be a whole lot of us that would be on Xbox Live every night playing whatever. We'd always be in a party chatting it up. But over the last couple years, we slowly just stopped playing online and people have gone their separate ways.

[mazonemayu]

I know what you mean man, been a gamer for over 30 years now & I've outlasted all but one of my gamebuddies. sad but true

[APE]

My gaming urges are mostly suppressed as if I let them take over they'll cause me trouble. Like that Ferrari your neighbor owns I only take it out on the weekends and over long breaks from college.

And my pseudo-business fixing and modding consoles has tanked in the last 2 months. The economy isn't getting any better any faster.

[dark]

30 years seems like an awfully long time. don't you think in 10 years you'll have a family or some other friends who would be interested to play with some of the items? Even if its for a lark, to break out the NES with some drinking buddies as a nostalgic thing?

I haven't had anyone to game with regularly since highschool (over a decade ago). A lot of those people have really gone their separate ways (different sides of the country), and are estranged from each other, so there is no reunion happening with the old crowd. Likewise I'm really only interested in one platform - the dreamcast, and pretty much since 2002, I haven't been able to find anyone irl who wants to play dreamcast games with me.

But thinking about it, collecting and archiving is a lonely thing regardless of gaming. I collected records, other people collect comic books - but that alone doesn't get you friends. The only time it can help you meet people, is if you pack up your collection and showcase it at a convention with other enthusiasts. The fun thing about collecting, is that as the collector, you know what your personal history with an item is... but the older the item gets, the more of a malaise that lingers. An N64 smash bros cartridge might remind you of your highschool years, but 20 years later, you've been through so much and are at such a different point in your life, that the particular cartridge is necessarily an emotionally laden thing. That's a cool thing about collecting, but it can be heavy too. Don't liquidate your collection though, everyone I've known who has liquidated a collection very quickly has regretted it after some months/years.

[Tchoin]

Sad but true, I'm only 23 and I've lost my childhood gaming buddies, ever since I was 17, they just stopped playing or feeling interested. Then I just played Smash Bros once in a while with a group of friends which I no longer see as well, but luckily my lovely K-Panggg is big into games (and big into books, as opposed to J.C. Denton :P) so we share the gaming and collecting.

Right now I've had the luck of getting to know some new gaming buddies, which also love retro games btw, we are trying to get together more often, but personal/work/university duties only allow us to get together once every two weeks or so.

As dark said, don't liquidate your collection, everytime someone does so, they end up regretting it badly.

Storing it sounds good, be sure to store everything under the right conditions as you well know.

BTW, going back to the uni? So what are you going to study?

[Cyberghost]

A sad reality... Im only 20 but have experienced something similar. But video games is something I could never forget about. Some guys have their cars, others their electric trains... for me it will always be videogames.:033:

[dark]

Actually, especially for someone like Assembler who has lots of dev hardware and very uncommon items - I think it is really important that he keeps his collection together and in good shape for historical purposes. It's more than a game collection, it's a very legitimate collection representing a lot of uncommon aspects throughout the history of the gaming industry. Just like it took awhile for rock and roll artifacts to find their way into museums, it may be some time yet before it is more common and accepted to see 90s video game pieces in museums and other serious exhibits being appreciated outside of trade shows, but I have no doubt that with the aging of the 90s baby boom video game generation, the audience and demand to see this as a legitimate aspect of history will only grow.

Look at these guys, maybe this is the start.
http://www.vghmuseum.org/news.shtml

[Trenton_net]

I am a businessman with no business anymore, and I have decided to
go back to university.

If I recall, you worked in currency trading and stuff right? Did you run your own business or just work for someone else? I know people who run their own business and the responsibility is really rough. I can only assume it's loads more difficult in the U.S where the currency is being devalued so much due to debt.

[ASSEMbler]

If I recall, you worked in currency trading and stuff right? Did you run your own business or just work for someone else? I know people who run their own business and the responsibility is really rough. I can only assume it's loads more difficult in the U.S where the currency is being devalued so much due to debt.

I worked in IT, then semiconductor sales and currency trading become
a living. My opinion is we will be in a spiral of decline and the only certain
investment is 30 year treasuries and at that you're talking minimal return.
It's really money parking at these interest rates.

I'm preparing for the unpleasant notion of having to flee the usa, like
my ancestors did during the decline in asia and europe (ww2 and postwar
uk). I am looking at certain places in the world unaffected by the
western money follies and want to be there and gone before emigrating
americans become unwanted. It will happen.

I see 10-20 years of struggles in the usa. High taxes, no growth.
People moving to Canada.
Social unrest. No jobs. I went from making enough money to consider
buying a new car to worrying about phone bills in three years. That is the direct result of my risky business and I had a lot of fun for sure. I wish
I had saved more and had far less fun.

I decided if my surplus collection is unsellable (with formerly $60-90 saturn games going for $15.00 on ebay) I would just pack it all up and have one less thing to care about. My hobby is not my business, but it used to be
self sustaining. Now? No.

I will take the site non-profit soon, and it will be a proper museum.
Then it will be tax deductible. They changed the online payment laws, so
in 2012 everyone will have to keep receipts for ebay sale or pay a flat 30%
tax. I was put over the 200 payments limit by the everdrive group purchases and I may wind up paying 30% tax on the group purchase just for being organizer.

[Shinebi]

They changed the online payment laws, so
in 2012 everyone will have to keep receipts for ebay sale or pay a flat 30% tax.

I was put over the 200 payments limit by the everdrive group purchases and I may wind up paying 30% tax on the group purchase just for being organizer.

Say WHAT?! That's why I don't use Ebay.

[Bad_Ad84]

They changed the online payment laws, so
in 2012 everyone will have to keep receipts for ebay sale or pay a flat 30%
tax. I was put over the 200 payments limit by the everdrive group purchases and I may wind up paying 30% tax on the group purchase just for being organizer.

A sale is different to a fund raiser. If you were taking "personal payments" i.e. gifts/money owed - they are not sales.

Paypal are trying to position themselves into a way to share money with friends (look at their mobile apps - have options to split a bill, etc). So this obviously wouldnt apply.

Also, you only pay tax on profits - if you didnt profit, there is nothing to pay? You have a record of all payments received and you likely have the transaction for the payment for the everdrives. I dont see how there could be a problem.

[ASSEMbler]

A sale is different to a fund raiser. If you were taking "personal payments" i.e. gifts/money owed - they are not sales.

Paypal are trying to position themselves into a way to share money with friends (look at their mobile apps - have options to split a bill, etc). So this obviously wouldnt apply.

Also, you only pay tax on profits - if you didnt profit, there is nothing to pay?

No, there's a new law. $20,000 in money changing hands / 200 transaction.File in depth or pay 28% flat on the money.
-------------
What is Internal Revenue Code (IRC) Section 6050W? Under the new legislation, we’ll report to the IRS the total payment volume received by US account holders whose payments exceed both of these levels in a calendar year:

• $20,000 USD in gross payment volume from sales of goods or services in a single year
• 200 payments for goods or services in the same year

-------------

This sounds like a lot right? Well it amounts to $350 a week on ebay.
What is a problem is when ebay says you are getting too many gift payments and makes them all service payments.

So do a fundraiser like we did for 2011, and a group buy (ever drives)
and you can wind up like me, owing 28% tax on money that only changed hands and was never a profit.

Time to return to cash I guess.

[Bad_Ad84]

Even if they report it to the IRS, you just file a tax return showing you made no money on the everdrives.

Tax is on profit?

eBay reporting the amount of income doesnt mean you are required to pay it by law. The tax rules are still the same...?

Also, those rules clearly state payments for goods or services. Not personal payments. As I said previously - paypal are trying to place themselves as a way to pay back friends, split bills, etc. All of those are personal transactions and do not count toward what you quoted.

And this new law doesnt mean you can make 19k and not pay taxes. You are still supposed to file a return on things sold for profit. All this law does is make ebay/paypal report you to the IRS once you make over a certain amount. But again, its only on goods/services.

[HEX1GON]

This is really making me reconsider living in the US now... doesn't sound good.
It happened all so quickly :shrug:

[ASSEMbler]

Even if they report it to the IRS, you just file a tax return showing you made no money on the everdrives.

Tax is on profit?

eBay reporting the amount of income doesnt mean you are required to pay it by law. The tax rules are still the same...?

Also, those rules clearly state payments for goods or services. Not personal payments. As I said previously - paypal are trying to place themselves as a way to pay back friends, split bills, etc. All of those are personal transactions and do not count toward what you quoted.

And this new law doesnt mean you can make 19k and not pay taxes. You are still supposed to file a return on things sold for profit. All this law does is make ebay/paypal report you to the IRS once you make over a certain amount. But again, its only on goods/services.

You're missing the point.

Ebay / paypal for many people just went from online garage sale to
needing to keep receipts for everything and keeping track of profit.
If you don't keep track and file detailed records, paypal is required by law
to keep a 28% holdback. If you margin is 10%, you've just been put out of business.

Most companies pay 2% tax or none at all.

So people now have the record keeping responsibility of a
company but without any of the benefits a company enjoys;
no legal separation of personal and business assets, no ability
to buy inventory tax free or wholesale, nor the ability to deduct
equipment or other expenses in their enterty.

So in summation; responsibility of a business without any of the
benefits of being a business and taxed at a rate approximately
1400% higher than most businesses pay.