RE: Lunar Battle :-0

> That's more understandable, but for a full size Arcade how much does
> it *really*
> devalue the game?
>
Depends a lot I suppose. If you were hanging on to three original ESB
boards kits that you paid $500 each for, and now they're worth less than
$600 total instead of $1500...

> Even if I sold it for $300 less than I could have, that loss of $300
> is not
> going to make or break my retirement fund. Over the life of video
> game
> collecting $300 is next to nothing.
>
Yeah, $300 isn't a huge deal to some of us, but to others that's a
considerable amount of money...

> I think about it, what if you had sold the Stargate cart for $300
> instead of
> $600, would you really be out of a house now? You could have been
> known as the
> guy who brought Stargate to the 5200 world instead of just some guy
> the sold it
> to some other guy... Not that that's bad! Just making a point --
> sometimes
> *ego* is a better pay-off and a longer lasting thrill than some
> C-bills! :^)
>
Everything's relative-- I've lost more money in stocks in the last three
days than some people make in a year. On the other hand, my former boss
bought a car on a whim (with cash) that cost more than my house... $300
to me pays for a couple MultiPac prototypes helps me keep producing new
"stuff"... (I don't spend any of my "salary" on my hobby to avoid
friction with Tara. ;-)

> >ESB values certainly tanked after the SW/ESB kits became available
> too--
> >had more than a couple people bitch at me about that.
>
> And maybe would should start destroying Tempest cabinets so that the
> ones we own
> become more valuable? Those kits are a good thing for collecting, who
> knows,
> maybe it's saved a few SW from being destroyed.
>
There's more than a few places/people hoarding what would otherwise be
"common" stuff to help keep the value high...

And I know more than a few "not-in-the-know" people have been ripped off
by being told that games with my ESB board inside were "rare" "original"
ESB kit conversions. Some winners, some losers...

Yep, like it or not "rarity" dictates a lot of value in collecting.
 From my personal experiences selling very rare stuff there usually isn't
very many people bidding on it. If three people in the US are serious
about dropping some big money on something, and two of them decide after
playing with a reproduction that it's not worth buying, the seller just
lost virtually all his bargaining power.

It's great to be generous and give away stuff for free, but if I wanted
to protect the "value" of a unique item I'd have a hard time justifying
giving away the means to reproduce it...

-Clay
Received on Thu Aug 6 15:58:02 1998