Pathology or hobby?

[Jim Leonard]

Teo Zenios wrote:

> In my view a collector looks for specific machines and parts to complete his
> collection and does not have many multiples of duplicates. A packrat will
> take anything in that is offered to him working or not, even if he has no
> space for it.

I agree with this definition.  As the son of a packrat, and a quasi-packrat 
myself, I can tell you about my father:  He is a coin collector, and our 
basement, tables, ping-pong table, etc. were (and still are) covered up with 
numismatics newspapers and various research materials.  Although I am guessing, 
I am fairly certain that he holds onto all these materials because he fears he 
will not have access to information when he needs it -- someday -- when writing 
an article for some publication.

I inherited this from him; whether or not it was passed down genetically or 
socially I cannot confirm :-)  Case in point:  I have always wanted to write 
essays ("put up web pages" in today's world) on various 1980's personal 
computer topics, such as copy-protection methods or generating sound and music. 
  Along those lines, there was a time when I was bidding on sound cards every 
other week because "that could be the last one I will ever find and if I miss 
it I won't ever be able to write an article on it".  Of course, time passes, 
and I find myself with no time to write said articles/essays, and I have a 
metric buttload of sound cards taking up space.

So am I hoarding or collecting?  In the area of sound cards, probably a little 
of both, as I plan to sell/give away the cards I am not interested in after I 
write my articles.  In the case of Central Point Option Boards, I definitely am 
hoarding them because my own archives are in that format and I will always need 
an Option Board to decode them properly.  In the area of early computer game 
software, I am most definitely a collector, as I have all my titles arranged 
neatly on shelves, presented and displayed, and easily accessible.

So you can be a mixture of all the above :) but the main point, for me, is that 
a collector presents and displays his collection, and keeps it accessible... 
whereas a packrat hoardes, doesn't always know what he has, and can't get to 
everything in his possession.

(BTW, John, very nice wording on your thoughts on the subject.)
-- 
Jim Leonard (trixter at oldskool.org)                    http://www.oldskool.org/
Want to help an ambitious games project?             http://www.mobygames.com/
Or check out some trippy MindCandy at             http://www.mindcandydvd.com/