Collecting Tips - Starting a Collection

I actually saw this question come up a while back on some gaming forums. It is not the first time either, so I thought I would address it here.

The just of it is this: Many people want to start a collection but are unsure of where to put it or how to take care of it. Others are worried about the money that you have to sink in and even others are worried about which consoles to start with. I will try to answer all of these questions. If you have more, leave them in the comments! I was a moderator for a while on a major gaming website and worked for a major gaming retailer before that. I have heard all kinds of questions and know some pretty obscure stuff...remembering it for the blog can be the hard part.

1) If you are living in a small space, like an apartment, think of renting a climate controlled storage unit. This is just a good idea in general. Even with renter's insurance (which you NEED. It is very cheap and very worth it) there are some things you just cannot replace. If you find yourself running out of room, put your discs in CD cases and leave the boxes/jewel cases in storage.

2) Taking care of a gaming collection is pretty easy. Keep it out of direct sunlight and make sure that the humidity in the room is not too high. In addition, you want to make sure that the temperature never gets to hot (or cold) if possible. I live in the deep south and have no central A/C or heat. I know you guys are thinking it doesn't get cold here...think again. I live in a sun room with little insulation. Things have iced over in the night before. I have had to make sure that my collection is in a normal "room temperature" climate so that nothing gets warped or brittle. For most, this will not be a huge issue, but I know there are people like me out there so I wanted to go ahead and address it. This is another good reason to have that storage space!

3) Money. Check out my last blog on the matter!

4) Where to start: Start collecting wherever you like! If you only own one console right now, start looking up games for it that have gone down in price, but you know you would love to play. There are also tons of awesome collectibles on Ebay. I have recently started collecting the Gameboy comics. There were only about 4-5 issues made, but they are easily found for about $6 each including shipping. They are cheap, fun things to add to a collection.
If you have more money to spend, I highly recommend finding another console you think you would enjoy and buying it. Research its library of games first of course, and start collecting! Basically just know what your interests and favorite genres are and do some research.

The next two blogs for the week will focus on the 3rd Gen PS3 bundles and early Harvest Moon games.
Once again, thanks for reading!