What is your view about steam game collectors?

If you have too much games on Steam and you want to play one but you forget the name of it, you're in trouble :D

The way I see it, the majority of them dont mean to collect. They buy and intend to play now or later, but the market is so overflowing with games that before they have them played they already got a few more. And that keeps repeating.

And ofc there are the real collectors, joining groups for collectors and buying all the good deals they can see. Those are morons.

Well, I don't speak for everyone, but basically there are three categories of games in my library.

1. Games that I intend to play at some point.

2. Games that I have played before that I acquire again because I got it the first time through 'other means'. Call it guilt trip if you like.

3. Games that I mine for cards.

The truth is, they just kinda add up, especially with bundles cropping up all over the place. I try to giveaway some of the games that I don't want, but there' just so many. I always claim games that I won at giveaway, though, not doing so seems disrespectful to the giver. :)

When I own a game I like, I will want to own every single related game and DLC, sometimes even if I will never play them. For example, I wanted mainly CS:GO only, but I ended up buying Valve Complete Pack (got it off a Russian trader for $28 only anyways). And I always buy every prequel to a game I like or am interested in (aka Complete Packs). Other than collection purposes, buying complete packs are many times more worth it than buying the other games in the series in the future should I want them.

Collecting digital goods for the sake of collecting seems a bit daft to me. I've never heard anyone call themselves an mp3 collector.

I collect old physical games, but not digital games. Many of those collectors only have played a few games of their collection...is a waste of money.

Collectors are losers :O

I'll never collect something I can't touch.

Sour grapes are not healthy.

JUDGE? WHY??
If they pay and help the gaming market they're more then welcome!

I Collect. At least i see it as collecting, but i play them all- and i don't 'collect' games that i clearly see i wouldn't enjoy a bit.

On this subject i can only talk regarding my case; I love gaming on a deep level, the game design per si, concepts, mechanics, the thought process- both the one used behind each title as well as the tought process on our minds as we play. Ive been 'designing' games since forever, tabletop and cardgames since childhood and aiming at digital games right now; To the point i like creating more then playing.

I confess i play less then what my library would indicate- i don't have that much free time during the year. And i confess i play to the end(or more) very few games. But i play each a minimum: enought to get the whole picture or giving up (the bad ones).

Wait what are we talking about here? Are we talking about the people who BUY games and never play them, or are we talking about the people who win a giveaway and never plays the game? If we are talking about the ladder, then I hate it. I only enter giveaways for games I know i'll play and for someone to win a giveaway and in turn leave it in their library to die when there were legit people willing to play the game to its fullest, then its really disappointing. Now if we are talking about the former, there is nothing wrong with buying a game and not playing it, because obviously you will want to eventually. I just bought Skyrim for 3 bucks. I have no urge to play it, not now, anyways. But I know it's a good game and its critically acclaimed so I felt it was a need to add it to my library for my eventual enjoyment

I think it's by far a better way to spend money on steam than crafting badges, though both the game collectors and badge collectors are probably crazy rich (or just plain crazy) so it's fine by me.

My professional opinion however (as a mechanical engineer/game trader and an occasional barman) is that game collectors are just bad at games, so they don't play them. It would be an equivalent to an armless man collecting swords.

It's not cool to enter giveaways just to add games to your collection. It's disheartening to givers who hope that the game goes to someone who wants to play it, and it means someone who wanted to play the game missed out. But beyond giveaways collecting games for your account is a fine thing to do if it brings you satisfaction. You also get a nice stockpile of games you can grab whenever you feel like trying something new (which will be great when you get your new machine) and even if you just pick up games when they're on promotion all the collectors collectively (hehe) provide devs/publishers with a lot of revenue that they wouldn't otherwise get, meaning devs get to eat, games get made, and there's less pressure to get as much money as possible from each individual customer.

In summary: if you like collecting games then go ahead! You're doing what you like and helping the industry as well.

If you are planning to play them at some point then i think it's fine. But some people just leave them in their library forever unused. While so many other players could've won that game and be happy playing it.

I think collecting games without playing them is a total waste. Especially if they win the game, which could have made someone else happy.
I actually think that collecting is silly (don't take it badly, collectors).
I mean, owning games and not playing them is okay. Like OP says, it's okay to own games that you can't play because your PC is not high end enough, if you plan on buying some better hardware one day. But owning games just to brag about how many games you own, or just to boost your ego is just dumb.

I don't think it matters what anyone else's opinion is about the matter. However, anyone can choose whether to give games to collectors (blacklist). Personally I'm a collector but I intend to at least try out all of my games.

wut?

My view of them? "Get games you actually want to play you jerks, stop entering giveaways for something you have no interest in!"

I have a lot of games that I haven't played because they came in bundles that I purchased for another game that was included in the collection. I still have games on CD that have never been open because I either got their Steam counterpart or it was a game that I had given to me that I didn't want to begin with.

I don't care if someone is a collector or joins giveaways for games they don't plan on playing as long as they give back to the community. Anything that increases sales and brings down the prices for those games that people do want is always helpful. It's their choice whether they want to play them or not. Who am I to tell someone what to do with their games?

Also, if it wasn't for collectors, how would we be able to give away all of our copies of Bad Rats? I can't believe all of those entries are from people who think that it's an awesome game.