Inside the $100K+ forgery scandal that’s roiling PC game collecting

From <em>Akalabeth</em> to <em>Xenobia</em>, many rare PC titles are now considered elaborate scams.

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[Thad Boyd]

If you're the go-to-guy for spotting fakes, of COURSE your stuff will always be legit, right?

Who Watches the Watchmen?

This is an ongoing problem in other collecting communities, especially ones with lots of older "experts" who built most of their collections in the pre-internet era.

The thing to keep in mind is that even the "experts" are, by definition, amateurs. These are just people who are really interested in a thing and gather together a ton of knowledge about the thing. And that's a lot of work, so eventually once a community decides that someone is an expert they become an authority figure. It's a lot easier to trust an authority figure that everyone believes really knows this stuff than to do the hard work of gathering all that information yourself.

Yes, but then again, no. For other comparable markets that are more mature, there exist independent third party grading services, like CGC for comic books. The people doing the grading, which involves determining if the items have been restored, have been tampered with or are just plain fakes do it for a living and have for a long time.

Not that long. CGC was founded in 2000 -- not coincidentally after the speculation bubble of the '90s burst.

These types of formalized expert organizations tend to crop up right after a painful object lesson in why they're necessary.

 

[Thad Boyd]

I can't understand the collector mindset. If I can't use it, I don't want it. Why would you want to saddle yourself with more junk? Yes, it's junk, almost zero utility. I can understand a museum collection, with a clear purpose to share the material for public edification. I can understand a scholarly interest, to study what was made and how. I can understand the financial aspect, although there are ways to invest that actually benefit society. This hoarding obsession is pure waste; waste of time, waste of money, waste of space.

You know how you're complaining about stuff on the comments of an online article?

It's kinda like that. People choose to spend their time in ways that they personally find enjoyable, even if it's not productive.

 

[Thad Boyd]

I can't understand the collector mindset. If I can't use it, I don't want it. Why would you want to saddle yourself with more junk? Yes, it's junk, almost zero utility. I can understand a museum collection, with a clear purpose to share the material for public edification. I can understand a scholarly interest, to study what was made and how. I can understand the financial aspect, although there are ways to invest that actually benefit society. This hoarding obsession is pure waste; waste of time, waste of money, waste of space.

You know how you're complaining about stuff on the comments of an online article?

It's kinda like that. People choose to spend their time in ways that they personally find enjoyable, even if it's not productive.

Posting on an Internet forum board is not my hobby, look at my post count. I do that when I have nothing else to do, like now. Stuck waiting for a contractor to show up at a different site. At least I’m getting paid to sit on my ass. I don’t spend countless hours poring over post history and such to be forum king or archivist. Just killing time, making the best of a bad situation. Collecting junk, on the other hand, is a self inflicted wound.

Thanks for sharing!

 

[Thad Boyd]

I've always wanted an old Roman coin, but I suspect virtually the entire coin collection industry to be completely full of forgeries. Utterly no surprise that the PC game collecting industry is also full of fakes.

In fact there seems to be pretty good evidence that the people currently inflating the classic-game market are the same ones who inflated the collectible-coin market back in the '80s. AdamWill had a pretty good rundown in a previous comment section.

 

[Thad Boyd]

Fraud and grift: disconcerting.

Also disconcerting: That ostensibly intelligent humans will pay a 100 large for ancient-ass code... on ancient-ass decrepit storage media...that only runs on ancient-ass equipment that is near impossible to source...and repair...and maintain...

...because "reasons".

And that the "ancient" in ancient-ass is, what? Like, 40 years ago MAX just has to be the cherry on top of this insane sundae.

War in Europe, the Amazon burns, authoritarian assholes on the march planet-wide, but YOU, dude, YOU definitely empty your 401K for that Leisure Suit Larry. It's good value. Faaaawkkk.

So what the fuck are you doing whining in the comments when there are children starving in Africa, tough guy?

 

[Thad Boyd]

Fraud and grift: disconcerting.

Also disconcerting: That ostensibly intelligent humans will pay a 100 large for ancient-ass code... on ancient-ass decrepit storage media...that only runs on ancient-ass equipment that is near impossible to source...and repair...and maintain...

...because "reasons".
E-Waste
And that the "ancient" in ancient-ass is, what? Like, 40 years ago MAX just has to be the cherry on top of this insane sundae.

War in Europe, the Amazon burns, authoritarian assholes on the march planet-wide, but YOU, dude, YOU definitely empty your 401K for that Leisure Suit Larry. It's good value. Faaaawkkk.

So what the fuck are you doing whining in the comments when there are children starving in Africa, tough guy?

C'mon. It's absurdity.

Antiques Roadshow: running in constant production since 1979.
Vintage Tech Hunters: 14 episodes in 2018.

Absurd. Top-dollar E-waste absurd. That's my hill & happy to die on it. Downvote and continue on about your day.

erm... its the literal opposite of ewaste

Whatever you think of the monetary values, having these old electronic things be conserved/reused as part of a collection, prevents them from getting dumped in a landfill (eg Atari E.T. carts)

I'm beginning to suspect this Snazster fellow may not be too bright.