The closest thing for me would be going after rare drops in an MMO, I guess, but I never really did it with as much enthusiasm and dedication as some other people would. Ultimately I don't have the money to go after rare stuff in real life, because if I came across a rare thing I'd just sell it for extra money. I kind of ran into that in MMOs, too, now that I think about it. I actually once sold a rare item in Ultima Online on ebay, and this was around 2003. It was crazy to me that someone would pay money for a rare virtual item, but they did!

There's rareness due to lack of production, then there's rareness solely to boost sales (like super ultra rare gacha pulls).
Can't say I've cared for the latter.
For the former, however, as long as it's something I have interest in, I tend to want to collect it. Say a BD-rip of an anime from 20 years ago, or chara goods of a character that rarely ever gets the spotlight, etc.
For example, London here rarely get any new fan art, let alone new skins or merch, but there are a few in circulation and I'd do anything to get my hands on them. I'd like to think money isn't a concern when collecting rare goods of the former category, since I believe my goal in life is to splurge on being a buyfag; but I'm not in a financial position to be saying such.

Interesting topic. I have to admit that I have fully fallen for rare items if they are things I like - I am completely aware that, even if I do like those things and don't collect anything outside of my interests, I am willfully letting myself get scammed out of a premium amount of money for a better feeling that I can't even explain, but which I'm sure doesn't benefit me in other ways.

I have this game for the Mega Drive that was / is worth somewhere around 250 - 500 bucks CIB. I like that game and have a childhood connection to it, but I like other, more common games much better in terms of gameplay, yet still the rarer game makes me feel more proud and special to own it. I own multiple releases of one and the same show in the exact same quality with zero differences in any way other than the fact that it's different releases and that makes me feel good despite knowing that I can't even show it off to anyone and even if I could, no one would really care because it's not mainstream. I would also get the Touhou floppies for tens of thousands of bucks if I had that money to spare, even though owning those wouldn't change my life in any sort of meaningful way.

However, even being aware of all this, I somehow don't regret the decisions I've made related to this. I do sometimes look at the things and think to myself how much money I spent for practically no reason, but it still feels good and I really don't have much other use for money anyway. All of my extra budget immediately gets blown on things I just wanna own for the sake of owning and rarer items evoke the better feeling.

It's probably a weird perspective but ultimately whether something is rare or common, it's just a "flavor text tag" of sorts. All there is is stuff in my possession and stuff that isn't. Does have a nasty modifier on cost though, but the only "rare item" I had a passing interest in obtaining is a music CD that doesn't have a digital version which costs seven fucking hundred dollars for some reason.

>>162938
May I ask what that CD is? Never heard about a music CD being that expensive.

I usually think they subtract from game quality and almost every game would be better with NO rng loot whatsoever, I've never liked looter shooters or rogue-likes but I suppose those are the main 2 genres where the RNG loot is mandatory
In most games I feel the random/rare items would be better if they were just somewhere fixed that was hidden or required doing some hard challenge to get, like in Elden Ring I'd rather have all the rare 1% mob drops be placed around to make the world feel less empty and reward exploration instead of me needing to grind an enemy that appears like twice in the whole game for them

Scarcity restricts supply, small supply implies difficulty in production, difficulty in production implies uniqueness of seen and unseen features including the gestalt of the features as a whole, uniqueness and scarcity drive urgent demand, driven demand is a bigger demand, even implied demand fuels competition for the product, competition implies you gain an advantage in getting the product first even if it's not one of a kind and so competition is fueled further, fueled competition drives demand even more, being demanded is a quantative feature of its own as the product or what it gives can be exchanged for financial, social, psychological, other forms of capital.
Worst case scenario of uselessness, an acquired rare trinket leaves you to meditate on it. That's what I do with mine.
If you wouldn't mediate on something if that's the last thing you could do with it - don't acquire it.

Don't really like my opinion? Well, it's a rare limited edition one! Get it before it can't be internalized anymore!

>>162946
I think I just lack the intelligence or attention span to understand any of what you've just said.

>>162947
You think so because I posted mediate instead of meditate.

>>162940
I've seen an obscure Sakura Saori CD (it was some very early recording session or similar) selling for like $300 in surugaya. No mentioning of it on the web other than a single blog post.

Most of the rare stuff I own I got because I liked it and just happened to be rare. I wish it wasn't so it wouldn't have cost as much on the secondary market. But I must admit there is something nice about knowing I have something that's hard to get.

>>162934
Yes I am autistic. Try to control it, you should realise when your tendencies to complete sets and collections are being taken advantage of. Do not play gacha games.

>>162953
>autistic

Sounds more like an OCD thing to me
Tho it could be both

>>162953
>>162954
don't worry there are countless reasons behind considering rare stuffs

>>162956
ip grabber

yeah

saw it....

deleter

a deleted post is a rare item

https://www.discogs.com/release/17482705-%E6%A0%B8P-Model-Big-Brother-%E5%8F%AF%E9%80%86%E7%9A%84%E5%88%86%E9%9B%A2%E6%85%8B%E6%A7%98" rel="nofollow" target="_blank" >>Special edition of Big Brother by Susumu Hirasawa. Salt to injury, it's just two regular length songs on the CD. Supposedly it's some exclusive version that sold only in a certain CD shop chain so there probably weren't a lot of copies produced.
PLEASE STOP POINTING MY SHAME OUT PLASE

ARRGH
核P-Model* – Big Brother-可逆的分離態様 is the title of the CD. i'm never using anchor links ever again

try this
[u www.example.com]rare album[/u]

>>162963
you can use the preview button on the right of the "Submit" button to preview your posts before you post them

>>162966
Yeah weirdly it did preview correctly, the kanji was changed into weird unicode text after submitting

I think artificial rare items (read: shit from vidya) are gay and retarded and I will cheat to get them, fuck you.
Same for JPG games you know like gachaslop, I can literally make my own fun with the same characters and they can't do anything about it.

I do have a rare book I think, The Short Timers by Gustav Hasford (this is the book that got made into Full Metal Jacket) that's out of print now and I got a copy of it.

Rares are cool as long as they are not stupidly overpowered and the game is easy enough that you don't need it and people don't expect you to have it. It just stays a fun surprise for the lucky few. If you are a collector and can't handle not having a rare then that's a personal problem.
I also think time limited goods for early adopters of games, services, or future superstars is a good thing. It's an extra incentive for early adopters to show up and help something grow and late adopters who can't handle that need to stop being whiny about something they can never get. Did their parents not teach them they can't have everything?
For physical goods, who cares. I can live with not having a limited edition maid idol signed CD or a slightly different tshirt. I've bought some "rare" items here and there that are no doubt rare as hell, but the demand is low so I got an old, cute and rare item for basically free. I don't need others to want the cool item because I think it's special and that's good enough for me.

tl;dr just dont care and they're chill

>I think artificial rare items (read: shit from vidya) are gay and retarded and I will cheat to get them, fuck you.
Yup, I'm not doing 100 attempts to get a 1/128 item.

>>162934
Rarity from artificial scarcity is manipulative bullshit and a good sign you should never interact with that thing, but rarity to randomize experiences is fine. If every Pokemon appeared in the same order or with the same odds then you never get the lucky kid who caught the thing nobody else ran into.

In theory it's a good way to discourage people from being autistic completionists, but in practice there's probably an achievement for wasting time grinding for it because that's what game design is about these days.

>>162934
i dont know if it really counts as a rare item, but it tecnically is unique, what i am talking about is the 1st thing you get, this being a pokemon, a certain gacha character, a kind of vehicle, etc. objects or characters which start the adventure with you. i personally hold these things dearly and will avoid getting rid of them, keeping them with me and using them as much as i can

>>162934
I keep starter clothes even when everyone else sells them off. Sometimes you can't buy them again. I know in Oblivion, wrist irons don't weigh anything and are thus valuable when enchanted.

>>163127
I get it and this pisses me off in Persona games where you're meant to throw your cool design starter away before the first boss, unless you throw in extra time, effort, and autism to beef up (which you can reliably do only by getting far head enough in the first place). The starter is usually the only one with a design unique to the character/game anyway.

Somewhat unrelated I guess but I like the cliché of your starting weapon being an ingredient for the game's ultimate weapon, everything comes full circle
>>163131
Shame that the cool late game redesigns of the starting persona are either DLC or just very hard to acquire in a normal playthrough

>>163134
>Somewhat unrelated I guess but I like the cliché of your starting weapon being an ingredient for the game's ultimate weapon, everything comes full circle
Summon Night Swordcraft Story handles this in the best manner in the sense that your starter weapon is a weak indestructible smith hammer that's always with you as last resort weapon, but all the inherently breakable weapons are crafted with it, from newbie slime cutters to whatever is final post-story abomination you can get into your hands.
That's also where you stick to rarity hard, but not as hard as Riviera where almost everything is an expendable durability resource you can't even repair.