Out with the old

I have never traded in a game to GameStop, or sold a game at a pawn shop or a garage sale. I know if I ever got rid of a game, even one that I haven't played in years, I would immediately miss it. I have an old copy of Pokemon Yellow somewhere, and if I dug it out of the closet and put it on eBay I know I'd have a hankering to get my hands on some Pokeballs right after I pack it up and ship it out. When I moved out of my parent's house, I would find myself going back there just to pick up random, obscure game that I couldn't get out of my head for some reason or another. Road Rash for the Soundgarden soundtrack. Skullmonkeys for that one movie where Klaymen eats a whole can of beans... with his eye socket. Seaman for the Leonard Nimoy greeting when you boot up your Dreamcast. It's the little details in the games that stick in your head, just like the little details in life. The smell of a girl's hairspray. A sunset over an abandoned parking lot. A smile from the driver in the car next to you. Details are important. They might even be all that's important.

If I got rid of an old game, I would be giving up on it. I'd be saying, "I will never enjoy you again." That's a much bigger commitment than simply leaving it on my shelf to gather dust, making it wait until one day when I am bored or lonely enough to come back to it and treat it like it once more has that virginal "new game smell." Gamers are fickle. I am fickle. What's new and great one second is all but forgotten the next. But maybe, if we wait long enough, things don't have to be forgotten forever.