On Saturday, October 5, 2002, at 03:12 PM, CcomputerGameCollector
wrote:
[Snip]
> With CGC, I don't plan on representing an "exact" value, which is why
> I use
> the range approach. (I.E. $20 - $40)
And given human nature people will focus on the high end of your
range. :-D After all, that means their game is worth more money.
[Snip]
> Wether there is a price guide price or not, people have an idea about
> what a
> game is worth.
For many games, yes. For some, no. For example, what is the worth of
one of Richard Garriott's twelve Computerland Akalabeths? The sample
size is just too small to determine a fair market value for one of
them. It is too easy for someone to fall in love with the idea of
owning one and paying 'whatever it takes' for someone to assign a
reasonable value/worth to one.
It gets even worse if a game hasn't been seen yet. Mr. Falk once
stated in an article that Mt. Drash might be worth over $2,000 if one
was found. He was only off by nearly an order of magnitude from what
my only known complete copy was purchased for. ;-) I mean, just what
*is* Mt. Drash worth? There is only one complete one and one partial
one known (to me) to exist. There are more RG Computerland Akalabeths
around than known Mt Drashs. Does this make Mt. Drash worth more than
Akalabeth? And how would one determine the worth of my complete copy
of an Apple II Personal Software Zork still in 95% shrinkwrap (only the
top of the shrinkwrap/box is open)? Zork 1 is certainly a much more
important and seminal game than Akalabeth! (I say that as a big time
Ultima fan, by the way.)
On the other hand, take a grey box Zork 1 with everything in good
shape. There are enough of these around that one can look at the
overall sales/auction prices and figure what, on average, it is worth.
This is not to say a price guide is worthless. I think one would be
doable for many games. My mine problem with them is educating
potential buyers and sellers to all the caveats and assumptions behind
the numbers. Too many people take any number they see written down as
gospel. :sigh: In the comics world many people will check several
different price guides and take the highest one they find. And this is
after 20+ years of trying to educate the market.
--
Edward Franks
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
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