I wanted to make a poll to determine where people started in the hobby, as well as how they expanded and grew in their collecting. I’m wondering if we might gleam anything interesting from this, and of course, you can share, though many of us have already, your collecting story below.
I tried to make options robust. Please answer each Q, and if anything could change, suggest it.
Q 1. When did you begin collecting in TCG?
As a child
As an adult
As a child and returned as an adult
0voters
Q 2. What did you begin collecting in TCG?
JP vintage/non-modern sets
International vintage sets
JP (exclusive) promos
Internat’l Promos
JP Modern (the new stuff at the time)
Internt’l Modern (the new stuff at the time)
Themed collection: artist, creature, etc.
0voters
Q 3. How long after starting to seriously collect did you move into other areas of TCG collecting?
1-2 years
2-5 years
5-10+ years
Not yet
0voters
Q 4. How did you discover that new area of the hobby?
internet research
forums
friends
Local Game Store
adverts, media, promotional events
0voters
Q 5. Do you still collect in the area where you started collecting?
As a species collector, I was English only for a long time. I was such a clueless degenerate thinking English only was the way to go. Then starting mixing in Japanese. Then lastly went after all Japanese variants a couple of years ago.
Well in my case the closest LGS is a thirty minute drive away without traffic. So the only way I’d be willing to go would be on my way home from work, but that’d just increase my commute time so much that it’s not worth it. I’ve got no local LGS so really I have no physical interaction with the TCG collecting community.
Also, sad to hear, BUT I totally understand. My LGS is a 15 minute drive, but there are a few closer to me. Benefit of living IN a big city, but they are still far fewer than there USED to be…
It looks like, honestly, expected results so far. people starting as kids and coming back as adults mostly, and the fourum and internet playing a big part in expanding their collecting horizons. Still hoping that LGS will get a hit for expanding collectors’ intersts…
I think you might get more LGS responses for a question like “Where did you first get into Pokemon TCG?” or “Where did you learn to play the Pokemon TCG? (if you know how)” as opposed to where you got into a new facet of collecting.
Good point. The main thing I wanted to reveal with this poll was how people progress in the hobby, how much the community here influenced people’s collecting, and what types of things were they most passionate about. I probably should have included a Q “Where did you first get in?” maybe a poll for later.
Also, since I’m asking E4, I expect E4 will have a larger impact than if I asked at an LGS or an organized play event…
I answered as the child coming back as an adult, and intentionally sought out E4 because in my experience forums have higher quality communities, discussion, and general information/history/lore than other more popular communities like Reddit.
Started out with Base, collected hard until 2002/03, then Pokémon took a back-seat to Yu-Gi-Oh for a bit (still collected new sets & older singles through the whole Ex era, but not to the same extent as Gen 1 & 2).
Cranked back up with Pokémon when DP launched, since Yu-Gi-Oh had run its course, and kept going until the launch of BW. The TCG seemed to have given up during Gen 5, and I didn’t like many of the new Pokémon at the time, so I stopped there until XY Breakpoint pulled me back in from then on…the lockdown boredom got me to finally join the online Pokémon scene a few years ago & here we are.
The main thing I wanted to reveal with this poll was how people progress in the hobby, how much the community here influenced people’s collecting, and what types of things were they most passionate about. I probably should have included a Q “Where did you first get in?” maybe a poll for later.