It's getting increasingly difficult to find joy in this hobby

[brendantheclayboy]

Another thing I’ll add to my previous sentiment. How you know I am a weirdo:

I enjoy things more when they are worthless monetarily. I enjoyed my collection more when it was worthless, I enjoyed my singles more when they were obtained at a fraction of what they are worth now, and I enjoy the cards I get in the last 4-5 years a lot less than the ones I got for dirt cheap. That is, the ones that are expensive, I’ll say $50+ in value. There are plenty of amazing vintage I’ve gotten from ex era in the last few years for 2016 and earlier wotc prices that I’m like fuck yeah about. Back in 2012 (i cannot believe this was 13 years ago), a card was insanely expensive if it was $50. For a mint shadowless zard, I paid that much and it hurt my soul at the time. People tend to be like “i paid $xxxxx dollars for this”, to a crowd of oohs and ahhs. I tend to say, i got this record in the $1 bin and i love it so much, to a friend that says hell yeah man thats sick.

A notable exception would be a quasi trophy like fan club porygon, which I immensely enjoy. Granted, i think I would enjoy it a tad more if it had been like $800 or something. Paid the most ive ever paid for a card, and it hurt. But it’s my grail and it’s special so it justified it and it feels good. Won’t feel that same for that final card coming up which is similarly priced and is just to finish this one page… ugh. Gotta catch em all amirite?

Pokemon is the only truly outright frivolous hobby I have. My music, film, video games… sure they are pastimes, but their physicality provides something more than just something I look at and find joy in. Even yugioh i actually play with my friend. Pokemon is just for sitting there and being an apple of my eye. So it feels a lot better when its cheap. I miss when it wasn’t so popular frankly. But unlike many here, I don’t engage with 90% of the hobby like others do, so aside from value, I do always enjoy my ephemera. That won’t change. Finding this forum because of 2020 and my immersion with internet interaction was a major positive. No one in my physical world shares this with me, I get major satisfaction in seeing my friends collections, and even when there is someone who has one so different from my sensibilities that I can still appreciate seeing, especially if there is passion. For I am a passionate person and others’ passion resonates with me.

If it weren’t for the forum, my activity with buying would wane like it had in many periods from 2014-2020. Plus, id have been done with my collection entirely. It’s only because of the forum and the people here that I got into ex era and beyond, and I’m very thankful for my eyes being opened like that. I don’t enjoy modern anywhere near as much as vintage for many reasons (namely my view that it is better aethetically and art styles in wide scope), but I still do very much enjoy it. And buying those 5 cent singles on tcgplayer is my way of feeling those 10 years ago times in a way, even if it isn’t the excitment of vintage.

[fazool]

Tbf, and this doesn’t apply to me, but if you aren’t enjoying the hobby at all anymore, instead of changing why not just leave it and see how you feel after time? World is pretty full of cool things

I think there is probably too much negativity around simply moving on from things

[fate]

I can understand the sentiment;
I have been in and out of collecting many times and I’m currently on hiatus.
I still go to my local stores every now and then, I’ve made some acquaintances in there but I have not expanded my collection in a while.
I still have not opened booster packs I was given for Christmas and I got a backlog of cards to organize since maybe September last year.

I don’t think I ever felt truly bad for not finding enjoyment in collecting at times, I think the moment it started feeling like a chore I simply walked away to do other things that may or may not be directly related to collecting.

I would later come back with a clear goal or objective, work towards that sometimes to completion and then I would define some other goal.

The original idea behind collecting Pokemon cards was to feel something close to what I felt when I completed the Pokemon Sticker album I had in the 90s back in my home country; I don’t even like card games, in fact I actively avoid them but this was a way of connecting with others and to that old feeling, albeit in a roundabout way.

Walking away is a valid way of changing your position towards it, it doesn’t necessarily mean quitting.
Sometimes like mentioned way in the beginning there’s too much noise around you to be able to hear your own thoughts.

[Cryndal]

I feel like one good way to enjoy the hobby though is to just stick with it and try and collect a set or something that is a kind of unrealistic goal like with my eevee collection My Eevee Collection

[0ean]

What things would make it more enjoyable?

Better community? I.e events at LCS’ etc?

[sircharleszard]

Absolutely agree on the chore aspect.

[missingno]

I have not stopped collecting old school and obscure/rare items. I don’t feel the slightest need to collect modern which is maybe what’s killing the vibe for most of you guys. I also enjoy finding new ways to protect and display my items that’s always fun. Finding perfect fit cases for everything is one of my favorite things to do. I was one of those guys that kept everything in a box and forgot about the stuff but now I find myself having a coffee and really taking the time to enjoy my cards, whether slabs or binders; almost like reading a book. Another thing I’ve recently gotten into is slabbing my own cards which is surprisingly a ton of fun:

[NightshadeNexus]

I agree, it’s a double edged sword though for women & minorities. We’re here and love to participate but often a very small minority just makes it not worth the effort. I will say this is most notably online.

I’ve been a member of a few Pokémon related discords, groups etc and from my experience 90% of people are fine (though I make an effort to appear male or gender neutral) but there is a small minority that make it exhausting. Behaviour I’ve experienced in the past include:

-Not being taken seriously. Assuming I need everything explained to be despite being decades into the hobby.

-Standoffish or aggressive messages - these will occur is people know you’re a woman, hence concealing yourself is preferable. Women in online gaming have used voice changers to participate in the past.

-bombarded with unwanted advances. I often disable direct messages if possible.

I could go on but this is what pops off the top of my head so far, so feel free to add or comment. I feel this is a larger issue with online communities not just pokemon or this forum. People really stop being excellent to each other when it’s just words on a screen.

I will end on a positive note though. IRL interactions with the community have been unanimously positive and I’ve made plenty of friends along the way. It’s a big part of why I continue to collect - I’d have taken a bigger step back at this point without it.

[martin]

If there’s one thing that keeps me going, it’s reorganising my binders in dozens of different ways. One month I feel like by type, another month by set and a month after by Pokédex. I even sorted by weight once. When I finally finish my eseries binder, I already know I want to reorganise all the cards by artist. This helps me with appreciating my collection and enjoying the process.

[fate]

Well, if sticking with it rain, snow or shine works for you then it works for you.

I collect master sets one very unrealistic, herculean, time-and-space consuming neverending collection objective.

Like I mentioned, I loved collecting my stickers back then so I take the time to keep a well organized, catalogued and cohesive-looking collection on my shelves.

Now, I go back into my beloved hiatus.
Cheers!

[SolemnStar]

As is noted by my monumental frustration and meltdown seen recently, it was the final nail in the coffin for me to take a look at what I’m doing with my life in general. This was once very chill, enjoyable, and was my escape from stress, but now its become an added source of stress instead of an outlet for it.

So I’ve switched gears, and I’m feeling a bit better. I have plenty of other things that I enjoy and I am always eager to try new things too.

I will point out there is a very real situation where actual fans are leaving due to the amount of outsiders who see it all as just a means of making easy money, and definitely just straight up theft. My local game store told me recently that they had around $4000 in theft in the last month of just pokemon cards.

[Vertemes]

I had never seen that sort of fustration from you before, that’s when i knew something was up.

I don’t like much of this hobby anymore, the only person I really watch is chrispytcg (I don’t have enough paitence to sit through a smpratte video yet, Tiktok finally got me) and I usually just stay in this inner forum. Besides new announcements I’ve mostly been focusing on this rayquaza collection and my side hobby of selling cards. It’s not fun how everything is money oriented, but that’s really the way it goes nowadays.

Best of luck with your recovery!

[fazool]

the money isn’t as easy as most people think. in the long run I bet half the people hoarding stuff sell at the wrong time and lose money because they have no actual clue what they are doing

[fate]

I think the saddest thing I’ve seen in my local store was a kid running in (followed by their parent) and asking which was the most expensive card in the set that was out at that time, may be some time around June last year.

There was another time something similar happened, where a kid was asking for a very expensive card not because they actually liked it but because of the price tag attached to it.

As adults we have better access to other people that can give us different perspectives on the hyper monetization of a hobby-- or any hobby at that, it seems everything needs to be making money these days.

Pokemon cards as a hobby have definitely experienced a pretty disgusting shift in tone; the likeliness of finding someone that cares about price tags more than anything else is way higher than ever.

It’s up to each of us to hold ourselves and others accountable and decide what to deal with and what not to deal with.

[RabidSquirtle]

@fate

I think the saddest thing I’ve seen in my local store was a kid running in (followed by their parent) and asking which was the most expensive card in the set that was out at that time, may be some time around June last year.

I was actually at my LGS at one point and a kid who looked like they were around 8 came up to me and asked if we could trade so I said sure and then they pull out tcg player and start checking prices on my cards I think okay that’s kinda normal for here as kids don’t want to get scammed. I’m not really seeing much I like so I pull out a arven out of their bulk which at the time was around 2.50 and he pulled out the silver tempest gardevoir trainer gallery which at the time was around 1.50 and a bulk ex (also why did the gardevoir explode all of sudden this was a couple weeks ago and now it’s 5). Trying to be nice because I was pretty sure they pulled this out of a pack and shoved it into their bulk never to be seen again I offer the gardevoir and the bulk ex for the arven. But they looked at me offended like I had commited the worst sin and refused it saying that we were off by a little (honestly when I was a kid if someone offered me a card like that for a 50 bulk cards that all are compatibly viable which would have been a big chunk of my collection I would have accepted in a heartbeat so I thought I was being nice) then he askes for the silver tempest melotic trainer gallery and I just shut him down and pulled a reverse by offering him an earthen vessel for the arven, he said no and I’m fine with that I just hope they don’t grow up to be a stonk bro

[c0ll3ct0r]

@SolemnStar

I will point out there is a very real situation where actual fans are leaving due to the amount of outsiders who see it all as just a means of making easy money

And insiders! I guess that’s one of the elephants in the room. We go hard on the phrase “#forthepc/personal collection” but the fact is that the phrase has an almost unique relevance in the hahbee. “OOoOoh this card is nice, just received a 400 lot of it, the art is great, into tcgplayer inventory it goes!”

I’ve never been into anything else where you have to guess whether participants are actually participants or not. “Genuine” and “organic” ad infinitum.

[fate]

Seen something similar to that, min-maxing their price matching and being extremely distrustful of gestures in good faith; my husband and I went to a trade day and we were okay trading for ‘less value’ the amount of weird or bewildered looks were funny.

My husband decided to help kick-start another kid’s base set collection in exchange of almost nothing, because to his eyes it was nice to see a kid starting a collection so easily but got refused a bunch of times; in the kid’s eyes, he wasn’t trading enough value for the amount of cards he was getting.

Sometimes the value is not just in the cards, we can only hope they learn that
trading as purely business and no relationship or community building whatsoever can come at a very high price in the long run.

[JimTrainer]

Like most people, when I started collecting cards at a young age, I did it because of the joy it brought my friends and I. It does feel to me, that a large majority of people that are entering the hobby or taking up lots of space within the hobby, aren’t participating in it with joy or passion at the forefront. I find new collectors are quick to focus more on profit, growth and bragging, instead of collecting what they love. Even if collectors re-entering the hobby loved the cards, just like I did some 20 some years ago, the pressures of making more money and the glorification of side hustles has stripped that joy from them, at least to some extent.

Sometimes I tell folks at work that I collect Pokemon cards. The majority of responses are “Wow, there’s big money in that”, or “Wow, how much is your collection worth?” I work as a Nurse, and I’ll be honest, this doesn’t bring me (Nurse) Joy. Collectrs App, which has become wildly popular, presents itself as a “Next Generation Portfolio Manager.” It is so funny to think of myself opening packs 20 years ago, and viewing them as additions to my Portfolio. It’s just so far off what my feeling towards the cards and games were growing up.

I’m not naive enough to think that money, and growth and selling cards for a profit has no place in Pokemon. It absolutely does. It just felt like for the majority of people within the hobby, those things were secondary to the joy of collecting, at least for the folks I knew. (I grew up in a smaller town in Canada so take that for what it’s worth!)

What has brought me joy within the world of Pokemon has been ever-changing, but despite all those changes, I have been able to find the love of the hobby as of late. Joining E4 and getting to see long time collectors talk about the hobby and share their knowledge and love of the cards has been an absolute blast. I wish I had engaged with this more years ago. All of your collections and insight has brought me joy. Researching and learning more about the history of Pokemon Cards, as well as its artists, in the few moments of downtime I have, has brought me joy. Turning off most of the noise and not worrying about my “Portfolios” Growth gives me joy.

Most importantly, my Partner’s child and I have bonded over Pokemon cards the past few years. This is something I will be forever grateful for. The first time I met him, I was terribly nervous, and I arrived with a handful of cards so that we could play with them at the beach. It’s almost two years later, and watching him slide a common card he loves, into a binder, while accidentally bending the heck out of it… you guessed it, gives me Joy.

The Joy is still out there, it always has been,

It just looks a bit different now.

-Jimmerr

[nelson]

Just want to share a bit about my experience.

I started feeling burnt our after maybe around three years of joining the hobby, I started collecting relatively recently so maybe around mid-2022. Having just moved internationally and no longer having access to the US market also made me kind of dettached to the community. There was a period of time, maybe around a year where I didn’t even buy anything and just focused on personal life stuff, hitting the gym and running, and my job.

The one thing that sparkled my interest again was actually Pocket, but as I started engaging again I realised this new wave of interest had the weird vibes everyone is commenting on in this post. Gambling-like culture, purely monetary interest, etc. etc. Thankfully I’ve never been too much into modern or pack opening besides the occasional pack here and there, but still I came back to this forum because the local market talk is always about prices, reselling, “how much can I sell this card in spanish for”, and so on.

My attitude for a bit now has been not caring about the market or money. Not watching the market at all is truly a blessing, and something that’s been a real palate cleanser is to go and bid blindly on items, as I remind myself these are items I am buying because I want them and thankfully can afford. It’s also worth nothing that I have a decent notion of pricing, since while I do buy a variety of things they are generally within my collection goals.

Besides my big goals for this year that are a couple of 1 to 2k cards, I’ve been trying to “treat” myself and buy one thing a month on auctions, always going in blind. I am in a really lucky position to be able acquire these luxury items continously and I am really thankful for it.

Getting several other real life goals during my hiatus from collecting has also helped me take my mind of the cards (I ran my first marathon last year!), which only increases the joy when I am actually engaging with the hobby! As a child I was obsessed with Pokemon sure, but that was only whenever I was not playing soccer, learning how to use a computer or something else.

In the end, rediscovering joy in collecting came from stepping back and trying to remember why I loved Pokémon cards. The community might change, but our personal connection to the hobby is what truly matters, and as long as you’re able to rediscover and reconnect with it I believe you can bring that original joy back.

[voltagic]

Reading through this thread was certaintly a journey. It’s interesting to see how many different perspectives there are, and how for some it’s about finding joy again in actually stepping back.

It’s the same sentiment I personally have and can confirm.

For a little while I found myself joining the hype train of modern, falling victim to the FOMO and the sudden “wanting” of something that I didn’t want before it existed, and others around me are also wanting in very loud unfiltered manners.

As someone who likes Umbreon a lot, I almost bit the bullet and spent 1500 euros (European here) on a Pristmatic Evolutions Umbreon.

Are being up to date with the latest set releases and jumping on the hype exciting? Sure. Is it a healthy and responsible way of engaging with the hobby? Absolutely not.

The whole ordeal with the Prototype cards drew me back into E4 (been out for a while) and allowed me to regain perspective, even though I luckily am personally not affected. I’ve been interested in owning a Grand Party in PSA 10 for a few years now. I always found the card intriguing, but never did go through with purchasing one. I was lucky enough to come across one being listed locally in my country.

Seeing this card again was the wake-up moment that I needed to cut through the noise as others have called it, not give in to the hype and FOMO that made me almost spend 1500 on a card being actively printed, and realize that this exact 1500 would get me that Grand Party.

So now I own a PSA 10 Grand Party I wanted for a while, I love looking at it, and I’ve effectively decided to step back entirely from chasing the latest things releasing. This may very well be one of my only Pokémon purchases for the remainder of 2025, and I’d be totally content with that.