The Number: What Counts?
From
Spalls Hurgenson@
[email protected] to
comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action on Fri Apr 24 16:54:05 2026
From Newsgroup: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action
I'm often asked, "So how many video games do you own anyway?". It's a
question I am loathe to answer. Mostly because whatever answer I give,
it reflects an embarrassingly large amount of time and money spent on
a silly hobby. But also, I'm never quite sure if the answer I am
giving is entirely accurate. Because when it gets right down to it,
how many games I own can vary depending on how you define each game?
Now, in a simpler world I'd just go: "Oh, I own "Wolfenstein 3D" and
"Doom II" and "Mass Effect", going through each game one by one and incrementing the number by one for each title I list. But it's not
that simple, because I have been adding to the library for a long
time.
Like, take "Doom II", for example. I first purchased it in 1996, on
floppy disks. (Increment the number by 1!). Then I bought it again
when Id was offering it as a bundle on the Quake Shareware CD-ROM.
(How could I resist; all the Id games on one CD-ROM!). But does that
count as another game or not? And over the years, I also acquired it
again and again: on Steam, on GOG, as part of the Master Levels, the
2004 remaster. I even picked up the Gameboy Advance version. Do I
count each version as one extra copy or not? How many times do I get
to increment The Number upwards for "Doom II"? So here are some
considerations for counting. There is no right answer.
#
Does it count as one or more games if:
- you own the same game but on different media (e.g., floppy
and CD-ROM)?
- you own the same game on different media but they are
slightly different (e.g., the CD-ROM version has full-speech)?
- you own the same game but one is on physical media and the
other is a digital download (which themselves may or may
not have differences)?
- you own the original game and the GOTY version?
- you own the same game on different download platforms?
- you buy the game on one digital platform (e.g., Steam) but
it is linked (and shows up separately) on a second platform
(e.g., Ubisoft) and can play it on either?
- you own the game on multiple digital download platforms,
but one has all the DLC and the other doesn't?
- you own the same game for different platforms (but they are
functionally identical, barring platform specific changes, such
as options)?
- you own the same game for different platforms and there are
noticeable differences in gameplay or visuals?
- you own the same game, but one is the original release, and
the other is a remaster with updated QOL and visuals?
- you bought a compilation version which has multiple games
included (e.g., original "Command & Conquer" vs "Command
& Conquer 10th Anniversary" compilation set?
- you own the same game, but one version is more of a reboot?
- you bought one version of the game on physical media, but
then copied the game to image files and threw out the disks,
and then own it again (do I even own the originals at that
point)?
- do unregistered shareware games count, especially if they
are 'full' versions? (And it doesn't really apply to me,
what about pirated versions)?
- does DLC or do expansions count? What about fan-made
stand-alone mods or reboots?
#
These exceptions are just the tip of the iceberg. I'm sure you can
think of more. (And, btw, no moaning about whether you actually really
'own' or not. That's a distinction for a different thread ;-)
How many games do I own? Because of the above considerations, I have
no way of saying for sure... except to say it's a lot.
How do you count your games?
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