Hoarding

[passiflora]

Are you a hoarder, or do you like to keep your Safety Deposit Box neat and tidy? If you like to hoard items, why?

 

 

I've never been a hoarder, first of all because I'm a neat freak, and secondly because people always talk about discarding items being beneficial for opening up server space for TNT (I've heard it speculated that this was the reason for the rubbish avatar and the events to get rid of junk items). But has TNT ever come out and said that this is the reason they run these events? Is discarding items actually helpful to them?

 

The reason I ask is that recent events like the Coincidence and Charity Corner have made me re-consider hoarding items. However, this seems to be counterintuitive if I want to be helpful re: server space. What to do?! :sad01_anim:

[Spritzie]

I'm a bit of both. When it comes to things I like, I hold onto them. I also tend to throw most things in my SDB and occasionally go through and clear out what I don't want.

TNT did state that the rubbish avatar helped clear up space:

Can you ask the Database Myncis (if you dare) what kind of impact this database purge, er-- new Rubbish avatar has had on your databases? I am just curious from a DBA perspective and would like to see some of the numbers that have come up; e.g., the number of items discarded, number of items per hour discarded, and so on. Thanks. ~big_goose

While the Meepits have forbidden us from giving any exact numbers, we can say that it does help out our database a bit, and that several million items have already been discarded. Yay for a cleaner Neopia!

Also, I think the rubbish avatar was a step in the right direction for what TNT seemed to want, which was ridding Neopia of a bunch of useless junk. You discarded what you wanted, whether it was actually junk or not. These events with specific items being required, whether they were originally junk items or not, cause people to take advantage of the fact that people need/want them for the rewards given, and push the prices up.

Like you mention, that's backfiring because it seems like more people think they'll just hold onto everything because they never know when it might be required. I know there were quite a few requested items for the charity event that I'd sold because I didn't like them or have a need for them.

[Various]

I'm quite a bit of a hoarder. Pretty much everything goes into my SDB. But about a fortnight ago I decided to start clearing it out and discarded a couple of hundred items that I had multiple copies of (but still leaving 1 of each item in my SDB just because). I didn't know about the Charity Corner event at that time. I ended up discarding/donating about 60 things (only about 5 actual items but I had masses of each) that due to the CC were UB on some days. I know I had over 20 of the turkeys. Plus I donated masses of r90+ plushies (and other plushies, but loads of 90+ ones ).

Then two days later I looked at the CC threads on here and realised what an utter idiot I was.

 

So forget about clearing server space. I chucked out about 10 million worth of stuff from my SDB. Never discarding/donating anything ever again.

[Lia Seeya]

I am absolutely a hoarder. I tend to just chuck everything in my SDB when I go over 50 items.

 

I do sometimes throw things in my shop. This is usually me picking one category to clean out. It doesn't really make a dent in my SDB though. :P

[Nimphal]

My SDB is strictly for function, as in, it keep things I want safe. It has a good chunk of items such as codestones, PBs, stamps, books, stuff that I know I will sell at some point, but can't be bothered right now. It does not contain any junk or anything cheap. Of course, when events such as CC come about (which seems to be often nowadays), I'm completely unprepared. I don't really mind, to be honest, a lot of parts of Neopia require solid dedication, which I simply cannot give. Another avatar down the drain is hardly worth crying over.

[Scoobert_Doo]

I tend to hoard, especially more so since the "Coincidence" and new "Charity Corner" event. I'm not good at knowing what items are rare or not, so I put in my SDB to figure that out later. Truth be told, I usually forget about looking it up. I am trying to get the "Rubbish" avatar, so I will throw out common items, like "Rotten Left Shoe", or something I know I can easily get more of, just in case, but will tend to keep/store the more uncommon ones.

 

If TNT is wanting to clear server space, it seems having events like the "Coincidence" and the "Charity Corner" counter-act that. So called "junk" items get inflated for those that don't have them, and people that have them will keep them in hopes of making a profit. The "Coincidence" is an example of that. As for the "Charity Corner", people who do not have the items or a lot of NP may end giving up on the event because of the inflation even if an avatar is the prize. It is hard to have a spirit of "charity" in that case. Unfortunately, I do not have a good solution for clearing server space, if TNT keeps having events like these.

 

As far as wanting to be helpful to clear server space, there is only so much you can do. I guess you have to balance out items with how much NP you have. If, for example, you have 1 billion NP, and can easily make it back, then an event like "Charity Corner" may not effect you, if you throw away "junk" items. But, if you only have 1 million NP, and don't have the time or resources to make it back, and an event like "Charity Corner" would drain your account, then you may reconsider keeping those "junk" items. Can't encourage people to clear space, if you are going to later have an event that "encourages" the use of "junk" items, and I wouldn't think of anyone as an "unhelpful" Neopian for that. Just my opinion.

[Kute]

I throw everything in my SDB then like in 8 months or a year I'll go through it and price check stuff. I just found something worth 5MIL i didnt know I had.

[leverhelven]

 

Like you mention, that's backfiring because it seems like more people think they'll just hold onto everything because they never know when it might be required. I know there were quite a few requested items for the charity event that I'd sold because I didn't like them or have a need for them.

 

THIS! That's the reason I hated both events. Not only do people get advantage of the situation in order to profit with junk, I've seen lots of people who usually discarded items start hoarding them in hopes for a similar event. Yikes, TNT.

 

Anyways, I used to be a huuuuge hoarder. I spent more than half of my Neo-life depositing everything. Then I tried for the Rubbish avatar (and got it), and it kinda gave me the habit of just discarding junk.

 

I like to think that I'm helping the systems a teensy bit - much like when someone throws the trash in the trash can instead of throwing it on the pavement, even though everyone is doing it :P

[deboratibi]

Are you a hoarder, or do you like to keep your Safety Deposit Box neat and tidy? If you like to hoard items, why?

 

 

I've never been a hoarder, first of all because I'm a neat freak, and secondly because people always talk about discarding items being beneficial for opening up server space for TNT (I've heard it speculated that this was the reason for the rubbish avatar and the events to get rid of junk items). But has TNT ever come out and said that this is the reason they run these events? Is discarding items actually helpful to them?

 

The reason I ask is that recent events like the Coincidence and Charity Corner have made me re-consider hoarding items. However, this seems to be counterintuitive if I want to be helpful re: server space. What to do?! :sad01_anim:

 

This is exactly my case... I liked keeping my SDB clean and I liked being helpful. But now I've decided to start hoarding. I should've started right after the Coincidence, but I figured there wouldn't be another event like that. I was wrong, and I don't want to be wrong again. I will never discard so much as a single rotten shoe from now on.

[Aquamentis12]

I'm pretty much a hoarder, but I come by it honestly. My Dad was a hoarder, his mom was a hoarder, and so on. LOL

 

For me the mentality is, "will this item EVER become useful?" Most of them? Nah. But once in awhile, yes. I agree with the original posting, the price inflating in the user-shops has been pretty nuts lately. Now, if TNT did something like an item-buyback thing. Where we could get maybe a pittance of NP in exchange for turning in some items. Maybe working up to the level of receiving an avatar for turning in a certain amount of items, or a certain number of times? And the items that could be turned in could be anything, the junk items would probably even make a profit, if the items were valued at 1np in the usershops. lol Maybe get 2np per? But maybe have a rarity setting so that people who are already super rich, couldn't hoard and turn some of a rare item in, thus removing from circulation, items of a certain rarity value. Which would just make whichever ones they held onto more valuable/profitable. Gotta think things through like that. ;)

 

Anyway, I don't usually buy up a ton of items for investment, maybe a couple of one thing now and then. But nothing's really gotten what I'd call valuable yet. One thing that's always bugged me is people buying up a ton of codestones to inflate the price and then make a killing in the player markets. Of course I needed them for training. Now, thanks to the Battledome Prizes, I don't have to worry too much about inflating prices. I can just battle until I get the one I need, even if it takes a few days/weeks. lol And there are other training methods to use in the meantime. :) But when I was first starting out? Oh man was the codestone inflation during wars INSANE and just a pain in the bank! Red stone prices are rather annoying like that now, what with so many people destabilizing THAT market by speed-leveling from maybe the 3 or 4 regular codestone level, to the red stone level. But with enough regular codestones, you can turn I think it's 10 random stones in at the Mystery Island Volcano and get 1 random red stone. Not really worth it imho, but it still exists from the days when the red stones first came out and were completely unbuyable. ;) So comparatively (to back then) the red stone prices aren't TERRIBLE, but they're still higher than they were before the speed-leveling "strategy" came out.

[Lia Seeya]

I just found something worth 5MIL i didnt know I had.

 

One of the things that I'm crossing my fingers for when I do my SDB-cleaning. I've never found anything worth 5mil, but I did find something to help me pad my bank account. It's like finding some money in an old winter coat, I love it!

[tk421beth]

I put almost everything into my SDB. A few times a year, I will put items in my shop. I was glad I had almost everything I needed for the Charity Corner.

[Shane for Wax]

I'm a hoarder *stares at siggy* tho I'm working on cleaning out my SDB for the new year. I plan on getting rid of a lot of the junk items via discard (cause avatar) because I can't see TNT doing another Charity Corner type thing where hoarders win. Of course I may eat my words in years to come.

 

As an aside, there's some stuff in my SDB that are worth a lot more than I thought they would be. And there are also a lot of advent items I could've sworn I had kept but they're cheap so if I like a certain advent item I'll buy it probably.

[laceew45]

I hoard.. I cleaned out my SDB in November trying to get the avatar (I never got it..) and I instantly regretted it when the Charity Corner happened because I knew I would have had some of that stuff but instead I had to go buy them..

 

But in real life, I also hoard.. So.. It's just who I am, I guess. lol

 

I think you would benefit either way...

[SillySilenia]

I hoard, though mostly just items I am granted through BD, dailies, REs etc. that are either useful or not worth selling. I rarely buy items for the sake of hoarding them in my SDB with exception of those I figure I'll need at some point (such as a bunch of cures and a handful of healing potions, some wearables, etc.).

[pinkmanwhite]

I'm working to get the SDB pack rat avy now, so if I see I have items in my inventory i just throw them to my SDB, but after that I'll try to clean it out and sell some stuff or hoard to get the rubbish avy and then just use it as what it is, a Safe Deposit Box. I also tend to cling to stuff lol so I don't want to lose my codestones or things I find valuable.

[xkittyxxx]

I hoard... It's easier to just chuck everything in my SDB rather than sort it out when I first get it.

It also gives the prices chance to inflate sometimes ;)

I do have occasional clearouts though, which is pretty good fun too :)

[ajonzy]

I've hoarded ever since day one... You just never know which items you're going to suddenly need or which are going to suddenly skyrocket in price (like during the charity event).

[siniri]

I'm not a "hoarder" (i.e., I don't have a mental illness making me overly attached to things...), but I do hold on to anything worth very little on Neopets. We have an infinite SDB that costs nothing to me, so I just put anything in there worth less than 100 NP (or actually, just about everything since I'm too lazy to price and sell things, and I'm really just going through the motions on Neopets nowadays -- dailies, Food Club, empty inventory once it's overflowing, rinse, repeat). When the items inflate, I'll sell them at the inflated prices. If they never inflate? Well, it's not costing me anything.

 

It's come in handy a few times: KQ seasonal prizes, Faerie Festivals, plots (especially healing items, codestones, and weapons), Coincidence, and now Charity Corner. So until TNT associates some cost with my behavior, I'll continue "hoarding." When they keep rewarding it, it just encourages me to hoard even more things.

[teeniem55]

I have no rhyme or reason for my SDB. I usually just sell everything I get. Certain things I hang on to like the prizes from the Advent and special site give aways. I like to hold on to them for a bit then see if they're worth more np's later on down the line.

[Batman]

I have always been a hoarder. I don't sell most things because I am to lazy to price things out. I have tried to go through it a couple of times to clean it out but it I never get very far.

 

Items: 3,525 | Qty: 16,040

[nicolelouise]

Hmm, so far people seem fairly evenly split between: A) I've always hoarded because it's just who I am in life and you never know when something's going to be useful or (or worth more than it once was), B) I chuck everything in the SDB intending to get to it someday but in reality I'm too lazy to bother, C) I wasn't a hoarder before but these events requiring 'stuff' are making me now hold onto 'stuff', D) I have a strategy and a plan with my SDB, E) I like to keep my stuff safe - after all it's a SAFETY deposit box.

 

I'm not sure where I fit into that. I'm a hoarder in RL. I do throw things in my SDB just because I never know if I might need it or if it might increase in value. I do have things in there that I've not bothered following up, but I also do hunt through it to refill my shop and some things never make it into my SDB, they just go straight into my shop. These events are definitely making me think twice about everything I put up for sale in my shop. I don't have a plan or strategy with my SDB though. And I do like to keep my stuff safe, so...

 

I'm A), B), C) and E).

 

And I just want to reiterate what everyone else is saying in that IF these events are supposed to be attempts at getting people to clear out excess stuff to help the servers, then they're doing a lousy job long term. A mass dump of items might help briefly but not for long. It's the old 'fence at the top of the cliff vs the ambulance down in the valley' scenario. And if you don't know the poem I'm referring to, here's a link:

http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-ambulance-down-in-the-valley/

 

Having said that, I don't know what the solution is, although I like the idea that if people had to pay for SDB space, they might be more choosy about what they put in there. Even if I wouldn't like paying. And would wither away with indecision about what I might put into it.

[lotr_rox]

I used to only put things in there that I really wanted to hold on to (or collected), and put everything else in my shop.... thanks to these events, however, I now put every single item I get, whether I already have it or not, in my SDB. I'm going to be doing this for a while, I think.

 

Before, I never would have thought about putting a pile of dung in my SDB ... but I now have 6 in there lol

[frozenpancakes]

I tend to only keep one of each item in my SDB. I don't know if that will change after I reach my goal of 1 million, right now I'm selling anything I can so that I can reach that goal. Maybe after I get there then I'll become a hoarder :laughingsmiley:

[Guest JussttBre]

I use to be the biggest hoarder but now I'm trying to clean out my SDB. If I can use an item for something useful I keep it, or if I just really like an item I'll store it. Everything else gets sold.