OXM Article on failure of faceplates

**gh0st_r1der** · 12-23-2010

I would side with Space on this thread.

They were my hobby, my source of joy.

Exactly, and to this point I can say people should approach investing with a passion of a hobby first and money making second

"Things" are always a poor investment if you're looking for a larger return later.

This should be the quote of the year ! (With permission of Space I would like to use it in conversations and I will credit him for it.)
With that quote you can explain the great fall of the american dream ... to own a home .... because all smart asses were saying that owning a home is an investment in the future ... please smack the next one saying it

**Symmetric-XBA** · 12-23-2010

"Things" are always a poor investment if you're looking for a larger return later.

This statement is complete lunacy unless you specifically name what the "thing" is. Example: faceplates? no the vast majority will not turn a profit in the long run, and you will not get a large return in the future. gold? yes you will get a larger return later.

Homes? It's called equity and yes it does provide larger returns in the future. The equity can be used to allow you oppertunities that may not have opened up to you because you didn't have any. As far as the general return of a house goes, you get a vast majority of your return, not because of the house, but because of the land and location. Remember what Lex Luthor said about land? "It's the one thing they don't make anymore of".

Bottom line, if you enjoy faceplates, go for it, but don't be shaking your head when you realize that the money you spent on that could have gone in other areas, and now you have none. If you're looking to turn a profit off your investments constantly, and make your money work for you, don't invest in a dying off piece of plastic, put that $ into things that will make you more $, then you will be in a comfortable situation to go ape $hit crazy with faceplates.

**Symmetric-XBA** · 12-23-2010

Originally Posted by SpaceGhost2K-XBA

You missed the point completely. They were never investments. They were my hobby, my source of joy. "Things" are always a poor investment if you're looking for a larger return later. Unless you're talking about gold, real estate or something like that. It is possible to invest in those and enjoy them as well, but most things that are enjoyed have to be considered "consumables." As they are enjoyed, their value goes down. Occasionally you'll luck out and be able to recoup, but you can't PLAN on that.

And I'm not the only one here. You went to PAX. If that's not "pissing money away" what is? Airfare and hotel and food and cabs so you could play games, talk to people, and then go home so you can tell people all about it. Might as well take a grand and throw it in the trash because you'll never recoup that money.

This whole part of your statment would be nice, if it were true. I didn't go to PAX, so no I didn't "piss money away". Maybe next time double check before you start making accusations about what someone did or did not do and go off on a story painting the wrong picture. Get your facts straight.

I did go to E3 as a rep. of XBA, and the reason I spent that money is because it granted me an oppertunity to see a side of the industry that I've always wanted to see. The reason as well that I went was b/c I could afford it, and it wouldn't break the bank in any way. Seriously Space man, you know from past personal experiences that I've helped you through, so please in the future before you start making claims without knowing the truth, just ask first.

**gh0st_r1der** · 12-23-2010

You did really missed the point

**SpaceGhost2K** · 12-23-2010

Re: Lex Luthor. They also don't make any more gold, or diamonds, or silver, or a lot of things. Silver, for example, was a good investment. Until people stopped using film for cameras, the #1 consumer of silver, and the price dropped to nothing.

You can invest in precious metals, or land. They don't generally go bad. Houses were thought to be good investments except for three things.

1) Your neighbor can build a house better than yours, meaning if you want to sells yours you'll sell it at a loss. Home builders can build hillsides and valleys full of homes and every one of them is going to compete with yours.

2) Buildings go bad. While their value goes up, their condition goes down and requires a constant reinvestment to maintain its value.

3) Economies go bad and your house may no longer demand the price you paid for it, and may never again as far as you know.

If you want to invest, invest in a company that is going to produce a product in the short term that will bring in money and provide you a return on your investment. Invest in your kids' education so that they will be able to be self-sufficient as adults and take care of you when you're unable to take care of yourself. Invest in your own improvement, through education and training. Invest in "things" only if those things can be used as tools to help you improve your station in life. Don't buy a new car because it's cool. Buy a new car because you need reliable transportation to work or because your family size has increased or because of safety.

I consider my faceplates a smart investment because they did provide a positive return on the investment. They provided me joy that I didn't have. the cost of that joy was the cost of the faceplates. I bought, sold, traded, custom made, made a name for myself, made some great friends, had articles published, been featured on major websites, started my own website, started and moderated forums, met some incredible people like Cliff Bleszinski, Peter Moore, Peter Molyneux, Tobonobu Itagaki, Hironobu Sakaguchi, Seth Killian, Major Nelson, Alex Kipman, Aaron Greenberg, Dan Paladin and countless others, compiled the definitive database for collectors for years to come. I've affected the industry by promoting faceplates. Do you know that Aksys profits as much as doubled on the Deathsmiles game because they put a faceplate in there that I helped them make happen?

If I took the whole collection and threw it in the garbage, it will would have been money well spent because none of that stuff would have happened without them. So what do I care if I get $5K or $10K or $20K for it somewhere down the road?

Money you spend on PAX or a big screen TV or beer isn't money wasted. It's money that has a positive return on its investment. That return just isn't a financial return. Going to PAX is fun, watching TV is cheaper than countless trips to a movie theater. Beer helps you forget the money you spent going to PAX.

I want to discuss one thing you said, and then I think I've made my point:

Me:"Things" are always a poor investment if you're looking for a larger return later.

This statement is complete lunacy unless you specifically name what the "thing" is. Example: faceplates? no the vast majority will not turn a profit in the long run, and you will not get a large return in the future. gold? yes you will get a larger return later.

I lol at your gold. The rule of thumb is this: One oz. of gold is usually the value of one really nice suit. If you bought an ounce of gold in the 70's for $100 and it's worth $1,000 now, did you really get a 1000% return on your investment if a suit in the 70's cost $100 and a suit now costs $1,000? No, you didn't. All you did was tie up the value of that gold for forty years. The relative value of gold depends on the relative value of the dollar, and the relative value of foreign currency. 90% of what I'm selling on eBay right now is going to foreign bidders, ya know why? Because when I sell it for $50, they're getting it for like $30 because the dollar is in the toilet. $30 of their dollars is worth $50 of my dollars. It seems like I'm doing well, btu I'm not. They're the ones making the killing.

Gold is really, really high right now. That's why we're looking around for gold to sell. Not buy. You think gold always goes up, you should buy a whole bunch of gold now and come back in a year and tell me how you did. If it was that easy, the whole world would be rich, right?

**SpaceGhost2K** · 12-23-2010

Yeah, I forgot, it was E3 not PAX. Not the point on which to discard the discussion.

The point remains, you went for fun. You spent money, and got fun as a return on your investment. It was a poor choice of investment if the goal was a financial return, but since it was some other kind of return, it was reasonable, if the cost = the fun. If the cost > the fun, then it wasn't. That's my problem with going to Disneyland. Cost > fun. FOR ME. If I was taking a kid, for the kid it's cost < fun because his cost is $0. It's all fun. Now if MY cost <= HIS fun, we go. If MY cost > HIS fun, we don't.

I've gone to every E3 since 2002 and every one I have looked at as a potential return on investment. I'm going to meet someone, make a network, a connection, get a heads up on a job somewhere, get hired, and all of those E3's will have paid for themselves. Eight years, that hasn't happened yet. Lot of stuff happened, and there are numerous returns that I got that make it money well spent, but those returns have not been financial ones. So from a financial sense, you, and I, pissed that money away.

**Symmetric-XBA** · 12-23-2010

Originally Posted by SpaceGhost2K-XBA

I lol at your gold. The rule of thumb is this: One oz. of gold is usually the value of one really nice suit. Gold is really, really high right now. That's why we're looking around for gold to sell. Not buy. You think gold always goes up, you should buy a whole bunch of gold now and come back in a year and tell me how you did. If it was that easy, the whole world would be rich, right?

First off Space, I'm the last person you want to debate financial economic investments of gold lol. I am invested in gold. Your "rule of thumb" is laughable logic from someone who is uneducated in gold. You laugh at my gold? Well that gold helped turn a dividend check to help you pay your car payment. The price of gold does fluctuate daily and it's constantly going up and down, but by fractions of a cent sometimes. Gold is something that has risen over %400 of value in the past decade, so naturally logic would say "BUY GOLD" instead of "looking for gold to sell". Before you start making smart a$$ comments about my financial investments. I can talk to you now if you want about it, I've been invested for over a year. It's phenominal when you use it as a hedge against your other investments, not to mention the falling price of the US dollar. Trust man, you want to talk about investments, I'll bring it, but yes I do invest in gold, you should try it sometime. Buy gold, don't sell it.

**SpaceGhost2K** · 12-23-2010

This wasn't intended to be a financial discussion and I like you and you have helped me out of binds so I'm not going to go at it or anything. I'm content to be done.

**Symmetric-XBA** · 12-23-2010

Originally Posted by SpaceGhost2K-XBA

This wasn't intended to be a financial discussion and I like you and you have helped me out of binds so I'm not going to go at it or anything. I'm content to be done.

as am I good sir!