Barnes on Games #9 - Marie Kondo Is Right About Your Game Collection

I used to be a book guy.

I had tons of them. I loved to look at them. I loved having them on my shelves. I treated them as reflections of my interests as well as trophies, like a big game hunter showing off his kills.

But after a while, I started to noticed how much more my "to read" pile outnumbered my "have read" pile. I had an epiphany when I realized I had started to think of owning a book being the same as having read a book. That was a real eye-opener about myself, and I purged a lot of books with no regrets. It was about a year later that I came across Kondo's book, and so my mind was perfectly receptive to her philosophy of tidying up.

I still struggle with my collector tendencies in many aspects of my life, but because of my book experience, I at least understand myself and the benefits of her method. Right now, I probably own less than 40 books, and about a third are in the "read and then get rid of" pile. I still value books, but now I use the library; hit thrift stores (and quickly donate them back), or just give good books away to friends I think will enjoy them. It feels pretty great.

I'm hopeful that in the next year or so I will come to that same mindset regarding my games, but I'm not quite there yet.

I had a similar problem in that I actually read all of mine, but I kept lugging them around with me from place to place with the idea that I might read them again and that it was impressive to have that many. I've determined now that this will be the last place. I'm never going to re-read them, especially since I can now have a new book on my phone inside of 10 seconds. There are seven full bookshelves in the house with my books on them. I brought them with me this last time because I thought my girlfriend's kids might be interested in some of them. They are not. So, before we move again, they will be sold or donated.

SuperflyTNT wrote: When the dude opened I dontated to him, and I told him I’d do a “designer day” where I’d teach people Flix (or other games) if he wanted.

That never came to pass but I love the idea of giving up my games so that everyone at the store can play them. Just keep your hands off of my guitars

I think's that awesome that you donated games there just so people can play them. I could see myself donating games that I rarely play anymore. But the idea of donating my favorites (or even ones that I just like to play once in a while) causes me pain. I have seen clubs, meet-ups, and game shops come and go over the years, so I just know that my donated games would eventually drop out of sight, never to be seen again.

“My hope for you: I hope your consumer products do not spark joy. Joy doesn’t come from a dress or any other object. It comes from being whole, from having deep connections with living beings, hard work that inspires you, artistic or philosophical revelations. Joy contains grief.

Kondo’s method will leave you deadened. There you’ll be: surrounded by all your beautiful carefully chosen products, with no more empathy than when you started. Meanwhile, outside your silent apartment, people suffer and the Earth dies all around—all the fish, all the frogs, all the elephants, and birds. Millions of people are locked in concrete warehouses on barren landscapes and left there. The world is warming by degrees. But joyful you! You are looking into your trim closet. One word pounds in your tidy mind like a heartbeat. Mine, mine, mine, mine, mine.“

From Deb Olin Unferth’s “The Tidying Up of the American Mind.” tinhouse.com/the-tidying-up-of-the-ameri...H1-t0KgWsh5M5CCF3NeU

@GorillaGrody - Ms. Unferth really doesn't like this whole KonMari thing.

While I appreciate an environmentally conscious message I think that reaction is a bit misplaced. Culling aggressively does not affect your impact any more than refusing to do so. If anything it may lead to more selective purchases in the future, which does in fact improve impact. Marketing her method as "tidying up" makes it approachable to new audiences, hence her success. Would Deb have preferred she made it inaccessible to general audiences?

A bit of short term materialism for even a little long term positive impact and general mood improvement of the people around me is totally worth it in my view.

As a software developer, I can tell you that a) inanimate objects have souls, and b) they seldom love their owners. 'Fighting me at every turn' is more accurate.

I have no idea who Unferth is, but if that snippet is representative of their work... I'll pass on the maudlin goth teenager analysis of everything through the lens of "the world is falling apart, war is horrible, blah blah blah" where every positive consumer act is set in some outraged zero sum game that implies we're ignoring or palliating ourselves in some other sphere. Sorry, but shit's complicated and that kind of dismissive rambling sounds immature and idealistic. At least Kondo sounds like a fucking adult.

Frohike wrote: I have no idea who Unferth is, but if that snippet is representative of their work... I'll pass on the maudlin goth teenager analysis of everything through the lens of "the world is falling apart, war is horrible, blah blah blah" where every positive consumer act is set in some outraged zero sum game that implies we're ignoring or palliating ourselves in some other sphere. Sorry, but shit's complicated and that kind of dismissive rambling sounds immature and idealistic. At least Kondo sounds like a fucking adult.

There is a link to the complete, more nuanced peice.

It’s harder to get at what bugs people about Kondo, as she’s right for the most part about stuff, and the relationship of stuff to unhappiness. The difficulty is that it does not address the problem of stuff systematically. Because we know, in our hearts, that if the Kondo method were applied systematically, capitalism would collapse and require a replacement. But it’s okay, says Kondo, as long as rich people do it.

Unferth took a winding path toward this realization, but gets there eventually.

Here’s another not-bad take on Kondo. www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archiv...nial-burnout/580753/

GorillaGrody wrote: Unferth took a winding path toward this realization, but gets there eventually.

This was what I was trying to get at above. I don't think she gets there particularly well, or even in one piece. Unferth talks about how Kondo's method is a poor substitute for systemic change but fails to grasp the point of it in the first place. Kondo isn't offering anything outside of some personal happiness tips. It's non-revolutionary by design.

Kondo's message is just "clean your room bucko", only marketed for normal people. It's not a manifesto.

I think people tend to react to it like a manifesto mostly due to being triggered by hashtag adoption. That instantly sets off academic neurons, free association, and generational malaise. There's nothing wrong with that, but it helps to take step back and get some perspective on what you're analyzing (& to realize when you've gone into rant territory).

Don’t over complicate it. Some people just can’t handle being told that things they bought, things they insist on possessing, are garbage. It’s like how people react to negative board game reviews.

The idea that “ if people stopped consuming as much, capitalism would die and need replacement “ is beyond absurd.

Capitalism and abject poverty can coexist, does, and always has. Capitalism is just a way to describe normal human transactions when people are left to their own devices.

GorillaGrody wrote: Here’s another not-bad take on Kondo. www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archiv...nial-burnout/580753/

I'm partial to this one:
http://www.pointsincase.com/articles/im-marie-fucking-kondo-and-you-can-keep-all-your-fucking-books-you-ingrates