The Collecting Effect (Featuring an Observant Example!)

Okay, without a doubt this has been studied and catalogued some 32 times, but I shall write about it anyways.

Why do people like collecting stuff? Is it the fact that having lots of stuff is cool, or maybe its peoples' love of filling up empty shelves with collectibles (that's a whole 'nother effect right there)? I don't know why people like collecting stuff, but I know why corporations like it: it's easy money. Time for an easy example: video games!

Case file located within a case wrapped in a case file hidden in a case: the legendary Team Fortress 2. In TF2, you have a little something called a backpack. In your backpack you can place weapons, powerups, but most importantly: hats. These hats do not affect gameplay in any way (note that, that's important. Seriously, you'll need that sentence later. Highlight your screen or something. I'm sure it'll wash off). Recently, the fine gents put two very important systems into place.

1. Trading: it's now possible to trade whatever's in your backback for the goods in somebody else's backpack. No harm done, right? Right. That was a rhetorical question.

B. or 2. Mann Co. Store: a store that sells virtual guns. And hats.

FLASHBACK: These hats donot affect gameplay in any way.

Yes, I just used the power of rainbow text to remind you that hats are useless. You can pay 7.49 real dollars for a fake hat.

Why would you do that? To have more hats than everybody else, of course? Why would you need more nonexistent hats?

I really don't know.

Feo

P.S.

The store has been put to good use, though. Valve (the gentlemen who own TF2) sold $20-100 hats to raise money for the Japan disaster. They raised over $1,400.