5 replies to this topic

[Christophero Sly]

If Glacier Patrol and Universal Chaos are going to become 8's on the basis of their availability on ebay, then Espial needs to get similar treatment.

[Tempest]

There was a stash of Espials found a few years ago. I know that's why I have one NIB. Maybe that's why it's not an 8?

Tempest

[CPUWIZ]

Tempest, on Fri Jan 30, 2009 1:37 PM, said:

There was a stash of Espials found a few years ago. I know that's why I have one NIB. Maybe that's why it's not an 8?

Tempest

Yep, I remember that, I got one of them as well. The guy had quite a few, but they disappeared quickly, even at $50 a pop. Now Espial is really hard to get CIB.

[Christophero Sly]

Tempest, on Fri Jan 30, 2009 3:37 PM, said:

There was a stash of Espials found a few years ago. I know that's why I have one NIB. Maybe that's why it's not an 8?

Tempest

That gets to the heart of my complaint with the sudden and enormous increases in rarity designations for GP and, possibly, UC as well--that is, that availability on ebay does not equate to true rarity. Ebay auctions are not valid statistical samples. I don't believe relying on ebay availability runs the risk of underestimating rarity, but relying on ebay auctions to draw inferences about a true population size will almost certainly lead to an overestimation of rarity.

I'm not necessarily against increasing the rarity of GP or UC by four points, but I've got to hear a rationale for doing so that is more substantial than "I haven't seen the game on ebay for months".

For years, I haven't seen but a handful of Espials on ebay, but every time anyone suggests that its rarity needs to be increased, we hear something along the lines of, "Espial!?! Everybody has a NIB copy of Espial. It's not rare."

Edited by Christophero Sly, Fri Jan 30, 2009 3:56 PM.

[Red 5]

I don't have an Espial.

I missed the 'big find' of these.
I don't really give a crap that a bunch of collectors got them a few years ago.
Big deal. They are gone now. All gone. All gone means rare.
They weren't rare when they first came out and were in stores across north america either.
Using that rationale there would be no rare games because 'at some point in history they were
all easily obtainable.'
The point is, for the last 5 or 6 years I have not seen them anywhere.

[Christophero Sly]

therealred5, on Fri Jan 30, 2009 6:30 PM, said:

They weren't rare when they first came out and were in stores across north america either.
Using that rationale there would be no rare games because 'at some point in history they were
all easily obtainable.'

That's still saying that availability = rarity. If that's your point of view, I respect it, but I disagree.