Selling an original version of DOOM on 3.5" floppy

[daza]

I have an original copy of DOOM for the PC on four 3.5" floppy discs on eBay just incase anyone is interested. The box is in very good condition with only minor wear around the opening edges. It includes the instruction manual which is in fair condition but does have a crease on the back page.

 

The four floppy discs all look to be in perfect condition and worked fine the last time they were used, but that was about fifteen years ago. I don't have any computers with floppy disc drives in them so there is no way for me to test these discs. Just to be clear these are being sold UNTESTED.

 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/222831710738?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1558.l2649

[Woolie Wool]

It's depressing how much these go for on eBay. I'll never afford a copy.

[daza]

I just saw one sell for £160 and thought, DAMN I have one of those in my cupboard. 

[Linguica]

If I might ask, what is with the bar code sticker on the back? My impression was that the original Doom box was only sold through mail order, not at retail.

[Nevander]

Would you actually use the floppies if you bought this though? Because I wouldn't, I'd keep them purely for novelty. One day I'd love to buy a copy of the original games, since I stupidly didn't care when I was younger.

[Woolie Wool]

Of course I would. Who doesn't like the satisfying click of a 3.5" floppy seating in the drive?

[Lila Feuer]

57 minutes ago, Woolie Wool said:

Of course I would. Who doesn't like the satisfying click of a 3.5" floppy seating in the drive?

[seed]

7 hours ago, Nevander said:

Would you actually use the floppies if you bought this though? Because I wouldn't

Me neither, and most probably wouldn't either, unless they have a retro machine or something to use them.

 

Great to have the games in your collection for their value but that's about it, for me anyway.

[Woolie Wool]

I think if you buy something like this and don't install from it, you're a dick. Things like this deserve to be used. It's like those rich bastards who collect 40 supercars that they never drive.

[boris]

17 minutes ago, Woolie Wool said:

I think if you buy something like this and don't install from it, you're a dick. Things like this deserve to be used. It's like those rich bastards who collect 40 supercars that they never drive.

Supercars usually don't have a chance to disintegrate on intended use.

[Woolie Wool]

7 minutes ago, boris said:

Supercars usually don't have a chance to disintegrate on intended use.

Sure they do.

 

Mandatory listening for that article:

 

[chungy]

3 hours ago, Woolie Wool said:

I think if you buy something like this and don't install from it, you're a dick. Things like this deserve to be used. It's like those rich bastards who collect 40 supercars that they never drive.

Given that Doom is being sold on Steam and GOG (for much cheaper than these disks cost!), buying this particular copy of Doom on floppies can't possibly deprive anybody else of the game. Even if you really just want to experience Doom in its version 1.1 glory, there's various ways get there from Ultimate Doom.

 

I know if I could afford to, I'd buy these floppies for the intent of collection rather than using the disks, and I'd have zero qualms about doing so.

[Lila Feuer]

4 hours ago, Woolie Wool said:

I think if you buy something like this and don't install from it, you're a dick. Things like this deserve to be used.

That's not how collecting and preserving things work.

[Linguica]

Considering that the IWAD you would salvage from the floppies is supposed to be bit for bit identical to the one on Steam, and the drive controller doesn't know or care what it's writing, going to all that trouble just so that the bits you copy over are somehow "special" seems like kind of a lot of work for not much gain.

[Percival232]

Do you ship to the US?

[Woolie Wool]

39 minutes ago, Linguica said:

Considering that the IWAD you would salvage from the floppies is supposed to be bit for bit identical to the one on Steam, and the drive controller doesn't know or care what it's writing, going to all that trouble just so that the bits you copy over are somehow "special" seems like kind of a lot of work for not much gain.

I would want to open the box, read the manual (even though I know all the information contained within it), take out the disks, slide a 25-year-old floppy into place into a 20-year-old, recently unboxed floppy drive, type INSTALL in real mode DOS, watch the DEICE thing go on my 21" CRT, swap disks, run the extraction exe copied into C:\DOOM, run SETUP, configure my sound card and Roland SC-55, and then image the disks on my modern PC so if they ever fail they can be re-imaged. The entire experience of installing and setting up an MS-DOS game, with the DMA and IRQ referring to a real ISA card (which I have), exactly as it was done in the '90s. Steam will not give me the complete ritual. That, to me is the point of buying a boxed, preserved PC game. Not just to sit on a shelf.

[Lila Feuer]

Well that's all fine and dandy, if your aim is to not preserve it. A play copy and a museum copy, assuming you want to buy two of each thing you plan to play.

[geo]

Retro Youtubers will want it for their collection. Can't have a retro review show without hundreds of boxes in the background.

[ShoDemo]

Meanwhile, if I had the Ultimate Doom box (either the one with the poster or the one with the imp in the cover), I would be perfectly happy.

About older games though, if I have the correct hardware, be sure that I will play the games on it, at least once, before storing them somewhere on my desk.

[NoCaloriePepsi]

Very nice. I would if I could, but I don't have a couple hundred dollars just laying around.

[ReX]

6 hours ago, -[EVIL]- Pepsi said:

Very nice. I would if I could, but I don't have a couple hundred dollars just laying around.

I believe the starting bid was £0.99, which is around US$ $1.35. The bidding currently stands at £1.20, which is under US$ 1.70.

 

The seller has not indicated a willingness to ship to the USA, but shipping within the UK appears to be free. If you're willing to pay the shipping & handling to the US, your total price is likely to be well below "a couple hundred dollars".

 

However, I can't see this being a legitimate effort to sell the item, given that the P&P (Postage and Packaging) even within the UK will probably exceed £1.20, and won't be worth the seller's time & effort.

[Woolie Wool]

4 hours ago, ReX said:

I believe the starting bid was £0.99, which is around US$ $1.35. The bidding currently stands at £1.20, which is under US$ 1.70.

 

The seller has not indicated a willingness to ship to the USA, but shipping within the UK appears to be free. If you're willing to pay the shipping & handling to the US, your total price is likely to be well below "a couple hundred dollars".

 

However, I can't see this being a legitimate effort to sell the item, given that the P&P (Postage and Packaging) even within the UK will probably exceed £1.20, and won't be worth the seller's time & effort.

An auction like this will see its maximum bid inflate massively in the last few hours. Pristine boxed copies of registered Doom are worth hundreds of dollars.