021 Questions with Brittany

Small Profile/Bio

Brittany Vincent, known primarily through her pen name Molotov Cupcake, is a proud gamer of 18 years and counting. Yes, even in her old age when society dictates she should be lounging in a lawn chair and carrying a Vera Bradley purse, she’ll still be pulling all-nighters, controller tightly in hand. When her bank account, eyes, and social life aren’t suffering from grueling hours of sweaty-palmed gaming and feverish scribbling, she may be found in the wild viewing anime or poring through manga, mingling in online forums, and working to hone her craft. Simple sleep or paralysis is not enough to catch her, though. No, a Master Ball may be in order. Until her dying breath she’ll be wielding a BFG made entirely of killer drive and ambition…to someday become an honest-to-User member of the video game press, while stamping out stereotypes and passing on the ridiculosity of console, exclusive, and gender wars. So, are you ready? Game on — no button mashing allowed.

Name: Brittany

Current City Living in: Louisville

Website: http://ludicrousgibs.com , http://pfhorthewin.com

Twitter name: @MolotovCupcake

Age: 21

1. What made you start collecting?

I'm a gamer. I want to experience every title out there for myself, at least once. So I take it upon myself to find rarities, to seek out the games I want to play (and even the ones I don't), and to add them to my sizeable little cache.

2. How long have you collected for?

All my life. I've had some road bumps here and there, like my parents' decision to sell off my NES, Genesis, and SNES earlier in life, but I've purchased them again and got back on track. I'll always miss that CD-i though. Didn't purchase that again yet. Need to find a decently-priced one.

3. Do you have any support? (Emotional only i.e. Friends, Family, etc.)

Most fellow gamers support my habit, except for a select few who ask why I need to keep so many titles on hand. My family simply doesn't understand my obsession with gaming, and I don't expect them to (save for my father.) My boyfriend is the one who's usually borrowing from my collection, so obviously he has no qualms with my hobby. But there are those who do. And I can't quite wrap my head around why. There's no reason to be jealous of the fact that I simply spend my money on what I find valuable and entertaining. If you want to amass a collection of games, that's your prerogative. Do it for yourself and do it by yourself if your support system balks at what makes you happy.

4. What is your definition of retro?

Before I ever came into existence. Before Pong. When you needed a supercomputer to play a game of tic-tac-toe with you. Now that's retro. And things I will never get my hands on. But I can appreciate them.

5. What is your favorite system? Of all time?

I don't have one. I love and appreciate all of them equally. I don't play favorites when it comes to gaming. I've loved more than a few titles spanning different systems, so to herald one above the others would be silly.

6. Do you collect imports?

I wasn't able to play them for the longest time, so I've only recently started getting into imports. My most recent acquisition was ParaParaParadise for the PlayStation 2.

7. What is one system you'll never see yourself collecting?

None of them, unless I can't get my hands on them. If it's a game, I want it. Somehow.

8. What is the one thing you want to get to add to your collection?

A CD-i to replace the one I lost in my childhood. I just want to play some Mystic Midway, and not on the PC. Why hasn't there been a Wii port yet?

9. What was the last thing you added to your collection?

Nothing special. Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies, which I paid too much for but am a huge Dragon Quest fan so didn't care.

10. Do you ever play your games?

Obviously. I wouldn't find much use in keeping them around if I didn't play them. I don't believe in keeping them in packaging or boxes because I collect games to play them. I want to test everything. I want to complete as many games as I can before I die. So anything I buy goes straight into the system at some point or another.

11. What do you consider yourself more? Gamer or Collector?

A healthy mix of both, but I collect to game.

12. Where do you shop, online or local stores?

Both. It depends on what I need to find. For import games, I shop online. I like to troll bargain bins as often as I can, though, or stores like Big Lots for the really cheapie games.

13. What conditions do you look for?

I'd prefer to have near-mint or great condition, but if I find a game I want to play that's at a reasonable price, I don't care what condition I get it in. I can always replace it with a better one later on in life

14. What do you prefer, cart or disc?

Cartridges for collecting because they're not going to be scratched by obnoxious children or friends who don't know which side of the disc to hold. Thankfully I'm never having children so I can collect discs freely, but it's still a consideration.

15. Will you ever stop collecting?

Never.

16. Other than actual games, do you collect anything game related?

Swag, action figures, tattoos, T-shirts, magazines, comics, keychains, lanyards, posters...you name it. If it's related to gaming, I want it in my possession. I may not be able to afford all of what I want or kiss up enough to receive all the free limited-edition goodies some of my peers do, but I'm happy with what I have and the money I spent to obtain it.

17. Do you have your collection on display or in storage?

It's scattered about my room, in cabinets, in drawers, on top of my television, and in storage. When I have a house of my own I hope to have it laid out much more attractively. This just isn't working out.

18. What is your emotional possession?

Probably the yellow Persona 4 t-shirt my boyfriend gave me as a surprise. I was going through a rough patch and the sunny yellow coupled with such a great game really made me smile. Plus, hey, he thought of me.

19. What is your prized possession?

All of it. I mean this.

20. Will you ever sell your collection?

Never. And none of this "leaving it to my children" nonsense. I'm childfree, so that's not gonna happen. Children aren't deserving of such a great honor! -laughs- I'm building a list in my head of who to pass it down to when I'm gone, and only those near and dear to me are eligible. So maybe you should start trying to get on my good side now rather than when I'm an old granny and we're playing Dante's Inferno 4.

21. Is there anything you would like to add or let the readers out there know?

There are plenty female collectors and gamers out there. It's really silly to think otherwise. You may not see it in your immediate vicinity or even in your favorite online community, but I promise you that the mindset that women don't collect games is extremely outdated. I'm not special. The rest of the girls in these interviews aren't special. Well, we're all special in our own way. But not because we happen to possess fallopian tubes. Because we are dedicated to racking up all that we can in the gaming world to sate our appetites. And I think that's something all gamers can take a minute to appreciate: a hefty pile of gaming goodness, whether it's owned by a man, a woman, or anyone in between.