Posted By
JamesC
on 2005-12-27
17:41:44
|  Re: Software Rarity
Csabo, I mentioned the possibility of using the "Commercial" flag to allow rarity ratings. This was an alternate idea to your redesigning the database, not a feature of a new database.
Since the "Commercial" flag follows the release, and we currently have a seperate (but linkable) entry for each release in the database, this would be easier to impelment than converting the existing database to a new one.
Also, as I said before, different rarities exist for different releases of the same software.... so the rarity rating would still follow the release, not the software. I forsee someone trying to establish that a certain cover is more rare than another, so I still feel that using a cover as a rarity rating "key" (Cover A with white-on-black is rarer than Cover B with yellow-on-black, for example) is feasible.
But yes, the untimate rarity rating would be on the software itself. Let's take Questprobe: The Hulk for example. This title would be Very Rare for a Commodore diskette release (as we do know that it does exist), yet rated Common in the Adventure International cassette release that has a yellow sticker on the box. There may be a different box found in the future that has the computer model printed right on the box (not a sticker) that could also be rated Very Rare.... so for Hulk, we would need to take into account the software itself as Common, but the packaging and format as Very Rare or Common.
I also collect Matchbox miniature cars, and own an older copy of a rarity/pricing guide for them. To me, the Volkswagen Beetle Concept is the same vehicle no matter what color Mattel paints it.... but to other collectors a blue one is different from a yellow one, the spokes on the wheels make a difference, the color of the plastic used for the windows makes a difference.
Compared to miniature cars, sorting out Plus/4 software is a piece of cake. 
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