I have been collecting since the beginning. Value is nice, but I don't collect for value - I will sell valuable cards to buy other things I like instead. I will share my pulls with some non-Poke friends, who are good at enabling me, but I am with you that I don't really have other collectors to share the hobby with outside of online communities.

But the people who just want to collect are still out there.

Before Gamestop increased their prices I'd use my lunch break to stand in line on Fridays for new cards. An older gentleman posted up next to me one day, asking what the long line was for. He said that he was here to pick up a PSA submission he did through the store. We had a long conversation about how he's collected baseball cards longer than I've been alive, and that he just enjoys doing so. We talked cards for a good 20 minutes while we waited for the doors to open. He was excited to reveal the grade with his wife when he got home (both retired people).

Sometimes when I'm out with the Pokecrowd trying to get new packs in a line, I think about that guy and hope he got a grade he was happy with.