Hmmm.....I guess I never thought about this, since I just display my dolls and never play with them.
We buy all the dolls needed for a set (I'm a 'full set' crazed collector), make their clothes, do their faces and wigs (or their hair if they're rooted), then take their photos for our site, and then put them all in a curio cabinet or display case.
Then I never touch them again. ^^;;
After that, it's on to the next set/series of dolls that we want to recreate/make!
We have many hundreds in all sizes, and have always had tons of dolls around since we were 4-5 years old.
Thinking about it, I wouldn't even consider parting with them, because they're mainly 3D interpretations of favorite anime/cartoon/comic characters or even actors we like and are fans of and not original characters or anything. So, they're like 'artwork,' just in 3-dimension for me that I like to display in my room. (Well, my sister considers her SD sized boys her friends, so she does play with them--particularly for 'Hey!x3')
But, I've never 'played' with my dolls. Even when I was little---I hardly ever took them out of their box and if I did---I'd just sit them in a doll house, or on a stand and never brush their hair, change their clothes or anything. ^^;; EEK....I guess I've always had that 'mint in box' mentality, even when I was 8 years old. ^^;;
My sister, on the other hand.....she brushed, cut, trimmed, dyed her dolls' hair, she made them jump and 'cartwheel' down the stairs until all her dolls had broken necks or legs, they all lost their original clothing and accessories, and she even brought them outside and went up trees with them, hung them in branches, lost them for awhile up in the trees or the barn, etc.
Her dolls were dirty, broken, decrepit, while mine were and are, pristine and 'minty' condition.
Despite this, she always said, and still says, that her dolls are happier because they were better loved.
My argument is that mine are 'happier' and also loved by way of not being abused, because they're in better condition and like new.
Then, she pulls out the Toy Story 2 analogy.