In some cases people can even admit it. I know people who collect guitars. I know people who trade guitars. Both of the above can generally pick out a tune or two, but will admit they are not good.
I lust over a lot of gear (not guitar gear, but gear), but I keep telling myself that my goal is to play, and so I focus more on what I already have than the next gadget even though sometimes it really is my bad instrument that is the problem. Sadly, despite the above, I'm not any better than the other two groups (even when my equipment is a problem, better wouldn't help much since I'm still a large part of the problem)
