SparkStormrider wrote:
Personally I don't think it really matters whither or not Gamestop employees are gamers. Now before I get bashed here let me be clear, I think that the employees should know the products in which they are selling.
In other words if you don't play games, fine, but you better know about these gaming consoles, PC games, and understand all the components and everything that goes with them. If I were a manager I would need to have sales people competent in the products that I am selling, whither that's video games television sets, or car tires.
I know plenty of people who are in the computer industry that don't have computers at home or have a very basic computer, or take a laptop home from work for remote access and that's the only PC they have. One of the reasons for this, is that they deal with these systems all day, and the last thing that they want to do is mess with them when they get home.
So I am ok with someone that doesn't play video games that works at Gamestop, so long that they know about them enough to sell them at the store. If they don't, then it's the manager's fault for not training for their employees. I will admit, it is easier to hire gamers since they already know a great deal, and training time is greatly reduced regarding product familiarity.
You make a good point. I hadn't thought about it, but I guess there are two types of knowledge that clerks could have. The first is what you describe, which is technical knowledge. This is info about how systems are configured, various requirements for operation, etc. You are right that this is critical info for them to have AND that this can be taught.
The second kind of knowledge is much more subjective and concerns the games themselves. This would be questions about whether a particular game is any good, or if I like game 'x' will I like game 'y.' It would be impossible for anybody but the most dedicated gamer to be familiar enough with all of the various systems and games to offer meaningful answers to all of the possible questions. This is why so many of us turn to the internet to get a sense of what a game will be like before we buy. Most of us have our favorite source for online info that we trust to provide the subjective knowledge.
SparkStormrider, you have changed my opinion on this subject. While it might be nice to have a die hard gamer working at your local game store, it is certainly not necessary.
This reply was likely intended for a different thread.
