Novellion wrote:

 NuclearPenguins wrote:

 A Silent Chaos wrote:

All of the employees at the one here are gamers...

Same, plus it's not like it matters since I don't go to stores for gaming advice, and I don't go to Gamestops ever.

How do you know if you "don't go to Gamestops ever"?

Anymore.

---

Formerly Spartan12103
Beta tested: Halo 3, COD4, Battlefield: BC, Tom Clancy's EndWar, COD5, 1 v 100, numerous iPod apps

Here is my story.... I am a former 3 year manager of a 3 million dollar, 2500 square foot store (top 1 percentile in size and sales). I had an amazing store with an amazing staff and was there through the EB merger. I saw a dramatic change in policy and employees beginning with the merger. Upper management had some key people replaced with new employees that came from other retailers like Foot Locker and Radio Shack, which lead to some serious active recruiting within the 2 companies ranks to fill holes in GameStop. What ended up happening is the multi-unit managers that have control of a stores appearance and pretty much the over all vibe, never played a game in their life. What this did, was remove the core feeling of a GAME store and plug in the dry, no fun feeling of a store that sells something not associated with any form of entertainment. What followed next was this crazy new format of training. Employees weren't encouraged to play games, they were simply programmed to sell the company "discount card" (don't get me started on that one) and the featured titles of the week. This meant that even if a game was God awful, had the worst reviews, and the worst support... It was featured and pushed on a store wide level. Money talks... I also saw a trend of many employees being let go due to small policy violations (i.e. not filing papers in the exact order as outlined in the policy manual) before they reached their tenure (and stock options). The company has lost their street cred. It is a shame because the model was so strong in the beginning. All in all, I feel that it is an accurate statement to say that more than half of all GameStop employees do not play games regularly (many of which oversee multiple stores and districts... even full regions) This does make the shopping experience lame. I would rather save $8 per new title and buy it at Costco with no sales floor help, than be led astray by someone who is only pushing the title of the week. While I rant, it is very important to talk about how their used sales model has affected the industry at large.... A new $60, 360 game does not yield much profit at all for GameStop... only about $8 (before factoring the cost of warehousing, shipping, merchandising, payroll etc) if you can believe it. So it is obviously not the focus of the company to sell the new copy. The same game as a pre-owned title will yield about $30 profit. So it is obvious that pre-owned is the focus of the company to sell.... Now... Company X spends years of labor and millions of dollars to build and promote a game... all the way down to post release posters in the store window... all intended to sell their product. GameStop jumps in and uses Company X's marketing dollars to sell a used product that will never benefit the developer or publisher. Anyone see an issue with that? I may have 10 gamers come into the store that have purchased Halo 3 and played the heck out of it. However, only 2 of them have purchased it new. This means that Bungie and Microsoft only benefit from 20% of the games sold, while GameStop benefits from 100% of the games sold. The results of this are clear as video game sales volume soar through the roof, yet devs and pubs are closing and laying off tons of employees... It is a double edged sword for GameStop. They can sell and make huge profits, however it is causing a major backlash from the industry. My plead to you is to simply spend the extra $5 to buy the title new... this way the retailer, developer, and publisher get their fair share. If buying a title pre-owned is your ONLY option due to budget constraints... then please buy it from another gamer through the million websites out there that offer community classifieds or even Ebay. That way the money goes directly into the hands of a gamer, that can recycle it right back into the industry. If we love our games... we need to protect the industry. Of course out of print and rare games can not be purchased new, so through the community is the most viable option. My final thought lies in the age of digital distribution. If you want to support the gaming industry and not the retail industry.... This is the best way to do it. Cut out the middle man and get the funds directly to the people that matter... The people making these titles for us.. I hope many of you will embrace digi-distro and I look forward to hearing your feedback. Thanks for allowing me to have a wall sized rant, and kudos to anyone who made it to the bottom....

---

Daily gaming questions on Twitter
@ProudGamerTweet

 Diablosmatrix wrote:

 Mesmorino wrote:

 DSight wrote:

Diablo just posts the opposite of whatever anyone else is posting.

If you like Xbox, he doesn't.
If you like gaming, he doesn't.

And so on and so forth. He disagrees with everyone.

Y'know, i actually noticed that. I thought it was just me

I don't like the xbox, or rather what it is turning in to. I think a lot of people know this. When did I ever give an opinion other than that?

When did I say that I don't like gaming? Sounds you you never agree with me. Maybe you just post the opposite of what I say?

You don't think that GameStop employees  play games?

What I don't understand is why you're still here. If it were me I would have traded in as much product as I could and switched to a different platform. Then I'd be happy and not sitting in the corner of the Xbox.com forums grumbling.

If you read my post it implied that Gamestop employees play games, some of us just don't admit it because then we get stuck in long boring conversations bout this game or that game.

---

Need Help? Got a Question? Msg me!
Look! My Blog!

 Diablosmatrix wrote:

I think they lied to you. I rarely answer yes to being a gamer myself.

Why lie?  I could care less about what others think of me as long as I enjoy what I am doing.  People are way to concerned about self appearance these days.  I am happy with who I am and no way would I lie to others because I am afraid what they would think.  If your having to lie to these so called people about being a gamer then you might want to rethink about who you are hanging out with.

---

Beer is Holy Water!

COD2,3,4 and World @ War Veteran
COD4 Mile High Club

 @ EvilKen: Thanks for sharing your personal experience. I worked through the merger as well, and was frustrated with what I encountered - all of those things you mentioned I can vouch for.
   The whole personality of the company and its emphasis changed overnight. Just before the news of the merger was made public, I had a group of customers in the store strike up a conversation about how much they liked the employees at EB stores, and mine in particular, and how they found shopping at the Gamestop across the street to be a rather annoying experience. I was amused in my silent observation.
     I did see Gamestop wedging in their own personel throughout the companie's structure from top to bottom. These were some of the reasons I left, as well as that of my Manager and the rest of my coworkers not long after.
   
     The trend of them trying to weed out employees with the most insignificant things was felt by me. I felt like I was being targeted, and was, with the new district manager trying to throw new policy monkey wrenches at me. He didn't like me for some reason. Maybe I was too nice, and cared more about actually helping the customers with what they actually wanted/needed. He was constantly trying to trip me up, set me up, and catch me off guard with things. I mean, driving halfway across the state just to stand 40 feet from outside the store and pay 14 year-old kids $10 to go in and ask certain questions,just to see if I answered correctly? Psycho-sleezy jerk. One of the times he did this, the pre-adolescent kid rudely stepped in front of the line of about 8-12 customers I was servicing at the counter while alone at the store. Mumbling, he asked if we I had a certain game in stock that had not come out yet. I said no, and he immediately left. I mentally grimaced at the kid's rude interruption, and appologized to the customer he had just cut in front of.
      By company policy, what I was supposed to do was completely ignore the customer transaction I was in the middle of, who was buying a console, a few games, plus accessories - who had waited patiently behind the 3 or 4 customers that had been in front of him before that and the paying customers who had been well-behaved and patiently waiting behind him - stop, ask the kid if he brought in any trade-ins (which was obvious, as he had nothing in his hands), explain the trade-in program, offer the Edge Card and GI magazine, explain how it works and all the money he can save, inform him about the special incentives that day, and convince him to pre-order the game he had abruptly asked for, as well as any others he may or may not be interested in. Oh, and also to pre-order the guidebook for the game he doesn't have! I was written up for that the next day. Whiskey-Tango-Foxtrot?!? 
----------------------------------------------------------------------

   You make a REALLY good point about the Gamestop sales structure. (again, everyone, I can totally back up what EvilKen is saying on this.) It's funny that I was  talking about this same thing with my girlfriend just yesterday! It had just dawned on me that the developers get no money or recognition for sale of used units. I am rather concerned about this, as I hope to enter the industry myself in the near future. (environmental modeling) This does hurt the industry.

 EvilKen, my mind is now changed, and I am changing my game-purchasing habits to better support the hobby I love by voting with my wallet.

Most Managers (not Assistant Managers) I've spoken to at GameStops are not gamers.  They are usually people that have mangement experience in "retail", meaning they previously worked in clothing, music, etc.

As for the "employees", the majority I've encountered are gamers.  I have spoken to a few that do not own any current-gen platforms.  One guy I spoke to last week (when I picked up Brutal Legend) doesn't own a console newer than the N64, but he still plays it.

However, I could imagine working at GameStop would make me enjoy games less, as would pretty much any entry-level job.  I loved eating steak, until I worked at a steak restaurant.  I loved working on computers, until I got a tech-support job.  Overexposure tends to lead to distaste.

I also think people expect too much from minimum-wage workers in the first place.  If you want to know specific details of a game, visit that game's website.  Read a review from someone that's payed to review it.  Why would you expect a 19 year-old kid to know?  He just works there. 

---

PSN: nCogNeato

Wii: 4102-8804-0020-3632

[ 360° Fahrenheit ]

 DSight wrote:

What I don't understand is why you're still here. If it were me I would have traded in as much product as I could and switched to a different platform. Then I'd be happy and not sitting in the corner of the Xbox.com forums grumbling.

If you read my post it implied that Gamestop employees play games, some of us just don't admit it because then we get stuck in long boring conversations bout this game or that game.

That is a mystery on its own. I guess that I am just one of those people who like to trash products that rip you off, and then express then my dissatisfaction. I used to be loyal in a sense that I liked the 360. Then all these rip-off gamerpics and wallpapers came out. MS started forcing publishers to sell content even if they wanted it released for free, and they still charge for online play that was free for 20 years on the competition. Lets not even get to my RROD and hardware problems that they refused even existed until like 3 years after launch. These are all garbage business tactics. I want to complain for the sake of complaining. What better place to complain about the xbox than the xbox discussion forum? This is where it belongs right?

---

1ɟ ʎ0n ɔ4u ɹ34p 7ɥ15 7ɥ3u ʎ0n u33p 70 637 0n7
Epic Fail

 SugarRy wrote:

 Diablosmatrix wrote:

I think they lied to you. I rarely answer yes to being a gamer myself.

Why lie?  I could care less about what others think of me as long as I enjoy what I am doing.  People are way to concerned about self appearance these days.  I am happy with who I am and no way would I lie to others because I am afraid what they would think.  If your having to lie to these so called people about being a gamer then you might want to rethink about who you are hanging out with.

I don't lie to friends, most have a game system or play PC games themselves. I lie to co-workers and people in bars or parties. Casual acquaintances. It doesn't come up too often but when it does, i'm like "nos not really."

---

1ɟ ʎ0n ɔ4u ɹ34p 7ɥ15 7ɥ3u ʎ0n u33p 70 637 0n7
Epic Fail

 Diablosmatrix wrote:

 DSight wrote:

What I don't understand is why you're still here. If it were me I would have traded in as much product as I could and switched to a different platform. Then I'd be happy and not sitting in the corner of the Xbox.com forums grumbling.

If you read my post it implied that Gamestop employees play games, some of us just don't admit it because then we get stuck in long boring conversations bout this game or that game.

That is a mystery on its own. I guess that I am just one of those people who like to trash products that rip you off, and then express then my dissatisfaction. I used to be loyal in a sense that I liked the 360. Then all these rip-off gamerpics and wallpapers came out. MS started forcing publishers to sell content even if they wanted it released for free, and they still charge for online play that was free for 20 years on the competition. Lets not even get to my RROD and hardware problems that they refused even existed until like 3 years after launch. These are all garbage business tactics. I want to complain for the sake of complaining. What better place to complain about the xbox than the xbox discussion forum? This is where it belongs right?

You have NEVER been forced to purchase a single gamerpic or wallpaper or theme that you did not want. It also makes complete sense that people should have to pay for content - that content takes bandwidth AND has to pass through certification. This also cuts down on developers putting up tons of junk. If I wanted to wade through tons of garbage content I'd game on a PC. As far as charging for the service, that fee is the reason LIVE is the industry standard. Sure PS and Wii are free, but their online connectivity are complete garbage. I have had several Xboxes go down on me, but MS has stepped up and repaired every one, at their expense. In a couple of cases this was after the initial warranty had expired and was part of a warranty extension they offered. You might think these tactics are garbage, but they are the reasons I am a loyal Xbox fan.

Lastly, you said: "I want to complain for the sake of complaining." This is not a good venue for that. In fact, there are not ANY good public venues for that.

---

This reply was likely intended for a different thread.

The gamestop close to me has a bunch of old dudes who probably don't have a pc let alone a console. I pre-ordered COD:MW there when it came out. I figured I would just secure my copy so I wouldn't have to worry about getting one anywhere else. When I got there they had sold the last copy to a guy who was inline right before me. I spoke to the manager and he told me to come back in a few days since they were out. I was shocked because I paid in full for my preorder. I came back a few days later and got the same bull. I asked to speak to the manager again and this time he went in the back and actually repackaged a used game and tried to sell it to me as new.

Now I was spending about a grand every two months there and after that incident I haven't been back. Same crap happened at circuit city. I went there to buy a tv with 3grand in cash. Tried to speak to a lady that worked there about a tv I wanted to purchase and she blew me off. That was nearly 4years ago and I have no intention of ever walking into a circuit city ever again.

---

VIST http://www.xbox360achievements.org/ FOR EVERYTHING 360

 finative wrote:

The gamestop close to me has a bunch of old dudes who probably don't have a pc let alone a console. I pre-ordered COD:MW there when it came out. I figured I would just secure my copy so I wouldn't have to worry about getting one anywhere else. When I got there they had sold the last copy to a guy who was inline right before me. I spoke to the manager and he told me to come back in a few days since they were out. I was shocked because I paid in full for my preorder. I came back a few days later and got the same bull. I asked to speak to the manager again and this time he went in the back and actually repackaged a used game and tried to sell it to me as new.

Now I was spending about a grand every two months there and after that incident I haven't been back. Same crap happened at circuit city. I went there to buy a tv with 3grand in cash. Tried to speak to a lady that worked there about a tv I wanted to purchase and she blew me off. That was nearly 4years ago and I have no intention of ever walking into a circuit city ever again.

Haha you don't have to worry about that, Circuit City is no longer around, company went bankrupt.

 Novellion wrote:

You have NEVER been forced to purchase a single gamerpic or wallpaper or theme that you did not want. It also makes complete sense that people should have to pay for content - that content takes bandwidth AND has to pass through certification. This also cuts down on developers putting up tons of junk. If I wanted to wade through tons of garbage content I'd game on a PC. As far as charging for the service, that fee is the reason LIVE is the industry standard. Sure PS and Wii are free, but their online connectivity are complete garbage. I have had several Xboxes go down on me, but MS has stepped up and repaired every one, at their expense. In a couple of cases this was after the initial warranty had expired and was part of a warranty extension they offered. You might think these tactics are garbage, but they are the reasons I am a loyal Xbox fan.

Lastly, you said: "I want to complain for the sake of complaining." This is not a good venue for that. In fact, there are not ANY good public venues for that.

I see paying for a wallpaper as a rip-off. They only costs money on the 360. You can literally go to any of the game sites and download wallpapers for free right now. Why? It is because they are viewed as an advertisement, just not on the 360. MS has plenty of those elsewhere I guess, like the moment you turn on the system. I would love developers to put up tons of junk. Why? Because I know that for the past 15 years developers have created wallpapers and similar content that aren't really junk. Why should I expect them to produce junk all of a sudden? That makes no sense to me.

Online connectivity are exactly the same on each system. You are playing off of your connection, not dedicated xbl servers...Why would the connectivity be different?

I'm sorry, why does the fee make xbl the standard? All it does is allow you to play online and have a friends list (which the PS3 is now competitive). The speed and everything is the same as the other systems because you are still playing off the gamer's connections. I am guessing that you don't have any of the other systems. Services like demos, netflix, or even the marketplace all pay for themselves. They are other sources of revenue or generate income and have nothing to do with the fee.

---

1ɟ ʎ0n ɔ4u ɹ34p 7ɥ15 7ɥ3u ʎ0n u33p 70 637 0n7
Epic Fail

 Diablosmatrix wrote:

 Novellion wrote:

You have NEVER been forced to purchase a single gamerpic or wallpaper or theme that you did not want. It also makes complete sense that people should have to pay for content - that content takes bandwidth AND has to pass through certification. This also cuts down on developers putting up tons of junk. If I wanted to wade through tons of garbage content I'd game on a PC. As far as charging for the service, that fee is the reason LIVE is the industry standard. Sure PS and Wii are free, but their online connectivity are complete garbage. I have had several Xboxes go down on me, but MS has stepped up and repaired every one, at their expense. In a couple of cases this was after the initial warranty had expired and was part of a warranty extension they offered. You might think these tactics are garbage, but they are the reasons I am a loyal Xbox fan.

Lastly, you said: "I want to complain for the sake of complaining." This is not a good venue for that. In fact, there are not ANY good public venues for that.

I see paying for a wallpaper as a rip-off. They only costs money on the 360. You can literally go to any of the game sites and download wallpapers for free right now. Why? It is because they are viewed as an advertisement, just not on the 360. MS has plenty of those elsewhere I guess, like the moment you turn on the system. I would love developers to put up tons of junk. Why? Because I know that for the past 15 years developers have created wallpapers and similar content that aren't really junk. Why should I expect them to produce junk all of a sudden? That makes no sense to me.

Online connectivity are exactly the same on each system. You are playing off of your connection, not dedicated xbl servers...Why would the connectivity be different?

I'm sorry, why does the fee make xbl the standard? All it does is allow you to play online and have a friends list (which the PS3 is now competitive). The speed and everything is the same as the other systems because you are still playing off the gamer's connections. I am guessing that you don't have any of the other systems. Services like demos, netflix, or even the marketplace all pay for themselves. They are other sources of revenue or generate income and have nothing to do with the fee.

You guessed incorrectly - I have all three 'current gen' consoles. Xbox LIVE servers are used for the interconnectivity that is the backbone of the LIVE experience. The reason that you can be playing Battlefield on an EA server, while you are talking to a friend who is hosting a RB6 match is because you are connecting through Xbox servers. This integration is seamless and works with all games on the system. This system allows users to track each others' achievements, be matched using TrueSkill, and so much more.

Online gaming on the Wii is a drag beyond belief - absolutely not worth it. PS3 is VERY spotty and the experience differs tremendously between games. Are you aware that if you and a buddy are in a private chat, you must leave the private chat before starting a game? Private chat is an old school feature on LIVE. Speaking of, it is so hard to find your friends on PS that it is laughable. Honestly, Online services for PS3 and LIVE are competitive in the same way that a Ford Focus and a Ferrari F430 are.

Our fees pay for the maintenance, and development of the LIVE service. I can understand that you'd prefer that the service was free. I just have one question - Are you arguing that the service is not worth the annual fee?

---

This reply was likely intended for a different thread.

I play online like a week in every couple of months. I do think that the chat features are good but those completely left my mind since I do not use it outside of a game. I will give them credit there. I am given a choice to either play online or not. My gold tag answers what I chose. From my point of view, I have been playing online for free for almost 15 years, and now I have to pay to play with the 360. I play online on the PS3 just as sparingly and as far as I am concerned, I get the same experience.

Actually I did have xbl since launch. I gladly payed for it on the original xbox, but we got free DLC pretty often and it really was ahead of its time with broadband support. It does not have the same edge this gen. The fee doesn't go nearly as far as it did last gen.

---

1ɟ ʎ0n ɔ4u ɹ34p 7ɥ15 7ɥ3u ʎ0n u33p 70 637 0n7
Epic Fail

 EvilKen wrote:

Here is my story.... I am a former 3 year manager of a 3 million dollar, 2500 square foot store (top 1 percentile in size and sales). I had an amazing store with an amazing staff and was there through the EB merger. I saw a dramatic change in policy and employees beginning with the merger. Upper management had some key people replaced with new employees that came from other retailers like Foot Locker and Radio Shack, which lead to some serious active recruiting within the 2 companies ranks to fill holes in GameStop. What ended up happening is the multi-unit managers that have control of a stores appearance and pretty much the over all vibe, never played a game in their life. What this did, was remove the core feeling of a GAME store and plug in the dry, no fun feeling of a store that sells something not associated with any form of entertainment. What followed next was this crazy new format of training. Employees weren't encouraged to play games, they were simply programmed to sell the company "discount card" (don't get me started on that one) and the featured titles of the week. This meant that even if a game was God awful, had the worst reviews, and the worst support... It was featured and pushed on a store wide level. Money talks... I also saw a trend of many employees being let go due to small policy violations (i.e. not filing papers in the exact order as outlined in the policy manual) before they reached their tenure (and stock options). The company has lost their street cred. It is a shame because the model was so strong in the beginning. All in all, I feel that it is an accurate statement to say that more than half of all GameStop employees do not play games regularly (many of which oversee multiple stores and districts... even full regions) This does make the shopping experience lame. I would rather save $8 per new title and buy it at Costco with no sales floor help, than be led astray by someone who is only pushing the title of the week. While I rant, it is very important to talk about how their used sales model has affected the industry at large.... A new $60, 360 game does not yield much profit at all for GameStop... only about $8 (before factoring the cost of warehousing, shipping, merchandising, payroll etc) if you can believe it. So it is obviously not the focus of the company to sell the new copy. The same game as a pre-owned title will yield about $30 profit. So it is obvious that pre-owned is the focus of the company to sell.... Now... Company X spends years of labor and millions of dollars to build and promote a game... all the way down to post release posters in the store window... all intended to sell their product. GameStop jumps in and uses Company X's marketing dollars to sell a used product that will never benefit the developer or publisher. Anyone see an issue with that? I may have 10 gamers come into the store that have purchased Halo 3 and played the heck out of it. However, only 2 of them have purchased it new. This means that Bungie and Microsoft only benefit from 20% of the games sold, while GameStop benefits from 100% of the games sold. The results of this are clear as video game sales volume soar through the roof, yet devs and pubs are closing and laying off tons of employees... It is a double edged sword for GameStop. They can sell and make huge profits, however it is causing a major backlash from the industry. My plead to you is to simply spend the extra $5 to buy the title new... this way the retailer, developer, and publisher get their fair share. If buying a title pre-owned is your ONLY option due to budget constraints... then please buy it from another gamer through the million websites out there that offer community classifieds or even Ebay. That way the money goes directly into the hands of a gamer, that can recycle it right back into the industry. If we love our games... we need to protect the industry. Of course out of print and rare games can not be purchased new, so through the community is the most viable option. My final thought lies in the age of digital distribution. If you want to support the gaming industry and not the retail industry.... This is the best way to do it. Cut out the middle man and get the funds directly to the people that matter... The people making these titles for us.. I hope many of you will embrace digi-distro and I look forward to hearing your feedback. Thanks for allowing me to have a wall sized rant, and kudos to anyone who made it to the bottom....

Thanks to EvilKen and Cobalt 07, your gamestop experiences are very insightful. I have no intention of ever ordering, pre-ordering or purchasing any products from them ever again. I refuse to support a company that screws everybody else including their own employees.

---

"This one. Serves as our voice. We cannot sing. Not in these low spaces. Your musics are colorless."

 EvilKen wrote:

  Here is my story.... I am a former 3 year manager of a 3 million dollar, 2500 square foot store (top 1 percentile in size and sales). I had an amazing store with an amazing staff and was there through the EB merger. I saw a dramatic change in policy and employees beginning with the merger. Upper management had some key people replaced with new employees that came from other retailers like Foot Locker and Radio Shack, which lead to some serious active recruiting within the 2 companies ranks to fill holes in GameStop. What ended up happening is the multi-unit managers that have control of a stores appearance and pretty much the over all vibe, never played a game in their life. What this did, was remove the core feeling of a GAME store and plug in the dry, no fun feeling of a store that sells something not associated with any form of entertainment. What followed next was this crazy new format of training. Employees weren't encouraged to play games, they were simply programmed to sell the company "discount card" (don't get me started on that one) and the featured titles of the week. This meant that even if a game was God awful, had the worst reviews, and the worst support... It was featured and pushed on a store wide level. Money talks... I also saw a trend of many employees being let go due to small policy violations (i.e. not filing papers in the exact order as outlined in the policy manual) before they reached their tenure (and stock options). The company has lost their street cred. It is a shame because the model was so strong in the beginning. All in all, I feel that it is an accurate statement to say that more than half of all GameStop employees do not play games regularly (many of which oversee multiple stores and districts... even full regions) This does make the shopping experience lame. I would rather save $8 per new title and buy it at Costco with no sales floor help, than be led astray by someone who is only pushing the title of the week. While I rant, it is very important to talk about how their used sales model has affected the industry at large.... A new $60, 360 game does not yield much profit at all for GameStop... only about $8 (before factoring the cost of warehousing, shipping, merchandising, payroll etc) if you can believe it. So it is obviously not the focus of the company to sell the new copy. The same game as a pre-owned title will yield about $30 profit. So it is obvious that pre-owned is the focus of the company to sell.... Now... Company X spends years of labor and millions of dollars to build and promote a game... all the way down to post release posters in the store window... all intended to sell their product. GameStop jumps in and uses Company X's marketing dollars to sell a used product that will never benefit the developer or publisher. Anyone see an issue with that? I may have 10 gamers come into the store that have purchased Halo 3 and played the heck out of it. However, only 2 of them have purchased it new. This means that Bungie and Microsoft only benefit from 20% of the games sold, while GameStop benefits from 100% of the games sold. The results of this are clear as video game sales volume soar through the roof, yet devs and pubs are closing and laying off tons of employees... It is a double edged sword for GameStop. They can sell and make huge profits, however it is causing a major backlash from the industry. My plead to you is to simply spend the extra $5 to buy the title new... this way the retailer, developer, and publisher get their fair share. If buying a title pre-owned is your ONLY option due to budget constraints... then please buy it from another gamer through the million websites out there that offer community classifieds or even Ebay. That way the money goes directly into the hands of a gamer, that can recycle it right back into the industry. If we love our games... we need to protect the industry. Of course out of print and rare games can not be purchased new, so through the community is the most viable option. My final thought lies in the age of digital distribution. If you want to support the gaming industry and not the retail industry.... This is the best way to do it. Cut out the middle man and get the funds directly to the people that matter... The people making these titles for us.. I hope many of you will embrace digi-distro and I look forward to hearing your feedback. Thanks for allowing me to have a wall sized rant, and kudos to anyone who made it to the bottom....

Paragraphs are your friend.

 Diablosmatrix wrote:

   

 Carnival Hex wrote:

Does the gaming hobby embarrass you, sir?

Yes in fact it does. It makes me feel like a nerd. Believe it or not, this is the only forum I post on regularly. It is ironic that it is a gaming forum, but maybe the embarrassment is the reason why I post here. I hardly ever talk about games anywhere else.

I can completely see a gamestop employee denying that he plays games on his free time. If he spends all day selling games and then goes home to play them, it makes him look like he never gets out of the house and does nothing but play games. That would embarrass the hell out of me.

Amen.
Life is too short to worry about the perceptions of people who don't matter.
Be yourself. Anyone who has a problem with the truth aren't worth your time and can #*@$ themselves.

 Cobalt 07 wrote:

Amen.
Life is too short to worry about the perceptions of people who don't matter.
Be yourself. Anyone who has a problem with the truth aren't worth your time and can #*@$ themselves.

Totally man, especially considering most people your path crosses in life could truly give a crap about your well-being.  People love to put on a facade, all to impress complete strangers... which I find pretty strange.  Isn't it ironic?

Anyhow, I have a cousin who's roughly my age (a bit younger) and has pretty much already made his first million by selling certain computer software to Universities... something like that anyway.

Well, this guy only cares about money, having the best of everything, being able to travel and basically brag amongst all the people he encounters... whether it be family, friends, or especially strangers.

He's such a people pleaser, loves to stroke his own ego in any way possible, and constantly looks down on others because they're not anywhere near his income bracket.

Naturally, he was a pretty nice, normal guy before his run-in with success, but all that changed once he got a taste of the "good-life."

Whatever the case may be, it doesn't matter how fat his pocket-book might be... the fact is, all that money can't buy him any integrity, genuine self-respect, or true-class.

Bottom line, just be yourself and enjoy whatever it is that you find interesting in life.  After all, everybody is weird in their own way, so who really cares anyhow.

---

Assassin's Creed II : Master Assassin's Edition UNBOXING

Do ya really think it'll play out like this?:
-----------------------------------------------------------
     Sometime in the future, on a stranger's deathbed these words of deep reflection and insight are uttered to the benefit of all mankind:
   [catches breath and noisily clears throat]"That one fateful day that changed the course of my life, at that one party (can't now remember where or what it was for) way back in October of '09, I asked that guy - uh, what was his name? ach, don't remember after all these years - I asked him if he played games, if he was indeed a gamer (I had foolishly desired to swap gamertags and possibly make a friend or just an aquaintance). [cough, wheeze]
     In his graciously suave style and timeless wisdom, he imparted these momentous, epiphanic words of revelation: ' Er, ye... uh, I mean... [gulp] ...NO, of course not! Geez!'
   And every day since that moment has guided my entire life, and now in this final moment gives me ultimate closure. - Man, that guy was SO friggin' cool." [urk]
-------------------------------------------------------------
Being false is pointless.
Know thyself.
Be true to yourself by being true to others.
Nothing to lose but misperception.
Just learn to be comfortable in your own skin.
In the words of Joseph Campbell: "Follow your bliss".
---------------------------------------------------------------

So, anyways, back to conversing about Gamestop Employees...
   They're just people trying to pay their bills. Glad I'm not one any more. Gamestop Employee that is. I still very much need to pay my bills.  ;)

  As mentioned earlier about the Gamestop business model, and how damaging it is to our beloved industry, EvilKen's input has positively influenced and reinforced my own very recent ponderings.  I have acted on my new stance. Up to this point I had been a loyal customer of EB Games, and always met my gaming merchandise needs there.
   I used to figure, "hey, it's a store dedicated solely to GAMING, I want to support that, and should get better selection at such a place that understands what its all about, instead of some department store where they don't have a clue".
  Well, yesterday I made my first step in a new direction. I did indeed purchase a game (Brutal Legend) at Best Buy instead.
  Long live Video Games, and the people who are not ashamed to enjoy them!
   Huzzah!                  ~ Cobalt 07

@ EvilKen

Great story! I have a friend that used to work at Funcoland waaay back (remember those?) and he informed us about all the stuff that went on behind the scenes (cleaner sales, subs, pushing used game sales etc). Once Funcoland changed into Gamestop and then the merger to me it seemed to just get worse. Not saying that I disliked Funcoland, and pre-merger Gamestop, at that time you could always find helpful and really cool people working there that were gamers.

Now years later I just got into an "anti-trading" games in to Gamestop mentality. I rarely buy any used titles from them (only older games that I can't find elsewhere).

@DSight's comment about saying that he would say he wasn't a gamer to not get caught up in a conversation with a person, I would say that's a little pre-judgmental towards the person asking you a question. When I used to work at Toys R Us in their "R-Zone" or video game section whenever people would come in and talk to me about games I'd be way more than happy to converse with them. It not only builds up a good and friendly reputation for yourself, but for the company you work for as well. Secondly it is a huge time waster, most days you just droll through repetitious work, so when someone comes in and starts talking about video games it's good to break out of monotonicity. Then also when you get acquainted with repeat customers and you know what games they like it's easier to make recommendations and sales of games that they'll enjoy and might not have heard of before and vice versa. On a side note I've made tons of friends that way, as well as being a customer at stores that have cool people that are up to talking about games, and for the most part the conversation pretty much started asking if I was a gamer.

Plus even if there was work that needed to be done, customers to be waited on etc, it's easy enough to excuse yourself from the conversation (they'll understand when they see a customer behind you, or even step out of the way so you can help someone else). But in the long run it comes down to peoples personality, how outgoing and friendly they are and manners. Obviously if I came across someone who wasn't friendly and wanted to ignore a customer I wouldn't have a second thought about leaving and not supporting that establishment.

---

389 Games & 118 XBLA owned. My 360 Collection

One time while I was looking at 360 games in the back the employee and another dude were talking about Starcraft the whole time I was in there, and different strategies they used.

 BrohkenMahjek wrote:

I went around to all 8 of the GameStops in my area and asked the employees a simple question "Are you actually a gamer?". I asked 19 and only 7 said they play games often. 2 said sometimes. 10 said they do NOT play games.

No wonder people have such bad experiences in GameStop.

The Game Stop right up the street from my house has workers there who didn't know what I was looking for. They didn't understand that I wanted Microsoft points. I even had to point behind the counter where they were to explain that's what I wanted. I was asked if I wanted to put in an application to work there. I took the application, but never filled it out. Now, I want to work there BADDDDDDDDDDDD.

---

Dark, you can't come soon enough for me. Saved, from one more day of misery.

I believe it, once they told me there was a game that wasn't made for 360.... Well, it was.

 Cobalt 07 wrote:

Do ya really think it'll play out like this?:
-----------------------------------------------------------
     Sometime in the future, on a stranger's deathbed these words of deep reflection and insight are uttered to the benefit of all mankind:
   [catches breath and noisily clears throat]"That one fateful day that changed the course of my life, at that one party (can't now remember where or what it was for) way back in October of '09, I asked that guy - uh, what was his name? ach, don't remember after all these years - I asked him if he played games, if he was indeed a gamer (I had foolishly desired to swap gamertags and possibly make a friend or just an aquaintance). [cough, wheeze]
     In his graciously suave style and timeless wisdom, he imparted these momentous, epiphanic words of revelation: ' Er, ye... uh, I mean... [gulp] ...NO, of course not! Geez!'
   And every day since that moment has guided my entire life, and now in this final moment gives me ultimate closure. - Man, that guy was SO friggin' cool." [urk]
-------------------------------------------------------------
Being false is pointless.
Know thyself.
Be true to yourself by being true to others.
Nothing to lose but misperception.
Just learn to be comfortable in your own skin.
In the words of Joseph Campbell: "Follow your bliss".
---------------------------------------------------------------

So, anyways, back to conversing about Gamestop Employees...
   They're just people trying to pay their bills. Glad I'm not one any more. Gamestop Employee that is. I still very much need to pay my bills.  ;)

  As mentioned earlier about the Gamestop business model, and how damaging it is to our beloved industry, EvilKen's input has positively influenced and reinforced my own very recent ponderings.  I have acted on my new stance. Up to this point I had been a loyal customer of EB Games, and always met my gaming merchandise needs there.
   I used to figure, "hey, it's a store dedicated solely to GAMING, I want to support that, and should get better selection at such a place that understands what its all about, instead of some department store where they don't have a clue".
  Well, yesterday I made my first step in a new direction. I did indeed purchase a game (Brutal Legend) at Best Buy instead.
  Long live Video Games, and the people who are not ashamed to enjoy them!
   Huzzah!                  ~ Cobalt 07

---

Assassin's Creed II : Master Assassin's Edition UNBOXING

There are 2 gamestops in my town within spitting distance (Really 300ft but Im sure someone can spit that far) which ruins my chances of any midnight releases but all the employees, including me are gamers in both stores. The day Borderlands came out, we only had 5 copies and 4 of us got our preorders when the store opened. Anyways, some of them, especially my boss is an avid RPG gamer and has played pretty much every RPG to date. The rest of us are generally either general gamers or specialize in certain types of games.

---

Favorite Game: Test Drive Unlimited - 3rd person to 1000/1000 the game and reach Ace Rank.

And people wonder why I avoid Game Stop.

I would rather them not be avid gamers; that way I don't have to listen to their drivel on why system A is SO MUCH BETTER than system B. Lol.

I went into a local GameStop recently to pick up a  issue of "Official XBox Magazine"... just to be bombarded by a 10 minute tirade about why the magazine sucked, and how I should subscribe to "GameInformer" instead. After he was finished with his spiel I point blank asked him,"I shouldn't buy this magazine because it "sucks"? It isn't worth owning? I should subscribe to your magazine instead?". He responded that was a true fact. I then responded with,"I already subscribe to your magazine. I guess there is nothing to buy here today then!". I put the magazine down, walked out to the Target across the complex and bought my magazine there.

 ArmoredOne wrote:

I know this all too well.  Between my best friend and myself we have been trying to get a job at our local gamestop for years now and though the manager knows that the both of us are very knowledgeable in the field, neither of us have been given half a chance at a job there.  However there is always a new complete idiot who knows nothing about what he is selling and has an attitude to represent the fact that he really has no desire to be there. 

You might know gaming backward and forward, but there is a lot more to it than that.  There are a lot more aspects of a person that are looked at.  Knowledge is a plus, but it is barely half of what gets you hired in specialty retail.

I just got hired at gamestop for the holidays and everyone at our store is a gamer. Most of them are hardcore games but the funny thing is the one who is more of a casual gamer in the most knowledgeable about about games that most hardcore gamers dont know about. Many games for wii, and especially the ds.

Alot of times people will ask questions about a game or certain genre that we may like especially enjoy or have played. When something like this happens we just ask on of the other employees who plays those games alot. We have 1 who loves sports games and gets all those questions, 1 who is a wii freak, etc. You get the point.

I would say our 1 person who plays the least games is actually the best saleperson we have. Although they may not play them they know alot about the games.

Enthusiassim (sp) and people skills are much more important than knowing games.

---

Im not a fan of any certain sport, im a sports fan.

As previous people have wrote on this thread, it is just a job. I am very good friends with the employees and employer at my local gamestop store. They actually never take anyone that does not have any game knowlege. I guess some Gamestop stores actually try to make the customer service good. I personally believe that the majority, if not all, of game stores should only hire people with an up to date video game knowledge. This would probably give Gamestop better customer service representation and better feedback. Not to mention a less horrible representation. Now what to do with those absurd trade in prices....

---

A teenager with a different kind of mind :)