I was getting sick of telling poor mothers with two children that it was a cruel prank to get them in trouble.
actually, apart from the impact it had on those mothers, thats a pretty funny prank imo
I don't like pranks which get innocent people unknowingly in trouble with the law. If you'd seen the look of amazement on these women's faces you would have felt bad too. They really were thinking they could get their kids cheap christmas presents and it was horrible. The kids who did the prank themselves were about 14. Think about this.
Morninglord on
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I was getting sick of telling poor mothers with two children that it was a cruel prank to get them in trouble.
actually, apart from the impact it had on those mothers, thats a pretty funny prank imo
I don't like pranks which get innocent people unknowingly in trouble with the law. If you'd seen the look of amazement on these women's faces you would have felt bad too. They really were thinking they could get their kids cheap christmas presents and it was horrible. The kids who did the prank themselves were about 14. Think about this.
yeah, I can 100% see your point. But it reminded me of this time me and 4/5 mates, at a similar age, went independantly into a pound shop (don't know if this concept exists outside of uk, basically a shop where every item they sell is £1) and asked how much items where, we got told about 50 times. Aparently socks cost £1 for the pair, not £1 each. :P
I was getting sick of telling poor mothers with two children that it was a cruel prank to get them in trouble.
actually, apart from the impact it had on those mothers, thats a pretty funny prank imo
I don't like pranks which get innocent people unknowingly in trouble with the law. If you'd seen the look of amazement on these women's faces you would have felt bad too. They really were thinking they could get their kids cheap christmas presents and it was horrible. The kids who did the prank themselves were about 14. Think about this.
yeah, I can 100% see your point. But it reminded me of this time me and 4/5 mates, at a similar age, went independantly into a pound shop (don't know if this concept exists outside of uk, basically a shop where every item they sell is £1) and asked how much items where, we got told about 50 times. Aparently socks cost £1 for the pair, not £1 each. :P
We have "Dollar stores" too. One in particular, called "Everything's a Dollar," had a Sega CD game + lightgun (Lethal Enforcers) for $10. I Lawled. Later, they changed the name to "Everything's a Dollar+"... now indicating that $1 was the MINIMUM price. OMG the retardation! Every non-dollar store on the planet seems to have SOMETHING less than a dollar be it candy, pens/paper, or a fountain drink. Setting $1 as the minimum is pure idiocy.
Oh, and then they had "2-for-$1" candy eggs in the same store that they'd sell individually for $0.50. HA HA HA HA! Even their minimum price was busted, so why not throw the damn store's name out the window and start over?!
I remember when places would carry games behind Plexiglass, with holes big enough to let your hand through to examine the case, but small enough to prevent you from simply sliding them out. Whatever happened to those?
They recently installed these at Hastings (well, early last year) so I can answer that question:
Gamecube and PSP happened. A hole in the glass big enough for your hand is big enough to open a $50 game and bring it out of the glass on these formats. They were aware of this so the GCN, GBA, DS, and PSP sections were built with glass discs blocking the hand-holes. I can't see why they didn't simply not install the new glass in these sections!
I remember when places would carry games behind Plexiglass, with holes big enough to let your hand through to examine the case, but small enough to prevent you from simply sliding them out. Whatever happened to those?
They recently installed these at Hastings (well, early last year) so I can answer that question:
Gamecube and PSP happened. A hole in the galss big enough for your hand is big enough to open a $50 game and bring it out of the glass on these formats. They were aware of this so the GCN, GBA, and PSP sections were built with glass discs blocking the hand-holes. I can't see why they didn't simply not install the new glass in these sections!
Video games are not viral diseases, nobody wants to shop in, and much less, work in an enviroment like that.
I remember when places would carry games behind Plexiglass, with holes big enough to let your hand through to examine the case, but small enough to prevent you from simply sliding them out. Whatever happened to those?
They recently installed these at Hastings (well, early last year) so I can answer that question:
Gamecube and PSP happened. A hole in the galss big enough for your hand is big enough to open a $50 game and bring it out of the glass on these formats. They were aware of this so the GCN, GBA, and PSP sections were built with glass discs blocking the hand-holes. I can't see why they didn't simply not install the new glass in these sections!
Video games are not viral diseases, nobody wants to shop in, and much less, work in an enviroment like that.
At least, I know I'd be extremely turned off.
I thought the concept was pretty cool, but I was dissapointed that it wasn't compatible with my interests (I was only interested in DS, PSP, GC, and GBA games). I hate how retailers put them in cases and behind glass where you can't read the back or see if there's a 1st edition with bonus in the back. I can see how you'd imagine that it's like manipulating dangerous cultures in a sterile biohazard lab, but they are your hands actually touching the game wrap... that other grubby disease-riddled customers have slimed all over before you.
i love how some people bitch about EB/gamestop gutting games and then every couple of months they keep bitching about it because they continue to shop there.
Just shut the hell up if youre going to keep supporting their business and then turn around and bitch about it.
To be fair, a lot of people don't have many alternatives. I mean, sure, you can get Megahit_01 at Target, but they don't exactly have much of a selection, and Best Buy's about as sleazy as businesses get.
I run into that problem around here. We've got a Target, which I love, but doesn't have much selection. Failing that, it's Best Buy, which I refuse to shop at, or EB/Gamestop, which we have eight of within a 15 minute drive.
As much as I hate gut copies and those fucking stickers they plaster all over everything that comes in the store, or how they'll gut PC games and leave the manual with the CD key in the box for anyone to steal, it's still a bit better than giving my business to Best Buy.
I'm curios what stickers they're plastering on the case? Company policy is that the price sticker (and only the price sticker) goes on the case... no other tags whatsoever.
Gamestop/EB is getting "better" about PC games and cd keys.
In our area at least, it has become policy on the return of a PC game for any reason that has been opened, that it MUST be swapped for the same thing.
And when it is swapped, the employee must physically open the new package, and give swap the discs only, so they have to keep the original CD key they had, not getting a 2nd one.
We had problems in our area with people blatantly trying to return "defective" titles to get CD keys.
Gamestop/EB is getting "better" about PC games and cd keys.
In our area at least, it has become policy on the return of a PC game for any reason that has been opened, that it MUST be swapped for the same thing.
And when it is swapped, the employee must physically open the new package, and give swap the discs only, so they have to keep the original CD key they had, not getting a 2nd one.
We had problems in our area with people blatantly trying to return "defective" titles to get CD keys.
----
You, know had one of these customers today. Mother turns up with some annoying kid holding Guild Wars special edition and Guild Wars Factions boxes
"My son bought these from you a few months back, but he lost the CD key."
The mother being quite polite simply asked "Can you help me?"
I explained that when you purchase these type of games you are really purchasing the Cd Key activation code and not the discs, that to contact the company directly concerning issues with lost or Keys in use. The annoying son of hers shouts at me;
"You have to give me the Keys, Its a faulty product!"
Alas began a typical verbal explaination of the real world to the kid on a saturday afternoon.
Anyhow back on topic. Gamestation (Uk) accepts trades on used PC titles and I fucking hate it. Simply because of the issues explaind here, and the fact that the discs are never well kept and the act that 99% of games traded in for a value less than £0.10. With regarding to gutting games arguement Our store has the policy if its an MMO or Steam/ one code use game then we can only sell a sealed copy of the game to the customer and have a max of 1 gutted copy on shelf. If gutted copy is only copy left explain to the customer that its the olny copy left but the key hasn't been used.
works for smaller shops but I can see it having problems with bigger shops.
With regarding to gutting games arguement Our store has the policy if its an MMO or Steam/ one code use game then we can only sell a sealed copy of the game to the customer and have a max of 1 gutted copy on shelf. If gutted copy is only copy left explain to the customer that its the only copy left but the key hasn't been used.
That's exactly what we do, as well. It works perfectly.
Yeah, but if you're going to gut them, wouldn't you leave them gutted? How does it stop theft if you gut them and put them back on the shelves?
So the discs were in the box while it was on the shelf?
Yup.
But even without Medieval II, I still got sold a copy of Galciv II as new, that was opened, and registered to someone else.
my guess is some one bought it, installed it. registered it, and made a copy of the CDs, or something, then brought it back to the store, claiming that it wouldn't install on their system, or some other lie like that. The store took it back as new (which they thought it still was) and put it out on the shelf.
The store was dumb to do that, but it wasn't malicious.
And, of course, just to point out, there is a difference between "new" and "unopened".
Evander on
0
Triple BBastard of the NorthMARegistered Userregular
edited January 2007
I fucking hate gutting. Every time I shop at GameStop, if the guy tries to hand me a gutted game I ask him for one that's still sealed. If he asks why, I just explain to him that it's a "thing" I have.
And, of course, just to point out, there is a difference between "new" and "unopened".
I define "new" as "never opened". This is why I hate gutting. I shouldn't be paying full price for a game that's been opened at ANY point in its lifecycle.
The lesson is to never buy new PC games from EBStop, ever.
A lot of other stores will have an equal if not better price, and they are guaranteed not to gut the copies, let alone sell you ones that the employees 'check out' for the weekend.
Employees can't check out PC games.
At the EB I worked at, it was understood that we could only check out used console games and DVDs. One day my manager and I were working when our DM (whose office was located in the back of our store) came up to the cash wrap before leaving for the day. Before he left he pulled out a copy of a new PC game, Titan Quest or something, and says to our manager "oh before I go I'd like to check this out."
Manager:" Uhh, I thought we can't check out PC games."
DM:<looks at manager like he's stupid> *I* can check out PC games.
And he did.
Soon thereafter, store policy on game checkout (of all types, new and used) became much more liberal. Way to lead by example, DM! :roll:
As far as gutting goes, we always tried to keep it to a minimum. For most games there was only one gutted copy, the one that went out onto the floor. We gutted everything from the PC games too, booklet and all. We were always very careful with the gutted discs, making sure they didn't get scratched and smudgy. Buying gutted stuff never really bothered me, but probably because I was the one that had to gut it in the first place.
I'm curios what stickers they're plastering on the case? Company policy is that the price sticker (and only the price sticker) goes on the case... no other tags whatsoever.
Except the clear stickie for PC games, that is...
Well, there's the price sticker on the front, usually in the top corner. Then there's the bar code sticker that goes on the spine. Then there's the price sticker that they put on the back.
Add to the fact that if it's a used game that's been around for a while, there are probably like five layers of each sticker. And no insert in the case. And no instructions. And the case is from Blockbuster.
I'm curios what stickers they're plastering on the case? Company policy is that the price sticker (and only the price sticker) goes on the case... no other tags whatsoever.
Except the clear stickie for PC games, that is...
Well, there's the price sticker on the front, usually in the top corner. Then there's the bar code sticker that goes on the spine. Then there's the price sticker that they put on the back.
Add to the fact that if it's a used game that's been around for a while, there are probably like five layers of each sticker. And no insert in the case. And no instructions. And the case is from Blockbuster.
Not to mention the stuff left over from E.B.
Dear god, before the merger E.B. must have thought that the world was full of some kind of disease where the cure was putting stickers on videogames.
Threads like this, including numerous ones previously, is why you don't buy anything from EBstop that you remotely care about. If you really give a shit about your game use the amazon.com marketplace or best buy / comp usa / any number of other fucking stores to buy it brand new.
At the GameStop I work at, we don't take used PC games purely for that reason.
No GameStop or EB takes used PC games anymore.
My EB does! Then again, I live up here in Canada so I think it's different. My EB is fine and the only thing I don't like about it is the stickers. One time I actually bought GTA: SA and a employee traded it in and it was in excellent condition. I've never had any real problems with them but maybe I'm lucky.
In case you didn't know, EBStop guts their games so no one steals them. They are not "used". However the use of the CDkey in GalCiv2 is weird.
No, I don't think they do this for PC games. At least, I've never bought a PC game and they've had to "get their last copy out of the drawer". Either way, I'm just not going to shop there anymore. I should have stopped a long time ago...
I work at Gamestop. We do. We do this for EVERY game box we put out in the store as a safety measure. It really makes us want to wish we were sent display boxes, but Corporate -never- listens. Instead, we have to grab at least one copy of a game and gut it. In the PC games' case, we barely get sent any as it is.
I'm curios what stickers they're plastering on the case? Company policy is that the price sticker (and only the price sticker) goes on the case... no other tags whatsoever.
Except the clear stickie for PC games, that is...
Well, there's the price sticker on the front, usually in the top corner. Then there's the bar code sticker that goes on the spine. Then there's the price sticker that they put on the back.
Add to the fact that if it's a used game that's been around for a while, there are probably like five layers of each sticker. And no insert in the case. And no instructions. And the case is from Blockbuster.
Also, on M rated games theres a "Are you 17?" sticker on it. I only buy new games from Futureshop/BestBuy/for some reason my grocery store stocks them and does like 2 for $20 bundles on past generation titles, so I pick up those when im in a cheap mood. But the reason is, despite people hating the "corporate machine" they give me my game without stickers, shrink wrapped, and completely ungutted.
I actually sort of like buying used PC games, if only because there are piles and piles of old titles that tend to turn up cheaply.
The EB by me used to have a bargin bin of PC games. I loved leafing through it looking for old titles that I wanted to check out. I found a few good things in there, but then they replaced it with used DVD's and thus they took my only reason for ever visiting the store. Fry's doesn't have games that are as old.
For trade in PC games, I go to Half Price Books which is a local chain of resold books, cd's and games. You have to be careful you don't buy anything like HL2, but overall it's really good. I found the MYST pack of the first 3 games there for $15.
Cronus on
"Read twice, post once. It's almost like 'measure twice, cut once' only with reading." - MetaverseNomad
Posts
I don't like pranks which get innocent people unknowingly in trouble with the law. If you'd seen the look of amazement on these women's faces you would have felt bad too. They really were thinking they could get their kids cheap christmas presents and it was horrible. The kids who did the prank themselves were about 14. Think about this.
We have "Dollar stores" too. One in particular, called "Everything's a Dollar," had a Sega CD game + lightgun (Lethal Enforcers) for $10. I Lawled. Later, they changed the name to "Everything's a Dollar+"... now indicating that $1 was the MINIMUM price. OMG the retardation! Every non-dollar store on the planet seems to have SOMETHING less than a dollar be it candy, pens/paper, or a fountain drink. Setting $1 as the minimum is pure idiocy.
Oh, and then they had "2-for-$1" candy eggs in the same store that they'd sell individually for $0.50. HA HA HA HA! Even their minimum price was busted, so why not throw the damn store's name out the window and start over?!
They recently installed these at Hastings (well, early last year) so I can answer that question:
Gamecube and PSP happened. A hole in the glass big enough for your hand is big enough to open a $50 game and bring it out of the glass on these formats. They were aware of this so the GCN, GBA, DS, and PSP sections were built with glass discs blocking the hand-holes. I can't see why they didn't simply not install the new glass in these sections!
Video games are not viral diseases, nobody wants to shop in, and much less, work in an enviroment like that.
At least, I know I'd be extremely turned off.
I thought the concept was pretty cool, but I was dissapointed that it wasn't compatible with my interests (I was only interested in DS, PSP, GC, and GBA games). I hate how retailers put them in cases and behind glass where you can't read the back or see if there's a 1st edition with bonus in the back. I can see how you'd imagine that it's like manipulating dangerous cultures in a sterile biohazard lab, but they are your hands actually touching the game wrap... that other grubby disease-riddled customers have slimed all over before you.
@Bryceforvice on Twitter Facebook
I'm curios what stickers they're plastering on the case? Company policy is that the price sticker (and only the price sticker) goes on the case... no other tags whatsoever.
Except the clear stickie for PC games, that is...
In our area at least, it has become policy on the return of a PC game for any reason that has been opened, that it MUST be swapped for the same thing.
And when it is swapped, the employee must physically open the new package, and give swap the discs only, so they have to keep the original CD key they had, not getting a 2nd one.
We had problems in our area with people blatantly trying to return "defective" titles to get CD keys.
----
You, know had one of these customers today. Mother turns up with some annoying kid holding Guild Wars special edition and Guild Wars Factions boxes
"My son bought these from you a few months back, but he lost the CD key."
The mother being quite polite simply asked "Can you help me?"
I explained that when you purchase these type of games you are really purchasing the Cd Key activation code and not the discs, that to contact the company directly concerning issues with lost or Keys in use. The annoying son of hers shouts at me;
"You have to give me the Keys, Its a faulty product!"
Alas began a typical verbal explaination of the real world to the kid on a saturday afternoon.
Anyhow back on topic. Gamestation (Uk) accepts trades on used PC titles and I fucking hate it. Simply because of the issues explaind here, and the fact that the discs are never well kept and the act that 99% of games traded in for a value less than £0.10. With regarding to gutting games arguement Our store has the policy if its an MMO or Steam/ one code use game then we can only sell a sealed copy of the game to the customer and have a max of 1 gutted copy on shelf. If gutted copy is only copy left explain to the customer that its the olny copy left but the key hasn't been used.
works for smaller shops but I can see it having problems with bigger shops.
That's exactly what we do, as well. It works perfectly.
my guess is some one bought it, installed it. registered it, and made a copy of the CDs, or something, then brought it back to the store, claiming that it wouldn't install on their system, or some other lie like that. The store took it back as new (which they thought it still was) and put it out on the shelf.
The store was dumb to do that, but it wasn't malicious.
And, of course, just to point out, there is a difference between "new" and "unopened".
I define "new" as "never opened". This is why I hate gutting. I shouldn't be paying full price for a game that's been opened at ANY point in its lifecycle.
At the EB I worked at, it was understood that we could only check out used console games and DVDs. One day my manager and I were working when our DM (whose office was located in the back of our store) came up to the cash wrap before leaving for the day. Before he left he pulled out a copy of a new PC game, Titan Quest or something, and says to our manager "oh before I go I'd like to check this out."
Manager:" Uhh, I thought we can't check out PC games."
DM:<looks at manager like he's stupid> *I* can check out PC games.
And he did.
Soon thereafter, store policy on game checkout (of all types, new and used) became much more liberal. Way to lead by example, DM! :roll:
As far as gutting goes, we always tried to keep it to a minimum. For most games there was only one gutted copy, the one that went out onto the floor. We gutted everything from the PC games too, booklet and all. We were always very careful with the gutted discs, making sure they didn't get scratched and smudgy. Buying gutted stuff never really bothered me, but probably because I was the one that had to gut it in the first place.
Add to the fact that if it's a used game that's been around for a while, there are probably like five layers of each sticker. And no insert in the case. And no instructions. And the case is from Blockbuster.
Not to mention the stuff left over from E.B.
Dear god, before the merger E.B. must have thought that the world was full of some kind of disease where the cure was putting stickers on videogames.
No GameStop or EB takes used PC games anymore.
My EB does! Then again, I live up here in Canada so I think it's different. My EB is fine and the only thing I don't like about it is the stickers. One time I actually bought GTA: SA and a employee traded it in and it was in excellent condition. I've never had any real problems with them but maybe I'm lucky.
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I work at Gamestop. We do. We do this for EVERY game box we put out in the store as a safety measure. It really makes us want to wish we were sent display boxes, but Corporate -never- listens. Instead, we have to grab at least one copy of a game and gut it. In the PC games' case, we barely get sent any as it is.
Also, on M rated games theres a "Are you 17?" sticker on it. I only buy new games from Futureshop/BestBuy/for some reason my grocery store stocks them and does like 2 for $20 bundles on past generation titles, so I pick up those when im in a cheap mood. But the reason is, despite people hating the "corporate machine" they give me my game without stickers, shrink wrapped, and completely ungutted.
The EB by me used to have a bargin bin of PC games. I loved leafing through it looking for old titles that I wanted to check out. I found a few good things in there, but then they replaced it with used DVD's and thus they took my only reason for ever visiting the store. Fry's doesn't have games that are as old.
For trade in PC games, I go to Half Price Books which is a local chain of resold books, cd's and games. You have to be careful you don't buy anything like HL2, but overall it's really good. I found the MYST pack of the first 3 games there for $15.
"Read twice, post once. It's almost like 'measure twice, cut once' only with reading." - MetaverseNomad