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Why EBGames and Gamestop suck.
wavecutter
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
I have been frequenting the same 2 EB/Gamestop stores for the past 3 years. At one of these locations they have had copies of Asheron's Call 2 on the shelf for over two years now. I have pointed out to the employees and even the manager that the game is no longer playable as early as 2006. I have pointed this out at least 10 times in the past two years. Yesterday I was in that same store and saw this yet again.
wavecutter on
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Um.
Alright. They can't do anything else with it but send it to another store or let it sit in the back and wait for the "destroy!" command from corporate.
Is there literally no way to play it? At all? Don't private servers exist for EVERYTHING?
I'll never have to go to my cities crappy mall and gamestop again.
GM: Rusty Chains (DH Ongoing)
I like Gamestop. The one near me is full of my friends, who are not dickbags and actually help customers as they should (hell, I go in and talk to them/help customers with random questions I know the answers to).
I don't care if they gut games, have odd pricing and business practices. Best Buy and Wal-mart tend to throw their software around in the backroom, so the last thing I'm worried about is having my disc and manual put in a paper slip until I pay for it.
If you ask, they'll show you the disc before you hand them your money.
Its an MMO, the serverside code was never released... I suppose someone could in theory reverse engineer it, but I doubt anyone has, I don't think the sub base of AC2 ever broke 35,000.
Edit - Repacking games is a real problem too. When I first started playing EQ one of my friends went out to buy a copy and ended up having to get it replaced because they sold him one with the key in use already.
I am a freaking nerd.
I cannot tolerate them selling gutted games as new. I specifically request unopened new games, and 9 times of 10, I walk out of their stores empty handed. They punish their customers under the proclamation that its to combat theft, rather then tweak their shelves and displays.
And I don't care what they do in your store, the clerks play those gutted games. It may not happen in "your store", but that's far from universally true.
NintendoID: Nailbunny 3DS: 3909-8796-4685
Ha! When I was in college, it was considered a perk to being employed at the local game store that you could play the gutted PC games.
I am a freaking nerd.
I told them off the other day because they told me it was because "no one wants to play games on a computer"
You know that's probably just a mistake and if you said something I'm sure they would rectify things?
I have to admit that I'm fairly indifferent to this whole debate. If I want a game I'll buy it when I see it. Whether it's Gamestop, EBgames, Futureshop, the trunk of a guy's car, whatever. I honestly don't get why this whole debate polarizes so many people. If you don't like the store then don't shop there. If you don't have a choice then tough tamales.
Look, if you're going in to a store and telling them a game is no longer valid to play and they still don't remove it from the shelves it's because they can't. It doesn't mean that they won't discourage someone from buying it at the point of sale. Stop telling them what inventory they can and can't use. It's not up to them and it makes you look, frankly, crazy.
Also, people need to stop addressing these corporations like they're people (ie: Bestbuy throws their stock around the back room, etc etc). It's the PEOPLE that do these things, not the living embodiment of the stores themselves. I can appreciate getting steamed at a game store employee if they're a douchebag but that doesn't mean "Gamestore X suck balls" because of it.
You mean a walking Best Buy logo isn't the actual manager of every store, guiding all actions from his hidden back room doom fortress?
Well color me stunned.
Bu- but, PC gaming is dying because of piracy!
It is fair to judge a store based on its practices and employees, but not necessarily a whole retail chain. Different managers run places better or worse than others.
But just as bad is selling old copies of still popular PC games, specifically StarCraft, WarCraft 3, Diablo 2, and Quake 3. Each requires a CD key to play, and the only reason people buy the boxed game is for that key. Yet they're sold used all the time, without a disclaimer acknowledging that there's a 95% chance that your copy won't be playable online. Every EB games I've been in fails at PC games. Hell, most other places fail at PC games, too.
That and I bought a copy of KOF 00/01 that just wouldn't work, and I knew if I brought it back they'd offer me some other used game as compensation when all I really wanted was KOF 00/01.
Anyone want to beta read a paranormal mystery novella? Here's your chance.
stream
My thoughts on it are that it all depends on two things.
1) The people behind the register, and their attitudes
and
2) Your attitude, and how you treat the people behind the register.
Do their policies suck? Sometimes. But do they deal with lots of shit on a regular basis? Absolutely. No need to compound the pile of poo. I've worked in an independent game store with super flexible return policies, and still got shit before, so I know how it feels to have to work that job. They're there to get a paycheck, not to be cool. There are also, like any other mega-retailer, good stores, bad stores, good employees and bad employees. Gamestop in general, agree or disagree with their policies, is what it is. Not spending any money there sends a louder message out than anything else.
That being said, I will voice my pet peeve with them. Putting stickers on the sleeve of a used game, not the case. It drives me bananas. I buy unused cases to avoid the Gamestop sticker that just won't come off the case, and then they put it on the sleeve. I really wish they wouldn't do that.
"Sir, you do know that these two expansion packs are now available and mandatory free updates and patches to the game? You cannot download the free trial to Camelot without having to install both of these and for free.... so why are they still for sale."
Essentcially the guy just told me to just put it back on the shelf.
Pink'd for false.
NintendoID: Nailbunny 3DS: 3909-8796-4685
Ya know whats even worse. The GS near me puts those damn stickers under the plastic! And they do that for the new games that are gutted to! I want to strangle them when I have to buy the last of a new game.
I seriously have to go home with it, take the cover sleeve out, and spend 20 minutes trying to carefully take the sticker off without ripping the top layer of the paper.
Why would they stop selling the game just because the server doesn't work anymore? They bought the product, have to get rid of it somehow. I don't think they can return it to the company for a refund. Why would they throw it away when they can sell it for something and at least make up some of the loss?
It certainly is fair when 99% of the stores adhere to the same policy. It seems you are lucky to be shopping at a store that falls into the 1%
NintendoID: Nailbunny 3DS: 3909-8796-4685
I can safely say that if my local gamestop sold gutted games with stickers, I simply would never buy there, as opposed to rarely shopping there.
I'm a fan of buying via steam and amazon.com, but when I want things now, and a physical copy, I check out Gamestop. I'm probably lucky to have a decent one.
The result, you can remove the sticker with fairly minimal effort.
Ah, that's what I meant, under the sleeve, like, on the cover. But on new games, really? That stinks. The ones near me are generally pretty cool about not trying to sell me the gutted ones unless they're the last copy in the store. I've run into other locations that would try it, but when I ask, they always swap it out.
That sucks. Yuck.
I know the guys that work there, and I'll make them give me another case sometimes. So at least I'm able to get away with being anal. But I still think its a lousy practice to put it on the paper under the plastic. And I tell them that all the time.
Their website seems to agree with me.
Mmm. The ones that I frequent now are really good about that. I've only been burned once, and that was on the Xenosaga 2 bonus (for the DVD). Looking back on it (woohoo for hindsight), I shouldn't have bought Xenosaga 2 anyway, but getting to the register and being told "uh, I don't know about any DVD pre-order bonus" when there was a poster about it right underneath the register for the world to see will sort of get you angry.
But in that case, it was the person, and not the store. I just stopped going after that.