Just a few things.

So I'm going to take a moment to address a few gaming related things that have been bugging me for a while now.

I. Hating Gamestop is the new black.

A growing trend I've noticed for a considerable amount of time is the fact that a lot of seriously "hardcore gamers" hate on Gamestop with the same fervor that I hate on Wal-Mart, so I'm going to commiserate and address a few misconceptions.

1. The Trade-In Scandal. The reason your trade in credit is so low on something that is more than a month old most of the time is simply that you are giving them something that, chances are, they will never sell again. It will sit in the store until it's either shipped out to another store that for some reason is light on that item, or is shipped off with junk to be destroyed. Gamers typically have a short attention span and anything that's not the hottest new thing will not sell. Now having said that, the reason your credit is so low on something that is older than a few weeks is that there is no markup whatsoever on new games. Gamestop, Best Buy, Fry's, Circuit City, and yes Wal-Mart only make like 5 bucks on a new game. The difference is with the rest of those places sell other items that are completely non-gaming related to keep them afloat. So in order for Gamestop to make profit, they rely on used games. Yes it does seem kind of lame that they brand new shiny copy of Halo 3 is 60 bucks and the beat up used one is 55. That doesn't seem like much of a bargain, but a lot of people don't realize that you can return a used game within 7 days for a full refund. So when you buy that used copy of Halo 3, realize that you can't double shot, noob combo, or super jump, and determine that the game is "teh gayzorz", you can get your 55 back, not the 35 you'd get for trade in. Truth be told though, you can only really do this once per game, as most Gamestops that follow policy will not allow you to return a used game that was purchased AS a return. Then you're just treating them like a rental shop.


2, The Reservation Scandal. There's a lot of hate towards GS's reservation system as well. It's quite simple. If you reserve a game, regardless of what the salesperson tells you chances are it will not be sold out unless it's REALLY big, really offbeat, or it comes with an accessory. Huge games (Halo 3, COD4, Mario Galaxy) sell out because they're huge. Weird, offbeat games Zack & Wiki, Beautiful Katamari) sell out because they don't ship many copies. Accessory games (Guitar Hero, Rock Band, DDR) sell out because they can't make as many. Example:

A lot of Halo 3=200 copies.
A lot of Guitar Hero 3 = 22 copies.

So, feel free to reserve those. If nothing else, you have piece of mind knowing that you don't have to run/call around looking for it. Also, usually games come in 1 day later than their release date, since Sony, MS, and Nintendo won't pay for same day shipping most of the time. The only time a game is in on the day advertised is if it's street dated, and chances are they've had it in the back room for the last week and can't sell it until the advertised date. What you DON'T need to reserve is just about everything else. Trust me if you just have to have a copy of Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games, you will find one. It can be incredibly annoying to be offered to reserve every game in the world when you get up to the counter. But don't take it out on the employee who's just doing his job. He probably has a bad manager who's on his back all day about it. I will say though that sometimes their tactics are a little rediculous. They should never say that you won't be able to get it at all anywhere if you don't reserve it. Gamestops are small stores. They can't fit a ton of product into them. By reserving games, the store knows how many to order roughly so that they aren't overstocked. So look at it in the simplest terms. By reserving a game that you are going to buy anyway, you're doing a few things:

A) You're guaranteeing you don't have to hunt for it day 1.
B) You're spreading that 65 dollar price tag out instead of doing it all at once, since you can come in and periodically throw money towards you reservation.
C) You're helping someone who's just as passionate about games as you are enjoy his job, thereby giving you someone to BS with about games whenever you're around.

When the salespeople get pushy and condecending about it, just find another store to shop at. There are Gamestops everywhere

3. The Check out Scandal. This is a big one. Gamestop has a policy that allows employees to "rent" games for four days. The problem with this is, They can take home a game, play it for a while, bring it back to the store and sell it as new. If you BUY the game, bring it home, decide it sucks, and try to return it YOU CAN'T. They say it's because they can't sell it as new. But for some reason, they can sell the ones they check out as new. It's maddening, I know. Again though, it comes down to bad management. A good GS store manager will only let his employees check out used games. Also, in the case of a brand new release, a good manager will allow either himself or one trustworthy employee to check one out, so when a customer asks about the game you'll have experience with it. This copy is usually sold as an absolute last resort, and a good manager will also make you aware of this fact and ask you if it's ok to sell you the open copy.

4. The Elitist Employee Scandal. We've all gone into a GS and had this experience. You get that one employee that has a crappy attitude and knows everything, ESPECIALLY that you are an idiot. Tell the manager. If that employee is the manager, take your business and your money elsewhere.

Gamestop, like most retail corporations is evil. But they are staffed by average joes who like video games and like everyone else, need a job. There are some bad apples out there who mess it up for everyone, though, so rather than boycott the entire company, find one that will treat you with respect. That said, customers can bring some of this stuff on themselves. Here's a handy list of stuff to not do to a Gamestop employee, or any other retail employee for that matter.

1. If someone looks very busy, don't ask them a question that you could figure out the answer to yourself if you tried. Nothing is more annoying than having someone say "where's the PS3 section" while standing five feet from the big PS3 sign while you're knee deep in some other jerk's 95 piece trade in. "When's X game coming out?" when they NEW RELEASE list is right in front of you on the counter is another bad one.

2. Speaking of trade ins, they are time consuming and quite obnoxious to do. So if you're going to a gamestop, and you think it might be busy, don't bring trades. Also, a lot of gamestop store stop taking trades an hour or so before they close, since taking them in will effectively undo the preclosing they've been doing for the last hour. So don't get mad if they won't take your trade at 8:50 when they close at 9.

3. Bitching to an hourly employee about ANYTHING corporate policy related will get you nothing but the knowledge that you will be the butt of a joke until the next difficult yokel comes in. A retail employee's desire to help you (management ESPECIALLY) is DIRECTLY related to how piss-poor your attitude is.

4. There are no Wii's, nor do we know when we're getting them. No, we cannot hold you one, nor will we call you when they come in. STOP CALLING.

5. NO ONE at GS plays Madden, so we don't know if it's good. All signs point to no if it helps.

6. Don't call and ask us how much a game is worth, it's annoying, and if we tell you then we have to tell everyone that calls, and then our day is filled up.

7. Contrary to what a new ad campaign says, we don't give hints. DO NOT call and ask where the skulls in Halo 3 are. I'm usually too busy counting things, selling things, fixing things, or having a battle of wits with someone over return policy to worry about you and the fact that you're stuck on Tomb Raider. Use the internet.

8. If you can't remember then name of the game, or what it's about, I cannot help you.

9. IF YOU CAN'T SPEAK A WORD OF ENGLISH I REFUSE TO HELP YOU. (No, this is not some immigration related statement, I simply do not have time to decipher languages I do not speak, ahthankyou.)

10. No matter how DESPERATELY you need it, we cannot hold things for you. We've been telling you for months to reserve it, and you didn't so now you're having trouble finding it. How is this our problem? Besides if I hold it for you, I'll have to tell the person who asks before you that we're out. Then what happens when you come to get it and that person is still there? It's happened before.

I could probaby type out a long list of things employees shouldn't do to customers, also, but i think most of those can be summed up in know what you're talking about before you speak, and be nice. Plus I haven't even gotten to part 2, which will be a new blog listing now, since this ran so long.

Cheers.