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Gamestop Hate


Meteo Xavier
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My problem with Gamestop happened like 4 years ago. I went into a store to ask about preordering a CE PC game and got laughed at by the employees. They quoted NPD retail sales chart as proof that PC gaming was dead and "It's all about consoles now". Even though NPD doesn't account for any digital sales and that was when Steam was kicking into high gear.

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I definitely don't have a way of defending Gamestamp's reasoning behind this. My only thought is that it comes done to bottom line. It costs money and time for locked cabinets, and Gamestamp quite literally does everything in their power to maximize profit. Great for business, bad for consumers. Like I said, we sales guys are only human, and honestly if someone holds that against us, man they got some issues.

i used to work at a game store that isn't gamestop. we experienced massive theft EVERY SINGLE MONTH. shrink was often 15% of sales.

we kept all used games behind the counter and only put cases out. all new games were always on a wall behind the counter and we'd get it down for you to look at if you wanted, but i had to stand there until you were done. controllers were behind the counter. only used third-party merch was on the floor. everything else was locked up or behind the counter.

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I find that the quality of a GameStop store varies from location to location. I've encountered courteous and knowledgable employees. I've also encountered the product pushers and rude opinionated idiots. If I'm walking around the local mall, I will browse through their store for a few minutes to see if there's anything that catches my fancy in the cheapo bin. Other than that, I tend to buy new games online and it's usually if something is on sale. I rarely buy a game on release.

As far as buying used games, I tend to go to eStarland since it's about 15 minutes away from me. They have a massive collection of games for current generation systems as well as classic consoles. Most of the people that work there have been doing so for a number of years and they've always done a good job taking care of any problems that I've had. I'd rather support a small local business if I can help it.

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I always try to draw a distinction between something ridiculous based on corporate, versus what individual employees are doing. Most of my issues with GameStop (and Best Buy, and several other places) deal with the former more than the latter -- I'm not gonna get irritated with the person trying to upsell if I know management basically forces them to.

As far as buying used games, I tend to go to eStarland since it's about 15 minutes away from me.

Wait I didn't know eStarland had a physical location that was that close. I'm gonna have to stop by there the next time I'm out that direction. KF

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Wait I didn't know eStarland had a physical location that was that close. I'm gonna have to stop by there the next time I'm out that direction. KF

I guess they've been at this new place for about a year now and it's fairly large. They also now have a month event where people sell their private collections and they also have little tournaments.

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Yeah, but when I pre-ordered the girl wouldn't give it to me saying wait till release day. Some Gamestops do this I hear, other give it to you when the pre-order is made. Guess that Gamestop was anal about it. It sucks too cause I went a hour after they opened, doubt 5 people came in to pickup their pre-orders at that time.

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Yeah, but when I pre-ordered the girl wouldn't give it to me saying wait till release day. Some Gamestops do this I hear, other give it to you when the pre-order is made. Guess that Gamestop was anal about it. It sucks too cause I went a hour after they opened, doubt 5 people came in to pickup their pre-orders at that time.

I think my Gamestop has some left over, want me to check?

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That's weird, because at my Gamestop I was given an Etrian Odyssey III artbook when I bought the game because some of the pre-orders hadn't taken them. I guess it all depends on which Gametop you go to.

I went to pick up Tales of Xillia today, unsure if my preorder was really a preorder. I had dropped $5 on it over a year ago, when IGN announced that it would most likely be brought to North America. I figured if it never made it, eh...$5. Turns out that my preorder was good, and a copy was waiting for me.

While I was buying my game, one of the lonely types and his female friend (girlfriend? companion?) were chatting up the guy behind the register, just gabbing it up. If you've been into any video game, board game or comic shop you know this type of person. It makes me feel bad for the people who work there and have to politely talk to them because they do actually buy things. Anyway he saw that I was buying Xillia and he was like "Oh, a fellow JRPGer! Will you be getting the Hat-soon-nay Meye-koo game?". I told him I wasn't very good at rhythm games so I never bothered with Vocaloid games. He asked if I liked Vocaloid (I actually do, but I didn't want to chat since I had my son with me in the stroller), and I told him I'm not a weeaboo. He seemed offended by this, offended enough to be silent for a minute while I spoke to the cashier, bought my game and got the hell out of there.

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That's weird, because at my Gamestop I was given an Etrian Odyssey III artbook when I bought the game because some of the pre-orders hadn't taken them. I guess it all depends on which Gametop you go to.

I went to pick up Tales of Xillia today, unsure if my preorder was really a preorder. I had dropped $5 on it over a year ago, when IGN announced that it would most likely be brought to North America. I figured if it never made it, eh...$5. Turns out that my preorder was good, and a copy was waiting for me.

While I was buying my game, one of the lonely types and his female friend (girlfriend? companion?) were chatting up the guy behind the register, just gabbing it up. If you've been into any video game, board game or comic shop you know this type of person. It makes me feel bad for the people who work there and have to politely talk to them because they do actually buy things. Anyway he saw that I was buying Xillia and he was like "Oh, a fellow JRPGer! Will you be getting the Hat-soon-nay Meye-koo game?". I told him I wasn't very good at rhythm games so I never bothered with Vocaloid games. He asked if I liked Vocaloid (I actually do, but I didn't want to chat since I had my son with me in the stroller), and I told him I'm not a weeaboo. He seemed offended by this, offended enough to be silent for a minute while I spoke to the cashier, bought my game and got the hell out of there.

haha, which gamestop was this? i live in rochester too.

there are a lot of supernerds in the area thanks to RIT, i'm noticing. i was at a party with some friends and mentioned that i liked some random rpg and got facemobbed by a bunch of neckbeards, it was super creepy. i already had one guy ask me for my autograph (LOLWAT) because he figured out that i was on ocr :<

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haha, which gamestop was this? i live in rochester too.

there are a lot of supernerds in the area thanks to RIT, i'm noticing. i was at a party with some friends and mentioned that i liked some random rpg and got facemobbed by a bunch of neckbeards, it was super creepy. i already had one guy ask me for my autograph (LOLWAT) because he figured out that i was on ocr :<

The one on West Ridge at Ridgemont plaza in Greece. And this guy was sporting a neckbeard.

I mean, I have nothing against people who really love something and want to chat about it with others. I wish they'd not try to do it with the person who is just trying to pick up her game while her 2-year-old swirms restlessly in his stroller.

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I actually ended up befriending the manager at the store near me over the course of the last 2 years. Great guy, and we actually ended up hanging out as friends, going to concerts etc. Unfortunately he told me the other day that he's moving about 200 miles away to take a youth pastor job, quitting his band, and such. Dude has been such a great friend and gamestop employee, that I'm giving him my Bioshock 1 Limited Edition, since he's been trying to find one forever.

Point being, Gamestop employees are people too, and if you show them some decency, you might find a cool friend out of it, and some good deals too.

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