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[Superface]

Just.. the pure malicious evil of the scam, and its widespread implementation, that gets to me. How do you consciously ignore such continuous evil?!

Yeah, I have been following his exploits for a while; "Game Store" is an idea I keep in the back of my head, for that time of my life when I'm filthy rich and underemployed.

And it's not even a quarter, it's like a fucking tenth. Buy it for $2, sell it for $20. It doesn't surprise me that someone thought of it, it surprises me that everyone still puts up with it.

Basically, Dear Gamestop, I'LL EAT YOUR HEART.

[Doom]

Pure malicious evil preys upon stupidity. Whenever I browse Gamestop, I can usually see a white trash couple trading in 3-6 brand-new-three-months-ago X-Box 360 games in and being amazed that their "worthless" games net them an entire seventy dollars. Or some 12 year old who thinks trading in his DS Lite for a DSi is an "amazing deal", like luck is on his side just as the sinister corporate overlords want.

As it is, Gamestop offers a "unique" service and they can buy out any significant competition short of Walmart and Insert Shoplifting Joke Here. It doesn't help that the relative value of video games is a tricky thing to gauge in the first place.

The only truly concrete way I could think of to battle shit like Gamestop and general ignorance in the public is to lobby for getting some new courses into our public education system. People should understand the meaning of "Opportunity Cost" before they are 10 years old.

Of course, this brings up the elephant in the room of our education system. I guess this is why I cannot offer amazingly good ideas in the Real World thread: America is fucked up.

But there's a solid one! Basic financial and economic education! Seriously, do you know what "Opportunity Cost" is?

[Ted Belmont]

I do now!

[Brentai]

Just.. the pure malicious evil of the scam, and its widespread implementation, that gets to me. How do you consciously ignore such continuous evil?!

...by consciously ignoring it.  I haven't been to a GameStop in years because A) I know they have terrible prices and B) I wouldn't give them any fucking money even if they had a decent deal (like they do on DSi upgrades, what the fuck else are you going to do with last year's model without the box?).

I'm not even close to unique in this regard, which is why the company never gets any sympathy when they whine about digital distribution putting them out of business.

[Kazz]

As bad as GameStop might be, Alienware is one hundred times worse as far as misrepresenting the cost of things.

[Brentai]

I just figured Alienware was like Tiffany's.  The brand is less about "I have an incredibly badass computer" and more about "I can afford ridiculously expensive crap."

[King Klown]

I just figured Alienware was like Tiffany's.  The brand is less about "I have an incredibly badass computer" and more about "I can afford ridiculously expensive crap."

That's how I always saw it. Growing up as a small nerd, the best present in the world from my family was something by Alienware.

[Classic]

I'm not sure why everyone gets so pissed at gamestop for being a pawnshop. As far as I've heard, those kinds of buying and selling rates are essential to (smaller) pawn shops. So I can't be that pissed with them.
...
... Never sell to them though.

[PhoenixUltima]

This behavior is hardly unique to GameStop. As far back as the NES era, where games stores were far more likely to be mom 'n pop operations, you were getting shitty returns for selling your games. I remember selling a whole bunch of NES games, including Super Mario Bros. 3 (you think I'm stupid now? Imagine me at 8 years old.) and getting, like, 5-10 bucks for the whole load.

Buying from game stores is fine (I found Disgaea and Ar Tonelico at my GameStop), just don't sell to them, ever.

[TA]

I remember being offered 50 cents for Super Mario Bros 3 at a trade-in place once.  I was pretty young but even so.

[Brentai]

While you're at it, don't buy sold games to them, either.  As a retailer they're honest but-overpriced (which I still won't give them any damn money for), but as a pawnshop they're... a pawnshop.  Go for direct deals if you can.

[McDohl]

There's a chain of stores similar to Gamestop out here in Maryland called Play 'n' Trade.  I don't know how big they are, but at first glance, it's just like Gamestop.  The thing is that they carry older stuff as well.  I found a bunch of reasonably priced dreamcast games, including Garou: Mark of the Wolves.  Of course, they also had a $40 copy of Secret of Mana, which is also available on Virtual Console for $8.  Eh.  I like them.

[Rosencrantz]

Play n' Trade is actually a franchise and they've got like 30 stores in California, as well as probably just about every other state. I just did a very quick check of the first few alphabetical states on their website and they have a store in Alaska, a couple in Alabama, several in Arizona, etc.

There's one near me and I've been there a couple of times. The owner was really nice and told me that I could test out any game in the store before I bought it, and he had a bunch of NES and SNES stuff as well.

[Kazz]

Once, in a GameStop, this lady came in with a bag full of SNES and N64 carts and presumably other titles that she wanted to trade in.  They told her that they didn't deal in such old games anymore.  I was being an idiot; I should have made an offer right then and there.

[Superface]

Play n' Trade

That sounds a lot like my local GameCrazy, which is really more of an add-on to Hollywood Video. They allow you to playtest any game in the store, they stock stuff as old as Genesis/SNES sometimes (even SNES consoles) and they have significantly better trade-in rates, prices and discount card offers. (For a year I had a subscription to OPM and EGM simply because it came free with the discount card.)

So, I go out of my way to support them whenever I can, and try to ignore my local Gamestops as hard as possible. Cool, cool glasses.

[Brentai]

GameCrazy?  Local?  That shit is almost more corporate than GameStop, if you can believe it.

Though they admittedly go much less out of their way to fuck you over, since they get better profit margins from selling off Hollyvid's scratched-to-fuck refuse anyway.