My rant to help stupid gamers - please chime in.

[J T]

Just to let you know: You can NOT convince people not to buy a game. You just can't. I remember someone asked "Is SAW any good?" I replied with "No. No no no. It's awful. It is the worst game I have played this generation, and I gave it more than a fair chance."

Guess what game he ended up walking out with?

I know as a video game store employee, this is probably your personal hell, but that story made me laugh.

When a person asks you if a game is good, they aren't really asking for your opinion. What they are really saying is "I'm going to buy this. Will you please validate my decision?"

I had a friend that was a big movie buff and people would ask him for a good movie. He had an extensive knowledge of cinema, so he would ask them a few questions about what kind of movie they would like to see, then he would carefully craft a response to help them find a movie they probably haven't heard of before and that would exactly fit their criteria. However, after he went through all that effort, they would just wonder off to the New Release section and check out a stupid ass movie like Deuce Bigelow Male Gigalo.

[J T]

"Don't buy that."

Your average person won't appreciate this much because it just insults them for even considering the game. Sometimes you can persuade them in a different direction though. "Thinking about getting Saw eh? Man, I love horror games. You know what you should check out though? Dead Space. That game makes Saw look like a Saturday morning cartoon."

[Luke]

And on the other hand you have your game stop employees who will say "Batman Dark Tomorrow? Well, if you like Batman, you'll love it".

[J T]

And on the other hand you have your game stop employees who will say "Batman Dark Tomorrow? Well, if you like Batman, you'll love it".

Yeah, I get terrible advice from the local GameStop. Sometimes it's funny to ask their opinion just to see how bad it is.

[noiseredux]

I don't think I've EVER asked an employees opinion of anything... game, movie, CD, book...anything.

[ZeroAX]

the only good advice I've seen a game store employ give, is about which console to buy for someone, when the customer has no idea about these things and is looking for a present for someone.

[Hobie-wan]

That reminds me, I did exchange opinions with a cute girl in Half Price Books a few weeks ago. I went to look what Chuck Palahniuk books they had and and she was plopped down looking at them once I got there. I offered that Choke was awesome, which she picked out, and I asked her opinion and ended up grabbing Survivor.

Now I think about it, I've done that once or twice before in a music store too, but only when commenting that something they already have is good, as opposed to saying something they've picked out it bad.

[noiseredux]

Choke is way better than Survivor. You got hosed.

[Hobie-wan]

Choke is way better than Survivor. You got hosed.

I figured it was going to be hard to top Choke, but oh well. I read Choke straight through in about 3 hours when I got it. It was a quick read, but only because it was so awesome.

[noiseredux]

yeah I went through a phase where I read most of his books in a matter of a few months. Fight Club, Choke, and Stranger Than Fiction were excellent. Haunted is very good. Lullabye and Survivor and um... I'm blanking on the title... the supermodel one...? were kind of meh. Then I sort of lost interest in keeping up with him.