Anybody here use gamefly?

[CFFJR]

If so, what do you think of it?

Speaking as an older gamer (somewhat, I'm a couple months shy of 24, but...) I, like so many others, am now devoid of time for games. Such a great deal of my time is unavoidably devoted to work, and other necessities (sleep comes to mind, much as I try to avoid it some days) consume what's left of my days frighteningly fast.

Don't get me wrong now, I'm not simply bitching. I still have time to pursue my interests, but they are many, and my time is now precious.

As it stands, I probably buy a new game every couple of months, and it may take me a while to finish it, depending on my interest. But there are many others I'd like to play. The time factor ties into the money factor, so on and so forth. Point is, I'm now hesitant to buy new games for fear that they will be money and time wasted, even if it seems like a sure bet at first. For example, I wasn't expecting much from Final Fantasy 13, and I was still heavily disappointed. I consider it a waste of 60 bucks. On the other hand, I thought I'd love Red Dead Redemption, and while it is an enjoyable game, I have a hard time dredging up the will to play it, probably because its so damn big playing for an hour isn't really enough time to get anything done. Fun to play, still probably a waste of money.

I know a lot people simply stick to old games, but while I love them dearly and still play them frequently, I still crave new stuff as well.

Anyway, long story short, I figure I can try gamefly's 1 game plan. It's 16 bucks a month, but I can easily play 1 game in a month's time, and if I don't like something, it goes back with little time wasted.

So to people who have the service, how do you like it? Are they fast about shipping? If you're tight on time, is it worth it to you? Considering what I said, good idea or bad idea?

[Jrecee]

I tried it. If you plan on keeping games for a month at a time it might be worth while. I signed up for their 2 week trial so I was trying to play as many games as I could in that time frame and I thought it took too long to get them. That may have changed since I tried it out.

I used to rent games a lot when I was younger and didn't have money to buy lots of them. Now there are so many games both old and new that I'm really picky about what I play, so I usually just buy them. I buy maybe 6 (current generation) games a year and that's more than I can even keep up with. I haven't even beat the first mario galaxy yet.....

[Dakinggamer87]

I have been using GameFly for several years and have found it well worth it. I save a ton of money on games that I'm unsure of and hesitant of spending full price. I get my games pretty fast between 2-3 days between rentals not as fast as Netflix but still pretty quick.

[ujnhunter]

I don't rent video games, but I've bought a couple cheap used games from them and they have been top notch! Mint cover/case/manuals!

[Tullaian]

I have the 2 game plan (that I split the cost on with my roommate) and think it's worth it. I'm not too big on online mulitplayer so one play through of a game is usually enough for me and if I ever did want to play a game again I can just add it to my queue. As far as time goes I like that I can keep the game for as long as I want too. It means I can play a little before or after work without having to feel rushed. I remember as a kid feeling like I wasted a game rental if I wasn't playing it every minute of the weekend but with this there is no rush.

The shipping time is really fast for me usually. I generally get the games they day after they are sent but I live in Tampa where they have a shipping facility so the game isn't going far.

The only problem I have come across is having to wait for new release games. I can sometimes go 2-3 weeks of a month with no games out because the ones in my queue aren't in stock.

[Jayson]

I used Gamefly on and off for a few years now. It's not too bad a service if you can get through games fast enough. I hardly have time to play and I would constantly think I was wasting money or felt the need to play the game(s) to get my monies worth. They do have killer used game prices for stuff thats still considered a new release using their keep it option.

One trick to get new release games is to have nothing else in your queue but the game you want and to make sure that you have an empty slot by the Monday before it's released. If you have anything else in your queue even in lower positions, they will send those games first regardless of the order you want them.

*Another option for you is Goozex.

I tend to let games sit for a while after I buy them (stupid I know). I found that Goozex works better for me in this regard. It's not a rental service, but you can use it that way if you like.

I trade in a game, spend $3 to ship it, spend a $1 trade token and get another game I want to play. The game is mine to keep as long as I want so there's no pressure to try and beat it quickly. In most cases, once I get through that game, it will be the same trade in value (goozex points) as what I paid for it. It usually only goes down $2.50 at a time and sometimes it goes up in value if there's a demand for the game.

Sellers pay to ship, buyers pay goozex use trade tokens they buy from Goozex for $1 each. You can buy points from them also ($5 per 100 points), but there isn't usually any value in that.

I found that I can still play the games I want while spending less than I would via Gamefly and if i like the game, I already own it, so I don't have to spend more money to "keep it".

There are wait lists to get the more popular games and wait lists to trade the more unpopular games, so you will need to add them to your "on hold" queue to keep your place in line.

The trick with getting new releases within a reasonable amount of time through Goozex is to get in queue early. Monday nights at 10PM PST they will activate a game for trading that releases the next day. If you want to get the game, you can add it to your queue as soon as they activate it. If you don't get in early, it will be a long wait.

They have old classic games too, not just the last 2 generations so there's that. There usually isn't a queue to get those.

[Unleaded Logic]

I actually just cancelled my service with them. I've been with them for a couple of years and enjoyed the service. However with my game collecting and playing what I collect many of the games from them sat in the envelope for over a month and I was just wasting my money. Eventually I'll join again, but with all I have to play its going to be awhile.

[CFFJR]

Thanks very much for the helpful responses guys!

Its good to hear positive comments about shipping times and the service in general.

I think I'm going to go ahead and give it a shot. Even if I only manage to play one game a month, I think it'll ultimately be worth it. That will be much better than my current status of "maybe one game every couple of months, if I like it". (I'm a picky buyer, despite the size of my collection, but as I said in the first post, sometimes you get it wrong no matter what). And I won't feel so damn guilty about the money on games I'm unsure about.

Goozex sounds interesting, but complicated. Seems like something that makes a lot more sense once you complete a couple of trades and get how it works. I may try it out later on.

[yomomma1]

I've used gamefly for 2 years.

I don't like them. I canceled recently. It takes 3 days for you to receive a game, and it takes 3 days for them to receive a game. 6 days, right? No. Sometimes even if they receive a game, they won't ship another. The longest I had to wait was 17 days for them to ship a game that was available(it had been available for the whole duration) Also, expect to get blamed for lost mail. I sent in Professor Layton, took them 2 months to receive it and tried to make me pay for it.

Edit: You will love the service the first 6 months. After that they don't care about you.

[Bradtemple87]

ship time varies, gotta have patience