Is Gamestop Evil? The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

[Luke]

Manhunt is terrible. Not surprised at a crappy list from a crappy tabloid.

[retrosportsgamer]

I'm kidding around, but I am being a bit serious that there is some weird kind of aura about girls who work at gamestop who think they are much "hotter" than they are. I much more prefer the snooty guy employees who assume I know dick about games.

Does "think they are much hotter" than they are imply they are sexually suggestive and flirtatious with customers or is it just confidence in their own skin and who they are that comes off weird to you?

[Luke]

is it just confidence in their own skin and who they are that comes off weird to you?

Confidence is sexy. Really, really sexy.

But there is some weird sort of sect of girls/women who work at gamestop that act as if they walk on water. As if they assume every dude with a functioning penis desires nothing more than to talk to them and preorder a game in hopes of the exchange of bon mots. sorb

There is a wire thin line of being sure of yourself, and being a self-absorbed dolt. The women I've met that work at GS have terrible balance when it comes to straddling that line.

[Ack]

If you don't mind, can you provide highlights of the Top 25 list? I'd love to know what's on it.

Full list:

25. Blood
24. Splatterhouse (arcade ver. Not the reboot)
23. Shadows of the Damned
22. I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream
21. DayZ (I don't get this one... I'm not sure the mod is even finished)
20. Slender
19. Dead Rising
18. Sanitarium
17. Alan Wake
16. FEAR
15. The Suffering
14. Clock Tower
13. The Walking Dead
12. System Shock 2
11. Eternal Darkness
10. Condemned: Criminal Origins
9. Manhunt
8. Left 4 Dead
7. The Last of Us
6. RE 4
5. Fatal Frame 2
4. Amnesia: The Dark Descent
3. Dead Space
2. Silent Hill 2
1. Resident Evil

That is...a pretty terrible list in my opinion. I'm glad to see some games on there, like Sanitarium, and I guess they stuck to one entry per series, but there are some choices on there I don't agree with.

[TSTR]

It should be noted that there was also a part of the article that pointed out OG horror titles that weren't on the list, including The 7th Guest, Alone In The Dark, Haunted House, The House of the Dead, and Uninvited.

[Opa Opa]

I think the list is fine considering the audience of the magazine. Let's be honest, besides horror snobs, the average game player hasn't even heard of -much less played- games like Siren, Martian Gothic Unification, echo Night Beyond, etc.

Ack, I'd like to see your top whatever # horror game list since you don't like this one. The game informer list is just one dude's opinion; let's compare your picks.

[Hazerd]

Cute GS employee always asks me to fill out that online survey after shopping. Finally broke down and did so today. Maybe I'll win a gift card!

I must be old, still surprises me when I see a girl working at a game store. When I was a young school age lad you never met a girl that would admit to or even play video games. The other day at a local game store I was asking about one of the .Hack games and they referred me to a girl in her early 20's. Times have changed, or just passed me by.

Too me, it seems when girls are into certain video games, they are into it 110%, like theyll go as far as making crafts and cosplay, or even fan fiction, and everyone thinks its cute, but not so much with guys.

[Ack]

I think the list is fine considering the audience of the magazine. Let's be honest, besides horror snobs, the average game player hasn't even heard of -much less played- games like Siren, Martian Gothic Unification, echo Night Beyond, etc.

Ack, I'd like to see your top whatever # horror game list since you don't like this one. The game informer list is just one dude's opinion; let's compare your picks.

Sure, sounds good.

1. Silent Hill 2
2. Amnesia: The Dark Descent
3. Resident Evil 2
4. Fatal Frame
5. Alone in the Dark
6. System Shock 2
7. Eternal Darkness
8. The Last of Us
9. Outlast
10. I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream
11. Siren: Blood Curse
12. The Walking Dead
13. Uninvited
14. Clock Tower
15. 7th Guest
16. Condemned: Criminal Origins
17. Dead Space
18. Sweet Home
19. Penumbra: Overture
20. Nameless Game
21. Enemy Zero
22. Clive Barker's Undying
23. Haunted House
24. Sanitarium
25. Dark Seed

There are a lot of great horror games out there, many of which did make the other guy's list, but I figured I would throw on some more old school scares, along with a couple of imports, and take out a few that I consider poor choices(particularly DayZ).

That's not to say that everything I removed would be a bad choice to play or is a bad game, because that's not true at all. But while games like Blood and Splatterhouse use a horror motif, I don't necessarily see them as great games for horror. To me, a great horror game involves a certain level of powerlessness on the player's part. Splatterhouse is an amazing beat 'em up, and Blood is an awesome FPS, but they don't instill the sense of dread that others do. And I pulled out FEAR, because the first one starts great and then fizzles for large portions of the game in my opinion. It's a competent FPS, and the series is worth checking out, but there are better choices out there.

And yes, I stuck a lot of big names near the top. They're great at what they do. I'm sorry I didn't have more space to throw in oddballs like Harvester just to mess with people, but I feel I made some decent decisions across a variety of genres that offer solid horror gameplay.

[Fragems]

Actually was surprised by Blood completely forgot about that game got a copy of the Shareware earlier this year.

Still can't believe they are doing an HD remake of the RE remake. Damn it Capcom when are you going to show 2 and 3 some love and how about a Outbreak HD collection while your at it .

[Key-Glyph]

I was really interested to read the recent comments about GameStop employees, because I was considering posting some thoughts along those lines.

For my part, almost every time I leave a GameStop I feel condescended to or vaguely disapproved of in a way I never do in any other retail situation -- to the point where I've started wondering if it's part of their image to hire kids with an overdose of attitude in order to project an ironic edginess.

I wonder this because, for example, when I applied at Michaels Arts & Crafts in college, I had a piercing in my cheek that I thought would instantly disqualify me; I found out after I was hired that they were actively trying to change their image by hiring a lot of young folks with piercings, tattoos, and neon hairstyles. So the concept seems plausible to me.

I've also never felt scorned by the staff of Newbury Comics, another big pop-culture, teenager-staffed chain... but it's also possible that as I approach thirty years of age I've simply entered the "get off my lawn" phase in my life.

For what it's worth, though, in my personal GameStop experiences I have always been able to count on the following formula: 1 man will be super sensitive and nice, 1 woman (if present) will be super shy and nice, and the 3+ other dudes will be blatantly avoidant, aggravated, and determined that I get the message. I once had a guy who wasn't even passive-aggressive about it; he insulted me right to my face. (We never went back to that location.)