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

[BurningDoom]

No, I don't agree that GameStop should go out of business. It's great to have a national chain of video game stores. Not everyone has mom-N-pop stores to go to, and eBay and Amazon aren't always trustworthy or even the best prices.

Gamestop definetly has it's flaws, I've bitched enough in this thread. But they're flaws that could be easily fixed if they pulled their heads out of their asses. Shut GameStop down and many of us are back to eBay, Amazon, and Wal-Mart only.

[Xeogred]

Time for me to leave this thread again.

[FerretGamer]

If that's what it is, I'll accept it.

[noiseredux]

If you love video games, why do you do things that harm them? You are like a husband who beats his wife, but claims to love her. If you really loved her, you wouldn't harm her like that.

Gamestop does more harm than good to the video game industry. By supporting them, you are helping to make things worse. Do you love video games or not? Pick one.

First off, wow. Even for you that was amazing. Buying a used copy of Contra Shattered Soldier for under $10 is similar to domestic abuse? Bravo.

I [i]would[//i] ask you to make lists of the "harm" and "good" they do so we could have a rational discussion. But I know you're not big on facts. I'd also argue with you that I do love video games very much, and don't feel like I'm destroying anything by nabbing the occassional game at GS. But really, I don't care much what you think of me.

@Xeo: I'm totally not trolling you -- just playing Devil's Advocate. I mean, I've seen multiple small game stores open in my area BEFORE there was a GS anywhere close that lasted less than a year or two. I don't really think it's easy to open a small biz and keep it going. I was just saying sure, maybe GS hurt it (if they carried current gen and last gen?) but surely they sold plenty of retro stuff to which GS was no competition. It's not necessarily OBVIOUS that GS put them out of business just because they were close by.

[noiseredux]

Yea, I guess I don't love videogames because I take advantage of the the occasional used promotion at Gamestop. If anything, I've saved many mint PS2, Gamecube, Xbox, etc. games from their destruction while also taking advantage of great prices (B2G2 etc.)
In addition, I've managed to beef up my GBA collection by 30-40 games thanks to their big clearance a few months back.

I definitely do not condone many of Gamestop's policies and I almost NEVER buy a new game there especially if it has been gutted. However, I will not pass up good deals at ANY store.

This thread is appropriately titled and there will always be good, bad, and ugly about any retailer.

well said.

[ZenErik]

I'm not a fan of GameStop. I still occasionally buy from them if they have a good deal. Sometimes they actually even have good trade in offers if you're trading in towards a certain new release and bring in enough games. For Skyrim I traded in some games and got 60% extra, which actually makes the trade in value NOT suck, because it was 30% extra for buying Skyrim and 30% for trading in 7 games. Wouldn't have made any extra money selling them on here.

[Xeogred]

@noise: Yeah you have a point and it was a nice friendly argument. Like I said above though, time for me to run away from this thread.

But uh... again, for those who haven't seen it...

Welcome to Gamestop!

[Inazuma]

First off, wow. Even for you that was amazing. Buying a used copy of Contra Shattered Soldier for under $10 is similar to domestic abuse? Bravo.

I [i]would[//i] ask you to make lists of the "harm" and "good" they do so we could have a rational discussion. But I know you're not big on facts. I'd also argue with you that I do love video games very much, and don't feel like I'm destroying anything by nabbing the occassional game at GS. But really, I don't care much what you think of me.

It's called an analogy. I thought it was a pretty good one too.

Are you saying that Gamestop does more good than harm? If they went out of business tomorrow, it would be a bad thing overall?

[AppleQueso]

Honestly, I imagine that if every single person on this forum never bought a single game from gamestop ever again, it wouldn't even make a dent in GS.

I think the thing is, Inazuma, is that people on here feel that boycotting gamestop (and other companies) is more of a symbolic gesture than a practical one. I know you probably don't agree with that, and that's fine, just consider it from their point of view. They don't see much point in inconveniencing themselves just so people like you will pat them on the back.

We're a niche group after all, most of us hardly contribute to the modern gaming industry as it is.

[noiseredux]

It's called an analogy. I thought it was a pretty good one too.

it was. It was actually hilarious. I said "amazing" didn't I?

Are you saying that Gamestop does more good than harm? If they went out of business tomorrow, it would be a bad thing overall?

I have no idea if they do more good or more harm. I don't really have any sort of statistical data one way or the other. But neither do you apparently.

If they went out of business tomorrow, it would be a bad thing (for me). They're a convenient place for me to pick up games on the cheap. My other options are one single retro shop that is not convenient for me to get to often and has pretty high prices, or Wal-Mart/K-Mart/Best Buy who has so-so prices but shit selection.

Now all of this is disregarding that I get the bulk of my games online in one way or another. But considering the video stores are gone, and music stores on their way out ... yes, I would miss having a dedicated video game store to browse in.

tl;dr:

They don't see much point in inconveniencing themselves just so people like you will pat them on the back.