Gamestop destroyed my love for games...
I thought that working at GameStop would be a dream.
Dressing up semi-casual, walking into work and getting paid to sell games and talk to fellow nerds?
But no.
It wasn't about gaming at one point. I just had to push those reserves, sell those power up cards and get more membership subscriptions. It wasn't about the love of the games anymore. Most of the kids wanted to get their little Call of Duty and Madden games and just get the hell out of there... It's that simple. Most of the time people don't want to come there because people want to shove products down their throat. I know that's retail. The work environment was dry, there were repeating advertisements on the speakers and TV's that I can probably remember from heart because they would play that often. I would literally leave every single shift with a headache. On the slow days all we would do is look at each other and the games on the walls until our shift ended. And whenever somebody comes in, we would have to barrage them and hope they spend their money on extra crap. It's really disheartening watching one of my co workers ask somebody for more money when they are already squeezing out money to buy their kid a game. Just so they can have their numbers for the day. I work at another job on the restaurant, and I would prefer a fast paced, hard job where I have to feed angry hungry people. We open, we feed them, we close and go home. No more retail goals. I'll deal with that when I get my Restaurant and Hotel Management degree.
Management was decent, however I could see a few bursts of darkness coming out of them. Just like talking crap about an old co worker. They casually talked about him getting fired, and personally getting fired is one of the most embarrassing things to ever happen to me. They would hoard games in the drawer. And if you want proof I'm going to link a picture to the drawer filled with various collector's editions, rare games, tin cases, special controllers and various handhelds. It would have been fine if they were bought in a timely manner. But they have been there for months, maybe even years. It's one thing to enjoy your benefits and see what's under the counter... However, you have to draw the line somewhere when you are just putting games there for the sake of hiding them from the general public.
We had this nice little benefit where we got to rent whatever game we wanted for 4 days. It was pretty sweet, so needless to say... I played a lot of those games in there. And after months of filing games and playing them... I just think... Where did we go wrong? Back then, people would release games for the entertainment of others. There were very few crappy games. And the games that were decent were very incomplete. It's as if they spent endless years developing the game and only released part of it so we can buy the other pieces separately... It's just a money black hole, man. I haven't been excited for many games
However, the Wii-U and Monster Hunter Tri Ultimate excite me very much.
Therefore I put in my two weeks notice, selling my xbox and buying a Wii-U.
I had a lot of great experiences on XBL, but sometimes you gotta let it go when it doesn't make you happy anymore. Nintendo has been the only one to stay true till the very end. They never lost track of what the gaming industry was all about... FUN.
Drawer of hoarded games.
Yes, I can get fired for posting this. Sue me.
[link]
That's my little rant. Off to my other job and school so I can actually do something with this train-wreck of a life.
Much love,
-Miles
Dressing up semi-casual, walking into work and getting paid to sell games and talk to fellow nerds?
But no.
It wasn't about gaming at one point. I just had to push those reserves, sell those power up cards and get more membership subscriptions. It wasn't about the love of the games anymore. Most of the kids wanted to get their little Call of Duty and Madden games and just get the hell out of there... It's that simple. Most of the time people don't want to come there because people want to shove products down their throat. I know that's retail. The work environment was dry, there were repeating advertisements on the speakers and TV's that I can probably remember from heart because they would play that often. I would literally leave every single shift with a headache. On the slow days all we would do is look at each other and the games on the walls until our shift ended. And whenever somebody comes in, we would have to barrage them and hope they spend their money on extra crap. It's really disheartening watching one of my co workers ask somebody for more money when they are already squeezing out money to buy their kid a game. Just so they can have their numbers for the day. I work at another job on the restaurant, and I would prefer a fast paced, hard job where I have to feed angry hungry people. We open, we feed them, we close and go home. No more retail goals. I'll deal with that when I get my Restaurant and Hotel Management degree.
Management was decent, however I could see a few bursts of darkness coming out of them. Just like talking crap about an old co worker. They casually talked about him getting fired, and personally getting fired is one of the most embarrassing things to ever happen to me. They would hoard games in the drawer. And if you want proof I'm going to link a picture to the drawer filled with various collector's editions, rare games, tin cases, special controllers and various handhelds. It would have been fine if they were bought in a timely manner. But they have been there for months, maybe even years. It's one thing to enjoy your benefits and see what's under the counter... However, you have to draw the line somewhere when you are just putting games there for the sake of hiding them from the general public.
We had this nice little benefit where we got to rent whatever game we wanted for 4 days. It was pretty sweet, so needless to say... I played a lot of those games in there. And after months of filing games and playing them... I just think... Where did we go wrong? Back then, people would release games for the entertainment of others. There were very few crappy games. And the games that were decent were very incomplete. It's as if they spent endless years developing the game and only released part of it so we can buy the other pieces separately... It's just a money black hole, man. I haven't been excited for many games
However, the Wii-U and Monster Hunter Tri Ultimate excite me very much.
Therefore I put in my two weeks notice, selling my xbox and buying a Wii-U.
I had a lot of great experiences on XBL, but sometimes you gotta let it go when it doesn't make you happy anymore. Nintendo has been the only one to stay true till the very end. They never lost track of what the gaming industry was all about... FUN.
Drawer of hoarded games.
Yes, I can get fired for posting this. Sue me.
[link]
That's my little rant. Off to my other job and school so I can actually do something with this train-wreck of a life.
Much love,
-Miles
Comments9
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My advice -- stop looking at Gamestop for where exciting games will be. As much as I'll enjoy AAA games, usually the most innovative and heart-touching ones are from Kongregate, ModDB, Desura, Amazon, or Steam's indie section.
And as much as I hate to burst your bubble -- game developers have always been either making for entertainment or money. This has been a thing since the beginning. Why else do you think there was a videogame industry crash back during the 80s? The only difference is that apparently most people have nostalgia goggles and think that Nintendo and Sega made the world shine with happiness in the beginning. Sonic was literally just put together via focus testing, Mario's cast of characters were made the way they were due to computing constraints. Once you see behind the curtain, you actually can see a lot of decisions in games aren't made to be "fun", they're just pragmatic.
Heavy Rain, Bioshock, anything Telltale or Doublefine has made, Firaxis, Lucas Arts in the pre-2004 days, Bioware before Mass Effect, and Obsidian are the main places to look for when games actually try to be for "entertainment" first. If you want something non AAA that's just to entertain, like I said, there are tons of places to look where you can even get for free, but it's a harsh reality that most of the AAA industry is usually, at best, a good idea being driven whatever direction a publisher wants.
And as much as I hate to burst your bubble -- game developers have always been either making for entertainment or money. This has been a thing since the beginning. Why else do you think there was a videogame industry crash back during the 80s? The only difference is that apparently most people have nostalgia goggles and think that Nintendo and Sega made the world shine with happiness in the beginning. Sonic was literally just put together via focus testing, Mario's cast of characters were made the way they were due to computing constraints. Once you see behind the curtain, you actually can see a lot of decisions in games aren't made to be "fun", they're just pragmatic.
Heavy Rain, Bioshock, anything Telltale or Doublefine has made, Firaxis, Lucas Arts in the pre-2004 days, Bioware before Mass Effect, and Obsidian are the main places to look for when games actually try to be for "entertainment" first. If you want something non AAA that's just to entertain, like I said, there are tons of places to look where you can even get for free, but it's a harsh reality that most of the AAA industry is usually, at best, a good idea being driven whatever direction a publisher wants.
Gamestop is run by crooks. they swindle you when you sell a game. They offer $10 bucks or store credit but the game cost you 50 dollars or more. They don't accept Gamecube games because they're "obsolete." And yet they sell used Gameboy Advance games. Stay away from them. Just stay away.
Wow, sounds like a pretty bummer experience. :/
I don't much care for shopping at Game Stop, though the employees were pleasant enough. I made a silly spur of the moment decision on buying a PSP 3000, but then I tried to sell it back to them after one or two plays, because I really didn't care for the system or game I got with it. I thought I would at least get a third for it, but since the PS Vita came out right after, they would only give me $11.00 in-store credit for it. I ended up selling it on ebay, but I was kind of surprised. I understand they can only offer you a certain amount depending on the game or system, but $11.00 credit? I wasn't sure about that.
I don't much care for shopping at Game Stop, though the employees were pleasant enough. I made a silly spur of the moment decision on buying a PSP 3000, but then I tried to sell it back to them after one or two plays, because I really didn't care for the system or game I got with it. I thought I would at least get a third for it, but since the PS Vita came out right after, they would only give me $11.00 in-store credit for it. I ended up selling it on ebay, but I was kind of surprised. I understand they can only offer you a certain amount depending on the game or system, but $11.00 credit? I wasn't sure about that.
I knew a couple of people that worked for GS...it didn't last long. They said it sucked :/
And lol @ the hoard drawer xD.
And lol @ the hoard drawer xD.
Didn't I tell you a while ago that Gamestop was a shit job? Told you dude. I've worked tons of jobs, Gamestop was by far the worst. That company doesn't give two shits about its employees. Of course every retail chain wants to make money first and foremost but there are ways of doing it that don't compromise integrity. I still shop at Sears, Best Buy, Home Depot, Barnes and Noble...but Gamestop can go to hell. And for anyone thinking of working there, you'd have more self respect working at Hot Dog on a Stick.
Prier to 04 it was about gaming, and the employees were actually gamers themselvs, but It's not the case these days. GS is about scumbags buying out every game retailer they can(even the companies that sell older games, and aren't even competing with GS, basically if a store sells mainly games, they want to own it), and constantly [b]scanning[/b] their customers.
Yea, hoading games is the least of the evil stuff those scumbags do though.
Sigh welcome to the new school era of gaming(now adays It's all about graphics, and releasing the games as fast as possible. There are some exceptions, but awesome games are few, and far between)
Do your self a favor, and don't have anything to do with GS/a GS owned store, If you want to buy a newly released game, buy from Amazon.com/directly from the publisher if able, and if It's a OoP game, buy from ebay.
Yea, hoading games is the least of the evil stuff those scumbags do though.
Sigh welcome to the new school era of gaming(now adays It's all about graphics, and releasing the games as fast as possible. There are some exceptions, but awesome games are few, and far between)
Do your self a favor, and don't have anything to do with GS/a GS owned store, If you want to buy a newly released game, buy from Amazon.com/directly from the publisher if able, and if It's a OoP game, buy from ebay.
Working anywhere in an industry for awhile is very draining. I hope you don't let this experience ruin something like video games you have enjoyed for a long time.
I guess we should show the other side then?
I've been to Gamestop a lot and out of all the things that they would try to sell, they are probably the few companies that were fine with the first no. They also kept things related: available guidebooks for just that game and any sales or events that were related to the game. I have never been asked if I wanted an Xbox Live subscription, if I wanted the newest console, if I needed a new controller, or anything that had nothing to do with the game(s) I bought. Save of course if I wanted to pre-order any game, but that usually only came up if they had a good opportunity. Their rewards program is decent, though a bit high prices on everything.
But the thing that I've prefered about Gamestop over bigger brands is that the employees had no problem with talking to the customers with light talk about a video game. They also seemed to hold a good amount of knowledge in games as well with one case of an employee helping me find a DS game that just came out where I only knew some of the features, but not the name of it. Compare this to Target or Wal-Mart where the employees usually don't know much about video games beyond what they are told at work and a few commercials.
But that's my two cents as a customer. They were never really pushy as a retail store and the employees always had the background knowledge to always be helpful.
I've been to Gamestop a lot and out of all the things that they would try to sell, they are probably the few companies that were fine with the first no. They also kept things related: available guidebooks for just that game and any sales or events that were related to the game. I have never been asked if I wanted an Xbox Live subscription, if I wanted the newest console, if I needed a new controller, or anything that had nothing to do with the game(s) I bought. Save of course if I wanted to pre-order any game, but that usually only came up if they had a good opportunity. Their rewards program is decent, though a bit high prices on everything.
But the thing that I've prefered about Gamestop over bigger brands is that the employees had no problem with talking to the customers with light talk about a video game. They also seemed to hold a good amount of knowledge in games as well with one case of an employee helping me find a DS game that just came out where I only knew some of the features, but not the name of it. Compare this to Target or Wal-Mart where the employees usually don't know much about video games beyond what they are told at work and a few commercials.
But that's my two cents as a customer. They were never really pushy as a retail store and the employees always had the background knowledge to always be helpful.