Anyone worked in a games shop

[Brodie]

Aye, I can sympathise with that, but then you have to look at it from the staffs point of view.

if they DON'T make it clear that the cable is for such and such a console, you can GUARANTEE that that will be the one customer who has picked up the wrong thing.

'Well, it says SCART on the box, and my mate said I needed a SCART cable, but it don't fit! It's got the wrong plug. I want a refund!'


But yeah, some of the staff are awful. I can't go into GAME in Harrogate anymore, the guy who was the manager was so full of crap when I tried to trade in a mint boxed Pokemon N64 it was untrue. Apparently the Pokemon version was made in greater quantities than the see through and the standard version, so wasn't worth as much... I'll give you a fiver trade in. You what?

[eastyy]

hmm a question for the people who have worked in game and other shops

has anyone came in with a rare game but they have no idea how much its really worth

and they sold it for ?5

[Big Seany]

Well all you have to do to answer that question, eastyy my friend, is to consider the 32X game I recently bought in gamestation.

[brokeback]

This is horrible and I feel bad for it but i got some bargains during my stay at game. people traded in stuff for stupid prices and you had the flexibility to charge what you liked. I have quite a few games that I got for ?1 including shenmue 2 on the dreamcast.

oh well. Everyone was doing it. I bet you'd do it.

[booth83]

It's just a shame prices are set by the tills now, so bye bye flexibility! I must admit I have in the past given a lower trade price so I could pick it up myself, but never liked ripping people off so i'd always bump up the price of other items if the customer brought in a few so as to compensate for the low price of the item I wanted, the only example that springs to mind right now is US animal crossing which i got for about a tenner.

[Dache]

story

Nasty. Do they check the details of people who buy insane amounts of things like that? Seems like the only way they could've worked out that you worked for them and ****ed them over like that.

[brokeback]

Well, It is low and I resent what i did, make no mistake. But when the manager said it was fine to do it, you just get carried away and go with it. I did bump up the other titles they were trading so it ended up being exactly the same ammount overall trade as it should be, but still. it is rather below the belt...

[eastyy]

my impression when i speak to people in games shop is there just there because thats the first job the applied to

brokeback when you first got a job in the game shop what did they ask you in interview? (for example do you like playing games?)

[dvdx2]

i was recently offered a ?2 trade for a mint Donkey Konga with bongos in gamestop; lol

The sickening thing was they were selling it new for ?34.99

[dvdx2]

Well all you have to do to answer that question, eastyy my friend, is to consider the 32X game I recently bought in gamestation.

How much did you end up getting for it m8?

[brokeback]

i remember being asked if I liked games but I got the impression that they didn't really care because my answers seemed to baffle the interviewer. I talked about import dreamcast and super famicom games - "super fami-what?".

Ijust asked in store and they were looking for someone so I got the interview pretty much straight away. I'm sure that if they'd looked harder then they could have found someone far more stupid and less interested in games than me.

[Big Seany]

How much did you end up getting for it m8?

I chose not to sell at ?102, reserve was higher than that, as I want more for it! MORE!

Will re-list it at some stage.

[Concrete donkey]

I've been working in an independent computer game store for close to three years now, and a lot of what I?ve read here sounds familiar. Flexible charging for trade ins has to be the biggest perk of the job, but I haven?t done many staff purchases for a while now. The Internet and high street sales are cheaper than our supply prices much of the time and there?s been a huge drop in the retro market since e-bay picked up.

There are people who trade in rare stuff for cheap but it happens less and less now. Our regulars are well clued up on how much things are worth and most are more interested in buying rare games rather than selling.

Although there are plenty of stupid computer game clerks out there trust me, they are vastly outnumbered by stupid customers. The first rule of working in any retail position is to never under estimate the stupidity of others. There are more subtle ways of pointing out that two games are for separate consoles, like saying what they are, as if to yourself, as they pass you their choices. Eg ?That?s metal gear for ps2 and Champ manager for x-box.? Despite the fact they are clearly marked at the top as Playstation 2 and Xbox, and the games for different consoles are in their own isles, 9 times out of 10 (if it is not a regular) they will say something along the lines of ? Oh I wanted the playstation 2 version? or even ? They?ll both work on the PS2 won?t they.? The one time in ten they?re either not listening and try and return something later or think I?m talking to myself and don?t take offence.

Parents have no interest in age ratings and only occasionally do I see a parent refuse to buy a game because of the age rating. Every time they do I smile slightly to hide the shock of witnessing sensible parenting. Although it was in jest (I hope) I remember asking a customer if he wanted the strategy guide with his GTA: SA game. He pointed to his toddler holding his hand and says ? No thanks. He can?t read yet.? Although it was a joke many parents have that attitude.

I work for an independent and have no pressure from my boss to answer the phone with an advert or promote a crap game over a good one, but I do feel a sense of need to try and promote a game we over stock on for time to time but we generally only overstock on good games.

The best bits about working in a games shop is the first dibs and staff discounts, being able to play games in store and getting the occasional promo, chatting away to regulars and having a sense of being part of the local gaming community.

Worst parts of the job include the boring, slow summer months, supremely idiotic customers, dodgy customers, our crap returns policy (No refund unless faulty) and my growing disinterest in actually playing games. After eight ours of working with the things I find I?m no longer interested in playing them when I get home. Have other people who worked with games found this ?

(sorry for the long post.)

[eastyy]

yeh one think i have never ever figured out is why few games are released in the summer (though i understand its nothing to do with games shops put actual publishers)

on a god of war dvd commentary by the developers they came up with a very valid point

they release so many games just before christmas and at another point in the year (cant remember when though).The problem is most people can probably only afford one or two games therefore they will buy what is probably the highest profile titles and the rest (even the very good games) will get lousy sales.Think this happened to prince of persia:SOT.And even after that ubisoft made EXACTLY the same mistake again ... what idiots

I would like to hear people who work in games shops opinions on this they probably know alot more about release dates and months where so many great games are released and seeing customers trying to make descisions on what games to get.I think last nov/dec there was a ridiculous amount of god/great games released

[Concrete donkey]

I would like to hear people who work in games shops opinions on this they probably know alot more about release dates and months where so many great games are released and seeing customers trying to make descisions on what games to get.I think last nov/dec there was a ridiculous amount of god/great games released

Publishers work under the mentality that people don?t play games in the hot summer months. They also believe that people are unwilling to spent ?39.99 on a game at Christmas that came out five months ago compared to a game which has just come out, regardless of quality. Shops are also unlikely to display them as prominently and are likely to have cheap sale or pre-owned versions. I don?t consider them to be wrong on either point.

I think the main thing is the price of the game. Like any market, they must rely on the mainstream more than those few hardcore with a high disposable income. Retail has lost a lot of the latter type to the internet, but few of the former. ?39.99 or even ?34.99 is too much for most to consider purchasing for themselves but are more willing to pay that as a gift to someone. People?s spontaneous purchase limits are higher during major holiday seasons (Christmas and Easter) as well, and often treat themselves.

Simply put, there are more potential customers at Christmas and Easter so even though competition is tougher, more people are likely to see your game on the shelves. The release dates are a consequence of the next big thing culture the computer game market finds itself in. More people want what?s new and fresh as opposed to a great classic.

On Prince of Persia: SOT, I'm sure it would have been higher in the charts had it been released earlier in the year, but I'm not convinced sales would have been higher.

Just my thoughts on the subject.