Do you feel bad buying used games?

It makes the most difference on games in the first 90 days (often just the first 2 weeks). Used PS2 games today are likely ones they gave $0.10 store credit on and will throw away when they need space.

first of all. Most of the money goes into another used game since you get trade in credit from gamestop. t does not go in to a new retail game but rather into a new used game.

Secondly. the normal used game market is totally Ok and this radical gamestop used game market did not exist back than.

No, should I feel bad that I wait for Steam sale to get things cheaper on PC, no

Not sure what you mean in the first part. No guarantee that used games will sell. Those old games could have been sitting there for a decade.

Someone needs to buy the game new for a used game to exist. Some people, myself included, buy almost exclusively new games which are partially funded by trading them in after they've been retired.

Yes 1 copy. while Gamestop sells the same copy 5 or even more times.

You're being pretty absurd. "5 times or more" like that's standard. Like it's unheard of that someone would buy a used game as part of a b2g1 and keep it forever.

Do you feel the same way about gamefly or other game renting opportunities? Or do you think gamestop is the ultimate problem because the publishers tell you that gamestop is the ultimate problem?

I don't feel bad about it. I mainly buy used games because I just don't have the cash to buy new copies, so most of the time I can't directly support the developer whether I buy the used game or not. One of the things that I think people forget though, is that used games can still support the developer indirectly. If I buy something used and I really enjoy it, I'll be more likely to buy DLC or another game from that developer, if they look good. Ultimately, this is what happens when the industry sets £40 as the default price for a game, and they know that they're getting a trade-off for it; they may dissuade more people from buying new, but they're getting more money from the people who do so.

I have become rather unhappy with the attitude some people within the industry have taken in recent years, where video games are priced so expensively, but when people exercise their right to buy used products, something that just wouldn't be seen as an issue in any other industry, because those games cost $60/£40 off the bat, they're told they're doing something immoral. More niche games, and developers that aren't exactly rolling in money, I try to support much more, but the grand irony is that most of the outrage over the used game market and the efforts to dissolve it have larger come from the larger publishers who have a lot of money and a great degree of control over the industry to begin with.

Games go on deep discount for new copies like clockwork at 30/60/90 days if a game is 'too expensive' it's only like that for a short period of time.

There isn't a comparable used market to video games. Cars are not like games, you don't dive a car a bunch for a week then sell it used because you're 'done' with that car and want to buy another new car the next week. Also cars mechanical wear, a used game in most situations still works 99.9% as well as a new one a used car with 100k miles on it has problems or needs repairs. It's apples to oranges.

A closer comparison to games would be music or movies. Take for example 'Wreck it ralph' the new Blu-Ray is $40 sure you can sell that used after you watched it to try and recoup it some of the cost, but they are really making the DRM version more and more attractive by making the instant video version $15 (on amazon). Remember walking into a store like BestBuy and seeing half the floor space dedicated to Music CDs? How about used CD stores? Online DRM versions of songs have made used sales, and even new retail CD sales increasingly obsolete by the convenience of iTunes and other services.

DRM (including one time codes), DLC, micro transations, and other ways of monetizing games is going to increase. While used games are not the only cause of thinning profit margins on games, it's one of the areas that is going to be squeezed out over the next few years.

@salarn: I'm not saying used games and cars are exact equivalents, in fact I didn't mention cars, but just look at the music or movie industry, used copies of things aren't as vilified there as they are in games. In the UK it is not the case that after a month or two games just go on huge discounts. Sometimes I can get something cheap and new online, and if that's the case I'll gladly take that offer, but walk into any Game, Gamestation, HMV, or whatever else here and you'll be able to get some older, less popular games cheaper, but a lot if not most of the major games remain at high prices for months or even years after they were released. Now, we do have equivalents of cheaper on-demand video in games, and if a game is going new for much cheaper on Steam and I can run it, I'm only too happy to pay for that, but that's just not the way it goes the large majority of the time.

@gamer_152: Quotes are often too much of a shot gun, sorry for the confusion, other people in the thread have mentioned the used car analogy.

I was saying that not all used markets for products are equivalent, even new markets are different. Games in different regions costs way more, pity the Australians, if they even get the games.

Guilt or shame or personal opinion has very little effect in the grand scheme of things. It's the customer's right and pretty much duty in today's economy to get the best deal they can on any product. It's also the game developer and publisher's right and job to be as profitable as possible.

These are two elements to the free market that are in constant conflict, while I can't say "If nobody buys used games, we'll totally stop with Day 1 DLC" because for profit industries are going to chase profit. Used sales are going to get squeezed out sooner or later.

Absolutely not.

I try to buy new if I can but I don't have any problems buying used games.

If I get home and realize that the game requires an online pass ill feel bad. This industry has fucked over consumers enough that I feel 0 guilt buying used.

Some old games have collectible value so buying them used can be costly after a
certain tipping point is reached, such as the game being discontinued, publisher
shutting down, etc.

Having said that, for many games, I think I'd rather just wait for the GOTY edition
to come out and get that used. That way I don't have to pay extra for the game
or DLC. Honestly, I don't know why there is such an all-fired rush to be first to
pay highest for a game, and then do that every month. A lot of games must be
really boring to be able to consume them that quickly. Plus you have to think
about your work-life balance, can't just do games all the time, can you?

They have it now, but I think the disk space isn't large enough to go whole hog
digital.

no i don't...

Nope, because i don't buy used games. if there is game coming out that i want to play i get it first day, and if it is something i am on the fence about i will wait unit it hit games on demand and on sale.

No, not really. I find myself buying less and less used games, but a few years ago I would get them now and then.

The thing is, if I love a game even after I buy it used, I try to then support the every-living hell out of the publisher in any way that I can. An example that comes to mind is BioShock. I had no desire to play BioShock when it first came out. I wasn't really following game news at the time, and I hadn't heard all that much about it. I went to a local music/game store (not Gamestop, this was a local business) and found a used copy at a good price. So I picked it up.

Ok, so after getting that first used copy, I have since bought BioShock 2 for full price, a discounted but new copy of the BioShock 2 collector's edition, I bought the Minerva's Den DLC, I just got the BioShock Ultimate Rapture Edition so that I could play the stuff that came out on the PS3 version which I missed and I pre-ordered the BioShock: Infinite Premium Edition. So while the first game was a used game purchase, I have now put a ton of money into the series because I love it so much.

Now that I spend so much time reading about games and keeping up to date on new stuff, I find that I buy barely any games used. Plus, most games get so cheap so quickly, at least on Amazon and with sales at local big box stores, I find it actually much better to wait for the inevitable sale than to buy a used game.

Hell no. Half the games I buy are considered retro these days anyway.