About 4-5 years ago, I had a bad habit. I would buy video games, play them until I either beat them or got tired of them, and then would trade them in. It got so bad, that I was basically trading in every game I bought, so in essence, I was paying $50 for a game, trading it in for $15-20, and then paying another $30 out-of-pocket for another game. Then I would trade in THAT game, and the process would start all over again.

Well, in about 2006, I had some home and living difficulties, which significanly cut down on my funds available for games. So, I decided to try just renting my games online. And it's probably one of the best decisions I've made. For $22 a month, I can play all the games I would normally buy, plus take chances on games that I otherwise wouldn't ever think of paying full price for.

I am not one of those people who buys a game, and then sticks it on a shelf to show off to others. The size of my collection is irrelevant to me. To me, the most important thing is playing all the games I want to play, and doing it in the most economical way possible. For example, this past fall, I was able to play all these games, and get the most enjoyment out of all of them, for basically $66:

Dead Space
Saints Row 2
Fallout 3
Call of Duty: World at War
Resistance 2
Left 4 Dead
Fable 2

I was also able to re-rent COD4, a game that I got tired of last year.

Now, even if I did make a decent living, money wise (which is doubtful, being in the industry I am in), I can't see myself going back to the days of the deadly trade-in cycle.

Good, you should of never done it from the start. Trading in games is the biggest ripoff they have, worse than preorders.

Hey whatever works for you. I should probably rent games more often, but there's no place near where I live does game rentals.

"Good, you should of never done it from the start. Trading in games is the biggest ripoff they have, worse than preorders."

i need to start renting games but places here are always out and cant rent the game...

I only purchase game's that I know I will play multiple times over.

"pause422 said:

"Good, you should of never done it from the start. Trading in games is the biggest ripoff they have, worse than preorders."

Wait...how is preordering a ripoff?  I don't preorder games but...preordering is anything but a ripoff. In fact, chances are you're going to get some free stuff or a discounted price if you preorder big titles, especially from places like Amazon.com.  Additionally, if you preorder at a place like Gamestop you can always cancel at any time and get all of your money back, and it's usually only $5 anyway.  What are you talking about?"

Kudos, game rental is something which is a great alterative in order to save money.

Just wish there was a GameFly UK. :(

I'm currently renting games in a similar way except mine costs £13, It's pretty good but I do kinda like having a collection. I still own games from like 1995 and while I have traded in a lot over the years I wish I hadn't, sometimes I wanna play something from ages ago and I can't which sucks a bit. Can't believe I traded in Mass Effect, I loved that game.

"I'm currently renting games in a similar way except mine costs £13, It's pretty good but I do kinda like having a collection. I still own games from like 1995 and while I have traded in a lot over the years I wish I hadn't, sometimes I wanna play something from ages ago and I can't which sucks a bit. Can't believe I traded in Mass Effect, I loved that game."

Trade ins are always a terrible idea. It's a good thing that you've actually found a system that works.
pause422 said:

"Anyway that's just how I feel, and honestly have so many reasons to hate Gamestop and wish they would just go out of business for good, but that isn't going to happen."

"MB said:

"pause422 said:

"Good, you should of never done it from the start. Trading in games is the biggest ripoff they have, worse than preorders."

Wait...how is preordering a ripoff?  I don't preorder games but...preordering is anything but a ripoff. In fact, chances are you're going to get some free stuff or a discounted price if you preorder big titles, especially from places like Amazon.com.  Additionally, if you preorder at a place like Gamestop you can always cancel at any time and get all of your money back, and it's usually only $5 anyway.  What are you talking about?"

That's the only place I'm referring to, Gamestop. Should of made that clearer. The main reason I find it a ripoff from gamestop(well there are plenty) but is because the majority of ignorant people at Gamestops, if you don't preorder a game, no matter what fucking game it is, even if they have plenty of copies in and you know they aren't all going to people for preorders, they'll constantly question you, and annoy the fuck out of you. "Can I get a copy of <insert game here>?" "Oh, did you preorder it? because if you didn't preorder it we can't do anything about it" "but you have plenty of" "sorry, if you preordered you could have it, but since you didn't sorry".  That along with some of the bonuses some people get for preorder, like they get treated special. Something like, an instant pass to a high lvl weapon, A la COD World at War, not that I care about the game but using as an example, something everyone else has to work for, they just get it on a silver platter, and its honestly retarded. That's my opinion on it anyway, you may feel different.

Anyway that's just how I feel, and honestly have so many reasons to hate Gamestop and wish they would just go out of business for good, but that isn't going to happen."

I have repurchased so many games because I end up wanting to play them again.  So I don't sell games anymore unless I don't like them.  I tend to wait until games are $30 to $10 new to buy them, except for games I really know I'll love like MGS4 and GTA4.  So I end up not spending that much on my games, and I keep them if I like them and may want to play them again.  Take MGS1 for the PS1, I have played that game probably 5 times since it came out and purchased it over again twice because I sold it.  Now, I'm just keeping it because I'd like to have the game there when I want to play it again.

And when you sell a game, don't trade it in, sell it on Amazon or ebay.  If you do it quickly it only ends up costing $10 to $15 to play the game.  I bought Burnout Paradise earlier this year new, and felt it was a great game, but wasn't worth $60 to me.  So I sold it, and I'm waiting for it go under $20 and then I'll buy it again.  So all in all it will have cost me $30, which to me is fair for that game.  I did the same thing with Ass Creed.  If you can get yourself to hold off a couple months after the release of game to buy it, you can almost always find it for close to half off if you keep your eyes peeled.  If you can wait a year, you can almost always get any given game for $15 to $10, again if you keep your eyes peeled on cheep ass gamer etc...

I just bought an Xbox this past summer, and I paid $80 for it and it came with about 25 of the best games that came out with the system.  Then through smart Goozex use, and various gamestop sales I've picked up just about every great game for that system and have over 75 games for the system and spent less than $250 for the whole lot including the Xbox.  So if you're patient you can get the games for less than the cost of a rental, and you can keep the games.  My cost per xbox game is literally about $2-3 per game, and there isn't a highly rated game that I don't have.

"pause422 said:

"MB said:

"pause422 said:

"Good, you should of never done it from the start. Trading in games is the biggest ripoff they have, worse than preorders."

Wait...how is preordering a ripoff?  I don't preorder games but...preordering is anything but a ripoff. In fact, chances are you're going to get some free stuff or a discounted price if you preorder big titles, especially from places like Amazon.com.  Additionally, if you preorder at a place like Gamestop you can always cancel at any time and get all of your money back, and it's usually only $5 anyway.  What are you talking about?"

That's the only place I'm referring to, Gamestop. Should of made that clearer. The main reason I find it a ripoff from gamestop(well there are plenty) but is because the majority of ignorant people at Gamestops, if you don't preorder a game, no matter what fucking game it is, even if they have plenty of copies in and you know they aren't all going to people for preorders, they'll constantly question you, and annoy the fuck out of you. "Can I get a copy of <insert game here>?" "Oh, did you preorder it? because if you didn't preorder it we can't do anything about it" "but you have plenty of" "sorry, if you preordered you could have it, but since you didn't sorry".  That along with some of the bonuses some people get for preorder, like they get treated special. Something like, an instant pass to a high lvl weapon, A la COD World at War, not that I care about the game but using as an example, something everyone else has to work for, they just get it on a silver platter, and its honestly retarded. That's my opinion on it anyway, you may feel different.

Anyway that's just how I feel, and honestly have so many reasons to hate Gamestop and wish they would just go out of business for good, but that isn't going to happen."

They only do that if every single copy in the store has been accounted for, by someone who has pre-ordered it.

Uh, no they don't. That's the ONLY time it should be necessary to do so, but every Gamestop I've ever known, and plenty of friends who live elsewhere tell me the same, they do that "well we can't give it to you if you didn't preorder it" bullshit for every single game even when they barely have any preorders for that specific game.

"MB said:

"pause422 said:

"Good, you should of never done it from the start. Trading in games is the biggest ripoff they have, worse than preorders."

Wait...how is preordering a ripoff?  I don't preorder games but...preordering is anything but a ripoff. In fact, chances are you're going to get some free stuff or a discounted price if you preorder big titles, especially from places like Amazon.com.  Additionally, if you preorder at a place like Gamestop you can always cancel at any time and get all of your money back, and it's usually only $5 anyway.  What are you talking about?"

That's the only place I'm referring to, Gamestop. Should of made that clearer. The main reason I find it a ripoff from gamestop(well there are plenty) but is because the majority of ignorant people at Gamestops, if you don't preorder a game, no matter what fucking game it is, even if they have plenty of copies in and you know they aren't all going to people for preorders, they'll constantly question you, and annoy the fuck out of you. "Can I get a copy of <insert game here>?" "Oh, did you preorder it? because if you didn't preorder it we can't do anything about it" "but you have plenty of" "sorry, if you preordered you could have it, but since you didn't sorry".  That along with some of the bonuses some people get for preorder, like they get treated special. Something like, an instant pass to a high lvl weapon, A la COD World at War, not that I care about the game but using as an example, something everyone else has to work for, they just get it on a silver platter, and its honestly retarded. That's my opinion on it anyway, you may feel different.

Anyway that's just how I feel, and honestly have so many reasons to hate Gamestop and wish they would just go out of business for good, but that isn't going to happen."

I have been to gamestops before that aren't like my described local ones, where you don't get hounded to also buy a strategy guide when buying whatever it is you're buying, when you know for a fact that there are enough of <insert game here> that are not just preorders yet they tell you that anyway. I know its not the employees fault, but some, as you described above, you don't ask people to preorder or bother with a magazine or whatever, I know gamestops exist that don't do all this, but mine is utterly awful and when some of the main people that work there don't actually even know shit about games in general, it usually makes it worse.

Bellum- no, that's not what Im talking about. As said above multiple times, I'm not ever asking for someone to give me a copy of a game that is being put aside for anyone else, but ones that are not preorders at all, when they have plenty of copies left that are not reserved and still give you the same bullshit its just dumb. You would think they would want to sell you the game.

So its nothing against anyone here that works at a Gamestop, just describing my experience with them 90% of the time, and at all of the local retailers.  So my main hate is aimed at gamestop just in general because of that, and I can't really change that, but its nothing against the employees, mostly.

I'm eventually going to start doing this. Right now I'm doing the whole Gamestop edge card deal. I buy tons of used xbox and ps2 games for 10% off. Works for me.

I like owning my games, but I've come to realize that the best way to get games is to rent them new from GameFly, wait for the price to go down, and then buy them then.

I am not one of those people who buys a game, and then sticks it on a shelf to show off to others. 

"LiquidPrince said:

"pause422 said:

"MB said:

"pause422 said:

"Good, you should of never done it from the start. Trading in games is the biggest ripoff they have, worse than preorders."

Wait...how is preordering a ripoff?  I don't preorder games but...preordering is anything but a ripoff. In fact, chances are you're going to get some free stuff or a discounted price if you preorder big titles, especially from places like Amazon.com.  Additionally, if you preorder at a place like Gamestop you can always cancel at any time and get all of your money back, and it's usually only $5 anyway.  What are you talking about?"

That's the only place I'm referring to, Gamestop. Should of made that clearer. The main reason I find it a ripoff from gamestop(well there are plenty) but is because the majority of ignorant people at Gamestops, if you don't preorder a game, no matter what fucking game it is, even if they have plenty of copies in and you know they aren't all going to people for preorders, they'll constantly question you, and annoy the fuck out of you. "Can I get a copy of <insert game here>?" "Oh, did you preorder it? because if you didn't preorder it we can't do anything about it" "but you have plenty of" "sorry, if you preordered you could have it, but since you didn't sorry".  That along with some of the bonuses some people get for preorder, like they get treated special. Something like, an instant pass to a high lvl weapon, A la COD World at War, not that I care about the game but using as an example, something everyone else has to work for, they just get it on a silver platter, and its honestly retarded. That's my opinion on it anyway, you may feel different.

Anyway that's just how I feel, and honestly have so many reasons to hate Gamestop and wish they would just go out of business for good, but that isn't going to happen."

They only do that if every single copy in the store has been accounted for, by someone who has pre-ordered it.

Uh, no they don't. That's the ONLY time it should be necessary to do so, but every Gamestop I've ever known, and plenty of friends who live elsewhere tell me the same, they do that "well we can't give it to you if you didn't preorder it" bullshit for every single game even when they barely have any preorders for that specific game."

Usually the only time I'll trade a game in is if I know I can get another game for free it for little cost.  And the only time I will trade a game in and not just keep it is if it has no multi-player or anything similar to keep me coming back.  i hate Gamestop as much as the next guy, but I feel the thing they do best, next to ripping you off, is handling their pre-orders.  Most  times I've pre-ordered from them its been pretty easy to pick up the order