Taking Care Of Your Games
Thursday, January 6th, 2005 - 7:21pm
I was jonesing for some gratuitous bloodspray mixed with ridiculously clad female engines of death, so I bought a used copy of Bloodrayne 2 at Gamestop this year.
When I have the money, I try to buy games new, but more and more often now, i'm finding myself buying games used, just to save cash, especially if it's a game i'm iffy about. This has lead me to a realization.
The average gamer has no idea how in the hell to take care of his games.
Now, i'm not the most unbiased person to speak on this topic. I live the majority of my year on a College Campus, with my games all at the disposal of a number of 20-somethings and other ne'er-do-wells. So, because I'd like to keep my games in good condition, I am the anal-retentive asshole when it comes to my games going in and coming out of my XBox/PS2. The game comes out of its case, goes in the XBox, nowhere else. When you want to switch games, you remove the game from the system, replace it in its box, repeat the process as neccessary. Sounds reasonable, right?
I was shocked to find, when I returned home and put the world's foremost effect-of-aterial-blood-on-cleavage-simulator into my XBox, that my system spit it right back out, saying the disc was dirty. A quick check of the disc, and there was a Freddy Kruger-style system of gashes across it. Dissapointing.
So, I returned it, and got the store's other used copy. Returned home, placed it in the system, and.....
"Your disc is dirty or damaged..."
A frown, as I eject this game from my XBox, check the back, and find that the game's previous owner apparently used it as a brake the last time he went Street Luging. Feh.
I cannot comprehend what is so singularly difficult to so many people about taking care of your games. Scratches and scuff marks are, for the record, bad smeggin' things. That copy of GTAIII should not be your Beer Coaster, and i'm willing to wager that if you're ashing your cigarettes on that copy of MLB Slugfest, the end result isn't going to be pretty.
This reminds me of when I worked at Blockbuster Video. The games in our stock, when they returned seemed as if they had been through their own personal Vietnam. Damaged, forever scarred, and liable to snap at any moment. Games that were brand spanking new would return to the store in the kind of condition that could only be achieved if the game was used to line the cage of a particularly angry, feral animal who was kept unfed, and jabbed with a stick for entertainment. It's mind-boggling.
This is a particularly long and probably awful rant, but i've got to get it out. I'm having a hard time understanding how in heaven's name people have been unable to comprehend that that shiny, pretty side of the disc is not a vanity mirror, or, alternatively, a grind plate for your skateboard.
Tomorrow I hope to return to Gamestop and exchange BR2 for something else, and if it's damaged, i'm going to ask for the name of the seller, and my parents will see me next on the 11:00 news.
Quote:
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But the style that I use is the style that's mine
XBL Tag: Prederick
I don''t think it''s too mindbogling. Whenever I rent from Blockbuster I don''t give a sh*t about the way I treat the disc. There is no reward for keeping it in good shape, nor is there a punishment for treating it like crap. So any minute amount of anal retentiveness leaves me when I rent.
"Thanks, KrazyTaco, thanks. I'd put it in your pooper too." -Mex
"Krazy, I love the fact that you exist." -Vector
"Oh, KrazyTaco, you fulfill all my wishes." -pneuman
xboxlive= KrazyTacoFO
Also, a game not working is a strong incentive for ill-minded people to palm it off on a used games store.
"All that time you waste dating and having sex could be better spent scouring the web for new game developer press releases." - Quintin_Stone
I''m seeing this kind of thing all the time (I don''t purchase used DVDs or game because of it). Maybe it''s because for a large part of my childhood I was instructed on how to properly handle 5 1/4"" floppies to prevent data loss. I *cared* for them, and I never had a problem. I take the same kind of care with CDs and DVDs in my collection. I know that they are not indestructable, but the life of the item is greatly reduced by not taking care of it.
I literally shake my head in disgust whenever I rent a DVD from blockbuster & see that it''s been trough a wood chipper before being returned. At the end of the day, I lose a bit of faith in humanity....seriously. I was taught to take care of borrowed items as if they belonged to me.
Folks are assholes, generally, though:)
-Fan
Some people like to use me as a free Blockbuster replacement.
The only problem is that I buy these movies to KEEP them, not for them to be gradually destroyed by careless, ignorant usage by my own extended family.
Borrowed thing is sacred. It''s drilled into my head. I have difficulty understanding carelessness with other peoples property, especialy when one gets them in good faith. Even when rented. I''d feel obliged to replace the thing I damage.
Panem et circenses
"You really need to smoke a tree first to appreciate that one." - Sanjuro
Same thing here: I take care of what I''m given as if it was my own. And I''m a right meticulous bastard when it comes to caring for my games, books and dvds, let me tell you. In fact, I''m so particular that I refuse to borrow things 99.9% of the time. I''d rather buy my own copy, thanks.
The only condition I accept my stuff in is minty spotlessness.
Swing harder! Swing harder!
-- Lilarcor, Baldur's Gate 2
EB loves me. My trade-ins are as perfect as the day I got them, I''m extremely anal about keeping my games and equipment in perfect condition.
Too bad I don''t do the same thing with Music CD''s.. I have a graveyard of older ones that are so gouged it''s not even funny. But they were very portable
XBL/PSN/STEAM/WAR/SPORE/RAPTR
This isn''t explained by a lack of anal retentiveness. I don''t take special care of my games. I leave CDs lying around outside of their cases every so often. I have no idea how other people scratch them up to the extent they do. I have never seen a scratch on any of my CDs, and as mentioned, I''m not really that careful with them. CDs don''t just magically scratch if you don''t keep them in a hermetically sealed environment; these retards have to be actively doing things to cause that type of damage.
Prederick next time you go to Gamestop or any other store for that matter, before you pay for the game ask to see the condition of the disk. Trust me they don''t have a problem with showing you the condition of the disk, and if they do you can send them straight to hell because its their job to check the disks. Anyway, whenever you go to pick up a game ask them to get you the copy that looks the best, and if its dirty or not too badly scratched ask them to clean up the disk.
"The pen is mightier than the flaming bag of poop" - Bart Simpson
Xbox Live | Steam | Rockband Profile
I returned a used copy of a game twice before the eb guy just got a new copy of the same game, opened it,and stuck it in the used case. I thought that was pretty spiffy.
My Zune Profile
See, that''s how I am too. There have been a couple of times where they flip the disc over to check it, and then proceed to ask me if I''d ever even played the game because it was nearly perfect.
The ""Yeah, probably a hundred times"" reply usually gets me a ""WTF?"" look, but whatever. I take care of my stuff.
XBLive: Thin J
PSN: Thin_J
I don't imagine master craftsmen leaping away from completed projects and shouting "Done, motherf*ckers! - 1Dgaf
I buy alot of PC games used, no problems thus far. Maybe PC gamers are just more careful on the balance than console gamers...nah. What was I thinking? I''ve just been lucky. *shrugs*
Blog: GameFinance
Twitter: justinmwhitaker
I grew up with the motto of ""if you borrow something, return it better than when you received it"". It''s a matter of respect whether you get it from a friend of rent it - take care of it because your carelessness will impact others.
XBL Gamertag
SI VIS PACEM, PARA BELLUM "IF YOU SEEK PEACE... PREPARE FOR WAR"
PUBLIUS RENATUS, 390 AD
Hear hear!
Yankees rock, you know it's true...
I somehow scratched by Ninja Gaiden disc to unusability. I still have to buy it again, but I''m waiting for the price to go down.
Other than that, I have a pretty good track record. I''m one of those people who''s really anal about CDs and DVDs. If it''s not in the player, it''s in the box. When I go to my freinds'' houses and see CDs just lying face down on the desk, I get a wierd itch until they''re put away.
[edit]
Heh, yeah. I returned Star Wars Rebellion for credit, way back when. The guy looked at the manual, which was big and in perfect condition, and asked me if I hadn''t liked the game. I said it was alright, but I was ready to return it. I guess it was his fav or something, cause I heard him say, under his breath ''Maybe you should have tried to learn it.'' I considered asking him to repeat that, but I was just a little punk 16 year old at the time, and didn''t have the balls.
"PEACE ON EARTH. GOOD WILL TO MEN. PUBLIC SHELTER. ADMISSION 50¢"
I get very upset with myself whenever I inadvertently damage one of my disks. In fact, I''ve recently taken to punishing myself severely for every CD that''s been scratched, pitted, cracked, or chipped as a result of my own carelessness. This is what I do: I examine the pattern of scratches on the damaged CD, and then trace that exact pattern onto a sheet of graph paper. Using duct tape, I then affix the graph paper to my forehead. Having done this, I stare at myself in the mirror, and, with my right hand grasping one of those battery-heated hobby knives used for carving styrofoam, I begin wildly stabbing myself in the cranium, trying my utmost to match the puncture wounds to the graphed pattern. Sometimes, in my furor, I miss my mark and end up carving pieces out of my gums or earlobes. This upsets me to no end! The heated blade is nowhere near hot enough to cauterize my wounds, and so the scene rapidly degenerates into a big mess. On one occasion, my own bright arterial spray chanced upon the very CDs whose delicate outer coatings I had negligently allowed to be damaged in the first place! Needless to say, I worked up quite the frenzy! Of course, now I can look back on that incident and laugh, but at the time... *phew!*
(The above violent and self-destructive remarks were borne of the intense feelings of frustration that accompany the graduate application process, in which I am currently enmeshed. Forgive me.)
The market has much to answer for as to why gaming is NOT an art. -- illum
Um, forum boss guys - no need to lock threads any more: just let Lobo loose on the scene.
And KrazyTaco, shame shame shame. No reward, eh?
Fedaykin98 wrote:
Aperture Science wrote:
Yes, I''m a heartless bastard when it comes to Blockbuster.
"Thanks, KrazyTaco, thanks. I'd put it in your pooper too." -Mex
"Krazy, I love the fact that you exist." -Vector
"Oh, KrazyTaco, you fulfill all my wishes." -pneuman
xboxlive= KrazyTacoFO
How about you treat it well because it''s not yours? Gosh. Now there''s an idea, eh?
HatchetJob.com - a netcast about more than videogames.
Same here.
When I do trade-ins at EB, the guys don''t even bother to check the contents anymore, they just take them.
WoW Baelgun: Omusa, Spits
Look, when it''s a friend of mine I take very good care of the disk. I am scared to death that I''ll return it in anything but the condition I found it in.
However, the second I feel guilty that a company like Blockbuster might get their 2 cents worth of plastic scratched because I didn''t really bother to put it back in the case I''ll start flying under my own telekinetic power. It''s not like I actively destroy the things mind you, it''s just that they don''t care what condition it''s in when they rent it to me, so I don''t care what condition I return it in.
"Poor Eli Nooo... *child starts crying*"
"Come on now, there's no need to make that kind of noise. It sounds awful and you'll upset other people." - Ionae from Spirit Engine 2
edit: dp
XBL/PSN/STEAM/WAR/SPORE/RAPTR
Lobo, your violent musings made my Friday afternoon.
XBL/PSN/STEAM/WAR/SPORE/RAPTR
Hm. Fair enough.
On the other hand - it''s not the poor games'' fault. Maybe spare a little kindness to the better ones, at least?
Fedaykin98 wrote:
Aperture Science wrote:
I try my best to keep everything I own in perfect shape, being where everything is located, I sometimes drop a disk and there is a small scratch, but nothing compared to what happened to one of my friends disks while it was in my possession. I was staying at school and a friend of mine and my roommates would come in during the day (mind you, i''d stay up till 7:00 AM, and go to wake up at about 5:00 PM or so, just in time to go to class at 6:00)... at any rate - he''d play a good portion of the day. I was, at the time, playing Star Wars: Bounty Hunter (a mistake). Anyways, he was bound and determined to play and beat Metroid Prime. Didn''t bother me, he''s a computer geek, at least I thought, enough of one to take care of the disks. I ended up being frustrated and put the game in its box, and left it. After this guy had been done w/ metroid prime he went to playing Bounty Hunter b/c he had seen me playing it. I never found the game manual, which is a problem b/c both me and my friend are rather anal about our games. I just accepted the fact that it was lost under my care, and b/c of this, and another incident w/ one of his games he was relucant to lend me games. He though I didn''t care b/c they were his and not mine, when he''d go through my games, he''d see they were mostly scratch free, with the exception of metroid prime. Go figure...
BTW, the other incident, I was playing Windwaker, and my friend kicked my gamecube and it landed on the floor (by accident) scratching up the disk, none of these scratches were disk threatening, but... still... under my care.
and, a closing statement, Disk Doctor works. If it doesn''t work the first time, try, and try and try again. A disk can be buffed out, as long as the second to top layer isn''t damaged, the disk can be buffed out (well, not always, but nearly always). The second to top, would be the reflective coating underneath the label. Want to ruin your sibling''s CD? Take a quarter and take an ever so tiny chunk out of hte top of their disk... its done, finished, no more
I sometimes have scratches on disks (my kids are atrocious about putting them back in the box). Our local Gamestop has a professional resurfacing machine. No, not that Dr-Kevorkian wheelie-thingy. A real one. They run all their used disks through it before they sell them. They''ll also run your disks for them for free if you bought them there, or for a buck a piece if you didn''t. We''re still running the Halo disk we got with the system on launch day, and my Final Fantasy X has been in there three times thanks to my daughters.
Duoae wrote:
They can''t keep buying in new games to replace titles that got scratched because people didn''t care of them. Immediately return games with scratched discs before you leave the store (or before renting) and you''ll be doing your bit for good rentals and common decency.
HatchetJob.com - a netcast about more than videogames.