The Official GWJ Games Pass-it-on!

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I know we have a trade/sales thread going but i've been kicking around the idea in my head of a GWJ gaming pass-it-on thread. The basic idea is that all goodjers have games, some you love, some you don't, and some you wouldn't mind passing along to friends and fellow goodjers. This isn't a trade thread per-se, but a way to pay it forward to the many fine forum folks that are in tough financial spots due to the roller-coaster economy and everyday life.

Unfortunately, freedom isn't free (it costs $1.05) so there are some basic rules i'd like to put in effect:

Rules of the pass-it-on:

1) Participating members must be in good standing with the community.

While I feel the majority of us know many of the regulars, we have a constant influx of coffee grinders and lurkers that are not as well known. We don't want the forum turning into a mad-dash to get a stockpile of free games, that's not the intention and it's the last thing I want to see happen.

2) Any member may refuse to pass-it-on at their discretion.

Again, many of us know one another from on the forums, in games and increasingly in real-life, but not everyone knows everyone else. These are real games that people acquired on their own time and with their own money, so if you constantly drink the haterade and spit it in other members faces, don't expect anything but simple civility from them.

3) The only cost is shipping.

Even generosity needs a helping hand. The only cost to the receiving party should be the cost of shipping/packaging. This cost is at the discretion of the party that is shipping out the game as shipping costs may vary. If you don't think the asking cost is fair, politely refuse and move along.

Those are the basic rules I have in mind. I have other ideas in my head, things like mandating the game be payed forward or returned to the original owner at some point, but i'm not sure if they should be law or simply suggestions. So what do you think? Is there any interest in doing this? Do you have any rule suggestions? Do our mighty overlords give us the a-ok buttpat or the threadlock of doom? I've went ahead and made a public doc you can add your forum name and games you wouldn't mind passing along. At the bottom are tabs denoting the various platforms so things don't get turned into too much of a chaotic mess. If there's a platform not listed, feel free to add it. If you'd like to pass along other types of games (board games, PNP, etc) or gaming related material, feel free to add a separate tab for it at the bottom. I'll add what I have once I have my games in front of me to overview.

Let's show the love GWJ! Buttpats and games for everybody!

http://bit.ly/gwjpassitonlist

I've posted a couple games. I don't want these back, I either have Steam versions (and don't like the game enough to want a boxed copy :p) or don't play it. They're all in good condition, for a few the boxes are a bit beat up but nothing horrible. I'm willing to send these anywhere as long as you cover shipping. If you can't financially afford it right now, or for whatever reason can't pay shipping right away, just tell me and I have no problem sending the game and you can send me the money later. I'm more interested in getting these games to a good home with someone who will play them.

At the moment I'm not sure if I'm ready to part ways with a few games (no, wait...I've been meaning to show it more love, soon, really...). Once I have a window of when I'll be living with my hubby, I think I'll be better able to part with some games if I know he's got a duplicate. Maybe I need a few days to admit that I'm in denial about actually ever revisiting them. Regardless of my own game attachment issues, I think this is a lovely idea and I want to see what happens.

That being said, I could see this getting abused pretty easily, even by those of us with the best of intentions. I could also see some contention of what people would deem to be "good standing." Where do you draw a line? I want to be outward and trusting and full of love, but I'm also aware that this is still the internet.

I think it's just to keep a coffee grinder with two posts, who obviously registered for the sole purpose of this thread, from asking for free stuff.

Amoebic wrote:

That being said, I could see this getting abused pretty easily, even by those of us with the best of intentions. I could also see some contention of what people would deem to be "good standing." Where do you draw a line? I want to be outward and trusting and full of love, but I'm also aware that this is still the internet.

Good standing is something simply discretionary. I do not want anybody publicly calling anyone out and having this turn into a haterade thread. Hell, for all I know there may be coffee grinders on here that are well known and trusted by some. If you're ever unsure about somebody you can always ask a goodjer that you do know if the person is alright.

Yep, I will play. I don't mind eating the 2 bucks to ship out a copy of an old game if it means a goodjer will enjoy it.

Just an idea but maybe this would be better if the focus was on posts from people wanting specific games. Instead of saying "I have this!", maybe let forum members post on either here or the Google Doc they are looking for a particular game and then forum members can message them directly if they are interested in letting them borrow it.

There would be less maintenance on the Google Doc, and loaners can be discretionary on to whom or what they loan out without having their forum name published.

I'm definitely interested but is there going to be discrimination against us Canucks? I know people don't like shipping over the border, but it's not THAT expensive.

It'd probably be best to group people by location. I doubt that many people would be excited by the prospect of sending games across the pond, either (completely ignoring region-locking issues here, too).

Or maybe people can just specify in their column/area. That would make it simpler.

EDIT: Stuck a row in on the PC page.

Just a suggestion -- they used to have something like this at another board (Octopus Overlords) using karma: every time someone sent off something they gained one karma and every time they asked for something they lost one karma point.Maybe that would keep moochers away.

(As an extra aside, I'd love to see something like this with graphic novels. I have a bunch I'd never read again and they're not really worth selling second hand.)

edosan wrote:

Just a suggestion -- they used to have something like this at another board (Octopus Overlords) using karma: every time someone sent off something they gained one karma and every time they asked for something they lost one karma point.Maybe that would keep moochers away.

Yep, there used to be a thread like this on the old GoneGold forums (many re-located to the Octopus Overlords forum). It was called Pay It Forward Freebies, and you couldn't claim a game unless you had a game to offer (or had previously offered one), so you always had a running tally.

Here's the rules for that community:

Pay It Forward Freebies - To play PIFF, all you need to do is claim a free game that someone has offered up. That person sends the game to you. That's where the "Freebie" part comes in. It's that simple. Oh yeah ... one catch ... for every game you claim from someone else, you MUST offer up one game to the freebie list. That's where the "Pay It Forward" comes into play. Some people offer up multiple titles thus creating karma which can be used at a later date. If you offer up multiple titles, please keep track of what your karma is. As you claim games, reduce your karma by 1 point for each game taken. When you hit zero, you MUST offer up a game for the next title you take. That's it. It's all on the honor system but know that if you abuse the system, the Octopus Overlords WILL find you and string you up by your unmentionables, carve you open and eat your insides.

Thought that might help get this off the ground

I really like this idea and will be looking into it later. Tagging the thread so I don't forget.

edosan wrote:

(As an extra aside, I'd love to see something like this with graphic novels. I have a bunch I'd never read again and they're not really worth selling second hand.)

Actually, I could see this encompassing games, books/graphic novels, and other geekery given the audience of this site.

Edosan and Trueheart, thanks for giving details about the Octopus Overlord method! That's excellent, and something we can keep track of on the document : )

Question:

Would anyone consider it necessary in the PC game tab to specify if a game is on a DVD or CD ROM disk? I only ask because My ghetto desktop rig doesn't have a dvd drive, and my ghetto laptop generally likes DVDs, but is temperamental about some CD ROM games for whatever reason. Probably because it's a POS.

As far as international shipping, I'd love to do it, but in all honesty I'm one of those people who is broke as a joke. I guess it would depend on where it's going and how much it weighs, right? I know nothing about these kinds of things.

Edit: Added a few games from my meager collection. I'll be heading over to my sister's place in a few days, and will look to scrounge up some of the games I've left over there to see if any of those will ever be played. If no one there is interested I'll add those to the list, as well.

I'm still on the fence about adding Rhythm Heaven to the list, but I can't quite bring myself to part with it just yet.

I think it's a good idea. I'm sure I have some games laying around here that I won't play again.

Of course, I buy nearly everything, so I'm not sure that I'd ever need something from someone else, but you never know.

I have two copies of Far Cry 2 PC, one of which was never installed and is sitting in a drawer in a sleeve with an fresh product key. If anyone wants it, I'd be glad to ship it for free.

Rexneron wrote:

I have two copies of Far Cry 2 PC, one of which was never installed and is sitting in a drawer in a sleeve with an fresh product key. If anyone wants it, I'd be glad to ship it for free.

That warms the cold corners of my withered heart.

edit: also, now that I think about it, I have a ton of games I would be willing to pass on to fellow Goodjers. I'll take inventory.

LockAndLoad wrote:

Just an idea but maybe this would be better if the focus was on posts from people wanting specific games. Instead of saying "I have this!", maybe let forum members post on either here or the Google Doc they are looking for a particular game and then forum members can message them directly if they are interested in letting them borrow it.

There would be less maintenance on the Google Doc, and loaners can be discretionary on to whom or what they loan out without having their forum name published.

I think the GDoc method is more convenient in a couple ways. First it lets people see games that may not be at the forefront of what they'd want and have nearly forgotten about, but would definitely want to play if they could get it gratis. And second I'm afraid we'd get tons of callouts for new games, games nobody has or was willing to part with and then it'd turn into a clutter of unfilled requests.

edosan wrote:

Just a suggestion -- they used to have something like this at another board (Octopus Overlords) using karma: every time someone sent off something they gained one karma and every time they asked for something they lost one karma point.Maybe that would keep moochers away.

(As an extra aside, I'd love to see something like this with graphic novels. I have a bunch I'd never read again and they're not really worth selling second hand.)

The karma system is definitely doable in the GDoc if wanted and we could see the running karma of goodjers right there.

As I said, if you have anything else you want to pass on feel free to add a tab at the bottom for it. I'm sure we'd have goodjers interested in graphic novels and just about anything else we can think of.

This is an excellent idea. I have many things I can add to this list right away. I should be able to round up a box of goodies and post an update this weekend.

I wish this thread had been created just one week ago. I donated all of my old games over the weekend.

I'm in for the 360 with Lego Indy 1 and Assassin's Creed (have to get it back from my coworker first).

Amoebic, I may take you up on Fable 2.

I threw a few games up on the 360 and the only PC one I can think of at the moment. I know I have a lot more, and will be going through my stuff and updating the spreadsheet over the next few days. This is a great idea, I'm a fan of the barter system.

Farscry wrote:

This is a great idea, I'm a fan of the barter system. :D

I've got a mint condition copy of Pokemon Diamond for the DS that I think I will post first.

Dude! I laid dibs on that already!

Hey, for what it's worth, I've got Final Fantasy XIII on that list for the 360. I'm sure there's some upstanding member of the GWJ community who's had their eye on that. It's one of several titles (Forza 2 is another one, actually) that I'm making myself give away because I'm only hanging on to them out of a strange sort of collector's OCD.

Anything I put on the list will be in very good (or heck, near mint) condition. I'm not just going to dump crap on people; it's going to be things in good shape that I would feel comfortable selling to someone. If anything I list is in any kind of poor condition, that will be specified, and it will only be because the game/object/whatever is something I think someone would genuinely want even with some sort of caveat.

Okay people. We are posting free games here. Why does nobody want them!? :p

EDIT: If you think you know somebody who might want them, even if you're not sure, go for it. Don't make me leave random games on the benches at the mall.

Sent a few PMs. This is going to do wonders for my TA ratio.

Great idea. I have at least some PC titles I don't really need in my collection. Plus I'd rather make someone happy than get 1-2€ from Gamestop.

Free stuff is awesome I added a few games on there. I support the idea of a graphics novel type one too, and would be well up for that whoever wants to set that up[size=5]...not me...[/size]

May add the following when I get home, assuming I can find them:

PC

Falcon 4.0 (including binder)
Diablo 1 & 2
Starcraft
X-Wing vs TIE Fighter
Quake 3
Grim Fandango (haha no. You I keep forever.)

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