GAME

[ReZourceman]

Why do GAME employ people who don't know anything about video games? Even like...basic things.

 

E.g. I heard someone ask a GAME employee "Are there any good first person shooters for Move yet?" and the reply was "Yes, Resident Evil 5"

 

And today, an employee at a completely different store struck up a conversation with me, as I was looking at the Goldeneye box.

 

"I've played that."

 

"Ah cool, whats it like?"

 

"Its not the original."

 

"Ah what is, eh? :p"

 

"Yeah, the story is slightly different."

 

"O..kay. Well its all about Donkey Kong Country Returns for me. :)"

 

"Ah yeah. If we even get it this year."

 

"....Its out on December 3rd"

 

"........................ Well yeah, but GT5 was supposed to be out on November 5th, and now thats not coming out."

 

I just thanked him and walked off. Isn't GT one of the most notoriously-plagued-with-delays-games ever? Its just silly.

 

To Dyson/Ashley/other people who work(ed) at GAME; are your colleagues as typical as you, as you guys obviously know your stuff.

[Daft]

GT5 has only had two official launch dates it's missed and apparently the second delay (the latest one) might only be for a few weeks.

 

 

I still won't believe it until I see it.

[Happenstance]

Their lack of knowledge doesnt really bother me anymore, I dont need to know anything from them so it wont ruin anything for me and i get that they are just people who wanted a job, not necessarily massive game fans.

[nightwolf]

I find it depends how dedicated the person is to their games, some take these jobs as a form of money others a passion or both. Most people I speak to are pretty good, although in gamestation recently as I was looking at dead rising 1 some guy was pointing out some right silly games for me to play.

 

Most of which I had already played, he obviously thought I wasn't much of a gamer..showed him up! Buwahaha.

[Emasher]

GameStop/EB Games here in North American is no different. I once overheard someone ask an employee there to recommend him a good game for the PS3. He recommended Haze.

[Goafer]

Meh. I worked at a petrol station and had no passion for petrol. I didn't give a flying fuck about the tyre inflater either. I was a terrible employee.

[Guy]

I used to get annoyed at people who worked in GAME, then I realised they're just doing their best to be friendly and polite. I'd rather someone speak total bullshit while being friendly than say nothing and come across as a total dick.

[Emasher]

Meh. I worked at a petrol station and had no passion for petrol. I didn't give a flying fuck about the tyre inflater either. I was a terrible employee.

 

The main difference though is that the people who work in game stores are sales people, whereas someone working in a petrol station is there to pump the gas for you and take your money. Most people who go to a petrol station don't need anyone to recommend them what kind of petrol product they need to buy, or weather they want to buy it or not, whereas, with a game store, part of the employee's job is to help customers find the right product and convince them to buy it.

 

That said, its not the people who work in the stores that are the problem. Its the employers valuing what the people look like over how much they know about what they're selling, and in reality, if that sells more games, thats what they should be doing anyway.

Edited October 30, 2010 by Emasher

[Frank]

If you're a real fan of video games you shouldn't need to ask anything :p

 

Can't say it's the same in Limerick, Ireland. The staff in GAME are lovely and seem to know their stuff. It's the same people I see whenever I go in there so it's like a little family...and I'm some sort of stalker watching them :p But yeah, maybe it's just where I live?

[Raining_again]

Wait wait wait....

 

These people are getting paid min wage.... and you actually expect them to care about their job?

 

Fair enough if you already have a passion for it (dyson i'm looking at you) but they aren't actually trained or really expected to know anything about these games.. You want a good service you need to

 

A/ pay staff better

B/ employ staff who are knowledgeable via application criterion/testing

C/ actually care about the industry

[Emasher]

Real gamers might not, but these days you've got a lot of casual games, parents, and people who might play a lot of games, but don't follow them much online and need recommendations. At a petrol station, people who don't know anything about petrol still know that they need to buy gasoline rather than diesel.

 

I should point out though that there are some really good staff at some of the stores I've been to.

 

 

Wait wait wait....

 

These people are getting paid min wage.... and you actually expect them to care about their job?

 

Fair enough if you already have a passion for it (dyson i'm looking at you) but they aren't actually trained or really expected to know anything about these games.

 

Aren't they on commission?

[Ashley]

No. Never (commission this is).

 

Incidentally at the Future panel yesterday the discussion of "'hardcore' elitism" came up and I'm sorry but that's how your post reads ReZ. Yes, some knowledge would be great but its not like they said "What's a Playstizzon?" Why is it you can work in pretty much any shop and not be expected to have 100% perfect product knowledge but with something like gaming you have to? Particularly in this day and age with the internet and everything. You, broadly speaking, get two kind of shoppers - those who know what they want and those who don't. Those who do will only engage in discussion to then belittle you behind your back for your ignorance (or just brag about their PC specs, which annoyed me no end) in comparison to their own or those who actually want help.

[EEVILMURRAY]

"........................ Well yeah, but GT5 was supposed to be out on November 5th, and now thats not coming out."

You should be thanking him for bringing this up so you don't get your hopes up.

Meh. I worked at a petrol station and had no passion for petrol. I didn't give a flying fuck about the tyre inflater either. I was a terrible employee.

Fuck yeah. I can't drive and I'm working in petrol station. I wonder how many people will ask for advice that I can't help them with. Can't wait.

[Jonnas]

It should be all about friendliness, really. A knowledgeable store clerk who scares away customers is far worse.

 

Kinda reminds me of that one time I entered a videogame store looking for bargains (it wasn't from a known brand. It was a small store that has been there as long as I remember). There were only two clerks discussing human nature (really). Not only did they continue as if the store was still empty, at one point, they entered the realm of human knowledge:

 

"Any knowledge that a person may gain is irrelevant. In the grand scheme of things, we're all equally foolish. I'm an idiot, you're an idiot..."

*points at me while suddenly raising his voice*

"... and HE is an idiot!"

 

Needless to say, I immediately left. Haven't gone back in a while, now...

[Ashley]

It should be all about friendliness, really. A knowledgeable store clerk who scares away customers is far worse.

 

[EEVILMURRAY]

It should be all about friendliness, really. A knowledgeable store clerk who scares away customers is far worse.

At Tesco you're not allowed to offer your opinion (even by personal experience) you can just read what's on the packaging*

 

 

 

*Bullshit I doubt anyone will follow.

[Arnieboy]

I've only had a problem with one GAME store really and that was the Great Yarmouth branch. They didn't know what was in or out of stock and once had a whole shelf full of Guitar Hero: Metallica boxes ready to buy...and when i got to the checkout was told that they were out of stock. Not one single 'out of stock' sticker in sight.

That same shop also had a guy who pestered me to take up one of the offers while buying pokemon diamond, i swear he would not stop until i agreed to buy something extra for 2 quid or something, argh. Walked out with a stylus that i never use.

(Apologies if any of you work at that branch).

 

 

Besides, as gamers isn't it a little bit satisfying when you know more than the staff in GAME sometimes? I don't mean in a being an arse kind of way, but telling them release dates and information that they don't know.

I don't expect all the staff to know information about every game, all i need to know is if it's in stock and to not constantly try to sell me what i don't want.

[mcj metroid]

If you're a real fan of video games you shouldn't need to ask anything :p

 

Can't say it's the same in Limerick, Ireland. The staff in GAME are lovely and seem to know their stuff. It's the same people I see whenever I go in there so it's like a little family...and I'm some sort of stalker watching them :p But yeah, maybe it's just where I live?

 

haha feels like i'm on boards.ie here

 

But we are lucky to have a decent enough GAME in fairness. Always preferred the gamestop myself though. I'm not into games as much as I was and don't have enough money these days to shop around so things may have changed.

[Dyson]

To Dyson/Ashley/other people who work(ed) at GAME; are your colleagues as typical as you, as you guys obviously know your stuff.

 

I think my store is a slightly different story, it's what is known internally as a Centre of Excellence. We have to maintain the store to higher standards than most and continually prove ourselves in Mystery Shop results etc. There is no bonus for us guys for being part of a CoE, but I guess we all want to help keep the reputation of the store intact. For example, the only people that the manager was allowed to hire were people that he would definitely be looking to promote, and as such good product knowledge is vital.

 

It's a funny company, though. I know our store is tight-knit and quite small, so we keep each other up to date with things we need to know. However I do know of a few stores in the same region as ours that are a completely different story, where staff tell customers wrong information or there are some major internal issues - in short, it all boils down to what the manager of the store is like.

 

That said, the Dep Manager at our store barely even qualifies as a casual gamer. She's been there for years, though, before the current manager started his job. Go figure.

[Guy]

Of course, there's such thing as overly friendly and annoyingly knowledgeable customer service too. Getting it just right is one tough balancing act.

 

Slightly unrelated, but no douche in GAME can ever compare to even the most basic Games Workshop employee. Make a point to go in there before any other store, you'll be writing letters of praise about even the most pathetic of employee. Guarantee it.

[Ganepark32]

Never really had a problem with GAME. Personally see it as a better store than Gamestation up here as the people who work in the local Gamestation are torn faced, miserable b*****ds who, while knowing plenty about gaming, lack any form of polite customer service skills. And it's not just me thinking that as the store has become progressively quieter and quieter over the last few months while GAME is always mobbed.

 

As Jonnas said, it's all about friendliness. I don't really care to go into GAME and have a full on conversation about games. The people that work in the one near me are knowledgeable about their stuff and I've had some great conversations about stuff but I've also had some decent ones where games haven't been mentioned. It's just a much more relaxed atmosphere in there I find and that's why I prefer GAME, even if at times they know nothing about the games I'm interested in.

 

What I will say that is beginning to annoy me about GAME now though, is the ever increasing long list of questions they have to ask you when you're buying everything. I know they're being helpful but being asked 4 or 5 questions basically boil down to the same "Is that everything for you today?" is annoying. Happened yesterday when buying Fable 3. After being asked if that was everything, I was then asked if I wanted the strategy guide, if I needed MS Points and then if I wanted to pre-order anything. It's a bit full on.

[Serebii]

One of my best friends works at GAME. She's hardcore though. She has a Triforce tattoo. However, she has told me that the higher ups do force them to always try and sell extras with games and that she dislikes that that happens. She always tries to get me to pre-order things when I visit her

[Guy]

I miss GAME's 10 day returns policy. I abused the hell out of that system. We used to call it The Game Rental Service, because that's basically all it was. I'd like to think I was solely responsible for them ending it.

 

Plus, buying a game was great.

 

"Cool. Thanks. See you in 10 days."

[Serebii]

I miss GAME's 10 day returns policy. I abused the hell out of that system. We used to call it The Game Rental Service, because that's basically all it was. I'd like to think I was solely responsible for them ending it.

 

Plus, buying a game was great.

 

"Cool. Thanks. See you in 10 days."

In the old days, you could play a game for 10 days and still have things to do

 

Nowadays, you play a game for a few hours and you've 100%'d it. I think that's what killed it

[ReZourceman]

Incidentally at the Future panel yesterday the discussion of "'hardcore' elitism" came up and I'm sorry but that's how your post reads ReZ. Yes, some knowledge would be great but its not like they said "What's a Playstizzon?" Why is it you can work in pretty much any shop and not be expected to have 100% perfect product knowledge but with something like gaming you have to? Particularly in this day and age with the internet and everything. You, broadly speaking, get two kind of shoppers - those who know what they want and those who don't. Those who do will only engage in discussion to then belittle you behind your back for your ignorance (or just brag about their PC specs, which annoyed me no end) in comparison to their own or those who actually want help.

 

Heh, I doubt theres many hardcore elitists who play Neopets. :p

 

Honestly, I don't expect them to know everything, and for the first guy I mentioned, he was good for the most part, and a nice guy.

 

The second guy was a bit of a douche though. The full story is he started off by "mocking" me, which I obviously don't mind personally, but I don't like the idea that someone could just open up that way. I was saying to Claire "This is cool, I want this" (at the Goldeneye + gold controller) and he walked over and was like "What, Babysitting Mama?" and "Because you look like a Babysitting Mama kind of guy" and then he couldn't accept that he didn't know something (a reasonably typical trait of a male) it was just icky.