thoughthead

Have you been to a GameStop lately? If so you were probably accosted at the door by a register jockey in a red shirt asking if you if you had any trade ins or wished to place a pre-order. Nothing against the hard working GameStop employees, it’s their job after all. I sometimes feel bad for them, but then I realize that I made the choice to not ever work in retail again and they have that very same freedom. Once when I was asked this question I asked back of my friendly semi-local GameStop sales associate: why should I pre-order?His answer was the obvious idea that it somehow ensures I get a copy of the game I want if it miraculously sells out. Of course, ironically, I was there picking up a game that had just come out that day. I told him I wanted to pick up a copy of the game they had literally human sized stacks of behind the counter. He hands me one and I informed him that I was glad I got here before these sold out. I informed him that I no longer bother to pre-order items because I’d been burned by too many instances where the store failed to deliver me my goods, leaving me without cash and a with my face against the windows of other stores eying a product on the shelves that I had already paid for but still didn’t own. He began to give me some spiel about how GameStop was different when I informed him that it was his very store that had burned me three times over the previous year.
Why should we pre-order though? Pre-ordering used to be reserved for hot ticket items that might be sold out, it helped the retailers gauge how many units to order and it actually was a guarantee that you got something when you went to pick it up. The only thing it seems to guarantee today is that the store will get your money. If you can’t promise me a product then what’s in it for me, what benefit do pre-orders still serve to the consumer that puts their money down months in advance if the store isn’t actually going to promise you anything? If you’re going to do it at least PRETEND that you’re actually going to set one aside for me. A couple of weeks ago I decided to “pre-order” Gears of War at Best Buy. The only reason I did this is because for $5 down you got a free t-shirt and an empty game case, I figured the shirt and having an extra case that matched the real Xbox 360 cases would still be worth the $5 if they decided to screw me out of a game. When I got to the register they rung me up and That’ll be five dollars. I look at her puzzled and asked What, you’re not going to ask me which version of the game I’m pre-ordering?… It comes in 2 different versions a regular and a Limited Edition, I want to make sure I get the Limited Edition. To which she bluntly replied Well we just get a ton of them in so don’t worry about it. Now that may be correct, but if the t-shirt and case were free then what exactly what did I give them money for? Pre-ordering implies a reservation or some sort. I’ll be stopping by to pick up my “pre-order” later today, I hope for the sake of their health they still have L.E.s left or there will be a couple of employees rectally ingesting some steel-toed Dr Martens.

I think what bothers me the most is that as a consumer when I pre-order I’m at the mercy of the store as to whether or not they actually deliver on their ghostly thin vale of a promise. I think most people prefer to be in control of the situation around them. If I got to a store to buy a game and they’re somehow sold out, I’m ok with that, other consumers were more vigorous in their pursuit then I was, I’ll still have other stores to try and if I can’t find it there either It’s my loss and my own fault. I can deal with that, but when a million dollar corporation makes promises to me through a $6.50 an hour liaison and then doesn’t even make that much of an attempt to follow through; that seriously pisses me off. It becomes even more of a joke when these companies start collecting money for products that might not ever even see the light of day. If there is even a hint or a rumor that a game might come out and someone is willing to part with their money these companies are more then willing to collect. How much confidence in delivery could they possibly give me if the product they’re guaranteeing is vaporware. I wonder if there are gamers somewhere out there that have had money down on Duke Nukem Forever for 10 something years; I wonder if one of these stores would even honor it at this point, considering the ink would probably be completely faded from the receipt.

For the most part I’ll just got to the store when a new product I want comes out, but I really wish I COULD pre-order because I don’t always have that luxury. I work, I travel, video games are just a hobby but so is collecting limited editions. Sometimes I’m not able to be there it’d be nice if I was able to have my product reserved for me so I didn’t have to worry about it, but alas the system is about as useful as… eh I can’t even think of an analogy that useless, I believe I analogize other less useless things to pre-ordering.

I suppose there are still some shimmers of hope here and there where it might actually be worth dealing with this system. On occasion I’ll pre-order online, somehow I just feel more comfortable trusting a lifeless computer system running honest software made by programmers like myself then I do with some schmuck behind a counter who couldn’t possibly care less about my wants and needs. If a computer is out of inventory it will let me know, it wont charge me until my product is already on it’s way, and it does EXACTLY what I tell it to, no more, no less. Best of all it never talks down to me assuming that by some freak of nature there are people on this earth of lower intelligence. The downside of course is shipping, you’ll be charged a few extra dollars and wait a few extra days. I typically reserve this for times when I’ll be out of town or otherwise unable to go to the store myself, sometimes I’m just lazy; though in my defense the nearest non-Walmart game store is a half hour drive from where I live so it’s not exactly convenient. The other big problem with pre-ordering online is the risk of product damage during shipping, particularly if you’re getting a Limited or Collectors edition. Most online stores aren’t very receptive when you tell them you want a new one because the box is dented or scratched. At least if you go to buy it in person you can somewhat inspect the merchandise before you commit to part with your money for it. Return policy rules can often be bent when debated in person, particularly when your seething is close enough to moisten faces and corporate polos.
The other scenario where I could see someone possibly pre-ordering is if they offer some kind of incentive, like a free t-shirt, faceplate, bonus disc, etc. In these cases however I would recommend not bothering if the minimum down is more then the bonus items are worth. Also I would recommend not putting down any more then the minimum. At least if you limit your pre-orders to those that are incentive based it might show these companies that consumers actually want something in return for our money, you know, beyond just giving it away.

As it is, pre-ordering has become fairly useless. With the pathetic reliability these companies are offering it’s just not worth it. Pre-ordering only guarantees that you have less money, it ties you down to one store and if that store gets a short shipment you’re pretty much screwed to suffer with them while hundreds of other people can just walk into any other store and pick it up freely. I feel bad for anyone who pre-ordered an Xbox 360, especially when it got to the point where people could find one here or there at Walmart and Target, meanwhile you find yourself stuck with a thin wallet and no toys to show for it. I encourage those of you that have been burned to stop pre-ordering, and those of you to haven’t yet been burned… I encourage you to stop before it happens to you (and it probably will). The reason the situation has become so ridiculous is because we as consumers have been too willing to part with our money and not demanding enough in the services we receive in return. If we want things to change we’ll have to vote with our wallets and stop just giving away our money for nothing more then worthless promises.

…I’ll see you in line…