I was an adventurer like you...till I took an arrow to the knee.

    I was watching TV tonight and saw the commercial for Gamefly, where people are going into obviously what is supposed to be a game stop to trade in games and then having hissy fits for only getting nine bucks. Now not being a customer of Gamefly I have no real knowledge of how they operate and I will probably never become one due to certain concerns. For instance if this is a game rental company what is stopping people from getting messed up games? I get the whole try before you buy thing but at the same time what if it was like renting games back when video stores still existed? I remember one night having to take back three games in a row because they were so messed up they did not work and this was just a local store, I can only imagine what a national rental company’s games look like especially if they are sent by the postal service. Another issue I see is this commercial seems to be saying that you should get full value for a game you wish to trade in, now like any product once out of the package its value decreases quite a bit , and say you play it for a while and hate it so you want to take it back well sorry not goanna get the 60 bucks you dropped on the newest Call Of Duty: Same Ol Shit As Last Time game. What this commercial shows with people flipping out over not getting what they want for a game return is the sense of entitlement that not only permeates the gamer world but a lot of aspects of society today. I go to our local Gamestop often and have traded and bought a variety of games but unlike some it seems I know the drill. If you trade toward a new game you can get a $60 one for half that or more hell you could even if you have a few games that are crap get more for your trade.  It’s not a perfect system nor is it truly fair but folks neither is any aspect of life, and these are just video games.

       Video games are made to be disposable otherwise we’d still have those old cartages that could survive a nuclear war, not a DVD that one scratch can kill.  Simple research can help you avoid getting a game you will hate; a game has great graphics…so a lot of movies look good buck suck, that shiny car? The engine is about to blow, never judge anything by its look especially a game because that is all it is. When I decided on an Xbox it wasn’t because I was a fanboy of some type it was because I liked the games offered that the PS3 did not have. I looked into each and every game almost obsessively to avoid such pitfalls and I have to say I ended up with games with a bit of replay value and enough DLC that all I have to do is drop some cash or what not to add onto a game I love. DLC is annoying but hey what isn’t?  It is another way to make money on a product that may or may not last, I mean come on look at the sheer number of accessories we buy to add on to other products.

  This of course brings me to piracy in a roundabout way and I had no other way to jump topics lol, but it does fit. I have pirated music, movies, and yes committed the sin of pirating a few books (why did you make me do it George RR Martin!?!?!). Is it stealing yes I make no illusions about the morality of it. Why have I done it? I like free stuff like any other human, argue with me if you do that silly extreme couponing shit I DARE YOU.  I also do not like paying an outrageous sum to see or read something that could be a potential load of crap, if I like it then I do buy it. Now just to play devil’s advocate here what truly is the difference in downloading a song and it coming over the radio?  I have heard the song without having to pay for it so the artist gets no money from me or any other person that hears it on the radio unless they like the group or song. Now what about books? Does the author get any money from me if I buy it from a used books store? Or from however many people owned the book before me? The same goes for movies and games from places like a pawn shop or Gamestop if you buy used nobody that made the product gets the money for it. Well they did once when it was new, but after it changes hands from the original owner then what happens after no artist gets anything from it. Now what is the difference between me checking out a book from the library, reading it then returning it or borrowing a copy and doing the same from a friend and downloading a book then deleting it? The author got the money from one person buying the product. Other than the moral stealing is wrong argument with the existence of places where a person can buy used products makes most arguments circular. People will argue for both sides and toss up any argument they can yes entertainment companies are greedy and produce a lot of crap but at the same time well we still buy it. I have downloaded and probably will again like I said mainly to test something out before I buy it later I mean we test drive a car before we buy them, hell dating is test driving a person before making a commitment.  I know I’ll get some crap for admitting to raising the Jolly Rodger but hell I’m human, and in the eyes of the corporations anybody that ever borrowed something or bought it used has committed piracy. Why do you think that most of them want to make all of their products digital? They can code in all sorts of ways to make it to where it cannot be sold used or borrowed.