5 ms·

What kind of customer service do you get from a game store? Most of the time your gripes are with nintendo, sony, etc. directly.

by baby 5y ago

akira2501 5y ago
Demo units. Demo consoles. Video displays. Staff that knows their inventory and their customers well and can help you find the purchases that will be most valuable to you. Sure, but those companies do not have brick and mortar stores where they sell inventory. It's always been a distributors market, shouldn't the distributor service you? What else is their cut for?
- SilverRed 5y ago
  Demos became obsoleted somewhat by refunds and youtube gameplay. You can buy any game on steam, play it for less than two hours, and if you don't like it, you can refund it. Using the refund process as a trial/demo method is explicitly allowed by valve. Having a retail person give game recommendations has kind of been obsoleted by youtube and the wider internet. "top 10" lists do a good job of showing you what the hottest stuff in each category is.
  - gruez 5y ago
    >Using the refund process as a trial/demo method is explicitly allowed by valve. Where does it say that? The best quote I could find from them: >Refunds are designed to remove the risk from purchasing titles on Steam—not as a way to get free games. If it appears to us that you are abusing refunds, we may stop offering them to you. We do not consider it abuse to request a refund on a title that was purchased just before a sale and then immediately rebuying that title for the sale price.
    - asdfasgasdgasdg 5y ago
      I've never heard of anyone having their ability to get steam refunds curtailed. I've personally refunded dozens of games without an issue.
    - SilverRed 5y ago
      I was actually thinking of that last line about refunding for a sale but that doesn't quite apply. But if you read in to the first line about removing risk, that would imply trying it out with the intent of purchasing if you like it which is the purpose of a demo. I have refunded about 40 purchases on steam and never had them denied if you fit in the 2 hours / 2 weeks rule.
    - void_mint 5y ago
      > Where does it say that? Literally the first paragraph on the refunds page. > You can request a refund for nearly any purchase on Steam—for any reason. Maybe your PC doesn't meet the hardware requirements; maybe you bought a game by mistake; maybe you played the title for an hour and just didn't like it. https://store.steampowered.com/steam_refunds/ https://store.steampowered.com/steam_refunds/
  - AnIdiotOnTheNet 5y ago
    Honestly games are so damned cheap these days I don't know why most people (that is, not the desperately poor) would even bother refunding them unless they're completely broken or they're being a dick. $60 is an expensive AAA game by Steam standards and almost certainly comes with entirely too much content to appease people who think they need a lot of content to justify paying $60. $60 is also what your average NES game retailed for, which would in today's money be over $200. And most of them were complete garbage. Most games today that aren't AAA titles, which is to say the actually interesting games, go for a lot less than $60 anyway. A $20 game is the cost of one decent meal out.
    - SilverRed 5y ago
      I have refunded plenty of games for just not being fun. You are right that they are awesome value if they are good but I don't see why I should pay $20 if I don't feel like I will ever pick up the game again and got less than an hour playtime. Without refunds I would simply not purchase one unless I was sure it was good value, but with refunds I will buy something based on a few pictures on the store and see if I like it.
      - deleted 5y ago
        [deleted]
      - AnIdiotOnTheNet 5y ago
        I think that falls under the "being a dick" category just a little bit, personally. This isn't donationware, you don't get to only pay if you like the product. There's a description, screenshots, reviews, etc. to determine if you're likely to enjoy the game or not and if you buy it but it just doesn't grab you, I think that's a lot like paying for a sandwich that looks good but turns out is bland and flavorless, it's disappointing sure but I'm not going to demand my money back since I was delivered precisely what was advertised. Of course, if what they advertise is misleading then that's a different story.
        foxpurple 5y ago
        It’s different because it’s a digital product. If you return a sandwich, the product and some human time was wasted. If you refund a game. Nothing was lost. And if people feel free to buy more games knowing they can return the ones they don’t like, it ends up in more sales and more profit. What logical difference is there between studying the reviews and screenshots over playing the game for 30 minutes and working out yourself if you like it?
- Spivak 5y ago
  Logistics, risk management, and customer acquisition mostly. The latter is less of a thing nowadays with digital distribution but was a bigger deal when people would go to local game store to find something new to play. It’s so much cheaper to ship units to a few central warehouses of your distributors and then let them handle getting it in the shelves into 100,000+ stores nationwide. And your distributor handles all the retail risk for you, you don’t have to figure out where to build stores, how many to have, how to attract customers, worry about real-estate or rents.
- gjs278 5y ago
  wait until you find out about the internet
emsy 5y ago
Think of parents buying "Gameboys" for their children for example ;)
yellow_lead 5y ago
Kid wants the new XYZ game, mother doesn't know what to get him. Clerk helps deduce the game name, console, etc. Or they recommend games.
- SilverRed 5y ago
  In 2021 the kid shows mum the steam store page and asks for permission to buy the game right there and then. Or the child is given a steam gift card and allowed to get whatever they want. Your method has caused a lot of upset when the parent comes back with the wrong game or for the wrong console.
  - allturtles 5y ago
    It has also caused a lot of joy when a game arrives unexpectedly and unasked for. I still clearly remember the day decades ago when my father drove up next to me and my friends while we were riding bikes with 3 computer games for me on his passenger seat.
    - crocodiletears 5y ago
      The value of the spontaneity in this can't be overstated. The modern method feels so much more transactional because we've optimized it away.
    - PebblesRox 5y ago
      My little brother took over my Steam account. He kept my email address on file and I'd occasionally get emails about games on his wishlist going on sale. It was fun to buy those games sometimes as a little gift out of the blue :)
    - boomboomsubban 5y ago
      You can still do that with steam, just randomly buy a game for your child. Only now you can see their wishlist or recommended based on what they play or many other methods. Much better for the child than a parent going to the store and saying "well they liked this movie, let's get them the cash grab game."
GuB-42 5y ago
Some brick and mortar shops can turn into some kind of club. The owner tries to federate people around the shop, and sell his stuff along the way. In the case of a game store, he may organize tournaments, special events around the release of a game, help discover some obscure games, hunt down rare items and imports, and of course give competent advise.
spoonjim 5y ago
In the classic formulation, a “shopkeeper” is not only an expert in the product, but also in matching product to people. Someone can come in and say “I played Grim Fandango and Monkey Island when I was a kid and I want something like that for my kid but with modern graphics” and they can say “Have you tried Machinarium?” But this cant exist without some business model for the shopkeeper.
makeitdouble 5y ago
This is not a new debate by any stretch, there always was a slice of gamers that didn't rely on any specific shop, got their info through magazines/events etc. and didn't need any support outside of returns and repairs. But as in the olden days, store staff have a role in solving "I wish I knew X or Y" kind of issues: basically the less verse a user is in the field the more the store can step in and help. There's recommendations, but there also will be small info that is not obvious, like Switch's dock needing special USB chargers, or how language switch works, or what kind of violence there actually is in a game etc. All that info is available somewhere online, but for people who didn't/don't want to spend the time to get up to speed, knowledgeable staff is a boon.

What kind of customer service do you get from a game store? Most of the time your gripes are with nintendo, sony, etc. directly.

by baby 5y ago

What kind of customer service do you get from a game store? Most of the time your gripes are with nintendo, sony, etc. directly.

akira2501 5y ago

Demo units. Demo consoles. Video displays. Staff that knows their inventory and their customers well and can help you find the purchases that will be most valuable to you. Sure, but those companies do not have brick and mortar stores where they sell inventory. It's always been a distributors market, shouldn't the distributor service you? What else is their cut for?

SilverRed 5y ago
Demos became obsoleted somewhat by refunds and youtube gameplay. You can buy any game on steam, play it for less than two hours, and if you don't like it, you can refund it. Using the refund process as a trial/demo method is explicitly allowed by valve. Having a retail person give game recommendations has kind of been obsoleted by youtube and the wider internet. "top 10" lists do a good job of showing you what the hottest stuff in each category is.
- gruez 5y ago
  >Using the refund process as a trial/demo method is explicitly allowed by valve. Where does it say that? The best quote I could find from them: >Refunds are designed to remove the risk from purchasing titles on Steam—not as a way to get free games. If it appears to us that you are abusing refunds, we may stop offering them to you. We do not consider it abuse to request a refund on a title that was purchased just before a sale and then immediately rebuying that title for the sale price.
  - asdfasgasdgasdg 5y ago
    I've never heard of anyone having their ability to get steam refunds curtailed. I've personally refunded dozens of games without an issue.
  - SilverRed 5y ago
    I was actually thinking of that last line about refunding for a sale but that doesn't quite apply. But if you read in to the first line about removing risk, that would imply trying it out with the intent of purchasing if you like it which is the purpose of a demo. I have refunded about 40 purchases on steam and never had them denied if you fit in the 2 hours / 2 weeks rule.
  - void_mint 5y ago
    > Where does it say that? Literally the first paragraph on the refunds page. > You can request a refund for nearly any purchase on Steam—for any reason. Maybe your PC doesn't meet the hardware requirements; maybe you bought a game by mistake; maybe you played the title for an hour and just didn't like it. https://store.steampowered.com/steam_refunds/ https://store.steampowered.com/steam_refunds/
- AnIdiotOnTheNet 5y ago
  Honestly games are so damned cheap these days I don't know why most people (that is, not the desperately poor) would even bother refunding them unless they're completely broken or they're being a dick. $60 is an expensive AAA game by Steam standards and almost certainly comes with entirely too much content to appease people who think they need a lot of content to justify paying $60. $60 is also what your average NES game retailed for, which would in today's money be over $200. And most of them were complete garbage. Most games today that aren't AAA titles, which is to say the actually interesting games, go for a lot less than $60 anyway. A $20 game is the cost of one decent meal out.
  - SilverRed 5y ago
    I have refunded plenty of games for just not being fun. You are right that they are awesome value if they are good but I don't see why I should pay $20 if I don't feel like I will ever pick up the game again and got less than an hour playtime. Without refunds I would simply not purchase one unless I was sure it was good value, but with refunds I will buy something based on a few pictures on the store and see if I like it.
    - deleted 5y ago
      [deleted]
    - AnIdiotOnTheNet 5y ago
      I think that falls under the "being a dick" category just a little bit, personally. This isn't donationware, you don't get to only pay if you like the product. There's a description, screenshots, reviews, etc. to determine if you're likely to enjoy the game or not and if you buy it but it just doesn't grab you, I think that's a lot like paying for a sandwich that looks good but turns out is bland and flavorless, it's disappointing sure but I'm not going to demand my money back since I was delivered precisely what was advertised. Of course, if what they advertise is misleading then that's a different story.
      - foxpurple 5y ago
        It’s different because it’s a digital product. If you return a sandwich, the product and some human time was wasted. If you refund a game. Nothing was lost. And if people feel free to buy more games knowing they can return the ones they don’t like, it ends up in more sales and more profit. What logical difference is there between studying the reviews and screenshots over playing the game for 30 minutes and working out yourself if you like it?
Spivak 5y ago
Logistics, risk management, and customer acquisition mostly. The latter is less of a thing nowadays with digital distribution but was a bigger deal when people would go to local game store to find something new to play. It’s so much cheaper to ship units to a few central warehouses of your distributors and then let them handle getting it in the shelves into 100,000+ stores nationwide. And your distributor handles all the retail risk for you, you don’t have to figure out where to build stores, how many to have, how to attract customers, worry about real-estate or rents.
gjs278 5y ago
wait until you find out about the internet

emsy 5y ago

Think of parents buying "Gameboys" for their children for example ;)

yellow_lead 5y ago

Kid wants the new XYZ game, mother doesn't know what to get him. Clerk helps deduce the game name, console, etc. Or they recommend games.

SilverRed 5y ago
In 2021 the kid shows mum the steam store page and asks for permission to buy the game right there and then. Or the child is given a steam gift card and allowed to get whatever they want. Your method has caused a lot of upset when the parent comes back with the wrong game or for the wrong console.
- allturtles 5y ago
  It has also caused a lot of joy when a game arrives unexpectedly and unasked for. I still clearly remember the day decades ago when my father drove up next to me and my friends while we were riding bikes with 3 computer games for me on his passenger seat.
  - crocodiletears 5y ago
    The value of the spontaneity in this can't be overstated. The modern method feels so much more transactional because we've optimized it away.
  - PebblesRox 5y ago
    My little brother took over my Steam account. He kept my email address on file and I'd occasionally get emails about games on his wishlist going on sale. It was fun to buy those games sometimes as a little gift out of the blue :)
  - boomboomsubban 5y ago
    You can still do that with steam, just randomly buy a game for your child. Only now you can see their wishlist or recommended based on what they play or many other methods. Much better for the child than a parent going to the store and saying "well they liked this movie, let's get them the cash grab game."

GuB-42 5y ago

Some brick and mortar shops can turn into some kind of club. The owner tries to federate people around the shop, and sell his stuff along the way. In the case of a game store, he may organize tournaments, special events around the release of a game, help discover some obscure games, hunt down rare items and imports, and of course give competent advise.

spoonjim 5y ago

In the classic formulation, a “shopkeeper” is not only an expert in the product, but also in matching product to people. Someone can come in and say “I played Grim Fandango and Monkey Island when I was a kid and I want something like that for my kid but with modern graphics” and they can say “Have you tried Machinarium?” But this cant exist without some business model for the shopkeeper.

makeitdouble 5y ago

This is not a new debate by any stretch, there always was a slice of gamers that didn't rely on any specific shop, got their info through magazines/events etc. and didn't need any support outside of returns and repairs. But as in the olden days, store staff have a role in solving "I wish I knew X or Y" kind of issues: basically the less verse a user is in the field the more the store can step in and help. There's recommendations, but there also will be small info that is not obvious, like Switch's dock needing special USB chargers, or how language switch works, or what kind of violence there actually is in a game etc. All that info is available somewhere online, but for people who didn't/don't want to spend the time to get up to speed, knowledgeable staff is a boon.