Rent Games for Free

[sundcarrie]

I think this tip is wrong! We don't buy many games anymore but we do have gamefly. For less than 25 dollars a month we get 2 games at a time and it is unlimited so if we play them and send them back the next day as soon as they get back they ship us another one. Sometimes they ship one as soon as the post office scans them. This took our video game budget down from a few hundred dollar a month to a few hundred dollars a year. No my hubby is a die hard video game addict so sometimes a game comes out that he really has to have. I would not buy play and return except to trade in.

[blommas]

I actually didn't know you could that at gamestop.. Maybe I'll rent a game sometime.. I think it's really good to rent games, because you get to know what the game is about and the feeling to play it. It really sucks buying a game, and then play it 2 hours and never play it again.

[NewDCD]

While technically legal due to it being fair play in the Gamestop TOS, I wouldn't recommend anyone to perform this one, due to it being, as mentioned by the previous posters, highly immoral. Granted, Gamestop isn't the best company out there, but the developers you supposedly "hurt" by buying used games are ten times worse. I'm looking at you, EA Games. So Gamestop is the lesser of two evils. Do also consider the fact that selling used media like video games is both morally and legally acceptable by international laws, as you are given absolute ownership over the physical copy of the game you own. It's the same reason you could sell a pre-owned DVD or book.

However, publishers nowadays want to exploit a loophole in that right you have as a consumer by enforcing systems such as online passes and system lockdown mechanics. That's because publishers want you to relinquish your ownership rights to the digital media you own, and rather just give you an "usage license". While this is perfectly acceptable when the game is purchased via digital distribution, such as Steam, it is not when you buy a game disc. A copy of a game usually sells for $60 USD, which is quite the high price. Now, consider how much cheaper you get a game via digital distributors. You can get six-month old blockbuster games for about $10 during sales. In that case, it's perfectly logical to relinquish the ownership right. However, so long as you own a physical copy, that copy should belong to you by law, and you should be able to do whatever you see fit with that copy.

Is Gamestop immoral? Yes, but big publishers are a million times more morally bankrupt. Thus, abusing of this tip could have a negative influence in us, as consumers. A big chunk of the used game market is to be attributed to Gamestop. If we hurt that market, we might as well say goodbye to our right to the ownership of our games. Gamestop might be bad, but I'd gladly side with them when considering the alternative. It's a decision between a morally black or a morally grey area. So, I personally motivate everyone to stay in the grey area, as to not relinquish our rights to the games we purchase with our hard-earned money. Or would you like if every company was like EA, banning you for a sincere dissenting opinion in their forums?

[SaifAlGad]

Wouldn't Gamestop start to notice what the customer was doing after awhile?
Wouldn't your account be flagged with special notices or something like that?
Nah I wouldn't do that, because every place that I've ever worked at has at least
one customer whose account is flagged with all these kinds of crazy notices.
Not a good idea.

[NewDCD]

Wouldn't Gamestop start to notice what the customer was doing after awhile?
Wouldn't your account be flagged with special notices or something like that?
Nah I wouldn't do that, because every place that I've ever worked at has at least
one customer whose account is flagged with all these kinds of crazy notices.
Not a good idea.

This is something else I was wondering about. How does OP do it? Does he go to different Gamestop locations? If he does it a lot, they must have wisened up by now, thus, it's really food for thought, no matter how you look at it.

[shinastray]

While technically legal due to it being fair play in the Gamestop TOS, I wouldn't recommend anyone to perform this one, due to it being, as mentioned by the previous posters, highly immoral. Granted, Gamestop isn't the best company out there, but the developers you supposedly "hurt" by buying used games are ten times worse. I'm looking at you, EA Games. So Gamestop is the lesser of two evils. Do also consider the fact that selling used media like video games is both morally and legally acceptable by international laws, as you are given absolute ownership over the physical copy of the game you own. It's the same reason you could sell a pre-owned DVD or book.

However, publishers nowadays want to exploit a loophole in that right you have as a consumer by enforcing systems such as online passes and system lockdown mechanics. That's because publishers want you to relinquish your ownership rights to the digital media you own, and rather just give you an "usage license". While this is perfectly acceptable when the game is purchased via digital distribution, such as Steam, it is not when you buy a game disc. A copy of a game usually sells for $60 USD, which is quite the high price. Now, consider how much cheaper you get a game via digital distributors. You can get six-month old blockbuster games for about $10 during sales. In that case, it's perfectly logical to relinquish the ownership right. However, so long as you own a physical copy, that copy should belong to you by law, and you should be able to do whatever you see fit with that copy.

Is Gamestop immoral? Yes, but big publishers are a million times more morally bankrupt. Thus, abusing of this tip could have a negative influence in us, as consumers. A big chunk of the used game market is to be attributed to Gamestop. If we hurt that market, we might as well say goodbye to our right to the ownership of our games. Gamestop might be bad, but I'd gladly side with them when considering the alternative. It's a decision between a morally black or a morally grey area. So, I personally motivate everyone to stay in the grey area, as to not relinquish our rights to the games we purchase with our hard-earned money. Or would you like if every company was like EA, banning you for a sincere dissenting opinion in their forums?

This. This post resumes quite well my thoughts on this. Even if legal, the attitude is morally reprehensible, and quite frankly, that's the sort of attitude laws are there to protect us from. I wouldn't recommend doing this unless you're as morally bankrupt as publishers and enjoy destroying the consumer's credibility.

[MelissaCassie]

Thats an awesome tip! Ive actually never even thought of that. Ill try to find a gamestop in my area.

[MelissaCassie]

I do have an EB games near me however they don't take returns on used games unless they're damaged. And even so you have to prove you wernt the one that damaged them :P To top that off they only do store credit and I think id look a little strange going in every week returning games :P

[JoshTheBoss]

Hey I do this all the time. It's really convenient because there is on at the local mall in my city. Sometimes they are scratched when you buy them (they don't test them all before buying) used so it's a nice insurance policy against that.