The Gamer's Quarter

Ryan - SuperWes' Bane

Seriously, I never hear of this happening in any other country. I know that we perhaps have a slightly larger pool of morons in the USA, but why do people fight over little stuff like this? How is it worth it? I've never heard of people getting in fights in Japan over the PS2 release, or in the UK, or across the world ... so why only the US? Does poverty have something to do with this? Or the parents trying too hard to want to make their kids happy? Or perhaps it has something to do with the fact that nobody else really has "Black Friday" where there are sales all over the country.

Well . . . opinions?

DonMarco · . Joined: 02 Mar 2005 Posts: 349 Location: 33903

I tell people to try Sears, Circuit City, Best Buy, Toys 'R US... Today the local Toys R' Us got 20 360 harddrives in. I was happy for them.

My EB Games is like 200m from a Wal-Mart Super Center. Odds are they CAME from Wal-Mart to us. Not the other way around.
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Collector of over 1,538 strategy guides. That's weird, right?

ApM · Posted: Fri Nov 25, 2005 6:39 pm Post subject:

Shopping for videogames at Toys R Us is fucking creepy. They never get rid of anything, ever. You can walk into my local Toys R Us and buy a new-in-box shrinkwrapped shitty N64 sports game from 1997, for $30.

For a while, they had like 6 copies of Skullmonkeyz for PSX, at $50 a pop. Finally they put them on clearance and they sold out before I was aware of it.

Today is Buy Nothing Day. I accidentally bought a chocolate bar. I'm sorry, Buy Nothing Day.

player 2 · . Joined: 10 Jul 2005 Posts: 585 Location: Madison, WI USA

I saw a copy of Marvel vs Capcom 2 for the XBox at EBgames today. It was $50. I decided not to buy it. My ass thanked me for not letting it get raped.
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SuperWes · Posted: Sat Nov 26, 2005 4:04 am Post subject:

I bought Zuma today for 800 Microsoft Points! It's really good. Playing it with an Analog controller is really the way to go.

I also bought a bookshelf, a filing cabinet, some pants, and a few sweatshirts. Oh! And the S-Video cables for the Xbox 360. They're convenient for when component won't work, but you want something better than the standard.

Best Buy right now has these promotional Xbox 360 DVDs sitting around. They're probably a waste to watch, but they come with mad coupons. $10 off any game $29.99 or over, $10 off any accessory $29.99 or over, etc. I picked up 4. Now I just might be able to afford Animal Crossing in a few weeks!

So yeah, do people in other parts of the world get in fights over the must-have toys? I'm SURE of it. Didn't you see the news story about someone in Japan getting jacked for their new PSP? The same thing happened here with the 360, but it happened in Japan too is all I'm saying.

-Wes
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dhex · Posted: Sat Nov 26, 2005 5:37 am Post subject:

i can't really see the poverty xbox 360 connection.
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friedchicken · . Joined: 16 Mar 2005 Posts: 496 Location: Port Land, OR

And besides, the Black Friday toy/game fightin' frenzy is nothing all that new. Twenty years ago, the parents of the people pummeling the shit out of each other now over the 360 were gut-punching each other to score the last Cabbage Patch Kid.

It's a Great American Tradition, like Norman Rockwell, and Apple Pie, and Baseball. That kind of thing.

Seriously though, I had trouble getting from my work to the gas station yesterday because there's a big ole Best Buy in the way. So there, I admit, I bought gas on Buy Nothing Day. And I accidentally ordered my wife's new iPod, when I could have waited until today. And I got a bag of seed for my bird. But that's modest compared to the pair of 500-pound people in a pickup with two enormous TV's in the bed who almost ran me off the road last night on the way home.

EDIT: OH! And as far as other countries go, we Americans have a very modest tradition of post-soccer game multiple murders. But really, if you're going to really fuck someone up, does it make that much difference if it's over comsumer goods or a soccer game?

Ryan - SuperWes' Bane · Posted: Sat Nov 26, 2005 7:17 am Post subject:

I guess fighting over an Xbox 360 is better than fighting over one of those stupid Furby dolls a few year back . . . talk about crap . . . and I was at a Business meeting all day on Friday, so no buying for me either . . . that and I was in Japan. And for the Poverty-Xbox connection, I was thinking that when people are poor they tend to fight over stuff. Thus if this was that one thing they got their kids, they'd make sure they got it . . . or something like that. Meh .... whatever.

dessgeega · Posted: Sat Nov 26, 2005 8:07 am Post subject:

Dracko · . Joined: 10 Oct 2005 Posts: 2613

friedchicken · . Joined: 16 Mar 2005 Posts: 496 Location: Port Land, OR

simplicio · . Joined: 03 May 2005 Posts: 1091

friedchicken · . Joined: 16 Mar 2005 Posts: 496 Location: Port Land, OR

dhex · Posted: Sat Nov 26, 2005 1:51 pm Post subject:

i made a plant hanger on buy nothing day.

ryan: i'm going to rya you if you keep this shit up.

poverty precludes xboxes. end of story.
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Tablesaw · . Joined: 29 Jun 2005 Posts: 303 Location: LACAUSA

I don't believe in Buy Nothing Day.

There's only one day every year when I can shop in retail stores between 5 and 8 a.m. And it just so happens that it's a day when said retail stores put together big sales. So, damnit, I go, and I buy $5 DVDs, and I start putting together my Christmas-gift slates.

And everyone I saw appeared to be solidly middle class. Yes, at Walmart too.
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Ryan - SuperWes' Bane · Posted: Sun Nov 27, 2005 5:40 am Post subject:

I saw an Xbox 360 today at Joshin in downtown Hamamatsu . . . wasn't too impressed. And geez, really sorry my IQ isn't as high as all yours, and that I don't get off belittling others. Really hope I make your day whenever I say something!

Dracko · . Joined: 10 Oct 2005 Posts: 2613

Christ, not only do you remain completely oblivious when confronted with your idiocy, but you actually go the extra mark and bloody advertise it as a response.

This is not a matter of entertainment, far from it. This is a matter of you attempting some kind of poor social commentary as well as belittling a games console without giving not one good reason why it's going to fluke, save the predominant "micro$oft $uxxx" attitude pre-pubescent fanboys have adopted, and making yourself as a complete fool because of it.

Let me take you by the hand: Assuming that poor people are more prone to acts of violence is stupid, baseless for the most part, and a pretty damn offensive statement, and it makes you look like a well-to-do teenage middle class WASP asshole cardboard cut-out, at best.
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"This is the most fun I've ever had without being drenched in the blood of my enemies!"

dhex · Posted: Sun Nov 27, 2005 9:01 am Post subject:

i just don't understand how any amount of money off on something could be worth dealing with those large crowds. especially when there's so many deals to be had on teh interweb. maybe i'm just claustrophobic, or a shopping sissy. whatever it is, i have not the stones to wait in line for hours, surrounded by people who are very anxious. besides, i do all my mithras shopping come august or september anyway.

SuperWes · Posted: Sun Nov 27, 2005 9:37 am Post subject:

How many of these threads do we need? I'm not defending Ryan, but I do think everyone is going about this the wrong way. Poverty could have something to do with this because logically poverty-stricken people would be the most likely to be interested in saving money.

That makes sense, no?

So Ryan's statement wasn't totally off-base. But everyone jumped on him and attacked him because we're just a bit too liberal around here and we can't stand people potentially offending race, class, gender, etc. It's ok to be offended, but really I'm only interested in knowing that you're offended if you're willing to take the time to explain why you're offended, which nobody did until he finally responded.

But Ryan, you've got to learn that the best way to handle these things is to just ignore them. When you defend yourself you're just digging a deeper hole and I can only throw you so much rope.

I don't want to have to lock another topic so lets ignore this from here on out.

-Wes
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Dracko · . Joined: 10 Oct 2005 Posts: 2613

dhex · Posted: Sun Nov 27, 2005 10:06 am Post subject:

i understand wes is in a delicate position here.
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sawtooth · . Joined: 02 Nov 2005 Posts: 419

Best Buy was selling digital cameras with something like a 120 dollar discount morning after thanksgiving. the doors opened at 5 AM, people had been lining up since 2 AM. My sister tried to get one and failed. Buy Nothing Day is wishful thinking at best, but situations like that makes me think that it's a nice thought and it's the thought that counts at least.

edit: this place needs a "vacuous" smiley.

dhex · Posted: Sun Nov 27, 2005 1:19 pm Post subject:

it's just so very . . .
. . .
. . .
. . .
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Ryan - SuperWes' Bane · Posted: Sun Nov 27, 2005 11:22 pm Post subject:

I realize that I'm getting better and better with each topic! While this one wasn't half as bad as the first one I made, I can assure you that the next topic I make is going to only be half as offensive as this one!

And about making generalizations . . . how do you know my family wasn't poor? Let's all stop being hippocritical (sp?) and instead of attacking me USE facts and PROOF that my statements are false. I'd rather be prooved wrong instead of all my statements being made null and void cause YOU SAID SO. Come on guys ... give me just a LITTLE bit of love, k? I haven't attacked anybody once!

Yet Wink

dark steve · . Joined: 17 Jun 2005 Posts: 1110

Actually I think you've done it two or three times by now.

For clarification, do you want us to prove poor people don't desperately fight each other over material goods, or that people who buy xboxes aren't sexual inverts?

ARE YOU STARTING TO SEE HOW THE THINGS YOU POST HERE SOUND TO EVERYBODY?

Ryan - SuperWes' Bane · Posted: Mon Nov 28, 2005 12:29 am Post subject:

No, I don't see how I'm sounding to everybody. I'd actually like to hear everybody's opinion instead of being told "You're a fucking moron" each time I open my mouth. I don't see where you got the whole sexual invert thing, or the poor thing in the first place. I never made the direct comment that Xbox's cause poor people to fight, but was merely stating that in jest. Why were all the other points completely looked over?

I asked "Why does it only seem to happen in the US". Somebody replied "Well, it happens in Japan too, and in the UK." Thus my curiousity was satisified.

I asked "How is it worth it?" - sample answer here could have been "bah, it's not worth it.

I then asked "does poverty have something to do with it?" - and somebody could have said, "No, I don't think so because _____". Instead I get "You fucking twat go die and burn in hell for being different from us"

And I also asked "Are parents doing this to make their kids happy?" - which then somebody could have said "Nah, I don't think it's all parents doing this. Maybe some losers that put too much emphasis on video games". And yes, if you're willing to stab somebody to get an Xbox, YOU'RE A FUCKING LOSER.

And then to top it off I talked about the Black Friday phenomenon. If you ask me. This was a decent thread, that just got blown way out of proportion by a few hate mongers that hate to see somebody ACTUALLY disagree with their beliefs. Truth is, people are different in this world . . . we have different opinions, and I'd like to hear those different opinions without being led to execution every single time!

Thanks for the first few posters that kept this thread where it was supposed to be, on topic.

sawtooth · . Joined: 02 Nov 2005 Posts: 419

By asking if poverty might have had something to do with it, you implied that poverty had everything to do with it. That's the way the language works, fella, and damn if you weren't thinking it (accusing you of thoughtcrime oh no)

And then you outright stated that you think that being poor might make people fight over stuff. You made no indication that this was a joke, and your posting record sure doesn't indicate that it was. This does not make you a minority, or oppressed from "being different," it makes you WRONG. As in Bizarro right.

And backpedaling is a poor substitute for admitting you're wrong and chalking it up to a learning experience.

dark steve · . Joined: 17 Jun 2005 Posts: 1110

I wonder if Black Friday is an accurate simulation of shopping under communism?

sawtooth · . Joined: 02 Nov 2005 Posts: 419

I like to think that communists have better crowd control.

It's certainly an interesting thought. According to someone I know who was in Russia a few years ago and many years ago, grocery shopping in Russia is an awful lot like grocery shopping in Russia, circa 1982. Long lines and lettuce behind glass cases, either way.

Dracko · . Joined: 10 Oct 2005 Posts: 2613

dessgeega · Posted: Mon Nov 28, 2005 4:17 am Post subject:

dhex · Posted: Mon Nov 28, 2005 7:37 am Post subject:

at least until 1952, officially.
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SuperWes · Posted: Mon Nov 28, 2005 10:08 am Post subject:

Actually, I'm pretty sure in my friend's situation you've got the right to get in a fight over the Xbox 360. He waited for 14 hours in front of an Arizona Target store to get his system, then when morning rolled around they handed out line tickets. He left to go to the bathroom and get some breakfast and when he got back they had opened up the line and sold his system.

You can read the blog here.

-Wes
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sawtooth · . Joined: 02 Nov 2005 Posts: 419

Lackey · . Joined: 11 Jul 2005 Posts: 1107 Location: Canada

dessgeega · Posted: Mon Nov 28, 2005 10:44 am Post subject:

sawtooth · . Joined: 02 Nov 2005 Posts: 419

because... true communism can only exist without borders?

dessgeega · Posted: Mon Nov 28, 2005 12:06 pm Post subject:

because true communism can't exist in state form.
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dhex · Posted: Mon Nov 28, 2005 2:45 pm Post subject:

wes: your guy's being a bit dramatic, isn't he? i mean, yeah, it sucks, but this is launch day stuff. you snooze, you lose.

lackey: they stopped calling themselves bolsheviks in 51 or 52. i cannot remember which. a true communist state? depends on who you ask. modern communists will point to the lack of withering away and say that maoism - leninism - stalinism nor castro et al were actually communist, and that next time it will be done correctly; modern anti-communists will say they're all variations on collectivism and the failures of those states are a macrocosmic example of why it don't work at all.

dess: well, not once it "flourishes."

there's that whole "what ya gonna do with the lumpenproletariat" thing which prefigures the expansion into utopia and beyond. of course, no one ever gets past the lumpenproletariat thing (i.e. mass murder) except on a small scale. bakunin basically nailed it, even if he was a bitter anti-semetic douchebag whose opposition to communism was, in part, an opposition to marx's authoritarian, holier than thou personality.

everyone: speaking of which, did you know there was an anarchist commune on long island called "modern times?" lasted about 20 years or so, which is about how long these things tend to last, if the kibbutz model is any indication or american religious communities in ohio, upstate new york, etc. or anything lysander spooner and benjamin tucker were involved in. the kibbutzs all went in weird directions anyway; some raised children communally, which seemed to have had a minor dampening effect on adult sex drives according to two different socio surveys i read.

no one: i've also heard some of them make really nice knitted stuff. or operate somewhat ambiguous hostels.
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SuperWes · Posted: Mon Nov 28, 2005 2:53 pm Post subject:

dhex · Posted: Mon Nov 28, 2005 4:59 pm Post subject:

well, the whole thing is pretty silly, but i would have brought myself a meal and a chamberpot and let the chips fall where they may.
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Dracko · . Joined: 10 Oct 2005 Posts: 2613

Ryan - SuperWes' Bane · Posted: Tue Nov 29, 2005 6:27 am Post subject:

friedchicken · . Joined: 16 Mar 2005 Posts: 496 Location: Port Land, OR

SuperWes · Posted: Tue Nov 29, 2005 8:49 am Post subject:

dhex · Posted: Tue Nov 29, 2005 9:44 am Post subject:

so your friend is bitching about target not helping him make a profit on product they're selling him?

that's like feeling sad for scalpers who lose their place in line.

edit: i'm trying to be kind here. forgive me. i have not the words.
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SuperWes · Posted: Tue Nov 29, 2005 10:14 am Post subject:

Well when you put it like that!

Yeah, it really doesn't matter in the end, but my original plan before I got lucky through a CircuitCity.com pre-order was to camp out all night in front of Best Buy. When I start thinking about how much that would suck I have to consider how I would feel if I did that and ended up not getting one. Then it hits me that it sucks to be Alon.

-Wes
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Shapermc · Hot Sake! Joined: 14 Oct 2004 Posts: 6279

I waited for one concert once that I knew was going to sell out on the only day that I could attend. I got there about 8 hours early (tickets went on sale at 5pm). About 1 hour before they opened sales they said "only people currently in line will be considered for tickets." That seemed strange, but I was at the front of about 30 or 40 people so I had no worries.

About a half hour later they started handing out tickets. Curious.

Then another half hour after that when tickets went on sale they said that there will only be 10 ticktes available for sale from this ticket master location. Then they drew from a lottery. I did not get the tickets as you can imagine. Most lottery numbers were picked from the back of line. Some people only got there right as the line was cut off and got ticktets. Not one of the first ten people in line got a ticket.

That was when I started to hate Ticket Master. This is why I will never involve myself in a waiting lottery type system.

friedchicken · . Joined: 16 Mar 2005 Posts: 496 Location: Port Land, OR

I think when I preorder my PS3 (if I decide to), I'll just place the order online somewhere and get it sent to my house-- all the while hoping for the best. That's what I did for my wife's iPod Nano. It's too much of a pain in the ass to wait in line, what with the hand to hand combat over places in line and all.

And yeah, I have no sympathy for resellers/scalpers either.

SuperWes · Posted: Tue Nov 29, 2005 1:31 pm Post subject:

If Microsoft fails to provide enough systems to meet demand don't they deserve to lose out on sales to scalpers/resellers?

-Wes
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