Is pre ordering is a terrible idea?

[BiscuitTrouser]

No other industry would ask you to spend money on a promise of a product you have never seen.

>CD's, DVD's, Blu-Ray's, movie tickets

Well there went that argument.

As for saying 'it's suuuuuch a risk,' so is buying a title period. You never know if the reviewer had it right for YOU.

I see no harm in pre-ordering. Anyone who can't just watch footage of a game and read some previews to see if they're interested before putting down FIVE WHOLE DOLLARS is being moronic.

And as I said earlier, I like to secure titles I hold an interest in.

Please keep up with the thread, ive already addressed that point like three times. Just read above. In fact ill CP it. All of your examples are wrong because in those examples i can get HUGE consensus on if its good or bad and who it appeals to, not just bias reviews or advertising. Pre ordering doesnt do that.

 

[DigitalAtlas]

No other industry would ask you to spend money on a promise of a product you have never seen.

>CD's, DVD's, Blu-Ray's, movie tickets

Well there went that argument.

As for saying 'it's suuuuuch a risk,' so is buying a title period. You never know if the reviewer had it right for YOU.

I see no harm in pre-ordering. Anyone who can't just watch footage of a game and read some previews to see if they're interested before putting down FIVE WHOLE DOLLARS is being moronic.

And as I said earlier, I like to secure titles I hold an interest in.

Please keep up with the thread, ive already addressed that point like three times. Just read above. In fact ill CP it. All of your examples are wrong because in those examples i can get HUGE consensus on if its good or bad and who it appeals to, not just bias reviews or advertising. Pre ordering doesnt do that.

....So, you've never bought an album to a new band only pretty much hearing a single on the radio only to be extremely disappointed? You've never watched a trailer to a movie, thought it looked great and, again, were extremely disappointed? You can pre-order all of those things.

Again, footage and previews should be more than enough to tell if you'll like a game. I could tell Last Remnant had oodles of slow down from the recorded footage. I didn't pre-order that. I didn't feel lied to. I found it myself.

 

[NightHawk21]

Honestly with the current model of game sales there is no reason not to preorder if you know you're getting that game at launch. You get a copy reserved for you so you don't have to get there at 8am to make sure its not sold out, and you get a little something extra. A first week/month purchase will more often than not cost the same amount and you miss out on that little extra. Basically if you know you're definitely getting the game before its price is likely to drop you get a better deal by preordering.

 

[C2Ultima]

The only reason I pre-order games is so that I can just have Amazon deliver the game for me on the release date. Sure it's a bit extra, but I think it's worth it.

Additionally, I don't buy games without being completely sure about them, much less pre-order.

 

[BiscuitTrouser]

....So, you've never bought an album to a new band only pretty much hearing a single on the radio only to be extremely disappointed? You've never watched a trailer to a movie, thought it looked great and, again, were extremely disappointed? You can pre-order all of those things.

Again, footage and previews should be more than enough to tell if you'll like a game. I could tell Last Remnant had oodles of slow down from the recorded footage. I didn't pre-order that. I didn't feel lied to. I found it myself.

To the first one. Previously i have. I like to think i learn from my mistakes though. Thus the conclusion i reached at the start of this thread. Recently ive stopped doing that. I give everything a listen and i ask around before i spend my money on things. I dont have a lot of money spare so its important i dont end up wasting it.

They should be. But mass effect 3 seemed to dispell THAT particular belief didnt it?

 

[DigitalAtlas]

Additionally, I don't buy games without being completely sure about them, much less pre-order.

I wouldn't say 100% sure, but pretty much same here. I don't see what's so difficult about being "sure" if you want to own something. If it interests you and you have the cash, pick it up.

To the first one. Previously i have. I like to think i learn from my mistakes though. Thus the conclusion i reached at the start of this thread. Recently ive stopped doing that. I give everything a listen and i ask around before i spend my money on things. I dont have a lot of money spare so its important i dont end up wasting it.

They should be. But mass effect 3 seemed to dispell THAT particular belief didnt it?

No, ME3 really didn't and now I have no further intent to debate with you. You're just butt-hurt you pre-ordered the game (probably collector's edition) and didn't like the ending when I can guarantee you enjoyed it right up until then. Why else would you invest so much time in it to even get to the ending?

 

[BiscuitTrouser]

No, ME3 really didn't and now I have no further intent to debate with you. You're just butt-hurt you pre-ordered the game (probably collector's edition) and didn't like the ending when I can guarantee you enjoyed it right up until then. Why else would you invest so much time in it to even get to the ending?

Don't care if I just double posted. Give the user I quote a notification when I edit in his quote if you want me to try real, real hard not to double post.

I dont own mass effect 3...

Im just commenting on the hilariously huge backlash from the community. I felt so sorry for them i decided never to preorder. I dont know the ending to ME3. I didnt invest any time. I didnt enjoy a second of it. I dont. Own. The. Game.

The amount of outrage made me consider that pre ordering can lead to immense but hurtedness as you described.

Im sure you feel a little silly being so presumptuous.

 

[DigitalAtlas]

No, ME3 really didn't and now I have no further intent to debate with you. You're just butt-hurt you pre-ordered the game (probably collector's edition) and didn't like the ending when I can guarantee you enjoyed it right up until then. Why else would you invest so much time in it to even get to the ending?

Don't care if I just double posted. Give the user I quote a notification when I edit in his quote if you want me to try real, real hard not to double post.

I dont own mass effect 3...

Im just commenting on the hilariously huge backlash from the community. I felt so sorry for them i decided never to preorder. I dont know the ending to ME3. I didnt invest any time. I didnt enjoy a second of it. I dont. Own. The. Game.

The amount of outrage made me consider that pre ordering can lead to immense but hurtedness as you described.

Newsflash: That's a risk you take when buying any game, watch any movie, listen to any band, or view any TV show. You may just not like it. You may even invest a lot of time with it and it turns to the crapper. But that's the gamble with media. That's the risk we should each enjoy taking because, with that risk, when you find quality, you remember it forever and cherish it.

As far as pre-ordering goes, people just took that risk. They invested in something they had an interest in to guarantee ownership. It just didn't work out for them and that's a shame.

Also, if you didn't play ME3, you shouldn't use it as an example, you may like the ending and not know it...

Im sure you feel a little silly being so presumptuous.

Nah, I like to assume people have played a game before using it as a defensive point instead of just blindly pointing at it without knowing what's inside the box. Gives me some faith in human intelligence.

As far as my reputation around here speaks, people can tell you I really don't give a s***.

 

[AbsoluteVirtue18]

I only pre-order games I know will be good. Granted, I've only pre-ordered one game (Dissidia 012) but I plan on pre-ordering Lollipop Chainsaw, Resident Evil 6 and Fall of Cybertron, mainly because the months they come out on I need the money for other things, but also because I'm confident that they will be good games.

 

[NightHawk21]

Allow me to point out some flaws:

You might as well be purchasing a "mystery box" from a stranger on the basis that his last mystery box contained something good.

Unless you're very stupid, I don't see why you would preorder a game you know nothing about. Preordering exists so you can secure a copy of a game you know you want well in advance. So unless you're very dumb, a mystery box shouldn't have anything to do with it.

Ill concede the box metaphor was not the strongest. However i pointed out earlier in the thread that unlike every other industry (other than film/books) you cant possible see the entire product before you get it since the surprise factor is a feature. Also it isnt released yet. So lets stick with the box. But say youre allowed a peak. At a bit or two. Then you can buy. I personally would rather have people look in the box before me and go "yeah theres a lot of good stuff in here, go for it" before i buy the box.

I don't know what you're referring to at the beginning with that industry stuff, but lets stick to the box example.

So say this stranger has his box, and he shows it to you're friends, and hell he give you the same peak he did them. You also know roughly what kind of items the rest of the box contains, because this box is BOXv2, a continuation of BOXv1 you purchased a year ago. He says he's going to sell it tomorrow but they may purchase it today and only pick it up tomorrow (all you and your friends have to go off is the little bits he shown you), and if you do this he'll throw in a custom box colour. Now if your friends are very certain they are going to buy the box (whether due to curiosity as to the rest of the contents of the box, or maybe they just really want the stuff they've been shown), it would be in their best interest to preorder since they get the extra box colour.

Now if you don't want to preorder or buy right away for whatever reason, and would rather let your friends buy, try out the product, and tell you what the rest of the items are you are perfectly justified to do that. Hell you might even save a little bit of money. The question really is whether you are confident enough in the product to know you're likely to purchase it anyways, and are willing to pay the money to get the product first, or whether you're still uncertain and will only get the product once you know the whole story, or once the price drops.

Now I really don't like the box metaphor, it feels weak, but preorders are essentially not terrible because:
1) It lets the publisher a rough idea as to the sales.
2) It gives the store a rough idea about how many products to stack.
3) It gives the consumer a little something extra for ^.

 

[Xannidel]

I am a fan of pre ordering because I find it a nice way to contribute to the company that makes games that you enjoy playing regardless of reviewers or opinions from other people. I know it may be easier to wait a day or two after the release of a game and hop down to a store to buy your own copy of the game but some people like ordering a game.

 

[BiscuitTrouser]

Nah, I like to assume people have played a game before using it as a defense point instead of just blindly pointing at it without knowing what's inside the box. Gives me some faith in human intelligence.

Im not using the game as a defence point. Im using the reaction to the game as a defence point. There really isnt a need to be so insulting. People thought the trailer told them all they needed to know. And it didnt. Its pure observation. And many were angry. But if they hadnt of pre ordered this wouldnt have been the case. Again im using observation. Im not "blindly" pointing. Im observing a few things and drawing a conclusion.

The points you stated above were actually very good.

"That's the risk we should each enjoy taking because, with that risk, when you find quality, you remember it forever and cherish it." -

this particularly struck a chord with me. This is still something i can enjoy. But i feel pre ordering just makes the risk too risky. When games are this expensive and im this strapped for cash the reality of what a big leap of faith the publisher is asking you to take seems clearer.

 

[Yopaz]

Honestly when it comes to pre-orders I'm kinda stupid. I'll admit it, I've bought a lot of games that I've hated, but I've also bought a few games that I love that have shortly after become a real pain to get their hands on. Seriously I thought I didn't need to pre-order Tales of The Abyss. I have never been more wrong about anything in my entire life. That game was almost impossible to get my hands on, but holy mother of Jesus it was worth the wait. I just wish I wouldn't have had to wait...

 

[Something Amyss]

It doesnt apply a strong enough pressure to publishers who dissapoint their fans. Why SHOULD they make the third installment in any series good? At all? Pre order revinue will give them nice earnings no matter what the quality is.

And if a company wants to stop making games after that third one, it's all well and good. But if they ever want to make another game, there will be issues.

 

[Tuesday Night Fever]

I used to pre-order almost every game I got. Now I only really pre-order games that I have to play, regardless of reviews. Yes, I pre-ordered Mass Effect 3 - because I'd already played the first two, and regardless of whether or not the game was good or bad, I wanted to see what the end of the story would be. Was I disappointed? Sure... but the point is that I was planning on buying the game day-1 anyway. I'll be doing the same thing when the next segment of StarCraft 2 comes out.

For other games though... I don't generally pre-order for one of two reasons. The first is that I like to wait until gameplay videos are available and reviewers have gotten their hands on the game. That usually gives me a few days' window of opportunity where if the game looks good I can still pre-order and get any bonuses. The second reason is that I find game prices drop pretty significantly much faster than they used to. If a game is coming out that I want, but don't have to have right this second, then all I have to do is be patient for a month or two and then pick up the game at half-price.

I absolutely won't pre-order if there's no bonus, though. Stores around here generally stock enough copies of new releases that there's no real point to reserving a copy. All it does is add an extra step during checkout, which is usually going to be made needlessly complicated because Best Buy cashiers in my area seem to frequently be confused by how pre-orders work.

Captcha: Buy A Toyota.

I'll take it as a compliment that Captcha thinks I have the money to do that on a whim.

 

[DigitalAtlas]

Im not using the game as a defence point. Im using the reaction to the game as a defence point. There really isnt a need to be so insulting. People thought the trailer told them all they needed to know. And it didnt. Its pure observation. And many were angry. But if they hadnt of pre ordered this wouldnt have been the case. Again im using observation. Im not "blindly" pointing. Im observing a few things and drawing a conclusion.

The points you stated above were actually very good.

"That's the risk we should each enjoy taking because, with that risk, when you find quality, you remember it forever and cherish it." -

this particularly struck a chord with me. This is still something i can enjoy. But i feel pre ordering just makes the risk too risky. When games are this expensive and im this strapped for cash the reality of what a big leap of faith the publisher is asking you to take seems clearer.

As far as me being condescending goes, I'm only insulting when I feel insulted. Seeing as you edited in how silly I must feel, I took it as offensive. My apologies. As my mother always said, don't poke the tiger if you don't want to get bit.

Still, fans would've bought ME3 no matter what, on day one. It really isn't something to change a way of thinking over. Did they get burnt this time? They certainly feel they did (they didn't, do worry; they're just new to video games or are at least acting like it). The pre-order didn't lock them into the purchase. Every pre-order can be canceled with a phone call or even a mouse click. Saying we should wait weeks and weeks for one rich person to buy the game and describe if it ends well is honestly ridiculous. I know you're about to tell me that's not what you meant, but that's basically what's been implied as you feel people who bought and played ME3 didn't know the ending "sucked" (again, it was just incredibly average) shouldn't have bought it on day one. They wanted the game. They bought it. The only way to know if you're going to be fully satisfied with a product is go ahead and go all the way till the end.

Thank you, I've thought about those a lot with the recent entitlement debates around.

As for the risk, then you don't need to, that's the beauty. If you're strapped and don't want to take the risk, you caaaaan wait. It's purely subjective and has a lot to do with a person's spending limits. As for games being expensive, you should've seen it back in the Genesis days. Games have actually gotten cheaper, believe it or not. Back to the risk, it's for people who want to. I don't like gambling, thus I don't go to casinos. However, some people like the possibility of a pay off and risk everything for that new found excitement and love received due to a victory.

 

[Vrach]

I pre-order for the bonuses. You can get as much information out of beta testers as you can out of reviews and such. Every time you buy a product/pay to see a movie or anything such, you're going in there blind. You can get informed by external sources, but that doesn't mean you know anything about the product yourself, just that you trust those sources on what they're telling you, in which case you can get the same quality of information out of beta tests, marketing, watching gameplay videos and such (hell, some games will let you beta test and see for yourself if you want to pre-order).

No, it's not stupid. It's designed for people who KNOW they're gonna get a game even before it's out. They can know that based on several things and if they know what they're doing, they're not really at a big disadvantage against people who buy things on release day or later, unless you're the kinda person who waits until someone else gets a product, check it out for yourself at their place, then buys it.

For example, I can tell you I preordered Battlefield 3. I knew it'd be a game I'd buy and one I'd buy on release day. I've gotten to play it in an open beta, but even based on history/videos I could pre-order and know it's not a bad decision, because it's just the kind of game that would have to do a lot to disappoint me to the point of me regretting buying it.

Same for TOR. Now, to be fair, I'm not as pleased with TOR as with some other games, but I also don't regret pre-ordering/buying it. I wanted to play it and enjoyed it for a good while. It's not exactly the MMO I'd want to keep a sub active for, but as a purchase, it's not something I regret (something I wish I could say for my stupid decision to buy a 6 month sub right away that's now gathering dust)

 

[Something Amyss]

"That's the risk we should each enjoy taking because, with that risk, when you find quality, you remember it forever and cherish it." -

Glad you quoted that, because I didn't see it before. It's actually kind of interesting. I'm a roleplaying gamer. Tabletop as well as electronic. When I run games, I notice people tend to remember their massive successes more than their failures. for the D&D example, people always remember when they rolled a "nat 20," but not when they roll a 1. Even though there's an equal chance of rolling a natural 1, a natural 20, or really any other number (assuming an even die, which is somewhat unrealistic).

This may be a bad thing, because people tend to remember when they were rewarded for their purchases more than when they were not.

However, it certainly explains why people do it.

I do pre-order on occasion. I admit it. But most of the time, no.

 

[Rumpsteak]

A terrible idea, no. An outdated and mostly unnecessary concept, yeah probably. The days of stores running out of copies of the game you wanted are almost entirely gone so the need to pre-order from a consumer view point is no longer there. For publishers and developers however pre-orders can be a big deal. So its not a terrible idea its just a redundant one.

 

[Sonic Doctor]

Snip

Nope, it's only a bad idea if you are the type of person that gets mad about the small stuff.

In the last three years, I believe I've pre-ordered 9 games. I've found none of them to be straight up bad. The closest I've come to is one of that was pretty "meh", but that's it.

I'll list one I can remember off the top of my head:

Halo 3: ODST--Awesome
Star Wars: The Force Unleashed 2(Collectors)--Meh
Castlevania: Lords of Shadow(Collectors)--Awesome
Fable 3(Collectors)--Awesome
Halo Reach--Awesome
Dragon Age 2(Limited Ed.)--Awesome
Pokemon White--Awesome
Halo Anniversary--Awesome
Mass Effect 3(Collectors)--Awesome

Some of them have their small problems, but they don't detract from how awesome I felt playing them.

I think some people really overreact with how they look at games. I've heard a few people that said that the ME3 collector's edition was crap for having to pay 20 extra dollars. I find that downright insane. Considering what was in it physical and DLC wise, would have cost them at least 40 to 50 dollars more if they had purchased it separate.

As I've said before with how people complain about collector's editions: I bed if a collector's edition came with a bar of gold that was worth thousands of dollars and they only paid 80 for it, they would say that it is crap because the bar they got wasn't shiny enough.