New Service Allows You to Trade Games Over the Internet

Greg Tito

PR for Dungeons & Dragons
Sep 29, 2005
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New Service Allows You to Trade Games Over the Internet



The new web service, GameforaGame.com, allows you to connect with fellow gamers and trade old or new titles with them.

Say you just bought a new game last month, like say Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II, but you played the crap out of it and you're itching for something else. For some ridiculous reason, you never played Fallout 3 but you didn't feel like dropping any cash on a three year old game. None of your friends has Fallout 3, and if they did they don't want to part with it, so you're stuck. Enter Game for a Game [http://www.gameforagame.com/]. The web service based in Wilmington, NC, allows you to connect with other gamers, and exchange games with them. You meet up locally, or exchange addresses and mail the games to each other. It's a great way to extend your gaming dollar without giving money to GameStop. And hey, maybe you'll meet a friend or two along the way.

"Who's to say a game I've had for six months isn't as valuable to someone who just finished a new release?" asked GameForAGame.com co-founder Geoff Gohs. "If you haven't yet played a game that came out last year, it could be worth the trade for a new title. We leave the value of the games up to the gamers, just as it should be."

Ordinarily, GameForAGame.com will charge a $20/year membership fee for unlimited use of its trading database, but if you sign up now, the first year is free.

There are quite a few checks and balances on people acting like douches. First, you can only trade one game a week to start out to avoid scammers. If you get two negative reports from people who think you stiffed them, you're off the site for good.

The website is still in beta, and there are quite a few kinks to iron out. For example, there doesn't appear to be any way to actually trade with members. You can search for games and see what members own, but there is no email or PM button that I can see. So GameForAGame.com [http://www.gameforagame.com/] is not exactly working as intended, but I have to applaud Gohs for coming up with a novel way to trade games amongst gamers.

What do you think? Would you use a service like this to trade games?

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DiMono

New member
Mar 18, 2010
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I fully support this product and/or service.

Seriously though, video games have shelf lives. Many games don't have any replay value, so it makes a whole lot of sense to trade those games to people who haven't played them, but who have another game with no replay value that they can trade you for it. I don't know a single person who never did this in real life when I was a kid, so this is really just taking an established practice to a new medium.
 

Olorune

New member
Jan 16, 2009
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Did people already forget about SwitchGames?!? It's still active and useful.
 

8-Bit Grin

New member
Apr 20, 2010
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This is a fabulous idea, and needs to have the kinks worked out PRONTO.

Trading games for other games sounds light years better than trading games for a meager amount of store credit at Gamestop.
 

deth2munkies

New member
Jan 28, 2009
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The site asploded the moment I tried to do anything, but it's a cool concept.

Site is completely buggy and unusable atm, give it time, Escapist found it when it was VERY new.
 

Anton P. Nym

New member
Sep 18, 2007
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Greg Tito said:
What do you think? Would you use a service like this to trade games?
Nope. I buy games with the intent of keeping them. If I don't, it's because the game sucks isn't one I enjoy... and I would rather trade those in for store credit.

-- Steve
 

Z of the Na'vi

Born with one kidney.
Apr 27, 2009
5,034
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The internet does know that Goozex has been around for a very long time, right? I mean, I've never had a problem with using it, but it isn't really a new prospect at this day and age, you know.
 

Eagle Est1986

That One Guy
Nov 21, 2007
1,976
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Jesus fucking Christ! I was honestly thinking of setting up something scarily similar a couple of months back, for some reason I gave up on the idea, assuming it'd already been done.
Mine might have been slightly different though, both members post their game to me and they won't get their trade posted to them until I receive the one they were supposed to send. Meeting up would work pretty well too though.