Although a bit too draconian for my tastes, as a Gamestop manager I can tell you there have been several times I've wished for something along these lines so I wouldn't have to argue with the thieves and addicts that sometimes try to pawn off stolen goods at my store why I wouldn't take their games without a proof of purchase/receipt.
Sell Your Used Games, Get Thumbprinted
- Thread starter Andy Chalk
- Start date
You know that'd be a good idea in itself, as you might think twice when you see you paid $60 for the game that the Gamestop guy is offering you $3 trade in for.Onyx Oblivion said:
As for thumbprints, why not do what some stores here do, in the UK, if you want to buy, fine, if you want to sell goods to them, you need to set up and account using ID.
This not only lets em track stolen goods, but lets em come back to you if you sell them broken stuff, I imagine.
No need to treat people like criminals with thumbprints etc that way, just a simple member card.
That's very common in multiple states which is probably why this got put into action. Theft of easily resold items is up there in the common crimes in the US because it requires less criminal activities as a whole, the less crimes you have to break in a row the less likely you are to get caught.Onyx Oblivion said:
That's mostly just stigma. There are hundreds of thousands of people in the US with their finger prints on record that were not taken for possible criminal intent.SenseOfTumour said:
Unfortunately they WERE taken in case the people end up dead and need to be quickly identified. So sure its not that they'll commit a crime but its like taking that coin down into a mine, its a bummer when you remember what it is for.
I think the Game store manager was saying that for the humor value. Possible also to seem like less of a bad guy in the face of upset customers. I don't think a buisness owner seriously expects a police officer to draw his weapon to enforce a video game law, not even in Florida.Khell_Sennet said:
After having dozens of games stolen during a prior break-in, I see no issues with instituting policies that will make it difficult for people to sell my stuff off for fun and profit.
Since we're the ones who give Big Brother his money, doesn't that mean that you're really buying the game twice?300lb. Samoan said:
Ah, this is just daft. You're not going to catch a criminal with a video game, they're stealing more valuable looking things.
Excellent law. They should also introduce this to all people having a 'garage sale' or 'internet sale' as well as a requirement for the creation of forum accounts.
Maybe Hopefully with the next law you are required to deposit your medical file as well. That would be awesome.
Privacy is so overrated.
Privacy is so overrated.
That law makes sense for a pawn shop because without it, pawn shops wind up being a legal way to quickly fence stolen goods.
But nobody is going around stealing used video games. The extension to game shops is entirely pointless...unless the point is to damage the used games industry.
But nobody is going around stealing used video games. The extension to game shops is entirely pointless...unless the point is to damage the used games industry.
It's one of the few things that is not considered an invasion of privacy by some people. I'm not one of them. I would call this an immense invasion of privacy. I'm selling a damned game, not a gun for crissakes. A law like this one would stop me from selling games locally altogether, and turn to Ebay or Amazon instead. Let's see them get my fingerprint then.bickster said:
They're already punishing me enough by giving me almost nothing for my games, no way am I handing a fingerprint over to the likes of GS. If they ever enact that over here I'll make it a personal goal to boycott GS and other places that do this completely.
Well, I already pretty much boycott GS for buying and selling my own games. It's one thing if I've been accused of a crime and the Sheriff's office wants to take me down to the office and fingerprint me THERE, but there's no chance I'm giving my prints to some minimum-wage GS temp worker. They have no right to that information. It isn't a matter of whether or not I'm innocent-this is about my privacy.
Remember the Patriot Act? Yeah, this is sorta like that. Just because I won't get in trouble for breaking the law doesn't mean it's okay for retailers to demand my prints.
Well, I already pretty much boycott GS for buying and selling my own games. It's one thing if I've been accused of a crime and the Sheriff's office wants to take me down to the office and fingerprint me THERE, but there's no chance I'm giving my prints to some minimum-wage GS temp worker. They have no right to that information. It isn't a matter of whether or not I'm innocent-this is about my privacy.
Remember the Patriot Act? Yeah, this is sorta like that. Just because I won't get in trouble for breaking the law doesn't mean it's okay for retailers to demand my prints.
Seconded-- as a Gamestop manager myself, I'd like to be able to wipe the smug smile off the face of some of my more "Oh, I just happened to get this BRAND NEW GAME and decided I wanted CASH FOR IT TODAY" people.Turing said:
As for how much GS gives-- WTF, people? Are you dense? CLEARLY, you're not the people we're aiming for-- you're savvy gamers who tend to collect. The majority of people who trade aren't looking to make a fortune, they're looking to offload games with minimal fuss. And that $60 game you bought? Could you sell it again for $60? We sure as hell can't, once it's been played. We may pay out $25 for it and not sell the damn thing till it's marked down to $10-- and if we do make a profit-- DUH!! We're a business! We have overhead, like product to buy, utilities to pay for, and employees to salary!
At the risk of sounding like Andrew Ryan: "Is a man not entitled to the sweat of his brow?"
We take in trades that are often dirty, stinking, and scratched-- then we clean and process and REPAIR them, and turn them around to be enjoyed by others.
The next time you want to piss all over Gamestop because we're making money, use your brains and THINK!