Davis Freeberg fired off a tweet yesterday lamenting Gamefly’s shipment of the 17th title in his game queue. I’ve been a member, on and off, of Gamefly, the Netflix-esque video game service, for many years. And before you learn to manage your GameQ, you need to manage your expectations. (Davis knows this – he too has had a love/hate relationship with these guys.)
Repeat after me: GameFly is not Netflix. In fact, GameFly makes you appreciate Netflix’s amazingly efficient and organized operation that much more. You won’t get a GameFly disc the same week you send one back. Many of the titles you want will be listed as having ‘low availability’. (Hacking Netflix commentary suggests this could be due to folks hanging on to games longer than flicks. But, in the end, the reason is irrelevant to me as a customer.) And good luck trying to quit with games still in your possession.
So here’s how I manage my GameQ. I leave it empty. Until I add the one game I really want next. It often means I’ll wait an additional week or two before something ships, but this ensures I get exactly what I want to play now (and I use the word now very loosely). Although, my strategy essentially morphs GameFly’s two-disc plan ($22.95/mo) into a one-disc plan while sitting around awaiting that next game.
It’s not ideal, but I still usually find GameFly’s mail-order service more economical than buying games (given my short attention span) and less frustrating than dealing with Blockbuster’s brick & mortar outposts. Until a gaming kiosk lands in my neighborhood.
I’m actually on a GameFly hiatus at the moment given the move. May resume shortly. We’ll see. Although what I’m really waiting for is Call of Duty, Modern Combat 2. Which doesn’t ship until October. Hope they ramp up a beta soon and include me.
You’re certainly right about managing expectations, it took the first two times for me to learn that. This time, the speed hasn’t been as bad because I’ve been hanging onto games longer, but the selection is dismal. I just wish that someone at GameStop would put together their own program and show consumers what it is like to give an awesome experience. I suppose there is always Blockbuster, but Gamefly hasn’t gotten that bad just yet.
I do the exact same thing but I keep non-release games in Q to keep track of release dates. Who wants to play their 4th most wanted game anyway? That may work for non-gamers but not for someone who has played everything and only want the latest and greatest. I have been an almost continuous member for going on 5 years and I believe that the availability and time between them receiving a game and shipping your most next wanted game is increasing drastically. I have the 5 year rental history to prove it as well. I believe this problem may be stem from the fact that they have increased their shipping centers from 1 back in the day to now 4. The ship time was longer, but its possible their stock in the one facility was larger so time between game rentals was shorter. One suggestion I have found to work to get the most wanted game to ship near release date (ex. GTA, Halo, etc) is to get your return a day or two before the release date so your in that first mailing salvo.
Save yourself frustration. In this interim, while games still come on media, go to the store and buy the game, or order it from Amazon. You’ll have the game when you want it. At 26 bucks a month, you’re not saving all that much from owning the games. Games are easy to resell too on Amazon, so you can get 20-30 back depending on whether you want to keep it. Games aren’t like movies. Good games you can come back to over and over and play. Plus, waiting for games you really want stinks. You need a collection of games anyway. Think about it, the best games, you want to own anyway. I think GameFly is aimed at people who can’t really afford games and those who think it’ll work like Netflix. If it worked like Netflix, then it might be fine. As it is, they are just suckering folks in my opinion. My two cents.
Davis, I think we’re in agreement that visiting Blockbuster is usually a miserable experience. The staff and lines suck, and things I want are usually checked out. And I think game rentals are up to $7.99.
Hyneho, Yes I noticed an improvement when the Pittsburgh depot opened and assume they also improved their internal logistics. However, it still often seems to take a good deal of time to get returned games checked back in. And I, too, have returned games early in hopes of getting new releases close to launch.
CIABFH, I don’t want to be in the business of reselling games/tech. I stopped after getting screwed on ebay buying a used game which I never received and was never refunded by ebay/PayPal. And on Amazon I sold a piece of networking gear and the buyer claimed/lied I misrepresented the item or sent them something else. Amazon let them keep the gear AND refunded their money.
So basically, I’m out of that business. I will take games into GameStop and sell them back at a big loss. But normally, I don’t buy and collect games. The ones I like, I play through and return; the ones I don’t like (most) after 30 mins of play I immediately send back to GameFly. The exceptions are awesome Live/online experiences like Call of Duty – I’ll be buying Modern Combat 2 in October FOR SURE.
Amazon has a game trade-in thing now where they give you a credit for the game and give you a free shipping label to send back the game. They rip you off as bad or worse as Gamestop, but no deadbeat bidders and you just drop it in the mail. I have sold back probably 20 of the kids game using Amazon and never had an issue. Gave up on ebay a long time ago. Best thing on Amazon is that most people who buy have no idea they are buying from me because it’s link right of the regular page, plus they pay Amazon up front so no dead beats. The comissions are higher, but it’s worth it.
If you don’t want to play/watch it, don’t put it in your friggin queue. How can you bitch about a company sending you what you said you wanted to play?