Not buying, just renting.

BondJamesBond

BondJamesBond

CAG Veteran
So I was wondering, with the economy going to shit, and I am a cheapass who is still buying games. I rent from Gamefly and haven't bought in months and the last one I did buy was about $20. I don't really care to have a big "game collection" of games i never play, and not about to put money into. Is it just me or is way better to rent games than to buy them.
 
It's just you (j/k). Renting can only work for people who have a lot of time for playing. I don't and I also like to play different games at different times (as mood strikes me). I like having the ability to select the game I want to play, rather then being "forced" to play the one I rented.
 
I still buy, but maybe fewer garbage games just because they're cheap. Too many good deals posted here not to buy at least some. And you can always trade them when you're done to get more. I just feel like I am throwing away money on renting. Just wait for sales or price drops.
 
i do some trading on here and i buy games once the price drops to 30 or 20 bucks its go to be an amazin game for me to pay full priceno just because of current times ive felt like that for the past 3 generations of game systems. but with alot of the deals you see on here it can add up to where yeah you get deals but youve spent alot of money you didnt really mean to.
 
I just get most of my games off of Goozex. I built up 8000 some points there trading off last gen crap last year and I keep the balance around there by flipping games back out as soon as I beat them.

Renting doesn't work for me as I don't play enough to justify the cost. I probably play through 7-10 games a year now so it's just not worth it to have a gamefly account etc.

Easier to just wait for games on Goozex (just pay a $1 for games I receive, $2.20 or so shipping for games I trade out) and just buy the 1 or 2 games a year that I really want day 1. Gears 2 was the only game I bought last year, everything else I got off goozex.
 
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I don't consider myself to be a heavy gamer, i play a couple times a week in the evening if i have time. but renting is still a way better for me. I guess I'd rather play a bunch of different games than own a few and they've been good about getting new releases to me, which i like. I still purchase a game if the deal is right, some great deals here, sometimes using gameflys keep it option but mostly on sales, like they year-end one they had last month. But deflinetly choosing purchases of top titles carefully and rentin the rest.
 
I thought I could get away with just renting and it isn't working out so well. It has slowed my purchasing though. I was able to resist the $29.99 Farcry 2 at BB last week. I couldn't resist the new Fallout CE I just bought on Ebay for $48 shipped.
 
I've been using Gamefly for a few months now, and I have to say that I think I am coming around to being in the renting camp. This is mainly because there are plenty of games that I want to play...yet not too terribly many that I want to re-play. For example, I have been going through a lot of the PS3 exclusives using Gamefly, and while I really enjoyed Uncharted, Heavenly Sword, and Ratchet and Clank, probably the only one of those that I would re-play enough to get my money's worth on a purchase would be Ratchet and Clank.

I have gotten to the point in my game buying habits where the only games I can justify buying fall into two camps: the 20+ hour action game or RPG (i.e. Oblivion, Persona 4, FFXII, etc.) , or the massive re-play value multiplayer games (CoD4, Left4Dead, NCAA Football, etc.). Other than those, games just are not worth it at a $60 price point for me, or even $20 if I am only going to have one 8-12 hour run through the game. Now, with renting, I have been able to run through about 5 different 8-15 hour games a month, which is more than worth it for me at the roughly $22 a month clip for GameFly.
 
I have been with gamefly for over a year now. If you know how to send back games correctly you can increase your odds of getting a new release. I rely on the service so much now. I do buy games and it is almost always from them. Their games are usually in real condition and have the lowest prices. It is hard to imagine now using gamefly for me.
 
I rent most of my games now, and only buy something I know I will get some longer term value from, like Rockband, Burnout Paradise or COD4.
Most games today sadly do not have much in the way or re playability.

Before I buy any games I usually ask myself if I would be realistically playing the game 2 months later.

Games like Fable 2, Deadspace and Bioshock are perfect examples of renters. All great games, but theres not much reason go back after one playthrough.
 
I just started Gamefly on a 2month trial last Monday, but I'm not sure I like them considering it's taking a full week for games to get to me. That's wasting half of my trial considering Netflix (SAME PRINCIPLE) will have my queue to me the next day. I have to pay $23/mo for a 5-7 day turnaround? Plus the stuff I want to play is always Medium to Low Availability (how convenient). Damnit, why doesn't Netflix jump in on this?

As it is, I only buy games I'm almost completely sure I'm going to keep and replay, but I do appreciate gamefly for its try before finding a much better deal than keeping it factor. They saved me from getting suckered on Super Mario Galaxy, all the newer Sonic games (goddamnit Sonic Team...), and some no name JRPGs I should really have known better about wanting in the first place.
 
I'm with dmaul. Goozex is just awesome for those people that don't want to invest money into games or feel rushed if they rent. With gamefly you have to play a certain amount every month to justify the cost of renting the game. Not saying that's bad, it's just not for everyone.

With goozex, the hardest part is twofold: #1 getting the points built up to afford the games you want, and then #2 waiting to get the game. Once you finally do get the game, though, it's yours to keep. Until you trade it to someone else and get points back.
I've been offloading a bunch of PS2 games that I played once and then never again. The lowest number of points a game goes for is 100 ($5), so 10 crappy (to me) games traded in = 1 new $60 game!
 
[quote name='kidu']Now, with renting, I have been able to run through about 5 different 8-15 hour games a month, which is more than worth it for me at the roughly $22 a month clip for GameFly.[/QUOTE]

Yep, renting is great if you have that kind of time. I'm lucky to get through 1 8-15 hour game a month (and have many months were I get through none) so it's just not worth it.

Goozex works better for me. But renting 100% makes more sense for someone that can play through a handful of games a month as it's much cheaper than buying that many games and is more convenient than Goozex or Ebaying games after beating them.
 
the only time i was ever into renting was back when i lived in oregon and we had a local gamecrazy with an awesome rental deal. 20 bucks a month you could rent any 2 movies or games anytime you wanted as often as you wanted. best deal ever and highly worth it.
 
[quote name='will52']I usually buy the gold. Anything else that's risky I usually rent.[/quote]

Sums it up nicely. That's why gamefly works, trying a game first is really what it's about, but then being able to buy it at good discount is a big plus, and they have new releases, just because they are at medium or low availability doesn't mean they wont' ship ;)

I look at long term savings rather than monthly. Even if I keep a game for over a month, which I have, and say rent only 12 games in a year, it's way more than I ever would have been able to play with the same amount of money put toward buying.
 
See I use Goozex for the same purpose. I can try the game, and if I hate it I can send it back out right away and get back the same amount of points I spent on it some I'm just out the $3.20 or so for the trade credit and shipping the game to someone else.

With games I like I usually beat them pretty quickly and do the same thing and get my full points back. Some times I've gotten more points since game values some time go up if the suppy and demand for the game changes.

Don't many to keep harping on it, but I think there are a lot more people who could benefit from Goozex and the other game trading sites on top of buying/renting.
 
Anyone else experience a recent slowdown in Gamefly service? I joined last summer and things were acceptable (though slow) until about a month ago. Last Tuesday I mailed back a game to Gamefly and also a movie to Netflix on the same day. A had a netflix replacement disk in 2 days, but Gamefly has not even shipped anything yet. The old game was logged in on saturday. I have over 20 games in my queue. I went to try to add more, but almost nothing (few percent, mostly old sports games and shovelware) shows up as being "available now".

They had lots of games available for sale a month or two ago, but very little now. Did they sell off most of their inventory and are getting ready to go out of business or something?

I've enjoyed the service, but it was only barely economical even before this. I've averaged about 2 games per month (one week of play, one week of wait).
 
My play time is so sporadic that I don't feel renting would work for me. Also, at $20 a month or so, that is usually about the amount I spend buying games (some months more, but usually at $20 or less). Plus, I actually do replay games, so it's nice having them around.

Also, nothing really beats walking out with a new (or even used) game that you've never played before. Even if I rented, I still love going to Gamestop (only gamestore within impulse stopping distance anymore) and looking around. Not sure I'd want to give that up, even if renting worked (and if I go, more times than not I'm walking out with something).
 
[quote name='woof321']Anyone else experience a recent slowdown in Gamefly service? [/quote]

Actually I was wondering if it was always like this. I also noticed that while it took a week to get here, I just sent back Mario Galaxy and how convenient that it only takes 2 days to get back to them instead of the whole week. Now let's see how long it takes for the next game to be processed and sent to me...
 
For me and you Violet, Gamefly has a hub in Tampa. It *should* only take 1-2 days for them to receive a disk and 1-2 days for them to send it. It should never really take more than 3 days for a game to get to either of us, unless it's not in stock.

I just started Gamefly this month, so I'll see how it goes with shipping. Netflix has a 3 day turn-around for me that has proven invaluable. If Gamefly ends up being slow, I'll just drop them.
 
I think Gamefly's shipping speeds have always sucked. I keep randomly rejoining to see if it improves but it doesnt. I live 3 hours away from a shipping center and I almost never get a turnaround time better than a week. Plus, a lot of times, when they do receive a game from me they seem to hold the next item in my queue instead of shipping it out immediately.
 
They'd better not. There's only one thing in my queue so they can't skip over it and go for the stuff I don't care about (yet) and it's something in Medium Availability. But I seriously doubt everyone with a subscription is going to be scrambling for Super Princess Peach.
 
I dont play more than one, maybe two games a month so Gamefly is prohibitively expensive. With $23 bucks a month and CAG, I could likely purchase 2 or 3 games that would have some residual value when I'm done. Thus, going "Gamefly" would actually be the 'anti-CAG' thing to do for me. Moreover, the stories y'all are telling of the slow shipping just reinforces my position.

However, I *do* rent games in additon to buying. I have BBV online and get two game/movie coupons a month that I usually use to rent games.
 
Shipping speeds have been consistently 2-3 days for me, which is good i think, so I don't know what to tell you. I try not keep my Q too full and get new releases in early, but other than that it just works. Oh, it does help if you drop the game at the post office can cut a day off the return, even more if the PO uses fast return.
And to me paying $23/ month to rent unlimited games and have 2 games out at time ($17 for 1 out) it is totally a good deal, no late fees, no lines, and cheap ass used games.

The way i figure it:
One year of gamefly = $194
$194 buys you barely 3 new games. Play 3 games over the year or play unlimited?? hmm
Get it?
 
[quote name='BondJamesBond']Shipping speeds have been consistently 2-3 days for me, which is good i think, so I don't know what to tell you. I try not keep my Q too full and get new releases in early, but other than that it just works. Oh, it does help if you drop the game at the post office can cut a day off the return, even more if the PO uses fast return.
And to me paying $23/ month to rent unlimited games and have 2 games out at time ($17 for 1 out) it is totally a good deal, no late fees, no lines, and cheap ass used games.

The way i figure it:
One year of gamefly = $194
$194 buys you barely 3 new games. Play 3 games over the year or play unlimited?? hmm
Get it?[/quote]

Yeah, my shipping times have been 2 days every single time, both there and back. I have however had two times this month where it took them three days to ship me a new game once they got my old one...which is really strange considering this latest time my Q went Available Now, High, High, Medium, Medium, Medium for my top six, yet it took them three days to ship me a game.

As for your second point about the money, for the two at a time it comes out to about $260 a year, which is roughly the price of 4 new games (after tax). I have been getting 5-6 games a month from GF with the two at a time plan, so for me it is more than worth it to get to try out 60-70 games in a year for the price I would pay for 4 new ones.
 
im jus saying it took them a week to ship a game from distro to my house.
PA to VA.
1 week.

Took them 4 days to recieve a game.
jus saying.

Took them 3 days to send me high availablity game.
Jus Saying.

I wish it was better.
 
I use a mix of everything from Gamefly, Goozex & CAG. I rarely buy brand new from the store anymore. Which service I use depends on the game.

Gamefly has slowed down for me big time. I want MK vs DC, waited a week, nothing. I'm an older customer so they couldn't give a rats ass about me.
 
If I was experiencing a slow down, which i'm not, yeah some times it take 4 days or so because of a sunday or something with USPS, but never a problem, and when some games take upto 40+ hours to finish, a few days, a week is not a worry especially with 2 at a time. anyway, if I was having an issue, i'd report it, let them know. There's a link on the site to report shipping issues.
 
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