Is this site no longer that active?

Shadow Cloud

CAGiversary!
Because I feel like most of the gaming deals I found are noticed on slickDeals first as oppose to here. It used to be the other way around in the past.

 
Most of the active posters were pushed to SD where there is a backbone and legal department, rather than bans. That's why deals are posted there first, rather than the other way around.

 
There are a couple of people who post deals here. Most of the threads are just different groups of "friends" talking about their day and bullying people who have different opinions than they do.

 
I just don't like how the rest of the site is so dead... used be to very active discussions in the GC/PS2 and XB days and early PS3/Wii/360 days. And then it seems like everything just went silent. 

Where/how do you people talk video games these days? All I see are people watch streams, which I don't really get or find interesting. 

 
These are my general forums since I'm not part of any active games these days. When I'm on an MMO though, that's where I post mainly for theorycrafting. Otherwise not much worth talking about.

 
I just don't like how the rest of the site is so dead... used be to very active discussions in the GC/PS2 and XB days and early PS3/Wii/360 days. And then it seems like everything just went silent.

Where/how do you people talk video games these days? All I see are people watch streams, which I don't really get or find interesting.
A lot of people will use reddit to discuss video games. You could try that.

 
I just don't like how the rest of the site is so dead... used be to very active discussions in the GC/PS2 and XB days and early PS3/Wii/360 days. And then it seems like everything just went silent.

Where/how do you people talk video games these days? All I see are people watch streams, which I don't really get or find interesting.
I got an account on a certain big, more modern forum last year, but it's much bigger and busier than CAG ever was, and therefore harder to have the types of conversations I got used to here.

It seems like things died off here when the last major forum software overhaul happened. A lot of people simply got fed up and left, and it didn't help that old-style forums in general were declining in popularity thanks to social media sites.

 
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I just don't like how the rest of the site is so dead... used be to very active discussions in the GC/PS2 and XB days and early PS3/Wii/360 days. And then it seems like everything just went silent.

Where/how do you people talk video games these days? All I see are people watch streams, which I don't really get or find interesting.
For gaming discussion, I'm usually at Neogaf.com and resetera.com. At least 20,000 daily active users.

 
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I mean I have noticed it, but I never really discussed it or made a topic until now for several years....
I started to notice when brick & mortar stores like TRU, Sears, and Kmart went out of business. Post threads for these stores back then were highly active and the Go-to-Spot for video game deals. Plus you have to take an account that it's hard to find deals on physical video games nowadays. Other stores like Big Lots and BestBuy stop selling, clearance or penny out their video game stuffs. From what I see, Target is like the only place for video game deals and sadly it's pretty YMMV (you versus scalpers / resellers). With all of this, it should explain why CAG is pretty much dead. If you look up "Top Site Traffic Ranking" at Alexa.com, CAG is somewhere in the 55,000 range. I remembered CAG used to be in the 15,000 range.

In comparison, Slickdeals is in the 500+ range and you could see why video game deals in general always show up there first.

I'm an OG CAG but i still visit this site everyday for PSN/eShop/Steam deals.

 
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Ive definitely noticed over the last few years, that most of the deals I get arent even posted on CAG. They are either on slickdeals, elsewhere, or posted on the CAG twitter, but not on the main site. 

Been here 11 years crazy enough, but Yea, im not really sure what happened; deals themselves are getting posted less and less by the day. 

 
I started to notice when brick & mortar stores like TRU, Sears, and Kmart went out of business. Post threads for these stores back then were highly active and the Go-to-Spot for video game deals. Plus you have to take an account that it's hard to find deals on physical video games nowadays. Other stores like Big Lots and BestBuy stop selling, clearance or penny out their video game stuffs. From what I see, Target is like the only place for video game deals and sadly it's pretty YMMV (you versus scalpers / resellers). With all of this, it should explain why CAG is pretty much dead. If you look up "Top Site Traffic Ranking" at Alexa.com, CAG is somewhere in the 55,000 range. I remembered CAG used to be in the 15,000 range.

In comparison, Slickdeals is in the 500+ range and you could see why video game deals in general always show up there first.

I'm an OG CAG but i still visit this site everyday for PSN/eShop/Steam deals.
Hm... very good points. I honestly can't remember the last time I went into a store and found a game on sale/clearance. These days, I'm lucky to find 3 games I want during the rare B2G1F sale.

 
Hm... very good points. I honestly can't remember the last time I went into a store and found a game on sale/clearance. These days, I'm lucky to find 3 games I want during the rare B2G1F sale.
Yeah it's tough now. That's why I have started to switch over to digital. Good thing I know how to turn cash into 2x/3x PSN/eShop/Steam digital currency.

 
I started to notice when brick & mortar stores like TRU, Sears, and Kmart went out of business. Post threads for these stores back then were highly active and the Go-to-Spot for video game deals. Plus you have to take an account that it's hard to find deals on physical video games nowadays. Other stores like Big Lots and BestBuy stop selling, clearance or penny out their video game stuffs. From what I see, Target is like the only place for video game deals and sadly it's pretty YMMV (you versus scalpers / resellers). With all of this, it should explain why CAG is pretty much dead. If you look up "Top Site Traffic Ranking" at Alexa.com, CAG is somewhere in the 55,000 range. I remembered CAG used to be in the 15,000 range.

In comparison, Slickdeals is in the 500+ range and you could see why video game deals in general always show up there first.

I'm an OG CAG but i still visit this site everyday for PSN/eShop/Steam deals.
OG? cough. JK. It is sad but things move on. the first downturn was the start of the PS3 360 era

 
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I was thinking the same thing about fewer stores.

I would always stop at those stores mentioned plus Circuit City because they all had price drops on clearance games and added new clearance games every few weeks. Now I rarely buy any games from non online stores.

When TRU had 90% off green tag games, I remember going to all 4 stores somewhat in my area or going to at least 6 different Circuit City stores during the $4.99 sale (I can't believe that was almost 16 years ago!) because you knew you would at least find a few games you wanted at each location. Now I can't imagine spending the time for that knowing that I would probably not find anything if you didn't get to the store right away at opening on the first day of the sale/clearance. Also with no smart phones back then, only the people willing to research prices on a site like this would know a game tagged $49.99 was going to ring up for $0.97 at Sears, not like today where anyone can go into a store, and check the price on their phone. I used to take a printed list with me to stores to know what was on clearance.

The only store with really low clearance prices seems to be Walmart clearances but that really seems to vary by region or store. Near me, it's old games like FIFA 16 for $20.
 
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The other issue is that price matching policies are pretty much gone, so you actually have to find the game to get a deal. And with the rise of SlickDeals the deals are long gone by people who do product arbitrage as their job.

 
Ive definitely noticed over the last few years, that most of the deals I get arent even posted on CAG. They are either on slickdeals, elsewhere, or posted on the CAG twitter, but not on the main site.

Been here 11 years crazy enough, but Yea, im not really sure what happened; deals themselves are getting posted less and less by the day.
I just realized I'm approaching 13 years come this November...

 
Pretty much what everyone else said. I'll try to post a deal if I see it but this site is low traffic at least for people having a profile.

And honestly I get deals off say CL or mainly Facebook. Got some super rare PS2 game's today 217 game's for $200 dollars.
 
going to at least 6 different Circuit City stores during the $4.99 sale (I can't believe that was almost 16 years ago!) because you knew you would at least find a few games you wanted at each location.
I wasn’t here to catch the circuit city wave, those were still the days I bought games for MSRP at GameStop *shudder* but from what I read about that circuit city sale, it sounded insane! Like every game was pretty much $4.99??? God I wish I was a cag in those days.
 
I wasn’t here to catch the circuit city wave, those were still the days I bought games for MSRP at GameStop *shudder* but from what I read about that circuit city sale, it sounded insane! Like every game was pretty much $4.99??? God I wish I was a cag in those days.
It wasn't every game, but it was a huge list and lots of solid titles. I can't find the original CAG thread but I found another site that listed out many of the games. It was great because it was supposed to be a advertised sale but went live early and posted on CAG.

https://forum.dvdtalk.com/video-game-talk/372999-huge-%244-99-game-clearance-circuit-city-stores-2.html

I remember picking up some Mario Party and RE games on the GameCube, some others that I can't remember. I spent ~$44 on 8 games (was a kid in HS, and had no job), getting home and remembering the rush of getting 8... fucking... games... for $40. Looking at that list now, there were some MAJOR games that I skipped... Skies of Arcadia, Ikaruga. That was also when I started keeping new games sealed until I actually played them. I think it was Mario Party that I never got around to opening and year or two later, sold it on eBay for $50 or something because the game was out of print since Mario Party 5 and 6 were already out and I was like "holy shit, why do I open games before I play them?".:lol:

 
It wasn't every game, but it was a huge list and lots of solid titles. I can't find the original CAG thread but I found another site that listed out many of the games. It was great because it was supposed to be a advertised sale but went live early and posted on CAG.

https://forum.dvdtalk.com/video-game-talk/372999-huge-%244-99-game-clearance-circuit-city-stores-2.html

I remember picking up some Mario Party and RE games on the GameCube, some others that I can't remember. I spent ~$44 on 8 games (was a kid in HS, and had no job), getting home and remembering the rush of getting 8... fucking... games... for $40. Looking at that list now, there were some MAJOR games that I skipped... Skies of Arcadia, Ikaruga. That was also when I started keeping new games sealed until I actually played them. I think it was Mario Party that I never got around to opening and year or two later, sold it on eBay for $50 or something because the game was out of print since Mario Party 5 and 6 were already out and I was like "holy shit, why do I open games before I play them?". :lol:
I was a sophomore at college and was lurking and not a register user at CAG. My roommate was a registered CAG member and he called me about this circuit city glitch while I was walking to my next class. I didn't believe him at first so I went to confirm at the nearest computer lab in campus since my blackberry phone was so slow as hell. When I saw the thread, I pulled out a notebook and wrote down what games I wanted to get. I ended up skipping my astronomy and political science classes that day and drove to like 4 CCs all over LA. I came back home with 42 games for under $230. Mostly were JRPGs (PS2, GBA, GC) and I flipped Disgaea & MGS 2 Subsistence PS2 games on eBay which were fetching insane amount back then just to make up most of my money back. I believe this deal was the reason why I finally registered and became a CAG member.

One thing for sure CC has got to be best deal ever right next to Big Lots' massive video games liquidation at 90-95% off.

Here's my first smartphone back in 2004. Wow smartphones have evolved big time lol.

blackberry8.jpg


 
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I was a sophomore at college and was lurking and not a register user at CAG. My roommate was a registered CAG member and he called me about this circuit city glitch while I was walking to my next class. I didn't believe him at first so I went to confirm at the nearest computer lab in campus since my blackberry phone was so slow as hell. When I saw the thread, I pulled out a notebook and wrote down what games I wanted to get. I ended up skipping my astronomy and political science classes that day and drove to like 4 CCs all over LA. I came back home with 42 games for under $230. Mostly were JRPGs (PS2, GBA, GC) and I flipped Disgaea & MGS 2 Subsistence PS2 games on eBay which were fetching insane amount back then just to make up most of my money back. I believe this deal was the reason why I finally registered and became a CAG member.

One thing for sure CC has got to be best deal ever right next to Big Lots' massive video games liquidation at 90-95% off.

Here's my first smartphone back in 2004. Wow smartphones have evolved big time lol.
Ugh... just looking at this, thinking of all the other games I should have picked up. CC was always my golden spot- even after the $4.99 clearance, there was a another one for like 8.96 where I picked up a ton of games and then after that, they regularly did sales on games for like $14.98 or 16.98. TRU was my other hot spot, all the $9.99 games.

*sigh* Those were the days. These days, I'm preordering collectors editions for $350s. :cry:

 
I no longer live in US for the last 10 years, but I still visit CAG on daily basis. Not here to find deals anymore, but just to read stories of you guys finding gems in Goodwill, Yardsale, etc, posting Photos of your collection and gaming lair.
But yes, the thread is definitely dying.

At least I was part of the GS Amazon Blockbuster even BestBuy flips, Penny Guides, GS Dumpster Dive... hehe. All memory.
 
I don't come here much anymore - mostly because retro games in the wile have dried up. Around here there are barely any more yard sales, craigslist is pretty much dead and there is barely anything on facebook marketplace. It just seems like the retro games have dried up in the wild aside from the random high priced lot thrown up on facebook or something.

Most of my CAG experience was the yard sale thread and related - posting and watching other finds, but with barely anyone finding stuff these days I only come back once in a while. The lack of adventures has led to me losing interest in the hobby as a whole as well. It was the searching, bargaining, digging, etc. that made it all worth it - if I just wanted a copy of Bubble Bobble 2 or Little Samson I would've bought it on eBay.

 
I have some pics for the regular Pick Ups thread and a couple for the Thrift Store thread but Im still waiting for my phone to get back from Samsung. Lets not forget that between mid March-just this week there was no thrift stores or yardsales for many people because of Covid! I only had 1 Craigslist pick up in that period of time because noone wanted to meet up with people! Local Goodwill just opened back up on Monday and Facebook had a ton of yardsales......things should be picking up again.

 
I don't wander throughout the site or post comments much these days, but I still check CAG almost every day to scroll through the twitter feed on the right hand side to see videogamedeals, cheapyd, shipwreck, and wombat posts. I don't use twitter directly unless I'm trying to never win a CAG contest or reply to a compelling post.

Also: I have never missed an episode of the CAGCast from episode 1.  It has been my favorite podcast for 10 years longer than I thought the show would exist.

Deals may come and go, but CAG will always be my home...on the internet.

 
I still come to check out posts and, on occasion, will chime in and share my thoughts.

That said, yes, the traffic on this site has definitely slowed, but that shouldn't be surprising at all given ppl who use message boards are probably comprised mostly of Internet dinosaurs.  The "younger" crowds nowadays prefer instant gratification in the form of twitter, twitch, etc.

Those like us who are content to leave a message, with little to no expectation of receiving responses (or even caring) are a dying breed.

Anyways, I also love listening to CheapyD, Wombat, and Shipwreck on their podcast.  Easily one of my favorites and one I rarely miss during the week.

 
It's really sad what the internet has become. Forums are basically done and you can't get a good discussion anymore. It's all about social media now and having a fake opinion, fake image, fake "friends", fake everything. I even hate the way websites look now with all of the huge pictures and most articles are now just clickbait trash or propaganda. Now I know why old people become resentful and hate everything.
 
It's really sad what the internet has become. Forums are basically done and you can't get a good discussion anymore. It's all about social media now and having a fake opinion, fake image, fake "friends", fake everything. I even hate the way websites look now with all of the huge pictures and most articles are now just clickbait trash or propaganda. Now I know why old people become resentful and hate everything.
Internet wasn’t that great before. You just had less crap IRL to deal with. The internet isn’t that bad now. You just have more crap IRL to deal with. Old people become resentful and hate everything because it’s easy and self satisfying. I’ve been there, done that and really warn against it.
 
The straw that made me start using the site less was when we/users would find deals/glitches or over valued trade ins and the guy running cag Twitter would turn right around and post it online for everybody to see and get the fuck clipped
 
I've been using the internet since the early 90's and it was a much better place before normies started using it. Social media is a cancer not only to the internet, but to society in general. Censorship and propaganda are everywhere online now. Even Google is now manipulating search results. Tracking is insane. I would much rather take old school forums like this where people can have actual conversations instead of low IQ crap like TikTok, Twitter, Facebook, etc.
Bravo. Agree 100%.
 
Been a member for 15 years...don’t play games as nearly as much as I used to that aren’t iOS.  Been coming around again with the new console lunches and feeling nostalgic.  
 

The worlds changed, if you don’t jump on a deal instantly from a Twitter alert or those likes your usually left out in the cold.  For me though, I stopped using the site as much when it just became a bunch of super threads.  I much preferred the old days when individual deals got their own thread...way easier to find.

 
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The internet (and the world for that matter) is being driven twords centralization. More and more people are driven to the big sites (twitter,facebook,etc) and there are less and less stores to find deals since only the big ones survive.
 
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