I don't think Goozex is worth the headache. I've been with the site for a few months now and done plenty of trades, but the people who run the place either have some of the worst judgement I've seen or are just too
ing lazy to iron out the bugs and user-unfriendly aspects of their system.
Examples:
Don't know the bugs? Too bad!
Goozex prevents users from adding future releases to their "wants" list, presumably with the notion that once it's released, everyone should have an equal chance to scramble and get the game on their want list, and then games are served in first-come, first-serve order.
With this in mind, check the "Top 10 Requested" list. You can do this by going to the homepage and clicking "Top Ten Lists" on the left navigation bar. Here are the top five games for your convienience:
1 John Woo Presents Stranglehold -- Comes out 8/27. 39 Requests.
2 Too Human -- Comes out "12/31/2008." 26 Requests.
3 Mario Strikers Charged -- Already out,
should be the only one of these five that can be added to wants!
4 John Woo Presents Stranglehold: Collector's Edition -- Comes out 8/27. 19 Requests.
5 Two Worlds -- Comes out 8/21. 43 Requests.
Seems like a bug, right? Well, only partially. For a window of time after games get added to the system, they can be added to want lists, probably because the Goozex staff is slow in putting the actual release dates on the individual database entires.
So the right thing would be just to purge all the Requests and let everyone add it at the release date rollover, right?
Not according to the Goozex staff! In their ignorance, they will
allow these Requests to stand! Interested in Two Worlds for the 360? Well, once you're able to add it to your want list,
the best postition you can get is #44! Which leads us to point #2:
Supply, meet Demand.
At 44th place (or worse!) in line, let's face it, it's going to be an eternity before you see that game. Hell, it already takes an eternity if you're 10th in line... unless you're
looking for something from six months ago or more. But we've all heard of Supply and Demand, right? Games with a ton of requests and no supply should be worth more, and games with a ton of supply and no requests should be worth less, right?
Wrong! Point values are set from on high by Goozex staff, (hint: they're generally retail prices converted to Goozex points, 100 points = $5), and the staff
never adapts point values to accomidate for supply and demand. It's why
GRAW 360 is still worth 600 points ($30) despite there being
141 copies for trade and just
12 requests!
Of course it works in the opposite direction too. A brand spanking new game is worth its retail weight in Goozex points. But then, so is
a game that's almost a year old now.
Anyone who's traded or sold a game before knows that new stuff is worth more. It's in higher demand. Let's say a Goozex user buys, I dunno, Two Worlds. He plays it for a day and figures out it's not for him. What are his options?
-Sell it on eBay for what he paid for it, give or take a couple dollars.
-Put it on a trade forum and get pretty much anything he wants within reason from an interested trader, as the other trader is willing to cough up more for a new release.
-Trade it in at a game trading store and get a pretty good credit return.
-Put it on Goozex, watch it get snapped up instantly, get 1000 points and go become #44 in line for a game he actually wants.
Unless you're a real noob, who in their right mind would add a new release to Goozex within, oh, a month since release? Goozex's "fair" (cough, communist) economy
actively discourages the offering of new titles because the returns are so bad compared to practically every other alternative.
Goozex's staff could do quite a bit to remedy this problem. They could inflate new release point values. They could allow point "bidding" for games, allowing users to control their own position in line and granting suppliers more incentive to trade in new games. They could grant users who trade in new titles a one-use "fast pass" that would immediately ascend the user to number, oh, 5 in a queue.
Such methods would facilitate more trades and get the Goozex team more money. But none of this ever dawned to the Goozex staff. Or maybe it did and it got stonewalled by one of the project lead's sense of "fairness" (the same sense of "fairness" that ensures you're never close to the top in queues for new releases... unless you see the page before it gets updated, which is oh-so-vulnerable to insider stacking). Or maybe they were too concerned with
making you a walking advertisement. Who knows.
Eventually when using Goozex, you catch up to all those old games you wanted to try, and then... you have a bunch of points left over and nothing to spend them on. Unless you want to try your luck with #44. It's the ultimate failing of every communist system.
Go do some research on the story of
the DDR and Trabis if you don't believe me.
