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Christmas Shopping For A Gamer

Posted by Zonk on from the slashdot-editors-like-mmog-time-cards dept.

An anonymous reader writes "This step-by-step guide shows you have to find the perfect gift for your gamer, even if you don't know anything about gaming yourself." From the article: "Trying to figure out which games are sure-fire hits and safe bets for the gamer in your life is never an easy task. Tastes range from the light and fluffy to the dark and deadly, and there are games for almost every type, style, and preference. There's no better way to come across as being on top of the game than to give just the right title, just as there's no faster way to cast yourself as clueless by dispensing copies of the GameCube's Charlie's Angles."

15 of 135 comments (clear)

  1. What the fuck? by schild · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Just buy them a gift card or give them money.

    There, article replaced in one sentence. Jesus. Who pays people to write shit like this? Mom, Dad, Girlfriend, Boyfriend, Cousin, Uncle - we don't want you buying us games unless we specifically say "Buy us x."

    --
    schild
    editor, f13.net
    1. Re:What the fuck? by Capt'n+Hector · · Score: 5, Insightful

      What an insightful comment. But not in the manner one would typically expect. Here folks, is a typical narcissist: "schild," instead of joining in the spirit of giving thoughtful and meaningful gifts, the facilitation of which the article assists perfectly well, rather thinks only of receiving what is most useful to him: money. Guess what buddy: if Christmas was just about what you wanted, everyone would just give each other checks. Marry Christmas, here's $20 from Dad.

      --
      Quid festinatio swallonis est aetherfuga inonusti?
      Africus aut Europaeus?
    2. Re:What the fuck? by Flyboy+Connor · · Score: 4, Insightful
      Just buy them a gift card or give them money.

      Or a blowjob, if you're a hot chick. I mean, the objective is to make the gamer happy, right?

      While the article in question is just meant as being "funny" (although it does not really succeed at that), finding a gift for ANYONE who is mightly interested in objects of a certain category X, is not to buy anything in category X. Either what you will buy is crap, or what you will buy is good but already owned by the person in question.

      Exceptions are: chocolates, wines, and blowjobs, as long as you are certain that they are of high quality.

    3. Re:What the fuck? by Gulthek · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Oh man oh man. I feel you dude. I worked two Christmas seasons at a Sharper Image store. The burnout is a bitch. You are some kinda superhero for handling five without going drone to preserve your sanity.

      Some people think that sales drones are lazy or incompetent, they are actually shell-shocked veterans who have seen the face of human stupidity on a daily basis and their minds eventually learned to simply shutdown while at work.

    4. Re:What the fuck? by bwalling · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Buying gifts is hard and rarely worth the hassle.

      Please discontinue your celebration of Christmas and/or Hannukah. You have no idea what they are about.

    5. Re:What the fuck? by Animedude · · Score: 3, Insightful

      True. Never buy an adult who is REALLY interested in something a gift related to that area of interest. At the very least ASK the person if what you intend to buy is ok with him. Otherwise chances are you will buy something that person already owns, or you will buy something that person intentionally does not own (because he does not like it). A gamer who earns money usually WILL own all the games he really is interested in. As simple as that.

    6. Re:What the fuck? by gad_zuki! · · Score: 3, Insightful

      >giving thoughtful and meaningful gifts

      Heavy with the moralizing today eh?

      When you get a bit older and your list of gift receivers gets huge and you really don't know exactly what someone wants then you'll see the wisdom of the gift card. Especially when it saves someone from waiting in line to return something they dont want or already have.

      Not to mention, Xmas is pretty much forced on everyone is in the US. For some people I'll make some real effort and buy/create a really nice gift, but to expect me or anyone to do this for everyone is ridiculous.

    7. Re:What the fuck? by Achoi77 · · Score: 3, Insightful
      Please discontinue your celebration of Christmas and/or Hannukah. You have no idea what they are about.

      Because the primary purpose of the celebration of these holidays are about the purchase and exchanging of gifts? If so, why should we go about critisizing someone's method of going about it?

    8. Re:What the fuck? by DerekLyons · · Score: 2, Insightful
      When you get a bit older and your list of gift receivers gets huge and you really don't know exactly what someone wants then you'll see the wisdom of the gift card.
      I am older, and my list of recipients is huge - but the only people getting gift cards is a pair of twentysomething nieces that I've only recently added to my list (long and irrelevant story behind that). Even so, the gift cards are being placed in handmade Christmas stockings. The only other time I gave a gift card was to the daughter of a close friend, for her birthday three days before leaving for a distant college. She got a Wal-Mart gift card attached to a small framed print - so she could buy what she discovered she needed at that time of great change.

      The bulk of the remainder of my list are getting not what they want - but what I want to give them based on my knowledge of their habits, interests, etc... I view gift giving not as fulfilling wishes (unless it's a parent giving a gift to a child), but as showing the recipient that I care and know enough about them to make a personalized selection. Gift cards don't do that.

      Especially when it saves someone from waiting in line to return something they dont want or already have.
      If you know the folks on your gift list well enough - that doesn't happen. If you don't know them well enough - why in heck are they on your gift list?
  2. Obvious? by JViz · · Score: 5, Insightful
    It looks like the writer fails to mention the most important part of buying games for someone else: finding out what game system they have. Anyone ever get a Genesis game for Christmas when you had a SNES, or vice versa?
    "If your gamer has none of the titles on the lists, anywhere, then it's possible they simply have no sense of taste, and you're probably safe picking up almost any title at all; they might not be able to tell the difference."
    I see a serious lack of PC games on his list. I guess PC Gamers have no taste and should buy ourselves one of the latest uber consoles because we're out of touch.
    "ESRB Ratings: The ESRB ratings are like the PG-13 and R rating on movies..."
    Wow... Just wow... I guess he needs more pages to fill his quota this month. If you can't understand the ESRB rating system by looking at the box, I seriously doubt the contents are going to matter much to you.
  3. ...Buy me something... by AZskyPilot · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I found the easiest thing to do is point them to my Amazon wishlist. The secret is to have lots of items at various price-points. It makes their shopping easier and you get what you want. That way I'll be playing Medal of Honor 2 for my PC instead of Backyard Hockey for the GBA.

  4. Marketers just trying to attract more suckers... by Chaffar · · Score: 4, Insightful
    There's no way to ask, "If I buy you a game, what game would you want?" without your gamer being able to make an educated guess about what you're planning on doing with the information. There's no faster way to ruin a surprise.

    And why would that be a problem? People who aren't gamers cannot understand that our game preferences aren't only based on the quality of the game itself. A game might get rave reviews, and fit in my favorite genre, but I might not buy it. I just am not interested.

    The best example I have is Shogun:Total War/Crusader:TW. I loved the first one, played it to death, but I didn't even consider for one second buying Crusader. I wasn't interested. Even though the genre/quality/publisher is the same, I liked the first one because I'm an anime junkie and love anything with sociopaths running around with on horses with Katanas, "Crusader" just didn't work out for me.

    Just ask me what I want... screw the surprise, at least you won't end up having paid for a game that I don't want/need.

  5. Social Engineering. by xMonkey · · Score: 5, Insightful

    How about just asking them what they want?

    Or, start a conversation with them about games, ya know actually talk to them, and they'll eventually volunteer the information.

    No need for a covert operation.

    --
    Now I've seen Everything
  6. Nope. Wouldn't work for me. by FlyByPC · · Score: 2, Insightful

    ...but then again, I'm probably not considered a typical "gamer."

    My collection is pretty much Flight Simulator, Train Simulator, Syberia (I and II), the Myst series, various Chess games, and old-school DOS games such as Stunts and Tetris.

    Why does everyone assume that all gamers either want to play a sports-related game or kill something? (OK, so judging from the titles available in the stores and the video games in the arcades, most of them do, but not all.)

    --
    Paleotechnologist and connoisseur of pretty shiny things.
  7. A useful trick by Ellen+Spertus · · Score: 3, Insightful

    A useful trick for finding out what someone would like as a present is to ask him to go shopping with you for presents for other people, then see what he shows interest in. A clever boyfriend did that with me.

    Something simpler would be to ask your friend for advice on buying games for someone else. Your friend will end up volunteering what games he has, what's new and hot, what he thinks is cool, etc.