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| How do process your
games? |
From Gamecube to PSP games, we get a lot of questions about how we process our games. Do you put security on the games and how will that affect the playability of those games. Do they make security for Gamecube games? How do you get those portable games processed? Hopefully all your questions will be answered here. If it isn't, email us! |
The Cases and Security
We used the same security cases that we use with our DVDs to secure the video games. Currently they are behind the counter, so security cases aren't going to be used with the games any more, but for information on the security cases we did use, go here.
Besides the security cases, we also felt that with such high theft material we should use security on the games themselves. 3M sells the security that you can put on DVDs, the same kind can be used for most video games. The exception is with Gamecube. 3M sells a small donut that goes around the center of the Gamecube game’s hub. It works well. The only problem is that it breaks down if you have to resurface your Gamecube games and have a resurfacer that uses water. You may need to replace the donut.
As for the question of how it will affect playability, it will definitely affect older systems. By older systems I mean those that have been used a lot by their owners. As a gaming system gets used a great deal, particularly when it is used for hours on end, it tends to heat up and suck in a lot of dirt. As it heats up, things inside it are occasionally shifted. This shifting is very minute, but when you are talking about the carefully aligned laser that reads the disc, even a minute change can cause problems. The dirt can also cause similar problems with the lase being uable to read the media. Xbox has a particular problem with the inablity to read games even if they are brand new. It has to do with a disc drive they decided to purchase that had a design flaw. It has been noted on several websites. Often, your customers will say it isn’t their machine, but your game. We have even had one ask if they could remove the security so they could play the game. I want to stress that this is the minority of customers. There is a small window of time where brand new, unscratched games will still play on these aging machines without trouble. Eventually though, even these games give the error. Once that happens, system owners generally realize the error screens are not due to the game, but to their system. If you want to put security on your games, just realize you may run into this complaint. But we circulate the games like crazy, and I have only had one customer who was really upset about the security.
For the portables, you should go here to see how we process them in security cases.
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The instruction books
At one time we used a kind of case that had no room for the booklets, but now our new cases have a little clip where you can slip added material for games, CDs or DVDs. However, even these have their limits. Hefty booklets won't fit in these cases. Namely a few RPGs (Role Playing Games) with massive booklets, the cases simply won't lock with those things in there.
At one time we used a kind of case that had no room for the booklets inside the case. For those, our tech services department put the booklets between the artwork for the case and the case itself (inside the plastic sleeve on the outside of the case). When the case was opened, you could slide the booklet in and out. When it was closed it was basically secured in the case. The negative to that was if the booklet was a large booklet, huge RPG booklets come to mind, it would eventually split the thin plastic sheet that held the artwork in place. Too much stress on that plastic caused this to happen with a few of our cases. So we eventually just threw out the large booklets.
For a while I kept the booklets filed in a drawer alphabetically. We had a sign that said patrons could ask for the booklet if they wanted it. But we had so few requests for the booklets we stopped keeping them this way.
The new cases we have had a clip inside where you could put just this type of material. You don't have to buy the cases at the link I provided there, but you can see an example.
There are a lot of issues with charging for the booklets if they are lost. If you circulate with the booklets, then you have to deal with patrons losing the booklets. What do you charge them? Was the booklet really in the case when it was checked out? This is just one more thing for circulation to check for when they check-in an item. The thing is, you can't really buy extra booklets. So even if you do charge for them, you’ll never replace them. Finally most people didn't seem to care one way or the other if the booklet was included. Most gamers don’t read instructions anyway, and many games have built in tutorials that are much better than the booklet has to offer. Most video game rental stores don't have the instructions at all. Because of all the difficulty with keeping track of the things, we just hold onto them as long as we can. We have only had one complaint about it in the 2 years we have had games. If you feel strongly about it, you will want to develop a policy for it. But be prepared to spend a lot of time reuniting games with instruction manuals. There isn’t a single time I walk by the “Missing Pieces” shelf downstairs in circulation that there isn’t a stack of video game instruction manuals people have turned in after they have returned the game. If you charge for the manuals you will either have to keep the game off the shelf until the manual is returned, or put a note in the record that the manual is missing and check it out as usual. When the manual comes back you’ll have to place a hold on an item and wait around until it returns. You’ll have to do this a lot. Just be aware it will be a lot of work for a collection some may resent already. I try hard not to make the collection an undue burden on any department. Some of the staff already feels it’s a waste of money; I don’t want them to feel it wastes their time as well. It all goes with trying to keep the thoughts about the collection positive among those who don’t use it.
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We label our video games much the way we label our DVDs. They get a large letter on the bottom of the spine,
a teen sticker, and at the top of the spine we put a customized video game label. This is so the shelvers don’t mix them up with the DVDs. If you’d like a copy of our video game label, 
