GameStop Suspends Manager Who Won't Sell Games To Kids With Bad Grades
from the can't-support-that-type-of-policy dept
Last week the news spread about a manager of a GameStop video game store in Dallas who, without corporate approval, had instituted a policy to encourage good grades. The policy was that he wouldn't sell video games to kids unless an adult confirms that the kid got good grades... and if the kid had straight As, the manager would buy him or her a free game. However, as the Raw Feed points out, it appears that GameStop wasn't too happy with this policy and has suspended the guy. This really isn't a huge surprise (going against corporate policy doesn't often end well), but the community reaction to the whole thing certainly suggests that there's a market for this kind of "good grades policy," and if GameStop won't allow it, then perhaps other video game stores might test it out to try to attract more business. It sounds like a lot of parents would support it. Of course, there's really nothing stopping parents from instituting the identical policy on their own... Also, you could just as easily argue the opposite position as well. If one retailer offers that policy and others don't, all the kids with bad grades are about to head over to the other store. Which do you think is the larger market?Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
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Filed Under: good grades, students, video games
Companies: gamestop
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LOL
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Wait,what?
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Of course parents like the policy...
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Re:
Chris.
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Of course, that said, I played ALOT of games during my time in school (from 5th grade to now, and I'm a sophomore in college) And I never had a hard time getting good grades...
Plus, the stores shouldn't need to put these policies in place, the parents should take all the responsibility on this. Same with violent video games, it's not the ESRB/developers/the stores fault a 9 year old kid is playing GTA, now is it?
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I saw this story on network news and it was reported as "Owner of a game store in Dallas, who is also a teacher, refuses to sell to minors with poor grades".
Where in the hell did they get that from? First, it's a manager and not an owner. Second, are teachers in Dallas really moonlighting as managers of GameStop stores?
As for the policy . . . Fuck that guy. Your job is to sell items to consumers. As long as laws are not being broken (buying smokes, booze, porn), then shut the fuck up and let the kid buy it. He's not your student or child. He's your CUSTOMER.
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they would give away tokens for certain grades.. like 3 for an a 2-b, 1-c..or something like that... not 50 bucks or w/e.
i could see this happening, but the only problem is the other store that doesn't do it. as it would turn out, all the "good" kids would get their free (should be discounted) games from said store, while everyone else buys from competitor.
so it's actually bad (businesswise) because you'd be out the money of the "bad" kids, while losing more money to "good" kids because they'll take your discount.
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Nip in the bud...
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i can remember being carded the other day (i'm 25) for some superglue, but the kid infront of me (who looked 12) didn't get carded for a M game...go figure.
but there other stores where i've seen kids get "carded" and weren't allowed to buy
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Probably wishful thinking, but I can hope. Stories like this just point out how pathetic and ignorant many parents are about their child's lives.
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Surely you'll agree with me that, in principle, this could be a quaint throwback to an idyllic era, and not at all a bad thing. His job is just to sell games? No way, his job is to be a citizen and contributor to his community, and sell games.
I'm not going to condemn the dude without know more about him and his clientele and community. It couldve been a righteous thing. (I cant condemn the firing either, policy is policy and thats what you get with megacorps--economies of scale and an inflexibility to respond to local circumstances)
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We're not even talking about a small town store where the owner decided to adopt this policy, we're talking about some random manager with no authority or right to institute such a policy doing this.
Besides this nonsense policy everyone seems to be missing the major point here:
Where is the link between video game playing and bad grades? Or is this the same link between violence and video games. Seems likely to me.
Shop staff should stick to what they do best, selling crap. Not interferring in their customers choices.
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Media
Did you know a McDonald's store manager invented the egg McMuffin? Another invented the Big Mac. yet another hired a guy to play a clown they called "Ronald McDonald" to boost local sales. Sales at these stores took off and corporate took notice.
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I worked there!
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My son has a disability - should I prevent him from getting games because he's not up to par for the rest of the 'cookie cutter' kids?
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wtf it seems everyone has a disability today.
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If your kid is doing badly in school then he needs to concentrate on that more and games less. Meanwhile, I never understand why all these ADD kids cant learn math, but can get to the 15th level of the most difficult games because they learned complicated routines to defeat the Boss at the end of each level. Can someone explain that to me?
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Can someone explain that to me
Yes I can. It's because Johnny sat there playing his game for the past 5 years every moment of every day. His parents let him do it because if he wasn't playing his game he'd be fighting with his sister or tearing up the house.
You might be quick to blame the parents for this and to an extent you'd be right. The parents ought to spend more time with the lad and help him overcome his whacked out emotions.
And perhaps they'd do that if they had the energy. In today's American society it's all about the next dollar. We say 'you're responsible for your kid so long as it doesn't interfere with work'. What that translates into is 'America discourages healthy families'. For the record, many European countries are polar opposite to us in this regard...and have healthier people.
To top it all off we've passed the 'No child left behind' law. The real name of this law is 'Every child left behind'. What the law does is forces schools to forget about trying hard to teach everyone and develop a swim well or get out mentality. Kids that are struggling with emotional issues...if it affects their grades the school wants them out. That kid failing means money being taken away from the school. It's much easier to kick out your bad students than improve them.
Don't blame schools either. Even big corporations are firing their unproductive customers. The problem is in our society. How we value those around us and our perception of wealth. Money is not your friend and it doesn't give a damn about you. Where do you think your loyalty should lie?
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School has nothing to do with education. And what we should want is educated kids, not well schooled kids.
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I own the home
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rewards for grades
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3154931
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Discount is better
As far as the disability thing goes (ADD and ADHD) I do not believe for one second with the correct treatment those kids can not get good grades. I've seen it done countless times. With most other disabilities...well I doubt those kids are playing many video games anyway. If you must be fair though, simply have a teacher write a note saying these children might not get the best grades, but are excellent students.
Whereas I believe children with bad grades should NOT be buying and playing video games; that decision should be the parents' and not the merchants'. If we encourage benefits for hard work and studying maybe the younger generation will be better for it.
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It figures, someone finally does the right thing..
This store manager's actions were better for the overall benefit of the community and specifically the school age children it affected than everything I have heard of in the past year (at least) that has been done by school administrators or government policy makers to improve the education system and encourage children to raise above the currently pathetic low standards that are accepted.
Any child that is failing should not have the chance to even see a video game much less have money (presumably allowance) to buy new games of their own. And any kid that is complaining about this story because of the actions of the store manager should be completely ignored as their opinion is purely supporting their own selfish desire to continue to get everything they want even if they do nothing at all to earn it.
PARENTS need to wake up and realize that if their child is failing in school then that most likely is an early warning sign that they will carry the same attitude/practices into their adult life and will be failures in life overall.
Most of all, PARENTS will have to face the truth of the matter...That it is entirely their own fault if their children end up as failures in life!
Any "parent" that isn't able to tell you something about the specific subjects that their child is learning about in school is not earning the title of "parent" and needs to try spending a bit of time around their kids instead of just giving them what they want to keep them pleasantly out of sight.
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Game stop
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Re: Game stop
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What
ebay, pawn shops, torrent... too many other video game sources to freak out over GamestopEBgames.
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Works at my game store. I think we have more customers because of it.
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Bad PR
Jstncase may be onto something, however. Many psychologists will point out that it is more effective to reward good behavior than to punish bad behavior. Reward the students who do well, but don't punish the ones who don't. The problem then becomes verifying the grade sheet as the buyer's, since many of the kids won't have IDs. I could see it working though, if an ID or parent were required in addition to the grade sheet.
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wtf it seems everyone has a disability today.
Schizophrenia is not an 'everyone' disability, sorry.
And I only hope what you wish on others comes back to you 100%
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Then they enter the world
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Considering the amount of improvement my son has made over the last couple years and along with the medicine he's taking now, I have no problem with him playing video games.
Life's more than work, work, work - there needs to be a balance. 'Workaholics' can be just as bad as a drug user in many situations. Some studies say stress is worse on a person mentally and physically than most other things.
The thing is... I don't need a Game Stop manager trying to determine if my kid 'deserves' to play video games or not. Grades aren't a measure of how hard a person works. I was close to a straight-A student and I spent more time in high school chasing girls and a buzz than work - that's for certain. Even after 7 years of slacking, getting stoned, and the like - I still passed the SAT with a high enough score to qualify for all college level classes and no 'remedial' stuff. I know others who practically devoted their life to study and had grades worse than I.
We all live and learn and grow. I'm completely different now, but grades most certainly weren't a measure of how hard I worked.
Problem is too many people want to 'stereotype' others into various molds that they 'think' the world should be - when in fact, we are all individuals and quite different from each other.
If grades were the sole 'determining' factor in what I got and didn't get as a kid, I would have slid by even easier, lol. Actually my parents knew this and I was held to a different 'standard' than my brother. Who worked three times as hard and who's grades were usually worse.
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I think the real question is, do you want a $10/hour retail store "manager" at a second-rate strip-mall chain store doing social engineering for your family (or your village)? Game purveyors are barely one step above crack dealers in terms of ultimately causing a drain on society; if this guy really wants to do some good he should quit that job and find something to do that doesn't contribute to the decline of civilization.
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EXPECTING GOOD GRADES????
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ROTFLMFAO! GENIUS!
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it shows kids that they need to have an education to get anywhere in life
without a good education where can you get the job that pays you so you can pay for that new xbox?
you can't
parents should do stuff like this instead of buying their kids whatever they want whenever they want
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