Hey, is it weird that game store clerks point it out when you're buying games for both PS3 and PS4? I was buying some games for as gifts for family members (nice, wholesome mainstream videogame-fun like WipEout Omega Collection and Little Big Planet 3), and spotted a Trials of Cold Steel for PS3 for just €5. So I grabbed that one for me, because I definitely need another version of a game that's somewhere in a deeper statrum of my backlog. I get to the counter and the employee points out that I have a stack that consists of both PS3 and PS4 games. And I know, I know, the PS4 isn't backwards compatible and it'd suck if some unlucky kid would get a game they couldn't play for Christmas, but why assume I didn't know? Is this a mistake that still happens often enough, even at the tail-end of 2017, to warrant a warning? Would it have made a difference if I'd entered the store looking like a stereotypical gamer?
Maybe I'm just paranoid because people keep trying to explain Duck Hunt to me when I'm busy setting the high score for the evening.
Oh well, I did get to brag a little and be all like 'Nah, don't worry, I used to write for Official PlayStation Magazine. And [another major Dutch gaming magazine]. And also [a belgian gaming magazine]. Oh, and [a wellknown gaming site]'. In my soft, squeeky, 'shit, that's definitely a cold, are you okay?' voice, of course. I suck at bragging. I dunno how much they believed, but maybe it's just karma if they don't. There was another employee standing next to him, cute girl with teal hair, and last time I was there, I didn't make as much effort as I should have to save her from some weeaboo who really, really wanted to tell her all about Dragon Maid while she was trying to work.
Videogame stores are very awkward places, aren't they?
Actually, The Geek Empire as a whole is a little awkward. Many of its citizens think that if you don't wear the uniform, you couldn't possibly be one of them. But if you do don that comic book themed tee, the ever vigilant self-proclaimed gatekeepers might still find you suspicious.
Personally, I feel that if you have to prove you're not a filthy spy from Casual Kingdom anyway, you might as well do so while looking like one for maximum impact. Trial by combat while wearing my comfy pink cardigan? Hand me that zapper. I will teach you not to assume!
(Oh, by the way, in the end I couldn't buy Trails of Cold Steel, because there weren't any copies left. That may have been for the best.)
