Have you ever wanted to get rid of that old game you never play anymore, for a new game you would do anything for? Need some money, and want to sell games to make some? Well, look no further. Trade Games Now offers the best game trading, buying, and selling site for free! I was able to get an interview with the administrator of Trade Games Now. Here is Dennis Shirk!
What prompted you to start Trade Games Now?
All this started when I was REALLY trying to get Medal of Honor: Allied Assault from my wife for Christmas, back in 2001. When it didn't happen, I took matters into my own hands, and hit the newsgroups to see where I could trade for the game I heard so much about. While I was able to find a couple of trading sites, none of them made me feel particularly safe about trading. The very next week I hit the books, and started programming my own trading site, with the overall themes being "simplicity" and "trust".
Are there any other really important people who have helped you on your journey?
TradeGamesNow.com would not even be around if my wife were not as patient as she was (and is) about the time I put into it. I also have two primary administrators on the site (Matt Cook and Jeremy Weiskotten), and without them the site couldn't function. Matt has been invaluable for most of the site's life with the day-to-day management of the moderators (of which we have around 20) and the formation of policy. Jeremy has just been promoted recently to full site administrator and has taken on the task of "ripper hunting" (finding and stopping users just out to defraud others). He sniffs out potential rippers using TGN's automated watch system, which acts as an early warning system for suspicious activity. As I mentioned above, in addition to the automated suite, we also have around 20 moderators which keep the content in line, the chat room clean, and the forums under control. All of these people work together to keep TGN running smoothly.
Tell us a little about yourself. What platforms do you own, and what's your favorite games?
I currently have an Xbox, Dreamcast, GBA, and some other assorted older consoles. I have always been a game player, even waaaay back in the days when my family picked up a used Atari 2600. As for my favorite game? Right now it's Battlefield 1942. Hands down, the BEST multi- player game to hit the market. It should almost be illegal how addictive that game is (screen-name "bigden" for anyone wanting to play a match).
How many members are currently part of Trade Games Now? Why do you think this site has suddenly become so popular?
We're currently a hair over 5000 members, and we are signing up new members at a rate of over 600 per month. We also have reached an all-time high number of available games (over 45,000). The popularity, I think, comes mainly from the fact that there are ALWAYS going to be penny-pinchers like me, who would prefer to trade something old for something new rather than run out to a store and plop down another $50 every time a new game comes out. I mean, have you ever taken one of your older games into a regular store like EB or GameStop to trade it in? You'd be lucky to squeeze $10 out of it, only to watch them slap a $40 price tag on it. How frustrating! There are always going to be others out there that have what you want, and want what you have. We just help to bring them together.
Many game trading sites have started charging to use their site. Will we ever be seeing this in Trade Games Now's future?
I have been asked this MANY times, and have promised my users on every occasion that I will NEVER lock down the site to a pay-only environment. To me, this goes against the grain of the very concept of game trading.
Why do you feel gamers need sites like this one?
Lets face it. There are MANY new games coming out all the time. Who could possibly afford to bring them all home? Not me. Trading your played-out games for ones other people are done with has the potential to save the average gamer THOUSANDS of dollars over the course of the year. Some of our members have completed over 100 trades in the last year alone. I have NO IDEA how they find the time to even play that many games, but more power to them.
What new features are coming up in the near future?
We have some big stuff coming up this summer. To give you a brief overview, we will be launching an online buddy-system that will give you a single-glance picture of where your friends are on the site, and if they have any potential trade matches with you. We will have a completely new design which will be "skinnable" so if you don't like the way the default site layout looks, you can change it at will. A beefed-up "Bad Trader Check" system is also going to be put in place, which will be even more robust then our current system. Our #1 goal is to have our users feel comfortable about who they are trading with, and we will keep enhancing our system until it's as good as it can possibly be.
Actually, that's one thing our users have grown accustomed to: constant
change. They keep me busy with a steady barrage of suggestions and
enhancements, and as a result, TGN is constantly growing and improving, and for that I thank all our users!
Thank you, Dennis. We all appreciate you participating in this interview.
If this article has given you an itch to get into the action, then head over to www.tradegamesnow.com Support Dennis and his growing site with the rest of the world's gaming community!
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