Broken Game
 

Okay, I want to hear your guys opinion on this, and I am lazy so I'll give you the short version. One of my friends accidently messed up one of my game discs I bought about six days ago so that I couldn't leave the dungeon and advance through the plot. He left town so I sent him a message saying that if I couldn't get it to work, he would have to fix it or get a new copy for me. He gets bitchy with me for not cleaning my room and stuff like that and saying that he wouldn't do anything about it till I did that stuff. So I cleaned the room and everything and told him. He says he can't afford to right now, because he spends what money he does have on cigarettes to fight his depression and because he had broken something of someone elses that he had to replace first. If he had left it at that, I would have been fine and patient and whatever, but here is the kicker.

But first some background for this part. My biological father recently got involved in my life again after about nine or so years, and sends me about $200-$400 a month to pay rent and food and stuff. I've told him he doesn't have to, but he wants to and he wants to make up for not paying child support for most of my childhood. Anyway, I've managed to be very frugal with my own money, so I normally use the money he sends me to buy stuff like games and everything. Anyway, my friend concludes his reply by telling me that he isn't going to hurry to fix the game because it's just a game that I probably bought with my Dad's money anyway.

That kinda pissed me off. Anyways, it seems that most people who hear about the situation think that I should pay to fix the game myself rather than risk the friendship, and that the fact I am pissed and don't give a shit what he does as long as he replaces the game says that I have a major video game addiction. What is your guys' opinion?

Yeah I would fix it myself. I've broken friends stuff, they've broken my stuff. As long as they took reasonable care of it then well not much more they can do.
And if your friend is depressed tell him to get proper medication. It is cheaper and more effective than cigarettes, without poisoning your lungs.

Agreed. There's no convenient way to force him, anyhow. Rather than trying, just suck it up and return it. Heck, in six days, you might even be able to pass it off as a manufacturer's defect and get a free replacement.


Edit: And you never know; it just might be.

No, it's not. The disc was in perfect condition before he knocked my 360 over while I was playing, which is the cause, and afterwords there was a deep wide ring of scratches. But I'll just try and get it scratch repaired.

He didn't deliberately break the game, did he? I mean, that's when I'd draw the line and say he should pay for it, but knocking the system over, though VERY frustrating (siblings AND friends have done it to me, and even caused some damage), is just one of the things that happens.

All I can say is that it's too bad it wasn't a Nintendo product because those things can withstand EVERYTHING.

Also, as a suggestion, get some contact solution or multi-purpose lens cleaning solution, and put that on the disc and rub from the inside to the outside (not circle-wise). It helps my scratched discs run.

It sounds like a manufacturer's defect to me. The game still RUNS but it just isn't letting you leave one particular place. Meaning the disk is still read but the defect comes from a line of programing that was lost that isn't letting you leave.

^ Not necessarily. My GTA San Andreas disc is scratched and sometimes areas don't load until I clean it with contact solution, and my GTA Vice City won't let me drive cars tuned to Flash FM without freezing. (thank god it wasn't V-Rock or I'd have to buy a new game :P)

If it was an accident, I would let it slide. People do make mistakes from time to time and, yes, it does suck when they accidentally mess with your stuff but it can happen.

I would cut your friend a break and take the game back to the store. So long as you have a receipt you shouldn't have too much trouble getting a replacement.

Stuff like this isn't worth losing friends over.

Yeah the game just freezes for me when I try to go to a certain point, meaning that the load data for that area can't be read. Aiding this is assumption is the fact that it actually isn't letting me enter an area I had before. I never said he had to pay to replace the game, maybe just a few bucks for scratch repair, it was the principle of the thing, not the actual money that pissed me off the most.

well, if he's a close enough friend of yours, you'd be willing to forgive and forget. If you're that upset about it, maybe you don't like him as much as you thought you did in the first place...

split the difference?