Guild Wars 2

I am a man with more money than free time, thankfully being gainfully employed in 2012. I have no shame for purchasing gems from the Gem Store with some of my hard-won dollars, instead of the scarcer resource of time out of the office.

I was a bit surprised when my bank texted me today to inform me that someone had hi-jacked my card and was racking up charges at a video game arcade!

Call immediately if this isn’t you, they said! The last arcade game I played was X-Men vs. Street Fighter, when it was new, and while my memory is filled with nostalgic youthful afternoons spent with sweaty hands gripping the pizza-greasy joystick to use the OP Magneto/Akuma team to beat Apocalypse, I don’t believe I’ve even actually seen a video arcade since I acquired my first credit card.

Although the nature of the theft was at first unbelievable, the amount wasn’t: $10! The exact quantity of dollars which comprises a roll of quarters, the perfect crime for a video game arcade: converting my virtual plastic money into untraceable but machine-ready coins!

So I dutifully called, immediately in fact; almost more to learn where I could find this archaic den of adolescent profanity than out of panic that my CC # had been stolen. What is this place, this hovel for teenage credit card thieves who are so desperate for another try at an Area 51 boss before the counter hits zero that they resort to petty theft of a roll of quarters, 21st-century style?

It is definitely a video game arcade, she said. CHARGES.NCSOFT.COM, the kindly and concerned lady informed me over the phone.

MORAL OF THE STORY: NCSoft, my bank says that you report your charges as Video Game Arcade via the charge type code. And that this triggers fraud alerts for them because Video Game Arcades are as dead as newspaper subscriptions, the phonograph, and Latin. They recommended that I ask you to update the charge codes. Something less 1986, perhaps?

thanks.

Don’t always trust what the banks/credit card companies tell you. I have had similier experiances, where it turned out it was the credit card companies codes that where screwey. Some have a “gaming” catagory, in which they put video game companies in as well as casinos. They see the word “game”, and automaticlly put it in to thier catagory that their system deems is a match. Next time you talk to your bank, ask them if they have a video game or other gameing catagories, or if they throw them all in to one big pile.

Yea, my credit card puts my subway lunch as “Gasoline” because the shop happens to also be inside a place that also sells gas. A lot of times it’s the bank/credit card that are archaic ones. My bank doesn’t group NCSoft with anything, oddly enough, just listed under Misc.

Thanks! Or should I say, gratias?

My favorite thing in video arcades was/is pinball. It is a shame that this has become lost to society today. Our youth have little to nothing they can do outside of the home that it is saddening to think about it. Heck even us adults have lack as well unless you have a few particular inclinations.

Jia Shen.4217:

My favorite thing in video arcades was/is pinball. It is a shame that this has become lost to society today. Our youth have little to nothing they can do outside of the home that it is saddening to think about it. Heck even us adults have lack as well unless you have a few particular inclinations.

Not really, it’s more like people choosing the convenience of the internet and pay-per-view tv over more rewarding hobbies that require an effort to go out and explore. For example over the last few years my father (retired cop) has enjoyed gardening, trap shooting, fishing, boating, and showing off his two sports cars he bought in the 80s and recently restored to near-new condition. There are fair-sized groups of people doing all of these things if you go out and look for them.