GameTZ logo.  Source: GameTZ

Why shop when you can barter online, FOR FREE? GameTZ.com is an online trading culture and the subject of my analysis. What makes it merit the title “online-culture”? Through observation, outside sources and previous studies I was able to analyze this culture. And by studying its background, language, means of communication and its members, I was able to point out why it would be beneficial to be part of a bartering culture rather than shopping online, beside the obvious that no money is involved.

I chose this culture in part because I grew up with a gamer, my brother, and the site has become particularly utilized by gamers for trading video games. However, other kinds of trades are still available. I also chose this culture because it’s bartering, there are shopping websites all over, but I have never come across a trading website. Of course there is still the option to buy, but a lot of the transactions made are trades; so it caught my interest. So… “Why buy when you can trade”.

Bartering games, books, movies, and music around the world. Source: flickr

The culture was established in late 1996. It allows people to trade video games, books, music, movies, and other items through negotiating with other traders from countries worldwide. The community has been around for 10 years and is continually growing larger. It was founded as The Used Game Trading Zone (UGTZ) by Stephen Osborne in the mid-1990s. As UGTZ continued to grow, In March 2000, the site was renamed Game Trading Zone and the domain name GameTZ.com was registered. Bill Marrs (who helped run the site with Osborne) cloned the GameTZ.com trading engine and established three other sites: MusicTZ.com, MovieTZ.com, and BookTZ.com. However, at the beginning of 2002, the music, movie, and book domains were dropped and all four “Trading Zones” were folded back into the main GameTZ.com site.