I try not to, but will fall back to a guide when I get stuck.

 i doubt old ladies would use a strategy guide

Never. I'll occassionally use Gamefaqs if I'm stuck at a certain place in a game for like an hour or more, or if something is extremelly difficult and I want to see if there's an easier way of beating it. On average I may visit that site about once a week for that reason. 99% of what I play through in games though I do on my own. The natural discovery of how to beat it is always more satisfying (if it's a good game).

 My Aunt does.  

Only for RPGs and GTA

I use RPGs cause if you do something in them, you can miss out on a lot, and my friend said that he missed out on a lot of the magic in LO because he did not have the strategy guide. I feel like I am cheating in a way, but I just feel that I would be missing out on stuff without it. For GTA, I basically use it for the hidden packages and little extra things, not really for the main story

When I went to buy FF12, the people in Game offered me the guide for half price. I was insulted.

But alas, no, i do not, except like many above only in RPGs and such alike where it's a case of finding hidden things I never knew existed until reading the guides at gameFAQs. I mean majority of FF games usually the story only takes so much, it's the added stuff beyond that takes gameplay time.

Eh, if I barrow a game from a friend and they have a guide book, I'll like to also barrow the book so I can get their game back faster. The only guide books I own are ones that came with one or two PC games (such as Homeworld for example).

That doesn't mean I wont seek help if I get stuck or want to find something out. I think the internet would be better than wasting like $10-20 for a guide book. Sure, you don't get the pictures (depending on where you go), but you can still find out the same information.

Yep, not all the time though. The strategy guides were essential for me for Mass Effect and Oblivion and enabled me to truly appreciate the games and complete all the side missions.

I'm contemplating getting the guide for GTA IV, but will probably hold off until I've played it for a few days.

The only game I ever used a guide for was Pokemon Blue. I was a little kid, and my parents bought me a bundle with a GBC, Pokemon Blue, a cable link, and a strategy guide. So, I used it. For every other game, though, I just play through and find everything out for myself.

I used to use strategy guides but I now usually use GameFAQS. However, my brother's friend is lending me his FFXII strategy guide so I can finally beat the game. The game is pretty frustrating since some enemies are nearly immune to phyiscal attacks. I do not know what gambits I should be using for what characters.