D&D Encounters: Admission charge or free?

[Insight]

As the D&D Organizer (D&D Encounters, LFR, and the World Wide Gamedays) here in Portland, OR (Shout out to Guardian Games, Angel you rock!) I will say that our venue realizes that it is better to get lots of traffic than to nickle and dime players for the play space.

We currently have run 4 tables of D&D Encounters for Session 1 and will probably expand to 5 soon. All of the judges volunteer their time but do get store discounts for their efforts. This is in addition to the DM rewards that come with the program. Folks are definitely buying from GG.

As a Premier Store, Guardian Games now get its D&D releases (Books, Accessories, Novels) 11 days advance of the street date. I got my pre-ordered PH3 11 days ahead of Amazon (with a 20% discount). Now, my store is a top tier Wizards store so we get the 11 day jump, others will get a 5 day jump.

WotC is making moves to support the local gaming stores and giving them incentives to push their products. There is no reason to charge for the space if folks are going to buy product from you. Its just short-sighted and dumb.

My Two Coppers,

Bryan Blumklotz
Guardians of the Gameday Organizer
Guardians of the Gameday : Event Overview

That tears it. I'm moving to Portland.

 

[Holy Bovine]

I find it interesting that a different thread has retailers bemoaning the effect of online shopping and how the brick & mortar stores used to be the place to learn about and get new games. And here we have a store (several stores it seems) that want to charge people to do something that should be bringing in people left and right - free play! Some businesses deserve to fail it seems.

 

[Holy Bovine]

All this hoopla over 5 bucks? Sheesh, that's a cup of coffee...

You're missing the point. THis whole program is meant to drive traffic to stores and show customers that they have something online stores cannot have - real live face-to-face gaming! That fact that some stores don't seem to get this is really disheartening.

 

[N0Man]

All this hoopla over 5 bucks? Sheesh, that's a cup of coffee...

But then you'd have a cup of overpriced coffee. I've never been to a coffee shop that charged you to just sit inside, even if I didn't buy anything.

As i said in my earlier post, there were a few items I wanted to buy. I was planning on buying them in this store. But if I have to pay $5 to sit in their store and play, and an item in the brick & mortar store might be $5 more than I could get it online (and that's being generous), it adds up.

It's almost like I'm being doubly taxed by choosing to support the "FLGS".

I'll buy FLGS goods. I'll buy snacks and drinks from them. I'll buy game items from them, even knowing I could get them cheaper online. But what I'm not going to do is pay them admission to hang out in their store and buy their higher priced goods.

 

[Primitive Screwhead]

N0Man, did you ask your FLGS why they were charging? And if they mentioned any of the concerns Smeelbo listed, would you be willing to volunteer your time and energy to the store so that the game could be more of a community building event?

After all, what would you say to your boss if he/she asked you to work 4 to 6 hours for free on an evening in order to 'draw in customers'?

I think that the entitlement generation is alive and well, not considering the effort, enegy, and sacrifice of GMs, owners of FLGS, and others who work in the 'service' industry.

{Yes, FLGS are 'retail'... but so is 'Hot Topic', but you don't see them doing free promotional events every week...}

 

[Insight]

My FLGS is hosting these events free of charge during store hours, so no one is being asked to work extra. I believe at least one of the DMs is a volunteer. The other is a store employee, I believe.

We were so flush with players last night that each table had to go over its limit.

I guess it must be working out pretty well for them.

 

[N0Man]

N0Man, did you ask your FLGS why they were charging? And if they mentioned any of the concerns Smeelbo listed, would you be willing to volunteer your time and energy to the store so that the game could be more of a community building event?

After all, what would you say to your boss if he/she asked you to work 4 to 6 hours for free on an evening in order to 'draw in customers'?

I think that the entitlement generation is alive and well, not considering the effort, enegy, and sacrifice of GMs, owners of FLGS, and others who work in the 'service' industry.

{Yes, FLGS are 'retail'... but so is 'Hot Topic', but you don't see them doing free promotional events every week...}

First of all, I did catch from my call that it was not a store employee that was running the game, so the argument of this being an employee costing the store money while being on the clock is moot.

Secondly, it's my understanding that Encounters events are not 4 to 6 hours, but significantly shorter than that.

Finally, I think your "entitlement generation" comment is not only unwarranted, but more than a bit rude.

It's not a sense of entitlement, it's a simple matter of the fact that charging people to come to a promotional event that is trying to drum up interest for your store and your merchandise is a boneheaded thing to do, and it's shooting your self in the foot. That would be true even before considering the fact that I could get their merchandise cheaper by shopping elsewhere (online).

 

[evildmguy]

I decided to get involved with this and went to Game Day for PH3. I ended up running the adventure instead of playing but was fine with that. A good group of guys and a fun time! Not only was it free but we were told WotC sent out Pizza Hut gcs and we got a pizza for our table out of it! I thought that was awesome!

For myself, I did get the adventure, some previous adventures and some minis from previous game days. I was willing to do it to promote the game, so this was awesome as far as I was concerned!

I then ran the Encounter last night and it was also free. The store here has a completely separate area for gaming that can keep going even if the store is closed. I haven't heard of any problems with it. I was offered the adventure but let them keep it in the store in case corporate (i.e. my wife) wouldn't let me go back to run more! (I think she will so I will get the adventure out of it. And the guy running it offered me more tokens and other items!) I think it's great but this store has been a great thing for the community and having tables and space to play whatever games customers wanted.

I understand what people are saying, including store owners, and each area is going to be different. Where this store is, I am pretty sure there are open stores, so any rent is probably better than none and we are lucky they don't charge us for using it. I don't know if an entry fee would put me off or not.

I hope everyone had fun that is playing or running them! I had fun running it and am looking forward to next week!

edg

 

[Dire Bare]

N0Man, did you ask your FLGS why they were charging? And if they mentioned any of the concerns Smeelbo listed, would you be willing to volunteer your time and energy to the store so that the game could be more of a community building event?

After all, what would you say to your boss if he/she asked you to work 4 to 6 hours for free on an evening in order to 'draw in customers'?

I think that the entitlement generation is alive and well, not considering the effort, enegy, and sacrifice of GMs, owners of FLGS, and others who work in the 'service' industry.

{Yes, FLGS are 'retail'... but so is 'Hot Topic', but you don't see them doing free promotional events every week...}

It's not "entitlement" to expect a game store to need to earn my business. If you are a game store owner, you have to give me good reasons to shop at your store and not at Amazon.com. I don't support retail businesses out of a sense of charity. Running smart free promotional events is one way to do that.

Stores like Hot Topic are mainstream and don't need to run promotional events . . . but they do run sales and promotions none the less.

 

[Seonaid]

I would never pay a fee just to participate, but I always make a point to buy something when I attend these sorts of things. I want to show the FLGS that hosting these events is good for their bottom line and to encourage more of it in the future.

I agree.

MY FLGS is charging a dollar to play in one of the Encounters sessions, but they are upfront that this money goes directly to the DMs as a thank you.

I don't have a problem with that.

Really? If the fee is optional, I'm cool with it, but if the fee is required, that's not fair. It's my understanding that DMs are running as volunteers. In my world, volunteers can be compensated for their efforts, but it's not mandatory. I'd have more problems with THIS scenario than the store saying, "Please donate a dollar if you had fun," or something to that effect.

And if they mentioned any of the concerns Smeelbo listed, would you be willing to volunteer your time and energy to the store so that the game could be more of a community building event?

After all, what would you say to your boss if he/she asked you to work 4 to 6 hours for free on an evening in order to 'draw in customers'?

I think the disconnect here is your use of "volunteer" in the first paragraph and "work" in the second.