Raven Crowking
First Post
Ask me again next year.
Most of the RCFG playtest group are in the 19-20 age bracket.
RC
WotC and brick and mortar retail stores - Greg Leeds weighs in
- Thread starter Windjammer
- Start date
Ask me again next year.
Most of the RCFG playtest group are in the 19-20 age bracket.
RC
bouncyhead
Explorer
That certainly matches my personal experience. Started gaming (D&D) in 1977 aged 11 but pretty much gave it a miss from 18-28. We all stayed in touch and played the occasional session for old time's sake but were concentrating on other things. Back with a vengeance now of course. Thank mighty Zeus for d20pro.
pawsplay
Hero
Why? I imagine the dimensions aren't strongly related, and that if you were careful, you could hire staff that was both charismatic and knowledgeable, to a reasonable degree.
Insightful
I agree with the WotC reply to the original discussion, in that brick and mortar stores need to provide other means to drive consumers into the store. I purchase all of my "fixes" online either from Amazon, WotC (DDI) or Paizo. One, I am not rich and two the convenience. I would love to go to my FLGS, but it is by no means "F"riendly. The closest one to me is truly a hobby store with a small section dedicated to Pathfinder and 4E and until recently (just found out and haven't checked it out yet) no RPGA, Encounters or PFS play. The other is ran by some jerk that does provide a great environment, but caters to his friends. So, when you go there to play any organized games, it had better be at the @$$ crack of dawn to get a seat or you will be a onlooker. His friends though have 3 of the 4 tables pre-booked. So, most of my RPG play is done thru MapTools and I intend to stay there.
I agree with the WotC reply to the original discussion, in that brick and mortar stores need to provide other means to drive consumers into the store. I purchase all of my "fixes" online either from Amazon, WotC (DDI) or Paizo. One, I am not rich and two the convenience. I would love to go to my FLGS, but it is by no means "F"riendly. The closest one to me is truly a hobby store with a small section dedicated to Pathfinder and 4E and until recently (just found out and haven't checked it out yet) no RPGA, Encounters or PFS play. The other is ran by some jerk that does provide a great environment, but caters to his friends. So, when you go there to play any organized games, it had better be at the @$$ crack of dawn to get a seat or you will be a onlooker. His friends though have 3 of the 4 tables pre-booked. So, most of my RPG play is done thru MapTools and I intend to stay there.
You need to be sticky....and a good video game helps.
To have a good "bricks and mortar" store, you also need a kick ass website, otherwise your just screwed. Let me give you an example. I was interested in picking up PHB1.
On Amazon it's £15. I went into town, drove the car, in the UK fuel is about $8 per gallon. To get into town and back costs be about £5. Then comes the unbelievable hassle or *parking*. Where I live in the UK, to get a decent parking spot in town is about £6 to £8.
I eventually get to the store, not in stock, find another store, it's there for £20. So in total I must pay,
Petrol £5
Parking £6
Book £15
Total cost £26.
Cost from Amazon £15.
Almost double the cost. And lets be honest, if you're driving in and out, you may pick up a coffee of cigarettes due to the sheer hassle. So what about actually *getting a game* and meeting people? Well Amazon score 0/10....as does the brick and mortar shop pretty much!
In contrast I recently bought a bike from a brick and mortar shop....but the guy has a kick ass website. All his stuff is listed, he has "bundles" to collect, he has meeting places, discussion forums for bike owners, he offers services etc etc.
I can't see how anyone can run a shop just stocking books and expect anyone to come. Moreover it's not impossible to make money running an RPG store. Where I live in Cardiff, the "Games Workshop" store has been there since I was 16 years old. I recently failed my saving throw versus self respect and 20 years later I went inside
The shop was thriving. 2/3 of the shop was taken up with people *playing games* etc. They also have an amazing website to back it all up, calendars, schedules etc etc.
The other huge problem WOTC have at the moment is the *lack of a video game based on DnD*. Kids grow up fast, if you have a "vacant window" while the kids are between say 12-16, their early opinions etc will all be formed by say Warhammer40K (excellent RTS games), or need I say it the dreaded WoW.
WOTC have nothing to show. Any computer game also acts as marketing for the other products. Until recently I was never interested in the WH40K universe, however after playing some 40K games, it was a lot less lame than I thought. I've not bought some fiction books, and may even pick up "dark heresy".
As an anectote I went around shopping for an LCD screen for a virtual table top. Most of the responses I got from the mostly pretty young staff in the shop was, "hey thats a pretty cool idea, I could get into that, you play 40K or something?".....now go figure.
To have a good "bricks and mortar" store, you also need a kick ass website, otherwise your just screwed. Let me give you an example. I was interested in picking up PHB1.
On Amazon it's £15. I went into town, drove the car, in the UK fuel is about $8 per gallon. To get into town and back costs be about £5. Then comes the unbelievable hassle or *parking*. Where I live in the UK, to get a decent parking spot in town is about £6 to £8.
I eventually get to the store, not in stock, find another store, it's there for £20. So in total I must pay,
Petrol £5
Parking £6
Book £15
Total cost £26.
Cost from Amazon £15.
Almost double the cost. And lets be honest, if you're driving in and out, you may pick up a coffee of cigarettes due to the sheer hassle. So what about actually *getting a game* and meeting people? Well Amazon score 0/10....as does the brick and mortar shop pretty much!
In contrast I recently bought a bike from a brick and mortar shop....but the guy has a kick ass website. All his stuff is listed, he has "bundles" to collect, he has meeting places, discussion forums for bike owners, he offers services etc etc.
I can't see how anyone can run a shop just stocking books and expect anyone to come. Moreover it's not impossible to make money running an RPG store. Where I live in Cardiff, the "Games Workshop" store has been there since I was 16 years old. I recently failed my saving throw versus self respect and 20 years later I went inside
The shop was thriving. 2/3 of the shop was taken up with people *playing games* etc. They also have an amazing website to back it all up, calendars, schedules etc etc.The other huge problem WOTC have at the moment is the *lack of a video game based on DnD*. Kids grow up fast, if you have a "vacant window" while the kids are between say 12-16, their early opinions etc will all be formed by say Warhammer40K (excellent RTS games), or need I say it the dreaded WoW.
WOTC have nothing to show. Any computer game also acts as marketing for the other products. Until recently I was never interested in the WH40K universe, however after playing some 40K games, it was a lot less lame than I thought. I've not bought some fiction books, and may even pick up "dark heresy".
As an anectote I went around shopping for an LCD screen for a virtual table top. Most of the responses I got from the mostly pretty young staff in the shop was, "hey thats a pretty cool idea, I could get into that, you play 40K or something?".....now go figure.
Dire Bare
Legend
Actually, there is a current D&D computer game, D&D Online: Eberron Unlimited, a free-to-play MMO. It's actually a pretty good game, but has a low profile. Your point still stands!
renau1g
First Post
Well I OTOH find the 40k RTS games to be a very poor experience so they've turned me off of that setting.
I feel bad you have such a poor store (well that and driving in London sucks). My game store locally hosts both the Encounters weekly game, weekly LFR games, bi-weekly Magic games + 1 game every three weeks for a few of the other settings.
I feel bad you have such a poor store (well that and driving in London sucks). My game store locally hosts both the Encounters weekly game, weekly LFR games, bi-weekly Magic games + 1 game every three weeks for a few of the other settings.
He's in Cardiff, Wales - a different country from London.
London driving certainly sucks, but we have relatively good public transport, when the Underground is running ok - London couldn't function at all without it.
Still, it's notable that 3 of London's 4 GSs (counting Forbidden Planet) are within walking distance of my work, yet I still do most of my purchasing online.
I can't see how anyone can run a shop just stocking books and expect anyone to come. Moreover it's not impossible to make money running an RPG store. Where I live in Cardiff, the "Games Workshop" store has been there since I was 16 years old. I recently failed my saving throw versus self respect and 20 years later I went inside
I wish D&D was this way. Come to a FLGS and see people playing with staff always ready to demo you the game. Wizards should put out a demo kit that any walk in customers can try and then buy. D&D Encounters is good but just the beginning.
You made a good point that gamer kids either go wargaming or mmo.
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