Would you pay to play?

[Kzach]

So, a few weeks ago I posted a thread about how I could go about helping an FLGS that had open tables for RPG gaming make a profit without having to buy RPG (specifically 4e) books. It was a great thread with a lot of great ideas and I was happy moving forward guilt-free playing in the store.

As things turn out, I didn't know they had planned to charge to play in the store after all. After this week, if I want to sit at a table, I have to pay $5 every time. Or I can get a yearly membership for $50 which allows me to use the tables whenever I want without extra charge.

This brings up several issues for me.

One is that I kinda resent having to pay to play. There are other stores that have similar set-ups, are far more organised and don't charge. Why should I pay there when I can go to another store and not pay anything?

The store runs a casual game (with a store employee as the DM) that has anywhere from four to ten players. It's an ok game with decent people, but it's not worth paying for.

I've tried my best to set-up WPN events with them and offered to become an Event Organiser but they're either uninterested or can't be bothered. I've offered to help them get Encounters sessions up and running which they expressed interest in doing but had on their own failed to make work and again, got stonewalled.

I then resorted to advertising in the store and online and tried to recruit players into an open game which is still an active project but currently has no committed players. So far I've had four people express interest and none of them turn up. To continue this project, I'd have to pay the membership fee or the surcharge, with no guarantee of ever having any players turn up.

So from my point of view, I have very little incentive to pay the fee. Not only that, but with a pay to play fee in place, I'm thinking it's less likely now that I will ever get players since they'd have to pay every time they turned up, and there's no assurance for them that there will be a group to play in.

I like the store well enough and the people that run it (well, most of them), but as of now I just don't see this as a means to successfully engender a healthy RPG community in the store. I was happy to support them in other ways, like by buying drinks and dice and general RPG gear there, even though it would be more expensive than buying it online, but this whole fee thing has really turned me off. I'm in a quandary as to whether I should pay or vote with my wallet and walk away.

What would you do?

 

[billd91]

Is that $5 per person or $5 per game at the table and for how long is the slot? I wouldn't be too keen on paying $5 each for a 3-hour slot or something like that. But unlimited time and perhaps a bulk discount for larger numbers of players (say, a $25-30 cap on per game fees) and I'd say pay the fee.

 

[Raven Crowking]

You play at home, you pay rent or taxes to use the space there, too.

You just don't think of it that way.

Since you wanted to support the store, though, and you were asking for viable suggestions, this seems more like "problem solved" than "new problem", to me.


RC

 

[Umbran]

I occasionally play live action games, and there you usually have to pay to play. So, the idea's not anathema to me.

It seems to me that $5 for access to an evening's entertainment is a nominal fee, a small thing by today's standards. Compare that fee with other things in your life: what you spend on coffee, movies, or what have you. If you get as much or more enjoyment out of the games there than you get from those other things, then the fee is worth it.

Why should you pay here, when you can go somewhere else and not pay? Unless the games are better, or the people are better, or the location is better, then there's no reason. Go to the other store already, and the issue is resolved.

 

[delericho]

I'm not particularly against paying to play, at least in principle. If a game store wishes to charge for the use of their space, then that doesn't seem unreasonable. If there were a truly exceptional DM in town, I might consider paying for a spot.

And, of course, there are all the incidental costs we pay anyway: books, minis and dice to buy; convention entry fees; and the ever-present snacks of course!

However...

Based on your post, I wouldn't pay that store the price they are asking for what you seem to be getting in turn.

Firstly, $5 per session seems excessive. The $50 annual membership is a little more reasonable, but only if you expect to game there almost every week. So, that's strike one.

Secondly, there doesn't seem to be enough interest to sustain it. Paying to run a game where there just isn't the interest from players is foolish. Strike two.

And, frankly, it just doesn't seem that the management of the store really know how to make that a success.

So, in your shoes, I would walk away.

 

[delericho]

You play at home, you pay rent or taxes to use the space there, too.

Presumably, you have to pay the same rent/taxes whether you game at home or not?

 

[Umbran]

I wouldn't be too keen on paying $5 each for a 3-hour slot or something like that.

Why not?

Say a bunch of you go out to the movies. Depending on your location, you're probably paying something like $8 each for 90 minutes or 2 hours of entertainment. Let us be gracious, and say it is $4 each per hour.

$5 each for even an entire slot (which is probably at least three hours, if not the entire evening) doesn't compare favorably with that?

 

[Umbran]

Presumably, you have to pay the same rent/taxes whether you game at home or not?

When we bought our house, my wife and I made a conscious decision to get a place that would accommodate certain kinds of entertaining, like gaming sessions and small dinner parties. The space, location, and parking required were things we considered.

If we didn't want to entertain, we could have taken a smaller place, less well laid out, farther away from our friends, with worse parking, and paid a whole lot less. So, no, if we didn't want to game at home, we probably wouldn't be paying the same.

 

[Kzach]

Is that $5 per person or $5 per game at the table and for how long is the slot? I wouldn't be too keen on paying $5 each for a 3-hour slot or something like that. But unlimited time and perhaps a bulk discount for larger numbers of players (say, a $25-30 cap on per game fees) and I'd say pay the fee.

$5 per person. There is no stated time limit. The space is somewhat limited though so realistically you could only have two groups playing there without each group significantly impacting each other via noise, movement, etc.

Originally my hope had been to become part of an RPG community where I could both game with people on a regular basis and run games myself. Primarily my intent was to cherry-pick some players for a long-term campaign, either at the store or elsewhere. But without the opportunity to foster that community through things like running D&D Encounters or Living games, I'm just not certain that the 'community' will grow beyond what is already there which seems basically to consist of about six or so core people. And even then, now that the fee has kicked in, I went there last night and half the people who usually were there, weren't.

This group seems to have their gaming already organised, however and don't seem interested in other gaming. And my biggest concern is that anyone walking in off the street will be presented with this fee without even a trial period. I know if I had walked in there after this fee was in place, without any opportunity to actually check the scene out, I would've walked straight out again. The only real reason I'm debating this is because I've already become somewhat involved in the scene there.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Or to put it differently- the space taken up by the tables in the store costs just as much for the store owners to rent as the space taken up by the shelves of merchandise, so it either has to contribute to the profits directly (by generating money from playing fees), indirectly (increasing traffic enough to boost sales- hard to measure dependably) or be subsidized (by higher prices on the merchandise sold in the store).

If not, the owner is better off ditching the tables and putting in more shelving, because it's just a drain to his profits otherwise.

****

To answer the OP, I would pay $5 to pay if I had no other place to play and I liked the space offered. It seems reasonable to me, compared to the cost of a movie ticket.