The Monetization of D&D Play

[DRF]

hahahahahahahahahahhahahhaahah What a bunch of free loaders are we.. How two faced bit(beep) about paying a cover charge to play d&d on this site. All right you apes raise your hand ( not you Morrus).
Okay you apes lower your hands if you not a Pateron of Morrus or this site.
Jasper quickly lower his hands and knocks out fifty pushups.

what

 

[doctorbadwolf]

How much do you spend regularly at the stores each time you go? Not including the fee. The Magic card players at my local store carry the rest of us. My local store does not sell a lot to us on game night except $1 soda. What I do is switch out buying from Amazon to Buying from the store. Amazon is CHEAPER BUT LONGER. The Store allows layaway and my product is there on the game night on release.
And anytime a hobby is getting to be real money, you can't afford the hobby.

I definitely disagree with the last statement. There’s nothing wrong with spending “real money” on a hobby. Maybe you have a different definition of “real money” from me (or I think OP)?

Anyway, I think in the long run, people won’t sustain a model of pay-to-play for AL. It’s not really worth it for anything over pocket change. If they aren’t making money on AL night, they should talk to their community of players, and whoever stores talk to at wotc. Wotc could easily allow the giving of exclusive loot cards if you buy certain things during AL night, or something. As long as it isn’t powerful stuff (more stuff like he cloak of billowing), I don’t think people will lose it over it.

 

[pogre]

For me, charging for the game would take some of the joy out of DMing. It would change expectations and affect the game.

For many years I did commission work for painting miniatures. I'm a good painter, occasionally amazing, but consistently very solid. I charged a lot of money and had absolutely no shortage of clients. My wait list got to something like nine months. But then, it really took the joy out of painting for me.

I shut down my commissions and I really enjoy painting again - even with my old eyes.

I bring this up because I think something similar to that experience could happen to me if I charged for D&D sessions. At first glance it looks like - "Hey! I get paid for doing something I love!" But, in the end, it changed the activity in a negative way for me.

 

[FrogReaver]

I definitely disagree with the last statement. There’s nothing wrong with spending “real money” on a hobby. Maybe you have a different definition of “real money” from me (or I think OP)?

Anyway, I think in the long run, people won’t sustain a model of pay-to-play for AL. It’s not really worth it for anything over pocket change. If they aren’t making money on AL night, they should talk to their community of players, and whoever stores talk to at wotc. Wotc could easily allow the giving of exclusive loot cards if you buy certain things during AL night, or something. As long as it isn’t powerful stuff (more stuff like he cloak of billowing), I don’t think people will lose it over it.

People will lose it over that

 

[JacktheRabbit]

If I start paying a few dollars every time I play at the local gaming store can I then demand that the store force the stupid MtG players from playing by yelling at the top of their lungs even when sitting two feet from each other? The cost might just be worth it then.

As a further point, any attempt to charge for DMing is doomed to fail. Do I get a refund for the evening if I feel you made a dick ruling based on a dubious interpretation of the rules and thus killed my Gnomeferatu Barbarian Warlock?

 

[Jefe Bergenstein]

Do people really feel they should just get to squat at a business without making a purchase? Go to a restaurant and sit there with 5 friends for 3-5 hours on a single soda. Gaming stores are folding due to online deep discounts, this is one place's attempt to stay afloat. If the place isn't worth a measly $5 for an afternoon, I would say you don't value it enough to keep it open and you should probably not play there for free. I don't play AL, but if I did I would consider $5 cheap to not have a bunch of randos in my house lol.

Can we stop the pearl clutching over "microtransactions"? This isn't remotely the same.

 

[Irda Ranger]

I'd rather pay a $5 cover charge than feel obligated to buy snacks or drinks that I don't especially want. I try to eat healthy and I'd rather bring myself some carrots and maybe a hummus to share with the table.

It's not like you have to pay this money to play D&D. No one is charging you money to play D&D in your own home or at the park. This is to pay for event space.

 

[Stalker0]

I am absolutely fine paying gaming stores and DMs for the service they offer. It is a service after all. And likewise once I’m paying, I do have some reasonable expectations of quality. For example, having scores for your dm after the game...a rating if you will...is more than reasonable. If a dms rating gets too low, then a new dm should be brought in. and of course if the price gets too high, people are welcome to take their business elsewhere.

The “loot box” notion I am highly against, as thst breaks down the concepts of fairness in tabletop.

 

[neobolts]

I have had one game store that charged a minimal rental fee for the back room. Other than that I never encountered a store charging.

I do not like the idea of paid DMs, although I know they exist. To me it implies that DMing is a service, rather than another participant in a social event. I've heard the arguement that DMing is a huge time investment, but the extra time a DM spends on prep is a fun part of the hobby, not a prelude to billable labor.

 

[BookBarbarian]

Can we stop the pearl clutching over "microtransactions"? This isn't remotely the same.

The micro transaction comments have been in regard to the pay for XP part of the OP. Not the pay for participating in the event part.