Amazon.com no more for game purchases: Hypothetical...

[Vaulx]

I only buy books from my FLGS. It's a great place to hang out and the customer service is awesome. If they went out of business, it would be a huge loss for me, so they get my money.

So to answer the OP's question, it really wouldn't affect me in any way if RPG publishers stopped offering their wares through websites.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

That said, my local FLGS, Dragon's Lair, seems to be concentrating a lot more on minis and comics these days, and gives very little thought to new game releases.

Sorry to hear that- I used to love that store. I wonder what happened- perhaps they stopped having enough people buy RPG stuff there. Of course, that's a chicken & the egg type question that only the owners can answer.

If companies are going to do the whole LGS only thing then they've effectively lost my dollar. I've explained this before and got jumped on for it, but I'll do it again. I try to make my gaming budget stretch. So If I can get two items for a little over the price that I pay for one that's a good thing.

Short term, perhaps. Long term, maybe not so much- whether it is or isn't is highly fact dependent.

My LGS does nothing for me but sell me stuff. They do nothing for me outside of that so I feel no particular loyalty to them.

I'm sorry your LGS experience has been so poor. And because it has been so poor, your position is much more understandable & defensible. A LGS that doesn't support & grow its local gamer community in some way doesn't deserve any loyalty.

If worse comes to worse I'll go PDF only for the stuff I want I'm darn near close tp that as it is.

I guess I'm your evil opposite!

If/when the industry goes PDF only, I'll stop buying.

 

[Treebore]

Yeah, you know what? I usually don't buy big purchases through my LGS. I'm actually going to get RAR and Ptolus from my LGS.

But after that I'm done.

If companies are going to do the whole LGS only thing then they've effectively lost my ... With Monte and Necromancer Games going that route they've effectively lost a customer (after RAR and Ptolus). The WOTC books I can get at Amazon and will continue to do so...will go toward other stuff that I like, like DVD's and miniature games.

Let me make one thing clear, RA:R was a one time product, so far, for Necromancer. All their upcoming modules from Kenzer and White Wolf will be done normally. The City of Brass boxed set should also be "normal", when it comes out.

So Necromancer hasn't lost anyone as a customer who may think RA:R is their new "normal" way of doing things. If you run into anyone who thinks RA:R is the new normal way of Necromancer doing business, correct them.

Kenzers announcement of dropping d20 also does not effect the Necromancer releases being done through them. At least not that I have heard about yet.

 

[Aaron L]

You know, I've never even seen one of these FLGSs where they have a staff that knows about games, people play in the store, or have games other than D&D. To me theyre mythical beasts like unicorns and gorillas.

 

[Jack Morgan]

I buy mostly from amazon.com. The whole support your LGS thing amuses me to a certain extent. I just don't see how it can be construed as my resposibility to keep someone else's buisness going. A lot of comics fans have the same fetish. Even the large game store here (northern CO) doesn't carry much of what I want. Last week i went to one of the two I frequent with money to spend- they'd moved. it had been less than a week since I'd been in there. I saw no sign or anything until I went in and they were gone. Deeply annoyed I went home and spent my money on amazon. Learning to live with mail order has made me a more patient person. A more patient person who occasionally has a nice surprose waiting in the mail box.
further more, I've got two little ones, I go to college full time- and as of last week I am (volentarily) unemployed. My wife is so tight with the money (rightly so, too) she squeaks. So it's amazon or nothing for me- which is too bad, because i was mildly interested in ptolis.

 

[cignus_pfaccari]

I like to be able to look at the book in the store and see if I like it.

That's possible in, say, Barnes & Noble for D&D books, and Borders for Exalted, but I'm not gonna see Shadowrun or other non-major games in either.

Besides, I like my FNSLGS.

 

[Fishbone]

Here is the thing. The store is nice, the owner is pretty cool, and I like to use the place for drafting and playing sealed and Friday Night Magic. Its a great place to play Mage Knight, Warhammer, Warlord, Magic:The Gathering, or roleplay at the dry erase tables. But for getting books? Hell freakin' no, man. I find other ways to support the store, whether its an open game night to introduce people to certain games, run a card tourney and unofficially judge it, advertise for the store, spread it by word of mouth. The thing is 35 bucks ain't cutting it when I can get it for 20, 60 bucks for three books ain't cutting it when I can trade or get it in a 30 dollar lot. Money is money, and the money I save by trading and going online usually finds its way back to the FLGS.

 

[mhacdebhandia]

If gasoline is US$3 per gallon, on average . . .

1 gallon = 3.785 litres.

Therefore 1 litre of petrol costs 3/3.785 = roughly US$0.79.

US$0.79 = A$1.04.

Last night cars were lining up to take advantage of the few petrol stations that were selling unleaded for A$1.31 per litre. Most stations sell for A$1.41 or A$1.46 per litre these days.

A$1.31 per litre = roughly US$3.75 per gallon . . .

Americans, quit your bitching.

 

[Fishbone]

Why should we quit our bitching over it though? America has always found a way to secure cheap gas, now gas is over 3 dollars across the nation. It really will get interesting if 4 dollar gas/100+ a barrel hits. The taxes on European gasoline are also much higher than even the U.S.'s ludicrous rates, so buying gas gets you more than gas, too. And I know gas is 3.50 or 3.75 a gallon, I feel your pain, but wouldn't you bitch if it increased in price over 100 percent in two years or would you not complain because its 9 dollars a gallon in Norway? Perspective is everything.

 

[satori01]

Honestly if the holy Trimuvarte of Amazon, Buy.Com, and Overstock.com were out of the loop, my buying would go substantially down in terms of hard copies, which mainly would effect my WOTC purchases.

PDF purchases would stay the same. I pretty much refuse to pay full price for a hardcover book with one Major Exception: Ptolus. I do not remember AU/AE having that much of a discount on Amazon or BN.com, so I might have paid close to full price on those. If I had to pay full price on say the Complete Series or the Race Series I would never buy them. With online coupons, free shipping, and the fact that often one online retailer will have the same book for dollars less than the competitors, those books in the $15-$17 range are worthwhile.

Same goes for Minature line. The Gargantuan Black Dragon mini is worth it to me @ $18, not the ridiculous MSRP. Hell the thing is much uglier than the McFarland Dragon line and those run around $11, and I see them discounted in stores for $8 all the time.