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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Wicht" data-source="post: 5308171" data-attributes="member: 221">The cynic in you is a poor salesman. I spend quite a bit of my disposable income each year on gaming and I have done so consistently for close to thirty years.  I have an entire wall in my dining room filled with games and have every intention of buying more as I like them. Moreover, I introduce others to games I like, even to the point of choosing to buy games instead of toys for most of my younger relations.   However, my income is not huge and I have to prioritize my shopping and gaming expenditures. That $30 I spend to let my family try a game we may or may not like could also be spent to buy new flip maps, magic cards, gaming books, or even a whole new board game I've heard good things about. That is, while I am perfectly happy spending $30, if that is all I have to spend on games in a week or two, then forcing me to pay $30 to demo the game with my family is going to sour me on the demo unless I'm at a con and have already budgeted several hundred dollars for doing just that very thing.Edit: Also, let me mention Cons, 'cuz it is a fair comparison. You pay at a Con for each session you play in. There are two main differences however, for me, between being willing to pay for demos at a Con and being willing to pay for a demo at a gaming store. The first I mentioned above, I save up for Cons and think of it as a vacation for the family. So, just like I would be willing to pay to go on a ride at a park, I'm willing to pay to play games at a Con. That is, while from the sellers point of view the activity (demoing a game) is largely the same, from my point of view it is not the same: the Con is me paying to be entertained; the in store demo is me paying to see if I want to pay more later. The fact I may decide to buy the game at the Con after playing it is irrelevant as again its a different mental approach on my part. I expect to buy games when I go to a Con (like souvenirs at a park but more practical than a cheap plastic mug I'll never use). These games may or may not correspond to the games I try out at the demos; more often then not I do not buy a game after trying it as I can only afford so many games. This leads into the second difference. At the Con I get to pick and choose which game I pay to play from hundreds of choices. A fraction of the games I try out I may buy but I might also choose to buy something I did not try. The price of the game, the playing experience: it all goes together to inform my decision. But still, I get to try multiple games and then choose a few. At the gaming store this experience is narrowed to one game. I get to try one game and either choose to buy it or not. But as my budget probably only allows for either the demo or buying a game, if I spend the money and don't like the game, there is no upside and I am completely without further options till my funds are renewed. Entertainment wise its a real shot in the dark and not necessarily an optimum way to shop on a regular basis. (and for those that raise the theater comparison: I also avoid theaters and rent DVDs through Netflix and Streaming Video so that if I don't like a given movie I'm not out a huge chunk of my disposable income.)</blockquote>

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