I think I might be seeing the end of the RPG shop concept in this area?

[Kalshane]

Which ones normaly shrink wrap?
Which ones are not cramped?
Which ones do stink-balls frequent?

My FLGS fails on all three counts. Which is why, in addition to the 20 minute drive to get there, I normally order all my stuff online these days. The owner's a really nice guy and knows his stuff, but yeah, not the greatest shopping experience. The only time I ever go nowadays is when I need minis or dice, because pictures on the net never look the same as the actual product.

Sad thing is, when I first started going there, it only had the third problem. It was a little cramped, but not terrible. Then he remodeled and added a bunch more shelving and now you can barely squeeze between the rows and all the books are wrapped in plastic.

There's another store that sells RPGs 20 minutes in the other direction, which is none of the above, but the sense going in there is it's a comic shop first and the RPGs are an afterthought. Plus people tend to look at you funny if you're not a regular, so I don't tend to go there either.

I had a major bit of culture shock a few years back when I was visiting a friend in another state and she took me to her FLGS. It was brightly lit, clean, well-organized and the girl behind the counter was very obviously a teeny-bopper working a retail job rather than a gamer working in a game store. It felt like I'd walked into a Gap with RPGs instead of clothes. Very disconcerting.

 

[jim pinto]

hey billy,

stores started dying off in socal about 2 years ago and 6 months ago, we saw four disappear all at once

people just go to the local con to pick up games now... it won't be long before socal will be larps and old school dnd players

- jim

Hell, I might as well ask if D&D is pretty much done as a business.

Around my neck of the woods, I'd have to say yes.

I haven't really been out "making the rounds" of the FLGS of late, but I had the day off today and thought I'd just go out and browse.

Most D&D/D20 stuff I saw was massively discounted. I grabbed quite a bit of it.

• Waterdeep Hardcover: 5 bucks
  
• Complete Arcane: 6 bucks
  
• Expanded Psionics Handbook: 4 bucks
  
• Fiend Folio: 4 bucks
  
• Complete Divine: 5 bucks
  
• Sorcery and Steam: 4 bucks
  
• Sovereign Stone: 3 bucks
  
• Aberrant: 3 bucks
  
• Star Trek-The Roleplaying Game: 4 bucks

And these weren't all at one store having a sale or anything. These are from three seperate stores in the area.

They are still doing great on CCG, Collectible Figures and Comics...but it looks like Tabletop RPG's aren't selling to well.

 

[Psion]

Why should they keep stocking major RPG titles? They are being seriously undercut by online stores. The ones I see surviving have a bigger market in traditional and card games or comics.

Which is sort of sad, really. While I had hoped that online venues would take up the slack when making connections, they don't seem to be making the cut. B&M stores still seem to be the best place to recruit through, and if they are threatened, the hobby could be endangered.

 

[Pepster]

I dropped by my closest FLGS last Friday on my day off. Even though they stock RPG's, I usually buy boardgames and minis there. It's just that I can get what I'm looking for online, cheaper than retail. The FLGS only has 3 shelves of RPG materials there and doesn't have the selection of my online supplier. I support my FLGS a little, but honestly it's impulse buys and nothing else.

Pepster

 

[philreed]

Here, in Austin, I've noticed a significant decrease in the amount of RPG material at our local store.

 

[ssampier]

...

I had a major bit of culture shock a few years back when I was visiting a friend in another state and she took me to her FLGS. It was brightly lit, clean, well-organized and the girl behind the counter was very obviously a teeny-bopper working a retail job rather than a gamer working in a game store. It felt like I'd walked into a Gap with RPGs instead of clothes. Very disconcerting.

Judging from the few game store I have frequented, at least one gamer has a girlfriend somewhere.

But that doesn't really answer the biggest question, "Was she hot?"

 

[Kae'Yoss]

My FLGS fails on all three counts. Which is why, in addition to the 20 minute drive to get there, I normally order all my stuff online these days. The owner's a really nice guy and knows his stuff, but yeah, not the greatest shopping experience.

See, that's why online stores were able to get a food into the door in the first place, or at least one of the reasons. And also why they're going so strong.

Sure, the great prices are one reason, but others buy online because they'd have to take a couple of days off to get there only to get a less-than-stellar shopping experience. Might as well stay home and have stuff sent to me. The service isn't any worse.

Plus people tend to look at you funny if you're not a regular, so I don't tend to go there either.

... and more of the same. It doesn't seem to be a singular experience. Far from it.

That's why many of those stores go under. Many of those stores deserve to go under. We can just hope that these two subsets of stores are identical.

I hope this is a cyclical problem and that rpgs will rise again. I'd really hate to see our hobby die because, well, because I want to keep playing!

I don't see RPGs die out any time soon.

I do believe that fear of 4E is causing many people to keep their money firmly in their wallets. I am not sure if I agree with the pantsless Hal that 4E will completely kill D&D because it will fragment the player base irretrievably, but I think it's a fair possibility.

Did 3e kill off D&D completely? Not at all (I'd say it did the opposite). And I'm pretty sure the changes 4e will bring are far less extreme than 3e's.

Plus, D&D isn't exactly the only game with several editions. Others have survived to this day, too.

Edit: Also, I'm not sure we can say yet if we're seeing the death throes of the hobby or the birth pangs of the future standard retail model.

I'd rather say the latter. So many other things are moving to online sales, why not RPG? It's mostly books, and those are being sold online for some time now.

Given North American + European populations, and how few people are really into "our thing", even with WoW, EQ, and other suchgames, we are a strange bunch!

Accept it !

Embrace it !

The halls sure were pretty crowded yesterday. We aren't so few after all, I'd say. We just know how to hide.

Gotta get a liitle too close to know that much, don't ya?

It seems that you underestimate the Stench.

 

[ColonelHardisson]

My favorite game shop where I'm originally from in Ohio just went under. The owner cited both a sagging economy in the area, and a distinct drop-off in interest in face-to-face/pen & paper RPG playing.

 

[Glyfair]

I do believe that fear of 4E is causing many people to keep their money firmly in their wallets.

I was at my FLGS today and the buzz was that a lot of game companies are in trouble and most of them are non-d20/D&D game companies. If it was 4E anxiety that was causing this, then I expect that these companies would be doing better (as some gamers go to companies that won't be directly afffected by the switch).