D&D General Micro transactions, D&D and bookstores

[Ancalagon]

Game Stores Look to Microtransactions in Dungeons & Dragons to Boost Revenue

A recent retailer column explores the unlikely intersection between Dungeons & Dragons and the [...]

comicbook.com

If I'm a DM and you insist that you have a +1 bonus because you won it in a gumball machine...

 

[darjr]

Yea, I do not like that aspect. For charity AL games once in a while, OK, but that’s getting stale.

 

[aco175]

I guess if I'm playing at a store that sells these, but it is kind of like cheating. I would be more cool with it if the money was going to charity or something though.

 

[Tony Vargas]

Stores were charging to play back in the 80s, and some have been, in this area (where, to be fair, commercial rent is outrageous) since 3e brought D&D back on the scene.

Fortune cards didn't exactly provoke a violent revolution, either.

Of course, MtG is still popular, too, so hardly unfamiliar.

If it helps keep the FLGS doors open, what the heck.

 

[Reynard]

It's not a big surprise considering players (in the rare instance they bother to buy a book at all) frequent Amszon rather than their FLGS and WotC helps push DnDBeyond as an alternative to a dead tree library. You can't really blame the stores for trying to figure out how to get some revenue from their table space, especially considering Magic has a built in model for doing so.

Here's the thing: tabletop RPGs are the cheapest, best dollar to time entertainment value there is. That's awesome for the user but makes it hard to monetize. I can buy a PHB and some dice and literally be good for a decade. That's a tough pill to swallow for a store with monthly overhead.

I think stores should make good, welcoming, safe places to play and go ahead and charge a price for that space IN STORE CREDIT. One of the FLGS around here does that and it's brilliant: you can still get product for your money, but it guarantees sales.

 

[LordEntrails]

I'm all for FLGSs trying new things. The old model (free gaming space and making money off of product sales) certainly isn't going to keep them profitable. So charging for space or something like this doesn't bother me.

It of course assumes the DM's all have to allow them, but the stores can make the rules for playing in them so that's fine.

 

[Ancalagon]

Oh I'm ok with charging for space! It's the in game stuff I object to.

 

[Zardnaar]

I like the idea of a table charge for store credit. Pain to keep track of though.

Our one is gold coin donation or buy something. Something cannot be a can of drink, I don't get charged as I'm buying the books off him and DM.

 

[StormbringerAUS]

We pay here (Canberra, Australia) to play at the game store with the DMs getting free drink and store credit, so I have no issue with this at all as it helps keep the shop open and the service running.
The idea of money having in game effects is something I can never get on board with no matter how micro the transaction - if this happened I would simple leave the game (as I have done with a couple of computer games already.

 

[Shiroiken]

IME, it depends on what the stores focus is. I've not done much RPG at FLGS, but I have done a lot of board gaming. Most stores seem to focus on CCGs as their primary revenue, as they are by far the most lucrative product. For them, unless there's a CCG event where they need the space, they don't care much if the tables are used for other activities, as they pickup some revenue from selling snacks/drinks. I know of one store that focuses on miniature gaming, and they get a large chunk of extra revenue by renting out storage lockers (which is really convenient for any type of gaming, really). Another store focuses almost entirely on RPG and board games, but they supplement it with a video game center with recliners and big screen TVs (they don't sell video games, so I think it's strange). If a store wanted to charge for table space, we'd certainly find somewhere else to play.

The biggest issue with micro-transactions for gaming bonuses is getting everyone to agree to accept them. As a DM, if the requirement to run a game at the store was to allow them, I'd probably do so, but it would reduce my seriousness of this game. The store could also try the same thing for board games, allowing a re-roll, bonus resource, or card draw, but I don't think most board gamers would even consider allowing such a thing (I'd view it as cheating).

 

[Bitbrain]

This is giving me EA-flashbacks. Do Not Like.

[insert off-topic, spittle-flying negative rant about EA of your choice here, which probably wouldn’t be helpful to the discussion and is already something I have voiced my opinions about on other websites. Repeatedly.]

Well, I guess this means that I am never playing D&D at a game store ever again.

And I’ll be buying my books exclusively from Amazon now, thank you very much.

 

[doctorhook]

This is an idea that needs a feather-touch, because I think it could go really well or really poorly depending on how it’s done.

“Pay to win” is a bad model, but I can also understand a struggling game store trying to boost their revenue. Maybe if these gumball-machine purchases were exclusively magical consumables?

 

[Charlaquin]

It's not a big surprise considering players (in the rare instance they bother to buy a book at all) frequent Amszon rather than their FLGS and WotC helps push DnDBeyond as an alternative to a dead tree library. You can't really blame the stores for trying to figure out how to get some revenue from their table space, especially considering Magic has a built in model for doing so.

Here's the thing: tabletop RPGs are the cheapest, best dollar to time entertainment value there is. That's awesome for the user but makes it hard to monetize. I can buy a PHB and some dice and literally be good for a decade. That's a tough pill to swallow for a store with monthly overhead.

I think stores should make good, welcoming, safe places to play and go ahead and charge a price for that space IN STORE CREDIT. One of the FLGS around here does that and it's brilliant: you can still get product for your money, but it guarantees sales.

That’s a really smart way to do it.

 

[happyhermit]

This is surely the future, the hobby needs more GMs and this is the way to encourage that, we just need Wotc to publish some official price lists for home games who don't have the time to work it out. What do I charge for advantage on a roll, for example, a buck seems a little high? The real money maker will probably be magic items though, or maybe automatic death saves, I could really tweak the game to maximize revenue there. Now I kinda wish this was core, maybe we do need a 6e.

Can't wait to run this past my players!

 

[Ancalagon]

This is surely the future, the hobby needs more GMs and this is the way to encourage that, we just need Wotc to publish some official price lists for home games who don't have the time to work it out. What do I charge for advantage on a roll, for example, a buck seems a little high? The real money maker will probably be magic items though, or maybe automatic death saves, I could really tweak the game to maximize revenue there. Now I kinda wish this was core, maybe we do need a 6e.

Can't wait to run this past my players!

If you can't beat them, join them. I'm going to charge a quarter per stat point. Want to start with a natural 18 in strength? That will be 4.50$ please.

edit: I'm thinking too small. I need a D&D stock exchange. People will be buying wisdom derivatives, options on gold and shorting wands in no time!

 

[doctorhook]

If you can't beat them, join them. I'm going to charge a quarter per stat point. Want to start with a natural 18 in strength? That will be 4.50$ please.

edit: I'm thinking too small. I need a D&D stock exchange. People will be buying wisdom derivatives, options on gold and shorting wands in no time!

If you’re playing 5e, invest in Dex!

 

[Yaarel]

I think stores should make good, welcoming, safe places to play and go ahead and charge a price for that space IN STORE CREDIT. One of the FLGS around here does that and it's brilliant: you can still get product for your money, but it guarantees sales.

So, you pay money to use the space for gaming − but then you get this money back in the form of products.

That really is a good idea.

 

[Leatherhead]

Microtansactions, especially random ones, are under heavy fire from governing bodies at the moment. I wouldn't count on this being a long term solution.

If you can't beat them, join them. I'm going to charge a quarter per stat point. Want to start with a natural 18 in strength? That will be 4.50$ please.

edit: I'm thinking too small. I need a D&D stock exchange. People will be buying wisdom derivatives, options on gold and shorting wands in no time!

If you’re playing 5e, invest in Dex!

This has me legitimately wondering about using a point buy system where the entire group has to buy stats from the same pool.

 

[Ash Mantle]

I remember reading about Wizards Play stores a while back, but back when it was advertised in Dragon magazine these were stores where you didn't just play Magic but you could also play roleplaying and board games, and I believe PC games as well. I remember the image they used had tables set aside for roleplaying and board games, as well as terminals for PC games.
I think these stores also doubled as a LFGS, where you could buy supplements, and boardgames.

It'd be excellent if Wizards could partner with the brick-and-mortar LFGS and revive their Play stores, ideally these brick-and-mortar LFGS would remain independent but also receive investment and incentives from Wizards, and ideally from other RPG companies. Wizards could discount their books and other products further for these stores, offering similar discounts to Amazon.

Ideally with this they could create more gaming spaces for people, incentivising people to visit and play in their game stores as well as spending money, and as a consequence may increase profits for the stores as well, and move the focus back to the stores and away from Amazon.

 

[Fenris-77]

Having worked at more than one FLGS in my misspent youth, I can tell you that getting people into the store is always the tough part. Having space to run games, whether minis, RPGs or card based, is a key feature. I don't have any problem with stores monetizing this up to a point - the space itself is an ongoing cost, and it's providing a valuable service for people who lack the space to run game X at home. Shifting that cost directly into store credit is a great idea.