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Message: <blockquote data-quote="BSF" data-source="post: 2923751" data-attributes="member: 13098">Absolutely!  But right now there is nothing that adequately replaces the FLGS in the industry.  Even EN World only has 40,000+ registered members.  At any given time, there are 1000-1200 members online.  I can walk into my LGS on a Friday night and see 30 people.  I can walk into the other store in town at the same time and see another 15-20 people.  So there are 30 more places like Albuquerque in the world, EN World has about the same size active community.  If there are more, then EN World begins to look smaller and smaller.I think this is a stopgap solution.  Monte is simply trying things out while different community outlets grow and the possibility for a new distribution model might erupt.  Or maybe not!  But this is one way he can still release product while waiting to see where the "industry" goes.  While this should be true, it isn't entirely true.  There is a lot of inertia to overcome because the distribution chain exists for good historical reasons.  The developments in technology have made it easier for producers of product to sidestep the dsitribution chain.  But for many smaller businesses, even direct sales to the customer is still a significant impact on time and energy.  PDF only publishers are able to do that somewhat successfully.  Especially with the growth of RPGNow, DTRPG and the ENGS.  But there is still a significant portion of the population that does not like PDF.  I'm not ready to say we are at a crisis point in the industry.  But having watched a lot of conversations for the past couple of years, and having my own experience in various types of retail & distribution industries, I see a lot of potential for many smaller companies to decide it is not worth their time to remain in this business.</blockquote>

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