The Monetization of D&D Play

[cbwjm]

Where I sometimes okay or is $7. $2 goes to the DM and the other $5 remains as store credit. This is just gaming though, I don't think anyone is playing AL. As is, If the DM has to buy the AL modules then it seems fair to receive some compensation.

 

[Dausuul]

Thoughts:

• It's entirely reasonable for a business to charge for use of the space. Ideally they would provide the space for free and make up the money through increased sales. But if they aren't able to make up the money through sales, then I don't have a problem with charging up front.
• $5 per person for several hours is a fair price. I wouldn't go much higher, but then I live in an area where the cost of living is rock bottom.
• That said, I'm not gonna pay for the space if it comes with a crappy DM. I wouldn't play with a crappy DM for free, why on earth would I shell out money?
• "Pickup" D&D is always going to have a quality problem. When you find yourself in a group with a good DM and good players, nobody wants to throw away a good thing. You're apt to form a regular group and game at somebody's kitchen table, thus taking all those folks off the market. So if someone is still on the market, there's a significant chance that person is a jerk whom nobody wants to play with. It's like dating after college.
• Paying for space is fine, and I could see the store waiving the fee for the DM to encourage people to take on the role. But going beyond that to where the DM is actually being paid... I don't think I would want to play with someone who was DMing for pay, even if they were quite good at it. It just feels weird, y'know? D&D is a way to socialize with friends, or with people who might become friends. It's hard* to establish a friendship with someone you're paying to be there.
• Paying for XP is so far beyond the pale I can't even. No. Just no.

[SIZE=-2]*Not impossible. But hard, and you have to be very careful about boundaries and not trying to take advantage.[/SIZE]

 

[Jefe Bergenstein]

You have sinned. More minis than you need? Blasphemy!

Agreed. I don't have more minis than I need. I have less SPACE than I need. Oh Mighty Kickstarter Gods, may my wife never find out the true value of the unpainted contents of the hoard closet.

I'm totally against paying for exp, and feel that should probably be reported after the details are established. I have no problem with stores charging for people to play or offering incentives for DM's to run, as we're a more limited commodity. That dad would have spent WAY more going to a movie with his kids. I do think it's best to probably take such fees in the form of store credit. If you're paying full retail AND paying for space, the FLGS loses a lot of it's value.

 

[Li Shenron]

I don't play at FLGS but I think it's ok to charge, it's not that different from paying for a couple of hours of snooker or bowling.

OTOH being paid to DM doesn't convince me. I am usually the DM, and if they paid me 20e it would mean nothing to me, but if they offered me some serious money I would probably take it very seriously. The problem would be then, if it would start to feel like a job instead of fun. But to their merit, they say in the OP that the DM doesn't earn cash but store credit ... getting a free book or set of dice for DMing would have an entirely different (good) feel!

 

[Warmaster Horus]

I don't play at FLGS but I think it's ok to charge, it's not that different from paying for a couple of hours of snooker or bowling.

OTOH being paid to DM doesn't convince me. I am usually the DM, and if they paid me 20e it would mean nothing to me, but if they offered me some serious money I would probably take it very seriously. The problem would be then, if it would start to feel like a job instead of fun. But to their merit, they say in the OP that the DM doesn't earn cash but store credit ... getting a free book or set of dice for DMing would have an entirely different (good) feel!

As a general practice I don't think paid DMs are a thing to worry much about. My FLGS gives me a bit of store credit for running, just enough to shave a few bucks off of new releases. However I don't want to close the door on really good, paid DMs becoming a thing. Out of the many, many DMs I've had over the course of my life I've had just a handful who were truly exceptional storytellers and gamerunners - a very rare combination. If there was a market out there that encouraged these types of game masters and winnowed out the chaff and they were available for the occasional special game, I'd be interested.

 

[abirdcall]

Paying for entertainment is a reasonable thing.

Minimum expectations for public DMs is also a good thing.

Personally I play at home with friends. If I were to go to a place and be entertained by someone I could see paying for it. It's the same for video games. I can play them at home or I can go to a video game bar and pay to play there.

 

[hejtmane]

I have no problems with people charging to run a game. There may be a market for this and more power to them I personally am not one to charge or ever pay a DM to play their game. I understand paying for use of facilities to help cover cost and would require everyone to pay there part if I was not hosting it at home and we were using a facility that charged.

 

[Blue]

FLGS pay rent to have the space to offer games of various types. With the trends toward buying online (they can't compete with Amazon), they are selling a lot less product and not covering those costs. (Source: Two close friends who ran gaming stores in two states for over a decade apiece, both going out of business.)

So, the option is gaming stores moving to locations with less square footage and not offering gaming, which has a cycle of not attracting customers, not showing off games to new customers, etc. Or finding an alternate income stream to cover the cost of offering those tables.

From talks with them over the years, I can pretty safely say that RPGs rode the coat-tails of the CCG events in terms of having free space available to game. Because those could cover the costs. (Except Yu-Gi-Oh - for some reason both friends did not do well on sales from regular Yu-Gi-Oh events.)

One of those friend now runs a gaming club. It charges per seat to play (with DMs getting a ticket for a free play elsewhere). It has walls of shelves of minis, sells food/drink for $1 each, and has a very limited selection of product, mostly dice and things you'd need at a game.

The Adventurer's League wrote an article about them: http://dndadventurersleague.org/spotlight-nn-adventuring-company/

The article is a bit dated now, it's been open for several years since it was written. The run primarily AL and their own AL-like world, Dark Earth, where there are many DMs in a shared world running different parts of a meta-theme and you can move back and forth between them to see the bigger picture.

And yes, it regularly is all tables running, even though "pay for a seat" is still something the wider gamer population still questions.

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

Very true. At any one session of my home group:

• 1 person brings chips
• 1 person brings beer
• 1 person brings a cheese and fruit tray
• 1 person makes something from scratch
• 1 person (me) cleans the house, provides a dip of some sort, wine, and my amateur mixologist skills if requested
• 1 person freeloads and brings nothing

Even "free" home games aren't free. Unless you freeload.

 

[Mallus]

There's a system of reroll tickets (say 5 for $10) at some of our local games, ostensibly for charity but extending into our normal games as well. I understand it being tolerated for special events but it's not something I want to insinuate itself as common practice in general public play.

I kinda love the idea of "cheating for charity" at public D&D events. Socially conscious and funny at the same time!