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Message: <blockquote data-quote="haakon1" data-source="post: 5141837" data-attributes="member: 25619">Of altruism and free ridersYou assume people are cheap and like to be free riders.  The tragedy of the commons and all that.That is, you're thinking "homo economicus", that life is all about maximizing utility and so if people can cheat/steal/get away with underpaying, they will.I'd say that's true to some extent, or for some people, but humanity is more complicated.  We are also very much social animals, and one thing people HATE more than anything is a free rider.  From social psychology I've read, people will give us costs to themselves to punish someone who is seen as a free rider/getting away with something.In D&D terms, you are saying man's default alignment is CN/NE.  I'm saying it's LN/NG.(As an aside, anti-free-rider is a really common appeal in political arguments, I think because it's so deeply upsetting, at an animal level, to see people "getting something they don't deserve".  In the US health care debate, I see both sides couching their arguments in these terms.)In fact, come to think of it, the heat of this whole discussion has been about free riders.-- On the one side, the FLGS owners who think gamers are taking a free ride by finding out about games in their shops, then buying online.-- On the other side, the gamers who think FLGS are unnecessary middlemen who are ripping them off and laying a guilt trip on them to get their money.As for businesses that do survive on an altruism model:1) Public radio and TV stations in the US2) US theatrical productions (outside NYC and Vegas).  These are nearly always supported by local bigwigs and businesses.  In Seattle, some even have "name your own price" matinees, where people come in and pay whatever they want for a seat -- some pay $5, some $100.3) Thrift stores for charities (relying on donations for their merchandise).So theoretically, perhaps an FLGS should re-incorporate as a public service non-profit?  I suspect, as with newspapers, many of them are close to non-profit in their financials, though not their incorporation.  <img src="http://www.enworld.org/forum/images/smilies/erm.png"  class="smilie" loading="lazy" alt=":erm:" title="Erm    :erm:" data-shortname=":erm:" /></blockquote>

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