Would you play your game here?

[Aeric]

One of my local game stores has a room set aside for gaming. It's away from the rest of the store, but you can still hear the gaming going on (there's no door and the wall doesn't reach the ceiling) and you can wander back there and watch if you want. It's free during the day, but after a certain hour they charge a flat rate per person. I played in a game there once. I didn't enjoy the experience. Too much noise, too many "lookie-loos" watching us play, etc.

 

[thalmin]

Not everyone has a house to play at. I think most gamers share living space with someone. Parents, siblings, spouse, children, roommates, whatever. Or maybe just not enough room in a small apartment. The situation may not lend itself well to a comfortable gaming environment. It seems most successful gaming stores provide space to play (at least according to informal polls at GAMA).
As to charging for the space, some do but most do not (according to the same polls.) We don't charge, and another local store (now closed) provided free space to play, mostly for miniatures gaming. But two other stores in our area do charge. One is located near a military base, and they have always charged for the space. Another store charges, but gaming there is all ccgs or cmgs and is generally tournaments.

 

[the Jester]

No way. I can host, and if I couldn't, someone else could. The only way I'd pay to play is if there simply was no other way, and I can't imagine how that could happen.

 

[Sound of Azure]

The diaspora of my last gaming group and our friends had a major problem in being able to meet at each other's places. Most of them had grown up in the same (or nearby) neighbourhoods, but had since moved elsewhere within Adelaide. In some cases, it was almost on the opposite side of town. Gaming at one of the player's homes meant that one or two player spend 10 minutes travelling to the game (or were the host) while the others may have spent up to two hours travelling in each direction. That kind of situation was likely to cause a bit of resentment from the long distance guys. The solution was gaming at the "gaming club", Game Wizards, which was located smack dab in the middle of the city. Everyone travelled a bit, plus we could all go out and have dinner/ go to the pub/ what ever in town before we went home.

You could either pay for an extended membership (which was ideal for people with multiple games), or pay a nominal fee each time you came into the club (this is what I did, since I only had one or two games).

This place served as a social hub as well as a gaming venue. Sales of RPGs, TCGs, and even electronic games are made there. There was even the benefit of giving the gamers a bit of exercise ( ), since the place was on the third floor of the building (and the elevator was a death trap). They also had a system of "classifieds" to help people find games if they were looking. Their biggest profits probably came from the snack bar though.

All in all, it was pretty good. I'm not sure about an hourly rate for your club, but the per-visit/ membership system seemed to work well for GW. I like the idea of being able to rent miniatures for players who lack them.

It would be a limited market, due to most people prefering home games (which I do, too). A lot would depend on how the place looked, amenities, the services rendered, and the peripheral services. It would also depend a lot on the nature of the city/town you're setting up in.

 

[Glyfair]

I said no, but the proper answer is probably not.

My local FLGS has a game club attached. They used to charge a monthly membership fee for use (back in the 80s). I did so at the time.

Since then they have decided that the traffic it brings to the store is worth the additional rent they have to pay for it. I believe much of that is because of the explosion of organized play (starting with MtG). With games regularly going on, there is constant traffic of people who buy product at the store. They also get some side traffic from parents who pick up their kids from certain games (Pokemon, etc.) since they have a sizable gift section as well.

Fortunately, the freeloaders are at a minimum. You know the sort, the ones that buy online to save money but still show up and use the store's resources. In fact, the worst of them decry it as a right (these are CCG and miniature gamers, though).

Added to the ability to run games at my apartment when I wish, I see no reason to pay for space. If that situation were to change, I might. Still, I don't see that happening in the near future.

 

[paulsometimes]

The gaming setup would have to be something spectacular for me to pay. While I wouldn't expect an full waiter-type service, it wouldn't be bad if a store employee checked in every so often to see if they could get the group any snacks or drinks. As for miniatures and the like, if I already paid for the space, I'd expect to get at least a few minis to use for free for the session. Privacy would also be a must.

 

[Frostmarrow]

We already pay to play. We rent a basement apartment (not suitable for living) and we have fashioned it to accomodate tabletop games and roleplaying games. We have loads of minis, large battlemats, lots of terrain, and a coffee machine. The walls are lined with huge D&D-maps; Forgotten Realms, Greyhawk, Eberron, Scarred Lands and Kalamar. The whole thing is guarded by a 5' cardboard Regdar and framed by a blood red tapestry.

The roleplaying table have seats for 6+1 and there are one large and one small tabletops. We have a CD-player but no computers, TVs, or other distractions. We even have a ceiling fixture for a projector but we haven't gotten around using one in a game.

 

[Edgewood]

Back in the 80's some friends of mine who were taking business at Concordia University in Montreal and I decided to open up a gaming club called the Montreal Gaming Association. We rented a space above a comic store called Capitaine Quebec that was once a printing press. it had several rooms and one large central space. The owner of the building also owned the store so he allowed us to use the space for a really, really, really low cost IIRC.

There were about a dozen small rooms, two larger rooms and 1 large central room. We actually charged a membership fee to use the space of $5.00 per month and had installed several tables. The small rooms were used for roleplaying and they could hold about 4-5 people (although somewhat cramped). The two larger rooms were used for miniture table top gamers and the large central room had some couches, a small book library and several tables for any type of game. I also remember we had a pile of board games people could use.

We had a great time there. The membership I believe peaked at 60 folks so it was busy. It was the only time I can remember such a place where folks didn't mind paying to play.

 

[Kae'Yoss]

Nah. Got my own dungeon where all the kit has its place. There's internet access, shelves for the books, cases for the minis, all kinds of maps hang on the wall, two armours stand on one side, and a daisho sits on the windowsill (I like the look every new delivery gives us when he spots them ). Peace and noise (both our own and that of others) isn't an issue.

 

[Turanil]

Would you be willing to pay for a gaming location?

I have done that before, and it proved quite convenient. We paid 5$ per player to play from 7 PM to midnight; for some reason shop owner had a rule that the DM didn't have to pay the fee.