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Well this come up the other day tryed to find out when a store around in my region holds Tournments. Ok so i don't play at the store in question and was told basicly no they dont let "store hoppers " play in there events when they do have them WTF

So with that it got me thinking . When i traveled the country and played at many places not once did i ever get told no your not from around here you cant play etc. Thad's how i meet new players etc. Have any of you ever been told or felt your were not welcomed to an event or basally told no you cant play. And is these common in your area ? Iam in western PA

Well, they're idiots. You have to be a regular at the store to play in a tournament? Stupid policy.

Was this for 'ard boyz? Store hoppers are people who would scope out a few 'ard boys locations near each other so they could identify which store had the weakest competition. Then if they lost, they immediately quit and go to a different place on sunday. is that what they were talking about?

Personally, I am a gaming nomad because my local stores had so much drama with a store splitting and the gamers having factions now I attend tourneys for most of my quality play. I support stores with my purchases if they run good events which bring me in or I game at their store otherwise, but I am never going to be 'bound' to one store. If a store was run well enough to be my end all and be all of gaming then I would. otherwise, i go to where the best game is.

No nkelsch It is there policy for all tournemts not just ard boyz which i see in that case but . It goes for all events. still blows my mind when i was told this

Oh well. They can do what they want.

Seems like bad business.

malfred wrote:
Seems like bad business.

Yup.

A friend of mine encountered this at a small store in another state. It's bad business. It represents an insular community who are treating the store like a privater club; and worse than that (private clubs can be a lot of fun) are not open to playing with new people. It's sad.

Chase wrote:

malfred wrote:
Seems like bad business.

Yup.

I don't even have words to describe how dumb this is, so lets just follow the current trend and go with the quoted.

I can honestly say I haven't run into a store that treated people like that in a long time. Though I admit I've never played a tournament myself, all of the stores I've frequented (including Battlegrounds *chuckle*) have encouraged people to come in when they can and I've only run into a rivalry that led an owner or manager to be nasty about you going to another store a couple times. It sounds like you ran into a very clique-y store... and from what I've seen cliques are bad for business in gaming stores.

(edit - OP mentioned area - I currently live in eastern MA, but started gaming in NE PA and frequent a store in Central PA when I get to travel there)

So, they dont let you take place in tournaments if you dont go there every day. Stupid.

I guess they don't like making money...

I've been store hopping for a while now. I happen to live equal distance to 4 different stores. I've been trying to find one that works with my work schedule. I can only ever get out to a store about once every 2 months.

Yeah, I thought the whole draw of tourneys was to draw more people than the normal people int he club or store. If the store is already at capacity every day... then why throw a tourney?

Seems odd.

skullspliter888 wrote:Well this come up the other day tryed to find out when a store around in my region holds Tournments. Ok so i don't play at the store in question and was told basicly no they dont let "store hoppers " play in there events when they do have them WTF

So with that it got me thinking . When i traveled the country and played at many places not once did i ever get told no your not from around here you cant play etc. Thad's how i meet new players etc. Have any of you ever been told or felt your were not welcomed to an event or basally told no you cant play. And is these common in your area ? Iam in western PA

??? Huh, well color me confused. That's a very strange rule, detrimental to the store in my opinion. Many gamers will travel further to play in a tournament than for a couple of friendly games. In fact traveling is part of the fun. Go meet new people, get some challenging games, see some scenery and tables you haven't played on a hundred times. Even better, that store's players might come down to play at tournaments in your local area. This is a good thing for gaming.

Also a good thing for the store. I like to have new people come up for a tournament. I get to show them all the cool stuff I have in the store, and then take every last dime out of their wallet and send them home with cool stuff. If they have a good time at the tournament and spend money at the store, then I've done my job correctly.

Saying "You're not allowed at my Party!" is a very strange type of customer service.

Hmmm... I assume that he won't want to SELL you anything since you don't play there? That's illogical too, but does fit the pattern.

Silly, silly, store.

Move to eastern PA, we'll take your money and let you play in all our tournaments.

mikhaila wrote:

Move to eastern PA,

Don't do it! It's a trap!

we'll take your money and let you play in all our tournaments.

Oh, maybe not.

Did they say what it takes to establish residency at that store? How do they know you are from out of town? Why can't you be a local who can only makes it to the store every now and then?

Can a store that uses GW prize support even turn away "outsiders"

Seems to me that would not be allowed.

mikhaila wrote:

skullspliter888 wrote:Well this come up the other day tryed to find out when a store around in my region holds Tournments. Ok so i don't play at the store in question and was told basicly no they dont let "store hoppers " play in there events when they do have them WTF

So with that it got me thinking . When i traveled the country and played at many places not once did i ever get told no your not from around here you cant play etc. Thad's how i meet new players etc. Have any of you ever been told or felt your were not welcomed to an event or basally told no you cant play. And is these common in your area ? Iam in western PA

??? Huh, well color me confused. That's a very strange rule, detrimental to the store in my opinion. Many gamers will travel further to play in a tournament than for a couple of friendly games. In fact traveling is part of the fun. Go meet new people, get some challenging games, see some scenery and tables you haven't played on a hundred times. Even better, that store's players might come down to play at tournaments in your local area. This is a good thing for gaming.

Also a good thing for the store. I like to have new people come up for a tournament. I get to show them all the cool stuff I have in the store, and then take every last dime out of their wallet and send them home with cool stuff. If they have a good time at the tournament and spend money at the store, then I've done my job correctly.

Saying "You're not allowed at my Party!" is a very strange type of customer service.

Hmmm... I assume that he won't want to SELL you anything since you don't play there? That's illogical too, but does fit the pattern.

Silly, silly, store.

Move to eastern PA, we'll take your money and let you play in all our tournaments.

I swear mikhaila, you have the most honest, and yet most convincing PR talk I've ever heard.

I need to swing by your shop when I come over for Adepticon next year.

HHmm Eastern PA well maybe next tournment season i will go out there and take you up on that offer

Our store wants to get as many players as we can for any sort of event. Leagues, Campaigns, Tourney's. The only "exclusive" event we do it a Club Tourney every year, but anyone can join the club, they just have to be active to be part of that one event, which doesn't have real prizes and is strictly done for the joy of the club and to fund more terrain and what not.

Ketara wrote:
I swear mikhaila, you have the most honest, and yet most convincing PR talk I've ever heard.

I need to swing by your shop when I come over for Adepticon next year.

Always welcome. Probably have a spare bed in the house somewhere if need to spend the night on the way through. Advantages of buying a huge 100 year old houses in need of constant repair. They keep you busy patching them up but I've got 8 bedrooms, and haven't filled them all yet with either kids or gaming tables.

Only time we don't open a tournament to everyone, is for after hours "invite" booze events.

Was it the owner that told you no "store hoping" I wouldn't belive it from anybody but him. If it was I grab a couple 100 dollor worth of stuff put on the counter let him ring it up. Them say "ahhh, never mind I'll buy from a store that wants my money. Maybe then he will start to think about his policy.

Here in KC, the owner of one of our LGS actually goes out of his way to find where people are from and thanks them for coming, he has once or twice given a "consolation" prize to the people who traveled farthest. It's awesome being able to meet new people and see what different tactics people take with an army.

That is truly a bizarre policy. I would have to assume the store is all kinds of dysfunctional if this is the kind of crazy you see at first glance.

I suppose the store can do what they like. Any idea of how often you have to visit normally in order not to be branded a 'hopper'?

It's seems a bit insular but some gamers are a bit like that and some stores are run by gamers, not businessmen.

Their store so they can do what they like but.....man this defeats the purpose of the hobby in my eyes. Bad business to boot.