Overread wrote:I mean that model is the same business model for ANY game store. 3rd party or own brand. The only difference is that brand stores are bound to limited product lines and want to support those lines.
Also a good many
GW stores only have a small number of tables these days - they have 2 or 3 not 20 or 30. So they can't afford to have tables taken up playing games that can't be sold to people walking past.
yeah I get it, it is their biz, they can do what they want. They will also do everything to market their product and not market any other product or competitor. It is biz 101, but at some level you gotta like take care of your community too. Look at the big backlash in D&D right now with the OGL revision where WOTC wanted to maximize their monetization of their product. They almost got most of their customers to quit using their product.
3rd party stores of course have different interests. Many might not be as fussy, but they might also charge you to use the tables (flat charge or a subscription fee); they might limit table times - eg Wargames get set times and days and the rest of the time its board games or - for many - card games.
Of course this is relative to your stores and locations, but the 3 big gaming stores near me I have gone to and talked to employees recently, they don't care if you use proxies. As long as everyone else is cool with it. They get that the hobby is expensive as hell, and not very accessible, and they want to make it more accessible. I have also seen a lot of stores have both public and private tables. Public are first come first serve, and private you gotta rent so you schedule. The private ones are in a different room so you get some level of privacy.
Also you can bet if a 3rd party store were only seeing people playing with out of print models (so only bought and traded second hand and not through the store); or 3d printed ones (where the store isn't providing a printing service); then you can bet their rules would start to change. Free tables might be charged for; supported games might be imposed.
Not in my experience, which is anecdotal. I have tons and old hammer models, and models from games like Star Wars table top (circa 1992), Mutant Chronicles Warzone, L5R, and other minis that are from games that no longer exist. As long as you are up front with your gaming group and everyone is cool with non official models they are generally in my personal experience ok with this. Also, so many people have 3D printers now, and 3D printers are sometimes the only way to get parts for your old hammer models, or for models from games that don't exist anymore. Like Epic
40k, totally defunct and dead game, but if you wanted to play it, you can find all the custom proxy minis online to print and play. This is what makes 3D printing pretty damn great, you can resurrect old games that are no longer in print. I have been thinking about printing a 3D dungeon set for Warhammer Quest myself since I enjoyed that game and it is a fun game to co-
op with your pals.
However, it is always up to the biz owner of these stores to settle the rules and expectations. Since I buy other things from these stores (dice,
RPG books, other minis, terrain bits, lots of paints, etc) I think they know their customers are gonna spend money every time they are there vs kicking them out for not having the official models.
At the end of the day, as much as the staff might love gaming in all its forms, stores have to break even and profit from business. Gaming space is part of that and its also part of advertising for the store. It has to earn its keep otherwise the store stops earning money and passion from the staff is not food on the table or rent and taxes.
This is exactly why you allow for proxies and 3D printed models. Stores aren't moving
GW product like crazy because it is uber expensive and that means it is not as accessible to gamers than their cheaper competitors. If you are in the game store 1-2 times a week playing games with your fellow community members, you are much more likely to purchase things in the store each visit, versus not going at all since your stuff is banned and not spending any money there. I have definitely purchased more non
GW stuff in the past few months getting back into table top gaming than I did
40k stuff. I bought the cheapest starter kit with the rules and a space wolf dreadnought since I cannot find my old hammer bjorn the fell handed. Some how Bjorn got lost when I stored all my old hammer minis in boxes in my friends and family's basements. I have on the other hand purchased tons of paints, terrain building materials, cans of primer and sealant, tons of tools and other modeling items, etc from the game stores. They have so much more to sell than the super expesnive
GW boxed sets, and I feel they move that product more often simply because it is more accessible to the general public.
Bottom line is, I definitely make sure to spend a few dollars every time I go to the game stores because I want them to remain in business, but I don't plan on dropping over $150 for a tiny war band of minis when I have 100s to 1000s of existing miniatures I have purchased over the years. Things I don't have or need fixing I will 3D print. I will probably buy some official newer models here and there, but damn dude I just got burned on all my
WHFB armies when I found out so many of them are just not useful anymore.