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mikhaila wrote:. They probabaly snack down on 20 bucks of junkfood a night, ...

And so long as they're buying it in store, there's your problem solved...

lord_blackfang wrote:I think the store is being really clumsy in its attempt to forcefully wrangle a few measly bucks out of regular customers and the loss of respect will cost them a lot more in the long run.

A manager worth his salt would reward participants, not punish them. In my FLGS participants in such events get a discount on related product, and the discount in bigger for new players. Turns out the trick to making money is to make people happy to give it to you, not force them.

I agree with Lord Blackfang. Beowulf, you should tell your store manager this. If a gaming store finds it more likable to take away privileges, then that is a store not worth going to. Customers should be treated nicely, and customers have to return the favor, lest they have a bunch of alternative places they can go to buy products.

insaniak wrote:

mikhaila wrote:. They probabaly snack down on 20 bucks of junkfood a night, ...

And so long as they're buying it in store, there's your problem solved...

If only it were so, but I've seen that most people coming in for RPG's in the stores I've talked to, tend to order pizza, Mcdonalds, or Chick Filet, and bring a lot of their own snacks, tea, and soda. A store with snacks can make some money off them selling things. (Mine being an exception, even if our lease allowed, there is way too many food places in a mall to make it worthwhile.)

Addressing the subject of the thread since I haven't read the whole thing:

It depends. If it's something specific that I absolutely will use in the event and likely use after, then sure. If it's not something useful, I'd prefer to pay an entry fee. Of course, I'd rather not pay anything at all, but at the same time I support the game stores I play at by buying my game supplies there.

mikhaila wrote:If only it were so, but I've seen that most people coming in for RPG's in the stores I've talked to, tend to order pizza, Mcdonalds, or Chick Filet, and bring a lot of their own snacks, tea, and soda. A store with snacks can make some money off them selling things. (Mine being an exception, even if our lease allowed, there is way too many food places in a mall to make it worthwhile.)

The store I worked at years back sold all the usual snack food and drinks, and just barred customers from bringing in from outside anything that we sold. So they could still have their pizza and whatnot, but were generally pretty happy with just buying our (mostly reasonably priced) snacks.

Admittedly it probably helped that we were in a basement shop, across the road from the mall... so buying from anywhere else (other than coffee from the cafe upstairs) meant climbing a flight of stairs and crossing the road.

LumenPraebeo wrote:

lord_blackfang wrote:I think the store is being really clumsy in its attempt to forcefully wrangle a few measly bucks out of regular customers and the loss of respect will cost them a lot more in the long run.

A manager worth his salt would reward participants, not punish them. In my FLGS participants in such events get a discount on related product, and the discount in bigger for new players. Turns out the trick to making money is to make people happy to give it to you, not force them.

I agree with Lord Blackfang. Beowulf, you should tell your store manager this. If a gaming store finds it more likable to take away privileges, then that is a store not worth going to. Customers should be treated nicely, and customers have to return the favor, lest they have a bunch of alternative places they can go to buy products.

and customers have to return the favor This part seems to be the weak link in the deal. Everyone wants a nice air conditioned store to play in for free, with comfy chairs and no strings attatched. But they don't always return the favor, and some never do. It seems silly to have to state it, but: Returning the favor means buying stuff from the store! When that doesn't happen, you're going to see stores try to weed out the dead beats by making them pay the whopping huge fee of 62 cents a week.

I am amazed at all the chest thumping and gamer drama that the situation the OP described has created. 7.98 for a 13 week season of gaming in the store? And people are whining about it? Skip one double expresso cinamon late and you cover the cost.

mikhaila wrote:I am amazed at all the chest thumping and gamer drama that the situation the OP described has created. 7.98 for a 13 week season of gaming in the store? And people are whining about it? Skip one double expresso cinamon late and you cover the cost.

Are you really surprised? A sizable proportion of gamers are incredibly cheap and will always try to get something for nothing (unless you count being graced by their presence at payment). I came to this realization when I was approached by a fellow weekly 40k player at my FLGS back in 3rd edition when I commented about possibly starting a second army. This was during the days of anyone opening up a games "store" in their closet via distributors to get the discount... He gave me his card in the middle of the games store that he played at on a weekly basis for years before and after (including that very day) to try to get me to buy from him at a 30% discount instead of the store. That was his "thank you" to the owners for running a well stocked, well run games store with room for a dozen 40k sized tables. A set of cards that are meant for use in the encounter or a gift certificate for the store if you already have them is not punishing players.

Most people are incredibly cheap

Fixed.

And hell, one of those cards may help your 12 level Assassin/demi-demon/Paladin to beat up that pesky boss down in the 19th level of the Pit of ultimate doom.

Personally, if I was playing, I'd be buying packs every week and spending them in the game like a drunken sailor in a 2 dollar whorehouse.

My local GW had a tournement last month for Space Hulk where you had to have either terminators or genestealers and had either bought them for the tournement or spent $50 within the last week. Safe to say, not many people came.

I will say the card thing is not unreasonable at all.

Happygrunt wrote:My local GW had a tournement last month for Space Hulk where you had to have either terminators or genestealers and had either bought them for the tournement or spent $50 within the last week. Safe to say, not many people came.

Yeah, $50 is waaaay too much for a single local one day event without mega prize support and is pretty much the opposite of what the OP mentioned here (a multimonth series of events costs less than a buck a week).

mikhaila wrote:Personally, if I was playing, I'd be buying packs every week and spending them in the game like a drunken sailor in a 2 dollar whorehouse.

Wait, wait... you can spend these cards for better in-game effects at any time?? They're not just some booster supplement?

Dear god, I'd be shelling out $20 a day to crush my way through scenarios by brute 'loot' force!

sourclams wrote:

mikhaila wrote:Personally, if I was playing, I'd be buying packs every week and spending them in the game like a drunken sailor in a 2 dollar whorehouse.

Wait, wait... you can spend these cards for better in-game effects at any time?? They're not just some booster supplement?

Dear god, I'd be shelling out $20 a day to crush my way through scenarios by brute 'loot' force!

While I haven't actually played with them myself, I've read a few review of them. They basically are drawn randomly from the deck and give you additional effects in the RPG. Some of the common ones (they have different levels of rarity) have a benefit at the expense of a disadvantage while the rare ones tend to just icing on the cake with no downside. They're not one use only as Mikhalia's post seems to be hinting at (although I don't think he means to). You don't have to give them permanently to the DM so buying multiple packs just gets you more of those rares I mentioned above.