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Thankfully, I don't think I've had this experience at my local GW. I think one time, a guy didn't smell all that great, but I was able to avoid him most of the time I was there. Was he terribly offensive... I wouldn't say so. He was unpleasant, but not unbearable.

Now, back when I was playing MTG, that was WAY different. There was a father and son pair that were there every Friday Night Magic that obviously did not bathe but once per week at most. My word, they smelled terrible. People would leave the play area (seats 80 people... massive) because those two smelled so badly.

Now, we get to even more fun. So, at that same location, I played D&D Encounters (when it was still around... hate that WotC pulled that as it's the only way I could possibly play with my current schedule). Our DM was really good. Only a couple of times did our group come up with a situation or line in a conversation that he didn't immediately have a great response to. BUT... he worked at McDonald's and definitely had no sense of personal hygiene. He smelled horrible. To make it doubly worse, he had no teeth. To make it triply worse, he would have to tear his food up into small pieces (getting it all over his hands) so that he could place it in his mouth in a place where he could gum it to death and eat with what little tooth-like protrusions were left (again getting it all over his hands). THEN... THEN, he would go and touch our miniatures on the map without wiping his hands off. UGH!

SG

 ServiceGames wrote:
BUT... he worked at McDonald's and definitely had no sense of personal hygiene. He smelled horrible. To make it doubly worse, he had no teeth. To make it triply worse, he would have to tear his food up into small pieces (getting it all over his hands) so that he could place it in his mouth in a place where he could gum it to death and eat with what little tooth-like protrusions were left (again getting it all over his hands). THEN... THEN, he would go and touch our miniatures on the map without wiping his hands off. UGH!

That's actually awful. I just wouldn't be able to play like that, especially the model touching.

 Backspacehacker wrote:
I can appreciate that, but tolerence ends when you begin to interfear with my pleasure and enjoyment of a hobby, everyone gets one.
Call me cold hearted and intolerant, but if you infringe on my free time, and my hobby and enjoyment, and begin to crap up my very limited time I have to relax and enjoy myself, I will kindly tell you there is an issue once, after that piss off. Someone has autism or what ever and end up having some nervous tick, or send weird quark that's annoying but not interfering with my fine. If you smell like hot garbage leave.

Well, you are definitely channeling into the "lizard brain" end of things that I feel myself: my play time is short and therefore precious.
It is very easy to say I would not tolerate any discomfort to my recreation.
Like with any social interaction, it is acceptable to give preference to those you most enjoy playing with so some of this particular issue can be avoided.
One small problem: it is their time too and some discomforts are part and parcel in choosing to play a social game.
The real kicker is tournaments or say organized play like the MTG Friday nights: you may have no choice of opponent.
It may even be a worthwhile thing to suggest how the experience could be made better if certain social graces are attended to.

In some cases, blunt and intolerant behavior can be more offensive than a person's smell.
We all have our challenges that need work, sometimes we need a "polite" reminder.
I would strongly suggest not using the line "I stank less working at the pig farm." on someone like I did in one of my less stellar moments (onions, unwashed armpit, possibly laundry left wet too long before drying and a finishing touch of halitosis of an eye watering nature [braces not cleaned I think] at a GW shop).

We don't have many hygiene problems at my shop, but there is the occasional phantom farter.

I'm still shocked that you're all just accepting the fact that we're assumed to have to wear clothes.

craggy wrote:
I'm still shocked that you're all just accepting the fact that we're assumed to have to wear clothes.

You haven't seen what I measure with.

 Insectum7 wrote:

craggy wrote:
I'm still shocked that you're all just accepting the fact that we're assumed to have to wear clothes.

You haven't seen what I measure with.

And what do you use when you aren't verifying unit coherency?

 EnTyme wrote:

 Insectum7 wrote:

craggy wrote:
I'm still shocked that you're all just accepting the fact that we're assumed to have to wear clothes.

You haven't seen what I measure with.

And what do you use when you aren't verifying unit coherency?

Something other than my big toe, obviously.

 Insectum7 wrote:

 EnTyme wrote:

 Insectum7 wrote:

craggy wrote:
I'm still shocked that you're all just accepting the fact that we're assumed to have to wear clothes.

You haven't seen what I measure with.

And what do you use when you aren't verifying unit coherency?

Something other than my big toe, obviously.

"Hold on, this is an 8 inch move"

THWAP

"That's 2 inches there..let me scoot over a little bit.."

THWAP

"4..."

THWAP

This is devolving into a whole new set of hygiene issues.
I think this has reached it's "logical conclusion" for me.

In my experience, this sort of issue has never come up in the miniature games circles I frequent, but it's rampant among Norwegian MtG players. I usually attend the annual board games convention in Oslo, and you can tell by the smell which floor is set aside for MtG.

On a similar note, I've known a number of board gamers with deviant grooming/personal hygiene habits, because the board gaming scene tend to attract people with atypical social skills and/or alternative attitudes to hygiene and living standards.

The most funky guy I've ever played regularly was basically homeless, on principle, which would have made asking him to shower more difficult. I would describe him as smelling like dead cats, but it was probably just sweat and marijuana. He was eventually deported, but for other reasons.