tell us any stories about your LGS and it's customerbase, good or bad
>>97865220I want to beat the shit out of this man in the parking lot. Invest in crypto like a proper white nerd, holy shit. Suddenly, all the criticisms the whiny SJWs make sense about the hobby; look at all those fat, slovenly nerds. No muscle, all fat - and despite this, they engage in terrible practices that turn people off from the hobby. Of course I'll take some pronoun-popping hobbyist than a "lifer" like this, holy shit.Anyway does anyone have some good recipes for pancakes. I've got some Dolly Parton mix.
>go to the usual store in the city, check out if there's anything cool I want to get>have a look around at the tables downstairs>kids are going around mocking people for their paintjobs>a few of them are playing>it's just netlists on an almost flat surface deployed on the long side so that they can smash in the middle>meanwhile some guy who thinks he's cool is rolling up a cigarette near the fire exitAnd that's when I decided I would never play in these places.
>>97865302 (Me)>accompany a friend who has to get some comics>there's small tables to play pokemon, yu gi oh or whatever>a grown ass man opens his fancy briefcase and uses an optimized deck to play against a kid that's holding his head in his hands while looking down at the table>the man has the gall to look smugly pleasedWhat's wrong with these people?
>>97865220>walk into shoebox LGS that opened down the street>owners haven't cleaned or renovated the store at all>haven't even bought a sign >there's like a dozen comics and a few board games on the wall>3 obese neckbeards are hunched around the table, sifting through a few thousand MtG cards>all of them have their shoes off, shoes strewn about the miniscule floorspace>store smells like mold and feet>never return>store shuts down a few months later.
>>97865264whats worse is the LGS is letting himthis isn't your usual scalper, but a regular who is currently scalping and the LGS lets him get away with it because he's a loyal customer
So, funny quirk about my usual LGS, it has 2 Yu-gi-oh trophies on display, despite not stocking Yu-gi-oh merchandise, nor hosting any Yu-gi-oh games, they even have a standing policy that if they see you with Yu-gi-oh cards, you’ll be asked to either put them away or leave.I guess in the past (before I started going), they did used to host Yu-gi-oh tournaments, and stocked the cards. But turns out our local Yu-gi-oh community are a bunch of unsocialized gremlins who would trash the store’s gaming area, do shady dealings, counterfeit cards, etc… they were giving the store a bad reputation and making the store’s regulars uncomfortable. So the owners lost their patience and banned the game outright from the store, in its entirety. As I heard it told, the Yu-gi-oh players moved to playing at the Del Taco across the street, until they got banned from there too. Regardless it’s held as one of the reasons the store’s original owners have always been held in high regard. They both died in 2020 from Covid. But the store’s continued to remain open, changed hands a few times, but always remained open. Though it’s lost some of its atmosphere from those days.
>>97865696name the LGS plx
>>97865696Yu-gi-oh is universally banned in my area at the game stores:>never buy anything not even a drink>loud and obnoxious, heavy profanity>cards/decks getting stolen>fights>5-6 things shoplifted during each eventThey were all trouble and no benefit.
>>97865264>I am a touristLemme guess, triefling?
>>97865829bot post?
>>97865349Why wouldn't they?LGS are a business.
>>97865882Selling ALL of a product to one consumer is actually bad for business, since you want as many repeat and happy customers as possible>Dragons Den always sells all its pokemon to that fat guy. Im going to the JokersChest from now on!
>>97865891>Selling ALL of a product to one consumer is actually bad for business, since you want as many repeat and happy customers as possibleDepends entirely on turn-around for the store.If they order in extra accounting for it or can re-stock within 3 days it's no big deal. An easier way for a store to go bankrupt is to refuse to sell to people.
>>97865909They don't refuse they set limits. Your business will not sustain itself if you keep selling all of your product to one person forever. You will drive away an actual customer base in favor of one pig.This is basic business practices, and I'm not really sure why you're arguing against it as though you've come up with some new economic thesis
>>97865772Yeah, because any Yu-gi-oh players over a certain age are unsocialized gremlins. And any players under that age threshold legally can’t work so the money they have to spend is limited.
>>97865220I could never respect an LGS that doesn't have a limit on Pokemon.
>one day I was bored>I decided to try visiting an lgs for a change in search for some game groups>they have magic game groups!>they're the good kind of neckbeards, like human equivalent of dwarves in terms of general mood and humor, playing with them is fun(though I just look when it's edh time because I don't like it)>they dubbed me the Shadowmoor guy because almost all the cards I use are from shadowmoor>when lorwyn eclipsed came out they presented me a few boosters for my birthday I got lucky meeting those lads, bless 'em
>inside is louder than a casino>fat fucks are smelly>hot and moist during summer and winter due to the number of people>outside is full of smokers>is hot as hell during summer and cold in winter>all the terrain are L shape of unpainted mdf>there is an event almost everyday and a tournament every weekend>so if you want to play you either have to play competitive wargames or hope there is an empty table>there aren't other options because I live in the third world and most of the player base it too poor to have a proper clubI hate it hear.
>>97866913commit suicide o algo
>>97866920I could culturally enrich one of your countries.
>>97866944im from india
>>97865220Is every human in the USA fat?
>>97866950Guess my life is not that bad
>>97866952The USA is populated by Americans, anon. Very few humans live there.
>>9786695240% to 70% are obese in the USA.
>>9786698542%, not even in the top 10. What a disgrace. Gringos are getting thinner as years go by, but when they get fat they get their own gravity well.
>>97865220Okay, old grumpy man here…Most of the gaming shops in the UK are basically used by inattentive parents to dump their little shits off at whilst they go have affairs so it's basically a fucking youth club (remember those?) most of the time. Lots of screaming and throwing minis about.My LGS has a booking system for the roleplaying tables and you best bloody use it because they seem to have a magic tournament going every fucking week so if you just want to rock up and play something else you're out of luck. And no it's never promoted beforehand.The place used to be bigger and have more board games and niche stuff but shockingly no one wanted to pay £10 more for a box some sticky fingered goblin has been licking. They have since downsized the shop part of the shop.We have a fortnightly group meet up for people wanting to find people to play roleplaying games with, but it's mostly just a popularity contest. Full of your “actor” types. The ones who are already in with the “cool kids” get swamped with requests whilst people like me wanting to run TOEE get ignored cause we're not doing a homebrew Bridgeton mod for 5e or some other other crap. We have a high student population where I live, so most of the customers for game shops are poncey hipster pricks who have bought their decks online or have watched Critical Role so much they can quote it from memory and don't understand how combat works.
>>97867210critical role and its consequences have been a disaster for the rpg society
>>97866166>not sustainable>sell to him forever>foreverSounds sustainable
>>97867793I have nothing against people playing a narrative focused game in the streamed/recorded vlog style of Critical Role. What I have an issue with is using D&D to do it. The rulebook is 80% about combat, it's balanced for dungeon crawling with limited rest stops. (And thus something like a lore bard + tome warlock multiclass makes the social game a breeze.)Let's say you take something like Legend in the Mist, a system built from the ground up to be a narrative game (and in fact quite a lethal system if you look at the death spiral/5 stacking hits and incapacitate rule). These sorts of players don't want to play LotM because it's not the 5e game they know.Ironically they also don't want to play Daggerheart for the same reason. It becomes about wish fulfillment theater improv with no consequences and not a game where you have to play to not lose. I don't even hate pre-2024 5th Edition, I think it's fine. I just don't like where the hobby has gone.
>>97867856He gets shot or dies from one too many big macs and now you lost your whale AND all the people that got scared off from your store
>>97865882Plenty of stores put limits on how much individual customers can buy, including shit like walmart and pokemon cards, so ask them
>>97865220My LGS has survived fires, burglaries, embezzlement, a child diddling scandal, and the wokeining era.
>>97866952no. just the cattle
>>97866920what does o algo mean again
>>97866952it's our Strategic Calorie Reserve and it can shoot back
>>97865220it STINKSand now that warm weather is upon us it's only going to get worse
Thought I was on /k/ for a second lol
>>97867856Fucking retard lmao go write a book on business practices
>>97865220I no longer go to local game stores regularly. Despite there being 4 in a 2 mile radius in a small city with only around 70,000 people in it. I play board games with my friends inside one of their businesses for one group, and the other group is inside a brewery. The only time I really go to the game stores is to buy card sleeves or an occasional comic. The few times I do go to my comic stores to buy sleeves or comics, it's full of neckbeards and it stinks. They are usually playing TCGs like One Piece, Grand Archive, or MTG. One of the places used to be a restaurant with a banquet hall, and the entire banquet hall is full of tables for games. I'm kind of tired of TCG friendships really. A tournament is absolutely exhausting, and there are so many other things I'd rather do with my time. I like board games mostly because of the variety and social aspect of it. It isn't really competitive and is more relaxing to play.
>>97865220>Be me 2-ish years ago.>New LGS in town. Town is small so it's only LGS in town too.>Go along every weekend for ttrpg nights to support it.>Owned by three people, two dudes and one chick. Dudes kinda don't like that, to be a business, they have to actually make money as a cafe. >Chick is pretty cool though. She knows that to start out the cafe part is always more important, and that owning a building costs money, and yet she's also the least spergy person of the trio.>Their games nights are 'one big setting with multiple paid DM's running 5e, with only the PhB, and at different levels'.>Basically people come in on the night and sit down at random, and the DM runs something like DotMM or LMoF or something.>They're complaining about expenses and have only one paid DM (whom I kinda co-DM with), plus a couple personal games.>Offer to be a rostered DM to main guy. Willing to do it for free, and I've chatted to all of them a lot by now. >Get told no.>Ignore this and take on games and tables myself because eight newfags on one HMF grog DM is too much, and actually have pretty fun sessions there, taking eager 8 year olds with knight PC's on quests for rare flowers and the like.One of the most kino games I've ever had in all honesty.>DM likes that there's someone else there who's fairly experienced in the hobby, who isn't massively autistic and can communicate more than three words a minute.>Leave for two years to go overseas.>Come back. Decide I want to go in for an in-person game.>Rock up, and everyone's sitting in chairs, staring at me with their heads down (I've an athletic, 'scary' build that doesn't immediately suggest a WoD enjoyer).>Go up to the main guy and say "hello again".>Has no idea who I am.>Ask if there are any games going that I can join in on."Do you have a ticket?">lulwut.exe"We have too many people coming in to play games. You need to reserve a ticket prior to the session if you want to play.">Offer to run a game."No."
>>97868489Getting some real autistic vibes from this mother fucker.
>>97865220Mine closed during covid and never reopened. There is a weeb store that technically sells cards but they make the bulk of their money selling overpriced plushies and used manga that they buy in bulk somewhere. There is also a place that sells Warhammer in my town, that is tiny and only opened two days a week with really weird store hours, so I personally never seen them opened. So yeah, I buy my stuff online and only play with people I know from martial arts clubs or occasionally family members. Tried several times playing online and it was always without exception a shitshow, mainly due to scheduling and people not showing up/ghosting.
>>97868067In reality a new whale comes and takes the now available stock>nuh uhK. It may shock you to know many companies have one major client that keeps them afloat
Mine opened in a real small town without much play space. It closed after a year. Me and the boys had to start going to the one 25 minutes away, which isn't too bad but sucked that our place died. We've been coming to the other one for a year or two now. Admittedly it's a much better shop.
>>97865264Even if what you say is right it is not a good idea to choose a lesser evil over what you deem is a worse evil.In the context of an LGS community of course. There are contexts where it is better.I just hate pokemon scalpers mostly because it is becoming dangerously common for scalpers to engage in more insane ways for cardboard crack to scalp online like robberies of varying comical degrees.The Pokemon scalping disease will spread to other card games if it hasn't already and eventually it will reach wargames. If it hasn't already to the level that pokemon scalpers go to get their cards to scalp online.
>>97866952Only old people and minorities.As a chubby chaser, trying to find a fat white zoomette under the age of 25 is like trying to find a fucking unicorn.
>>97867210Sheffield?
>>97870043>America solves its obesity crisis>With inflationComical
>>97865315>Sees Seto Kaiba IRL>is displeasedMad bcuz 3rd rate duelist
>>97869885>The Pokemon scalping disease will spread to other card games if it hasn't already and eventually it will reach wargames.Politely, no it won't, at least nowhere near to the extent and problem Pokemon has. Retards like the Pauls have desperately tried to do it with Yugioh and MTG and are actively failing.The primarily problem is that most people in the Pokemon TCG space dont actually play the fucking game. The cards are glorified NFTs. They hold the same "value" as sports cards like a rookie MJ. Its less a game piece and more a collectible.While there ARE rare and expensive cards in Yugioh and MTG, price is almost completely dictated by powerlevel and popularity as a GAME PIECE. Gaea's Cradle is 700 dollars because it's one of the most powerful lands ever printed, and legal to use in the games most popular format (EDH). Force of Negation is 50 dollars because it sees play in multiple formats and is one of the top 5 best counters of all time.This sams logic applies to Yugioh, albeit differently due to how Konami handles powercreep, archetypes etc. But the same philosophy applies; Expensive cards are expensive because theyre good.You dont need some first edition numbered fractured foil ghost rare artist signature insert to play the game. Youll just get the cheapest, most accessible option.This is where it's really funny to go to any LGS or vendor where you can tell theyre some Pokemon scalping crypto retard and they thought they could break into MTG. All they ever carry is slop from the newest sets and they're bewildered and dont understand that that "special foil mythic alt art" they pulled is fucking worthless because the card is dogshit unplayable and nobody cares.Pokemon? Collectors and investors outnumber players. In MTG and Yugioh its the complete opposite.
>>97870106That was actually a wonderful read anon. Does this whole thing mean that wargaming miniatures are safe from the extreme levels of scalping that Pokemon cards have at the moment?I know that wargaming miniatures are not immune to scalping. I'm talking about the level Pokemon cards face like robberies for cards, physical fights over them the second restocks happen etc. I think the companies benefit heavily from the scalping epidemic on their end and maybe mini companies will see this and want to entice scalping of their products for quick term big profit. Especially with 3D printing (allegedly) getting more easily accessible and usable to the ordinary joe.If the Pokemon Scalping level hits Warhammer I can imagine most game stores will be screwed over as boxes of minis are scalped and fights and even stolen off the tables of ongoing games.
>>97869885>The Pokemon scalping disease will spread to other card games if it hasn't alreadyEurope just passed a law to make pokemon cards "collectible art pieces" so now if you're trying to "invest" in them you'll get taxed to hell.it probably won't stop it but it's at least something
>>97870133 (here)Forgot to add.I will admit that part of me wants to see the insanity happen as I want to feel superior for not taking part in such pursuits of dollars over dignity. Which is why I partly want to see the scalping menace reach Warhammer. But if it does I'll probably suffer too and regret my wishes. >>97870106>Politely, no it won't, at least nowhere near to the extent and problem Pokemon has.How badly would it reach at worst?I need another coffee.
Mostly reminded by the numerous mentions in the thread and this >>97869885 in particular but down here in Australia from what I've noticed LGS are divided into two categories generally; those that ban specific TGCs and those that don't. The ones that do ban them usually ban everything but MtG while the ones that ban none of them invariably garner absolutely scumfuck reputations; there's one particular LGS a couple suburbs away from me that shut it's doors because the owner went to jail. He was prosecuted for unsealing boosters of Pokemon/Yugioh and selling the profitable cards then resealing them with junk filler, which down here is a federal crime. From my perspective TCGs are a net negative to LGS businesses and are only tolerated out of the evil necessity of pulling in profit. So for me, easy way to immediately spot a bad LGS is whether they're banning almost or all TCGs; YMMV.
>>97870043>almost a third of millennial women is obeseAmericans is this true?
I really like my LGS. The staff are friendly (even though a couple of them look scary with piercings and tattoos) and the people who play Warhammer Fantasy there are great. The card game people are a little unpleasant, but they're on their side of the store and the wargamers are on the other, so that's okay. The store caters really hard to people who play card games and 40k, but that's how they make money so that's alright and they do allow and even encourage people to play other games. The guys who play the star wars wargames are kinda mean though, they get real mad at you if you show up wanting to do anything else on "their" night even when there are lots of tables not being used. There's a healthy WHFB community there, sometimes they have really old models from the '80s just waiting to be discovered (I got the chaos renegade that I used to make this fella from there) and that's why the store is great. I'm going to miss it very much, but I've made a lot of memories there over the last four years. If I'm ever back in town, I'll be sure to pop in and see how everyone's doing.
>>97870133>>97870147The thing you have to keep in mind in any hobby or game where Players outnumber Collectors is that players will find a way.I dont want to get into the ethics and opinions about proxying, but the more time you spend in circles of people who play warhames, tabletop rpgs, even Magic, people will find a way to acquire or make game pieces to play with their friends or their LGS. Yes, yes, they aren't condoned for official tournament play, but your average Billy and Jimmy dont give a single fuck about that and just want something to do on a weekend.You joke about 3D printing but theres a reason its taken the hobby by storm. The models are cooler, more varied, more accessible. That's not even getting into the part of the miniatures hobby where alot of people enjoy PAINTING more than they ever give a fuck about PLAYING, so who gives a fuck about whether its an Official GW Chaos Space Marine or an Evil Maelstorm Galaxy Knight, you just want plastic to paint.Pokemons main issue is that most people dont play the game. Theyre more obsessed with grabbing whatever chase card is in the set or collecting their favorite Glorbo, Sproingus, and Glup Shitto.I went to a card show in my state recently just to pick some shit. No joke, all the Pokemon stuff was slabbed up. Nobody gave a shit about the game. I bet you my left nut if you asked half those vendors how to play they'd go cross eyed. All anyone did was talk about market trends and "pop scores" and other crypto adjacent bullshit. Meanwhile when I found one of the two or three actual Magic stalls? Surprise surprise, people and the vendors actually TALKED about the game, their decks, their favorite strategies and formats.I'm not saying the cryptobro bullshit cant infect some of these other hobbies, but it is INFINITELY harder for them when you see just how quickly your average wargames or Magic player will just go "lol fuck you" and play with sticks, stones, and paper scribbles if they have to.
>>97870133> Does this whole thing mean that wargaming miniatures are safe from the extreme levels of scalping that Pokemon cards have at the moment?I honestly don’t see how they could.I mean a wargame’s miniatures are, 90% of the time, sold as model kits. Those kits aren’t going to be “rare” because all players need access to them, they may be locally rare, but if a mini is actually rare and hard to find, it either means the mini is being phased out of the game and probably won’t have rules for it pretty soon if not already (making it worthless), or the game itself isn’t extremely popular in the area/the game is dying, which means there’s likely nobody interested in buying the minis (making them worthless).The only way I can see being able to turn over a profit from reselling wargame miniatures would be to buy the kit, take it home, assemble the kit, paint it, and then resell it as a finished model; but that would only work if the quality of the work was of a higher level than what the average wargamer can produce themselves. But this would require effort, and hard work, and I don’t think that’s what the typical scalper is looking for.
>>97870043Isn’t the joy of architecture building from the ground up? Just feed a bitch anon
>>97870133I don't think that's a possibility. Some of the big box sets GW puts out do get scalped but those boxes are just a bunch of kits bundled together. The really egregious price-gouging only happens with metal models from the '80s and '90s and that's not so much scalping as it is those models just being rare and desirable.
