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RopeCon Preparations

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RopeCon, the largest non-commercial gaming-related event in Europe (or something like that) begins tomorrow. I’ll be there over the weekend, as will many members of our “guild”, including Lauri.

Well, so far it sucks. I was trying to get some sort of grasp on what games I should participate in, but the problem is that the program page is missing events, such as one event I preregistered for. Gladly, I know the organizer, so I could easily get the right time, but I’m sure there are plenty of interested parties, who don’t even know about it, because you can’t find it on the page.

Also, I scanned through the RPGs at the event. Sadly, they are listed in a format with a very poor usability, with all the descriptions on their own individual pages. So, I have to load a bunch of pages to find out what these games are about. Even then, most of the descriptions are poorly written and seem to be missing plenty of information, including the game system in many cases. Also, many of the GMs seem to have gone for a short tagline, which they feel is enough. Mostly, it isn’t. They are just not descriptive enough. They are basically just stating the system in other terms.

One thing I always wonder about: Do the GMs who have “refined” or “developed” a popular system to suit their personal tastes, really think they are marketing game properly by informing us of that? I guess there are some people out there who can really make an existing system better, but even so, trying to make a system better for a con is just not a good idea. There are players out there, who know the system already. If you change it, you lose some of the advantage of using a known system. There is a learning curve to games. Why make players go through it again for some self-glorification? Especially, since we all know most of these changes are generally damaging to the game.

… but hey, I’m going to try and have some fun. I’ll try to make at least three games and I’ll report on them Monday, if not before. Although participating in the games of the guests of honor would be great, I’m not banking on that and my primary goal is to take part in a MonsterHearts game and traumatize someone permanently. There are also a Fiasco and a Dungeon World games, but scheduling everything is hard, because so many of the interesting games either overlap or are on Sunday, which means I probably don’t get to participate in pretty much anything I want to. I can’t really blame anyone… except maybe the GMs who could run more interesting games, so I wouldn’t have to try to juggle the few interesting games.

The State of Gaming Stores (from a Finnish Perspective)

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Note about my expertise on the subject: I don’t really know much about this specific business, but as an entrepreneur I do know something about business in general. I don’t really know whether I’m qualified to give my opinion on the subject, but as I have said before, why would that stop me from doing so.

Last fall, a new gaming store was opened about a block away from my office. Understandably, I visit it quite often. I try to make FNMs (Friday Night Magic, for those of you not in the know) and buy all the sleaves I need. I go there for comics and to get board games. They do have some roleplaying games, but nothing that would strike my fancy, because, obviously, they are working on a very narrow part of that market, which reflects the more popular items, rather than the items that would interest me, which are pushing the media. Understandably, they can’t cater to my needs in that sense.

I just found it strange that according to all the reports from the US, the brick-and-mortar hobby shops are a dying breed. This shop, on the other hand, seems to thrive, since they have a lot of stuff they just can’t seem to keep on stock. There are always people in the store browsing for something. From what I know, there are more of these new places all over Finland. Even in the smaller towns.

So, if they can thrive (based on my perception, which I hope is accurate), why?

First, they have a very central location. You can’t get much more central in this city than they are. They are below street level, but that doesn’t seem to be a problem, because they are still very visible. Interested people will stop by, because its so accessible.

Second, they have activities. Besides the aforementioned FNM, they draft Magic on Wednesday’s and there’s some other activity for every day of the week, including Warhammer and WH40K, painting, PathFinder Society, board games and probably something else I’m forgetting. Obviously, people who see these things happening are going to be interested. Not everyone, but some. Everyone needs to find their hobbies somehow. Also, when you go there to play, or whatever, there is always going to be some downtime. What do you do with that downtime? I don’t know about others, but I browse. Comics mostly.

Third, they have a good mix of all sorts of stuff. I don’t know anyone who wouldn’t find something interesting in that place. Besides the TCG stuff, the RPGs, the comics, the board games and the miniature games, they have PC and console games, used movies, latex weaponry, movie memorabilia, nerdy books, toys and so forth. If you go in there to buy, lets say, sleaves, there’s a good chance something else will catch your eye.

Obviously, none of these things work on everyone, but they work on enough people.

The business is still probably problematic. Think about how often you can purchase something cheaper from the Internet if you just have the inclination to shop there. Getting a PDF of a roleplaying game is often much handier than the book itself. On the other hand, many people just enjoy handling the item they are going to buy. Even among the younger generations. They also enjoy the social interaction with people with same interests in an environment where everything doesn’t have to devolve into a flame war.