Bullying and Community

Today I cover something a little less business-sided and a bit more culturally important to the community of gaming overall.

The head designer of Magic: The Gathering Mark Rosewater replied to a question on his blog that was of a more personal than professional nature: "Do you find on your end you hear much regarding the issues of non-male treatment in Magic? Do you feel it's improving?" His response was very inspirational.

Questions of treatment of women in gaming has always been a tricky subject. The fact that women make up 50% of the gaming market means something has to change though. I know plenty of women enter a game store to stares and slack jawed faces and immediately feel out of place. Or they are just browsing for something new when someone in a game across the room tells a party member they just "ran away like a woman." How is that supposed to make her feel like a member of the community when her mere presence is slighted immediately by the "popular opinion" of nerds trying to sound like "big men"?

I think treatment of others isn't limited to just women either, but rather the way the community treat other people. It's not uncommon to hear in video games as well as game stores the cries of slurs like "faggot" or "retard" or "pussy." Even if these phrases are said in jest or as curses; it's not good enough. There's always the possibility of someone in the room who is transgendered, homosexual, mentally challenged or simply a part of an underrepresented group. If you're fighting magical dragons, building far off civilizations on tiles and living in an imaginary world; I'm pretty sure it isn't a stretch to think up a better interjection than a racial or sexual slur. All it does is bring down the overall intelligence of the community you're playing in to let anger destroy the integrity of the game store you play at.

Bullying comes in a wide array of forms and it isn't just in the traditional "jocks vs. nerds" format, but nerd on nerd bullying can come in the form of ignorance or excuses of it being just a joke. When you call your dice "Faggot dice" for not rolling what you want to roll, you continue to both make it okay to use homosexuality as an insult and are under the impression that because you're calling your dice that; it's okay. You're not calling anyone in the room a faggot, right? That makes it okay. Nevermind the fact that someone in the room may take offense to your screams of insults and can't tell you to shut up because it's "just your dice." It's a double-edged sword to call out your friends or people across the table for fear of accusing them of anything. Traditionally gamers are looked at as outcasts and they come to a game store to find community; so to call someone out is to become the accuser and that is a faux pas of extreme variety in a room full of people seeking common ground.

Being mindful of your phrasing and being ready to buoy up your community of fellow gamers is what is important.

Remembering that not everyone is as loud and ready to shout out their opinions like you are is important.

Remember the person across the table from you is a person with their own story and if you want to be remembered as a hero in their story, then don't become a villain by ignorance.

Counting Chickens, or Branding Them

So I'm knee-deep in forms to secure my beer & wine license and carry bottled/canned beer at my shoppe. It's got me thinking about the future of my store and what it will mean to come to AQ. I made a post on Reddit asking how sustainable my business plan for this license would be, with some success. One of the big questions that popped up at me was: "Will this change the market of gamers who visit your store?"

I think the obvious answer is: Yes.

The big point in bringing people into a game store, especially one they might not have visited before, is what my brand exemplifies. I've spent the past year preaching "Casual gaming, small town feel, play what the community desires." Going forward, I don't think much of that will change, but with beer comes different questions. Will my shoppe be less kid-friendly? Perhaps.

I think if I've learned one thing from living in Colorado this past year and a half it's that families go to bars and breweries all the time. The creation of a bar/game store is the first step in bridging the gap between families only thinking about games as "for kids" and gamers thinking bars are an "after gaming" place. To put the two in the same place is to encourage people to consider that table-top gaming is an adult activity, to be enjoyed with all the benefits of a bar atmosphere and a game store vibe.

As I close in on finishing this process of licensing, I've told folks off the street about my ideas,  (in the past, we had the idea, but never planned on when to follow through, so I never bring it up anymore) and the response has been "Huh, that sounds awesome. Never would've thought of that." Which ultimately makes me wonder if I am at the cusp of discovering the one thing Coloradans haven't followed through on yet and what that might mean going forward. I'm hopeful I can get beer off the ground, make it a profitable venture for the success of the store in the next 12 months, and if it is look at remodeling and expanding the idea into a fully fleshed out bar concept.

Obviously I'm counting my chickens before the forms are turned in, but I'm hopeful so far. I think this could be the key to jump starting the store into a venture worth talking about. I won't just be a "game store" in the Denver area anymore. I'll be a new thing; worth seeking out, worth taking the adventure to visit.  In the end, that's the brand I'd really want for my livelihood. An adventure.

Marketing, or "How to Drive your Competition Crazy"

I've been reading a copy of  "how to drive your competition crazy" by Guy Kawazaki to brush up on my business knowhow, and it's pretty interesting. Getting involved in a small business means you know your competition pretty well, as there aren't more than a few other game stores in the Denver area. All of them are fairly fair away, but those stores that are considered my competition by customers are namely about one thing: Magic or discounts.

Game stores in my area do a lot of Magic sales and that's only 1 night of the week for me, though I compete with them online by having better pricing. The discounted board game market exists pretty fiercely with Black & Read but they lack any kind of playspace or knowledge of the product, which gives me a slight edge in the long term. Discovering how to drive them crazy is mostly about knowing the product better and keeping it in stock or getting in special orders for nerds that need it.

A few questions that were posited in the book are pretty useful for considering the future business strategy of the store itself:
1. What business is your company really in?
2. Where do you see your company in 5, 10, 20, 50 years?
3. If a prospective customer doesn't buy from you, where do they buy it?

1. My business is one of customer service and trust. People come to me because I'm building a community to find like-minded individuals who want to play together, so organized play basically. Coming to me, people know I try to know as much about games as possible and will personally try to find a game that is up their alley and in the vein they require. I have my finger on the pulse of gamers in my area and try to fill their needs and develop relationships for the future.

2. In 5 years, I will hopefully capture a larger Magic market that other stores cannot. Given that based on past experience, 2-3 shoppes in the area will go out of business and won't immediately be replaced, I have to be ready to take their customers when they leave and know how to provide space and product for them. Ideally, I will be doing something different (like beer & wine in the store) that will help me stand out against any store in the area so that I'm not just a well run business people can trust, but a shop innovating on the edge of gaming.

In 10-20 years (hopefully I'll still be here!) I can hope to have a few employees running the shoppe in my stead, able to provide the same services I maintain, and can build the shoppe towards being a destination for gamers all around Denver to venture out to. With the light rail coming to Arvada and the revitalization of the Ralston neighborhood surrounding me, the walk-in/drive-by traffic will increase almost 50% over what it is now, given the trends, so providing a catchy spot to drop in and game will be critical for that. In 20 years, I can hopefully be a pillar of the community that is a one-stop-shoppe for all things gaming that never runs low on stock and always has in the newest games.

3. If people don't buy from me, they go to Black and Read locally, or to Amazon. I can't really prevent that, except by keeping a more flourishing stock of games and being aggressive about getting in preorders in a timely manner. Success in this market requires a constant restock and a full store, as well as the openness to stay clean and friendly for anyone who might come in.

The future is bright, but getting to the point where I can be satisfied with the level that the store is at requires constant diligence over the product I carry. Never letting something get out of stock and finding that new hot thing that people want to play is critical. Hopefully I can remain vigilant and eventually get sales spiking even higher so that I can be paid a living wage and eventually provide for an employee to do the same. I think examining the future marketing needs of my shoppe through watching other stores is a part of it, but getting the revolution of tabletop going myself is key to success, not just survival.

Top Ten Essentials for a Game Store

I watched an interesting interview called "The Top Ten Essentials for a Game Store," featuring Tom Vasel and others and it led me to think: What am I doing right, what am I planning to do, and what do I need to work on? A lot of the things they talk about are things I'm already doing okay at, but their list was intriguing because of the coverage their list tended to have. About 10% of stores they interact with do the things they requested of stores.

Some of the things mentioned were: Keep your store clean, including bathrooms, and without clutter. Have staff that are friendly, informed, and interested in repeat customers. Run a well lit space with areas for playing games and enough room to shop. All of these are basic things that any store should be interested in, so it isn't surprising to see them as the critical steps for a game store to follow. It's more interesting that most game stores do not follow these small steps of running a business because they're generally run more as clubs, playspace for like-minded people, or just a hangout. It's something for me to never lose sight of: That I run a store at the end of the day and everything else is secondary and a benefit to it.

Things I'm planning to do:

• Star Mats for X-Wing nights, so that all our tables look professional and ready to play on instead of just bare wood. 
• Beer & Wine license, so that people can hang out and drink while they play instead of leaving to a local bar. 
• Better lighting by the windows at night.
• A computer interface to browse Magic cards and our prices. 

Things I'm working on:

• Preorders arriving in a timely manner. This has a lot to do with budgets and some to do with diligence of talking to distributors and getting things set aside. I think this will slowly resolve itself as it has gotten better every month since I opened. 
• More diverse food options. Some different snacks and drinks being regularly in stock will help and getting some feedback on what people want me to carry may resolve a bit of that as well. 
• Bigger events. Making our weekends a destination is getting there, but as I continue to reach out to the community with beer & game nights this might eventually get sorted out.

What am I doing right? 

• The store is clean! It's well lit, fairly accessible at all times to any corner of the store to find what you're looking for and still avoid running into tables or other customers. 
• When I preorder a product for people, I try to guarantee (if it's out) that I will get it in before 30 days are up. Usually it takes less than 14 days, but it's critical to me to be the kind of store people can trust to preorder product through and know that it's coming in. 
• Consistency in hours and events. Every night is different, but the crowds that come in to play on those nights know they will have space to play and meet other folks. Priority space goes to the night scheduled, which resolves disagreements in having space to play normally. I post hours and show up during them and try not to stay afterhours too often, so as to keep people used to the closing time. 
• I try to stay up to date on new releases, informed about what games are like other games, and do my best to engage with regulars even though they may play games I do not know how to play. 

When it comes to finding the areas I'm weakest in, there's always going to be a blindspot, but knowing how to critically understand what you're missing going forward is something to keep an eye on. I hope that the areas I'm planning and working on get resolved and replaced by a pile of new things that I need to improve upon, since there should always be a way to work towards a tighter run ship. 

Behind the Quarter

Well, this is how it begins.

This blog is for others to learn from my mistakes and for me to keep track of mine. Running a game store full time is a lot of work: accounting, inventory, pre-orders in a reasonable amount of time, new releases, customer service and event scheduling. There is no area of the store that is unimportant, but as I've only been open 10 months, there's still downtime and ways to improve.

So far Monday-Friday is full every night with people enjoying their particular brand of board game, card game and RPG. It is arguably a success as far as events go. Getting the weekends rolling will happen slowly, but so far getting more games on Saturdays and appealing more to the Olde Town crowd during the mornings is step 1 and 2. A lot of stores take a day off a week or open super late, but it seems like the best bet is to always be available as a store to the local community so as to be relied upon to be open and available for last second purchases. Events work and help us feel less like a store pushing product and more of a place you support to find like-minded nerds.

 On the other hand, being a store means marketing, and finding ways to tell people you are here is key. I've read a lot of advice from other stores over the past few months and I think the way to not spam the world is to be interesting. Post once a day on Facebook so as to stay active and up to date, but not become a thing people want to "hide" from their walls. Post 3 times a day in Twitter, about anything at all really, and see what sticks. With enough followers it could eventually become the event feed for the store or at least create an open dialog with folks about games in general. This is more of a reminder to myself, again, so that I don't let up.

It's so easy to lay back and think: Things are going at a good speed, just let it work itself out. The thing with owning a business is that it must be your passion. I intend to be a personal shopper for any person off the street or for regulars that have been with me from the beginning. I want people to find a game they really enjoy, not just grab one because I said it's good and want a sale. I read something from Black Diamond Games  that struck home with me awhile back: Whenever someone enters the store, part of me lights up to help that person, because I'm genuinely shocked and pleased that someone chose to enter the store and inquire about the things I love.

I am a very stoic man and anyone will tell you they've never seen me excited. At the end of the day, that is just there to temper my world from being too one-way-or-the-other. I feel it is a strength and a weakness, being able to handle stress more easily and not to make rash decisions, though I also never appear super enthused so retail is an odd environment. Thankfully the low-key retail space of a game store means I don't have to be pushy, loud, or overly-attached to work well.

So what is all this? What will this blog be, seeing as it's not a big AQ related blog about new games and the like? It's game theory, store theory, and business from a casual novice who wants to bring transparency to a career that is traditionally impossible to do long-term.