Car News

Thanks for your guys' discussion. I've spent the last few days writing
up a response letter to send to the store. It is a bit long, but I
wanted to cover as many arguments as possible. Please have a look at
this, and let me know if I should make any changes. I will be sending
it tomorrow around lunch time (so as to catch the store before the
long weekend).

Additionally, if either of you would also like to contact the store,
it would certainly help the matter. I am ultimately trying to hone in
on the fact that this policy doesn't address the problem at hand. I'm
sure that you have additional arguments you can contribute.

Bryan

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I am writing with regard to your proposed store policy for the
mezzanine gaming area. I have a number of serious concerns with this
new direction, and I fear that this will only cause damage to the
gaming community and to your store.

The decision to audit events for their worth, based solely on the
amount of money they bring into the store, is very concerning. I feel
that this will prevent other kinds of events from taking place in
store, just as pre-release demos, playtests, and informative events. I
would like to organize a lecture series on a variety of gaming topics
such and group dynamics and game design, and I feel that this policy
could prevent that from taking place. Such events are unlikely to
generate any direct sales for the store, or are unlikely to do so for
some time. If customers feel like they have to "buy something, or get
out," they may be hesitant to turn to the Sentry Box.

Additionally, the decision to audit and events' worth is
inappropriate, as it places value judgments on games and events. Many
gamers play games that either stand alone (such as many board games),
or have very limited release schedules (such as the majority of
roleplaying and miniature games). Many gamers even enjoy games that
are out of print or otherwise difficult to acquire. This means that
the event is unlikely to generate any direct, meaningful sales. By
placing value judgments on such events, you risk forcing these people
out of the store. With little to buy, there is little reason for these
events to take place under this new policy.

I fear that this decision will only drive a wedge through the gaming
community, and will only result in hard feeling and a ghettoized
store. We have all heard stories about roleplayers taking leaf blowers
to conventions in order to fight for space with collectible card game
players. I fear that this will happen, as many customers may feel
marginalized. It is easy and extremely likely for a collectible card
game player to make numerous small purchases during an event. It is
far less likely for a roleplayer, board game player, or even some
miniature game players, to make such purchases. This will lead to
conflicts over space and entitlement issues. I am concerned that a
heated argument over space could lead to purchase wars, where
participants of different events will try to out-buy each other in
order to get space. Even if this does not happen, many gamers could
simply leave the Sentry Box, as they feel that they have no place in
the store. If participants of less financial events see that the store
is favouring, say, collectible card games, they will simply take their
business elsewhere, effectively turning the Sentry Box into a ghetto.

There are even possible concerns with regard to same-category game.
Some product lines simply have more marketing and capital behind them
than other like games. For example, Dungeons and Dragons is more
aggressively marketed, and has a far more active release schedule than
any other roleplaying game. Likewise, Games Workshop has a more active
release schedule than other miniature games. Customers who play games
that have a more product releases will have no problem making
continual purchases, but what about those customers that cannot make
such frequent purchases?

This new policy also poses a problem to customers who purchase
products from outside of a specific product line, such as board game
players purchasing new board game, or roleplayers who purchase
products from product lines unrelated to their event. Such purchases
tend to take place over time, given the high price of new products.
While I agree with you (and other shop owners I have spoken with) that
things like board games hold a greater value and re-playability than
many other forms of entertainment, they also carry a heavier price
tag. A board game player, for example, may only buy a new board game
(in the $80-100 price point) once every several months. Roleplayers
are in a similar situation, as the startup capital on a new game is
often quite high. It is simply unlikely these customers make frequent
purchases when the cost of their target products are as high as they
are. This is not to complain about prices; I am just raising a point
about the frequency in which a customer can buy new products.
Ultimately, all this policy does is place a dollar value on customers
and favors those who can spend more, without considering that
customers are limited in what and how to buy.

Outside of all of these concerns is the operational burden on the
Sentry Box and its staff. There was a later mention that purchases can
be tracked for events that take place after store hours and such.
While you've clearly thought about alternative situations, I would
like to highlight some of the burdens that will be placed on your
staff. The store will need to be tracking events and purchases over an
extremely long time. You will need to create archives and be able to
look at historical trends and purchase data. As you probably know,
this will be a massive burden on you and your staff. You will need to
decide on how much leeway you give customers to make their purchases,
and how long you will "credit" purchases, in the event that a customer
or group slows down their spending habits. This creates a spike in
operation expenses, as well as some considerations for infrastructure
and records storage. Instead of serving customers and ordering new
products, staff will be chasing groups and managing financial
histories. All of this work and burden does not address the problem at
hand; damages to the Sentry Box's property. This is a band-aid
solution that actually creates more problems than it solves, but still
falls short of its actual objective.

This new policy appears to be a rash, oppressive decision that
ultimately has little to do with the problem at hand. Instead of
protecting your property, it seems like you are judging what events
are worth having in store. This is a common pitfall in policy
development, where the creation of new rule and regulations actually
fail to address the issue at hand. If the issue is damages to the
mezzanine space, the policy should address those damages instead of
making hash value judgments about who is welcome at the Sentry Box.
Instead of punishing all players, a store policy about the area should
focus on preventing damages. I have spoken with a colleague and fellow
gamer about this, and he feel that this policy is sending the worst
possible message. From reading your Wordpress post, he feels that you
are unintentionally sending the message that you are only interested
in people's money, and that customers need to pay up or leave. While
this is clearly not the intention, this is the outcome.

I would like to meet with you to discuss alternatives to this
oppressive and misaligned policy. I am happy to work with you to find
a better way of protecting the store's assets as well as its image and
community. I have already thought of a number of less hostile, more
direct approaches to dealing with this, and I am sure that we can
explore more together. The Sentry Box need to send the right message
to its customers that they and their activities are welcome, without
prejudice or judgment, and I know that we can find a way to do that.

Sincerely,

Bryan Campbell
Regional Director, Canada
Committee for the Advancement of Role-Playing Games
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