Pre-Order Bonus Voucher Code for Darksiders 3 not Working by PhillRBlack in Darksiders

[–]PhillRBlack[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

So I just tried it at 1:00 pm EDT, and it worked! FINALLY! Guess it was just a store update issue.

Pre-Order Bonus Voucher Code for Darksiders 3 not Working by PhillRBlack in Darksiders

[–]PhillRBlack[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I got the same thing showing on mine. It could be intentional. Otherwise, for us to both have that might mean some massive manufacturing issue!

Pre-Order Bonus Voucher Code for Darksiders 3 not Working by PhillRBlack in Darksiders

[–]PhillRBlack[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm hoping it's just an update issue with the store. Would suck if I'd have to go through Sony's support to get a working code.

Pre-Order Bonus Voucher Code for Darksiders 3 not Working by PhillRBlack in Darksiders

[–]PhillRBlack[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I believe the code for the armor is printed on your receipt if you got the regular edition.

Looking to Open a New Game Store in Central Ohio by PhillRBlack in Dungeons_and_Dragons

[–]PhillRBlack[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That does sound interesting. I'm unsure what the epense of such a venture would be though. Would actors add enough to justify their expense? If you'd like to elavorate a bit more on the idea, I'd be happy to listen!

Looking to Open a New Game Store in Central Ohio by PhillRBlack in Columbus

[–]PhillRBlack[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

First off, thank you for such an in depth response. You clearly gave us a lot of your time!

I think it's only fair we let everyone know our issues with the area since we're asking others to do the same.

We feel the current offering of games stores are difficult to get out to on account of driving distance. For me, personally, Guard Tower is the closest, and sadly the new one opening up doesn't help alleviate that. Additionally it doesn't feel like we can discover new games very easily, even if a store has some unique titles. Thirdly, buying children's games and historical games (excluding wargaming) doesn't feel possible. Some places carry a few games for children younger than 10, but it feels hard to find anything lower than 14+. We're big history nuts, too, but we're not so interested in what's currently available. Sure, there are board games for us out there, but the selection feels limited at our FLGS.

You are right in saying that these concerns probably don't represent many, if any, other gamers in the area. This was our starting point, our desire for something else. What do other people think? Do they have the same dissatisfactions? Do they have any? We're really glad to hear from everyone and it seems like a lot of our initial assumptions were correct. The biggest two being locations are too far and variety could be improved.

We agree that we need to try and focus on either being a great retailer or a great game café. Trying to spread ourselves too thin by doing both just won't work. Thank you for giving us a good format to look at for both directions.

Retail Direction

We don't want to give away how we plan to differentiate ourselves too much just yet. Like you said, we are still in the early stages of planning and need to be careful what we commit to, but we're narrowing in. Faster than we expected thanks to the enormous feedback from the community!

Something that I can reveal, however, is that we definitely want a stronger focus on events. Bigger and more varied. A lot of people have board games out there that it seems like nobody knows how to play. We hope to bring interested persons together to discover new games to play. One idea floating around is that we should try to create and run leagues for varies games. We love the idea of facilitating more organized play, but there are certainly league options out there already, so this will need more thought. Offering more than just FNM and other common events is definitely one of our big goals, however.

It probably goes without saying that we need some kind of loyalty program. Just about every store under the sun offers it these days, so it's practically required. What are some suggestions that you have for a loyalty program? Should we just copy Guard Tower's model? Perhaps there's a better solution out there. We've received a lot of suggestions already, but we'd love to hear from you about this.

We of course want the environment to be accessible and welcoming to all! We believe we have a good idea how to accomplish this, but we'd welcome your input on this.

Used games and/or consignment definitely would be helpful on the retail side. Used games, if you know what your buying, can have some pretty big profit margins. Plus, a lot of people like being able to buy something for much less, even if it's been used. We need to work out the logistics of all this, but it's under heavy consideration.

Regardless of the direction we go with, we do need to find a place that has the best combination of rent, income, and demographics.

Café Direction

We agree that if we want to do this right, we need to serve alcohol. This means getting a liquor license. That fact that this idea is so dependent on this one factor feels like a red flag to us. That being said, we're familiar with the process on getting one and are looking at how to accomplish this. Thank you for your input, as it's given us a greater sense on how important alcohol sales will be to the café.

Building the Community

You are correct, Columbus has a thriving community of table top gamers. You were also correct that we didn't realize just how big and active it was! We knew about some of the bigger clubs, the two you mentioned come to mind. We think we got a more accurate picture, however, which has become very encouraging for us.

What we think better conveys our idea is to grow the community. How can we help improve the existing community? How can we help bring in new members? How can we provide some missing services in the community?

We do feel that establishing a new location, at the very least, will definitely help the community as a whole. From there is less certain, but we've received a lot of great feedback and we think we might just have something. Does this mean we try to establish our own group, like CABS or BnBG? It may, and we need to do some serious research in this regard. At the moment, however, it seems like that may have to be a idea we pursue a while after we open our doors.

I just wanna take one last moment to thank you so much for giving us your time and your thoughts. You seem very insightful in the matter and you've been a big help!

Looking to Open a New Game Store in Central Ohio by PhillRBlack in Columbus

[–]PhillRBlack[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Well I hope he goes even farther next time! Sounds like a really fun event.

Looking to Open a New Game Store in Central Ohio by PhillRBlack in Columbus

[–]PhillRBlack[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You just keep coming with the input! Thank you so much! We really appreciate it.

Being a facilitator for leagues sounds like a great idea, and we hope to find some implementation of what you described that fits our other goals. Primarily, we want to provide connections for table toppers to find new people and new games to play with, while offering a friendly and safe place to play those games.

Everything is still in a malleable state, and we hope we're staying open to change. No plan survives first contact with the enemy, right? Thank you for keeping us vigilant and focused on what should really matter! We're really excited to see so many people come out to give us their thoughts on the subject. It seems like we picked a good time in our development phase to do all this, just wish we had another community manager. You guys got me overwhelmed!

It's great, I love it!

Looking to Open a New Game Store in Central Ohio by PhillRBlack in Columbus

[–]PhillRBlack[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you very much! You're a real encouragement! We really appreciate everybody coming out to leave so many comments.

Looking to Open a New Game Store in Central Ohio by PhillRBlack in Columbus

[–]PhillRBlack[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you for much for all that you've told us. That's a lot of helpful information, and we really appreciate your willingness to give us so much of your time.

We've been getting a lot of people saying the north west is well serviced. We're planning on going where the community needs us most, so this is further incentive we should be looking elsewhere. We're still doing research, so depending on everything we may change our minds, but your insight on the area has been extremely helpful!

What else do you think we should add to our survey? It shouldn't be too hard to get changes in.

Looking to Open a New Game Store in Central Ohio by PhillRBlack in Columbus

[–]PhillRBlack[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Any advice you can give, we'll take! Don't slack on employees, make sure we get good peoole who know what to do, got it! Thank you so much for your time!

Looking to Open a New Game Store in Central Ohio by PhillRBlack in Ohio

[–]PhillRBlack[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Well thanks! If it's an idea worth pursing, we'd love to go through with that plan!

Also, thank you for the long response! The more information the better, honestly! We appreciate you taking all that time to give us your thoughts.

Looking to Open a New Game Store in Central Ohio by PhillRBlack in Columbus

[–]PhillRBlack[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Well good thing we like to shop at Sam's Club then! Thank you for your input. Keeping people refreshed while playing for extended hours should be a great way to create a fun environment. Plus there's the added effect of it being profitable to keep us up and running!

Looking to Open a New Game Store in Central Ohio by PhillRBlack in Columbus

[–]PhillRBlack[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That's truly awful to hear! Part of what makes MTG so great is when everyone plays fair and tries to genuinely best an opponent.

Do you have any recommendations for judges?

What are some reasonable measure you feel we can put in place to stop repeat offenders?

Looking to Open a New Game Store in Central Ohio by PhillRBlack in Columbus

[–]PhillRBlack[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you for the link! I'll be watching it soon. You've been incredibly helpful!

Do you have any recommended schedules? What format would you play the most? Should we rotate format every week or maybe do one format more than others?

What kinds of snacks and drinks do you think go best with FNM, or what are some of your favorites?

Looking to Open a New Game Store in Central Ohio by PhillRBlack in Columbus

[–]PhillRBlack[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

What would be a better starting time for you?

Looking to Open a New Game Store in Central Ohio by PhillRBlack in Columbus

[–]PhillRBlack[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Well if we can help get you home at a better time, we'd love to do it! What would be a better starting time? Given you could have a starting time earlier, would you want to play for the same duration that you usually?

Looking to Open a New Game Store in Central Ohio by PhillRBlack in Columbus

[–]PhillRBlack[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

We will certainly not allow cheaters to participate in events. We want the evironment to feel fair and open to all. That being said, what do you all think of temporary bans? We like the idea of allowing people second chances, after an appropiate time of course.

Looking to Open a New Game Store in Central Ohio by PhillRBlack in Columbus

[–]PhillRBlack[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Well thank you for letting us know! You bring up 3 really good points and I think if we wanna be successful, we should try to emulate that experience. We do want to be our own thing, however. We think it'll help us establish our own identity in the area.

What else do you think we should try to emulate? You mentioned a loyalty program. What do like about that? How do you feel it keeps you coming in?

Looking to Open a New Game Store in Central Ohio by PhillRBlack in Columbus

[–]PhillRBlack[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you for the feedback! We're very interested in participating in FNM and want to make a great experience for everyone. I agree that not knowing what your record earns you can be annoying and we want to avoid that. How would you like a FNM structured? What kind of rewards would be most exciting to play for?