In Support of the LGSBy: Justin GibbsI have been hanging out in game stores my wholelife. They have provided me a place to play thegames I love, meet new people, and generally get outof the house. But, more than any of that, they haveexposed me to a whole new world. The games whichwere introduced to me in the back rooms of gamestores have helped to shape my critical thinkingskills. The people I met there are some of the bestfriends I have. In fact, I probably would not have thecareer I do now if it wasn’t for the local game store Ihung out in as a kid.Game stores are not just important to me, personally,but to Wyrd as a company. They should be importantto any game manufacturer, but particularly to onewhich manufactures miniature games. Miniaturegames require terrain and a large amount of spaceto play, which many customers look to their localgame stores for. These games also tend to have a highbarrier to entry through cost, painting, assembly,and learning curve. The local game store provides aplace for demos and painting tutorials to be held, aswell as being a central location for hobby supplies.These things can be critical to whether or not a newplayer has a place to play our games, so the localstore is an incredibly important thing to Wyrd.and the local game store is facing fierce competitionfrom potentially cheaper suppliers. But for everygame store we lose, we also lose countless peoplewho will never be exposed to gaming as a hobby.That’s why I want to encourage you to support yourlocal store; whether you make the extra effort tostop by and play a game, buy a new crew, or justgrab a soda. Every little bit helps. However, morethan anything, I want to make the point that this isnot a moral argument; it is an argument about value.I do not spend my money at my local store becauseI want to be charitable; I spend it there because thestore is providing value which is worth paying for.Regardless of whether you work in the game industry,so long as you play games, a game store always willhave something to offer you; whether it’s a steadyflow of consistent opponents, a ready selectionof modeling and painting supplies, or just advicefrom the person behind the register about what thebest game for you would be. These establishmentsprovide a critical service to your community and tothe gaming industry as a whole. Even if you don’tfrequent them yourself, they help keep the gamemanufacturers you love in business, and odds aregood that some of your opponents might not be apart of the hobby without them.Given all of this, it always saddens me when I hearabout a game store having to close its doors. Timesare not particularly easy for anyone at the moment,40 © Copyright Wyrd Miniatures, LLC
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