The Role of Game Stores
Ryan had an interesting post in my last entry, and it brought to light a thought I've had in my head for a while.

Before the Internet, a trip to a game store was fun. I liked shifting through racks of Ral Partha and Reaper miniatures looking for cool figures. In high school, I was lucky to have a well-stocked hobby store that dabbled in a few obscure miniatures lines, so there was always something new to find. The same applied to a lesser extent to RPGs and boardgames.

With the dawn of the Internet, that enjoyable part of shopping is gone. There's little there to discover, because I know what's out there. My information is a little too good.

Since about 1999, I've visited the local game store more for the social experience. In NH, the store I shopped at was a bit run down, but the owner knew the gaming business and it was fun talking shop with him. In Boston, Pandemonium was not only a great store, it was a great place to talk games with Jason and whatever random customers were around.

Nowadays, I talk shop with people at work. The nearest store (Genesis Games & Gizmos) is 45 minutes away. While it's a great store, it's just far enough that I can't get out there without making a big trip out of it.

The funny thing is that just this morning, a co-worked mentioned taking part in the store's RPGA game days. I might jump at that, primarily because I miss being involved in the RPGA. It's a great way to meet a broad spectrum of D&D players.