http://fortressat.com/ Sat, 25 May 2013 07:21:32 +0100 FeedCreator 1.7.3 http://fortressat.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=173#josc992 Great writing and I'm curious how it will all end. BTW, interesting choice of Magic cards in the article. I assume they hint at the personalities invloved in the tragedy? Let's see there is the Clone (could that be you? the clone of the article writer?), the Lord of the Undead (Dollar-Bill?), the Icy Manipulator (the Barrister or still to come?) and a Silklash Spider (my guess for the Barrister). Then it's Worship (you worshipped your shop? it was worshipped by the Atlanta gaming community?) and Fireball (the end of the shop? the relations between the protagonists?). Anyway, if this is the case, opening a FLGS with a zombie lord, a manipulator, a spider (and possibly a clone, if it is not you), I can imagine the bad times coming in the next act(s)... Schlupp Tue, 19 Feb 2008 08:46:19 +0100 http://fortressat.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=173#josc947 Shellhead-- Wow; you're plugged into the scene. By comparison, I'm just a hangers-on down here. Bill-- I kind of doubt you'd be surprised, but we could speak a lot of things in common (except that I root for the Bengals and you the Browns, and UD other than OSU). I, too, used to play hoops once a week, until about 3-4 years ago when my knees said, "I ain't doing this shit anymore!" As for the stereotypical gamer type -slovenly is putting it mild- I'd suppose that it's the same way that some people become permanent students on campuses without ever graduating: as long as they can scrape enough stuff together for tuition, they can hang around. It's not as if gamers have the market on poor hygiene cornered: for all of the emphasis on style and looks, the bar crowd can be a pretty stinky bunch. Also, some of the hot styles can emphasize clothing that just soaks up sweat; I was recently at a grocery store picking up some odds and ends and I was behind a guy wearing some of the trendiest hip-hop clothes. Trouble was, most of it was leather; if you're outside, that's one thing, but in a 70-72 degree grocery store, all of that clothing was making this guy sweat like hell. And he reeked of sweat. (At least it wasn't sweat and alcohol, because that would have been really bad.) I felt really bad for him, because he didn't need to keep up appearances, but me in my blue oxford shirt and cheap fleece jacket were a lot more comfortable shopping than he was. BillN- Curt's ahead of the trend, man. Remember that he was into Online games like Everquest long before they went mainstream. And he's not the only one who plays boardgames. Robin Williams (used to) play 40K. --Mike L. mikelawson Sun, 17 Feb 2008 19:20:41 +0100 http://fortressat.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=173#josc945 The gaming world certainly attracts all kinds. I'm still dumbstruck that someone like Curt Schilling loved Advanced Squad Leader enough to get involved with starting up a small company and republishing the game with his partners. BillN BigLizard Sat, 16 Feb 2008 20:42:59 +0100 http://fortressat.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=173#josc944 [quote=bill abner][i]..would totally expect Pat to be the kind of guy who lives for drinking beer while rooting for his favorite sports teams, but you would be wrong. Pat is a total gamer geek who especially loves D&D and WoW[/i] This is a bit OT but I often wonder how many of those people are out there. I myself am an ex-jock, who lives and dies with all things Ohio State and the Cleveland Browns. I still play basketball in rec leagues three nights a week -- and I can describe to you, in detail, the government inside the Empire in Warhammer, go into a long diatribe on the social workings of Skaven society. I know the Warhamemr Role-Play ingredients for the Sleep spell-- and my job is Editor in Chief of a videogame website. I can talk football with anyone and break down a Cover 2 zone and can switch into a Tolkien discussion without missing a beat. I consider myself in many ways a staggeringly ordinary fellow. But I wonder if most hardcore gamers are the pear-shaped, ill-washed lot that is the sterotype or are they more of your Everyman? I've seen both extremes -- the former high school QB playing D&D and the greasy haired guy in the Bart Simpson t-shirt that's a size too small that hasn't been washed since the Great Pizza Eating Contest of '98.[/quote] Bill, I wonder about this also. Granted, I don't hang out in a boardgame store that often (usually never...I just stop by, purchase my game, and play with a few college friends once a week at one of our houses). However, this stereotype of slovenly, middle-age, unhygenic gamers always leads me to a a big question Do they have a job (if not, how do they buy games)? If so, how can they go around looking like a bunch of winos? Unlike these people, I do have a job as a Professor at a Research I University. Granted, I am not in good enough shape to participate in a triatholon tomorrow, but I am not morbidly obese and I am certainly always clean. I probably have some of the "absent minded" qualities associated with professors; however, I am quite sociable and always enjoy discussing mostly things nongame related. Now, I take at face value all the descriptions of customers that game store owners put forth, but I ask who are these people and where the hell did they come from? I find it patently absurd that a sign had to be hung to tell people to take a bath --- however, I was recently assigned the task of letting a new professor know that his hygiene was less than desirable....so maybe so. Space Ghost Sat, 16 Feb 2008 19:54:52 +0100 http://fortressat.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=173#josc943 Frank, I thought you were old school, but long before Sword of the Phoenix was at Lenox it was in Park Place. Man, I was like 8 years old checking out the D&D dice in that place way back when. Fucking awesome. I still remember my friend Seth's older brother DM'ing a D&D module for us - "He's armed with a pipe and rolls a 20, which means he literally crushes your skull in." That was the end of the adventure but man, we were hooked! robartin Sat, 16 Feb 2008 19:53:38 +0100 http://fortressat.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=173#josc942 [i]..would totally expect Pat to be the kind of guy who lives for drinking beer while rooting for his favorite sports teams, but you would be wrong. Pat is a total gamer geek who especially loves D&D and WoW[/i] This is a bit OT but I often wonder how many of those people are out there. I myself am an ex-jock, who lives and dies with all things Ohio State and the Cleveland Browns. I still play basketball in rec leagues three nights a week -- and I can describe to you, in detail, the government inside the Empire in Warhammer, go into a long diatribe on the social workings of Skaven society. I know the Warhamemr Role-Play ingredients for the Sleep spell-- and my job is Editor in Chief of a videogame website. I can talk football with anyone and break down a Cover 2 zone and can switch into a Tolkien discussion without missing a beat. I consider myself in many ways a staggeringly ordinary fellow. But I wonder if most hardcore gamers are the pear-shaped, ill-washed lot that is the sterotype or are they more of your Everyman? I've seen both extremes -- the former high school QB playing D&D and the greasy haired guy in the Bart Simpson t-shirt that's a size too small that hasn't been washed since the Great Pizza Eating Contest of '98. bill abner Sat, 16 Feb 2008 16:55:40 +0100 http://fortressat.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=173#josc941 mtlawson, Believe it or not, my boss showed me that article yesterday. Yeah, my boss knows that I'm a gamer... I was bragging to everybody when White Wolf published my game in '06. It's a small company, so we all know too much about each other. For example, I know that one of our scientists was the Ventrue Primogen of Champaign-Urbana when she was in college there. That store is The Source (name inspired by Kirby's Fourth World mythos), which is about a mile and a half from where I live. I can even tell you that footage must have been taken on a Friday night, judging by the folks shown there. In fact, I can tell you a little about some of the people depicted. At the 23 second mark, there are a couple of notorious EuroGamers sitting side by side. The guy on the right is Steve something-or-other, a mild-mannered white collar professional who likes EuroGames but is otherwise a pretty normal guy. On the left is Mike Backstrom, the Rainman of the local EuroGamers. He sounds retarded, and he might be borderline, because he was always accidentally getting trapped in the bathroom at this one guy's apartment, when really the knob was only mildly uncooperative. Backstrom likes to play solved games... he learns how to win them from BoardGameGeek. He is less enthusiastic about unfamiliar games or anything too confrontational. At 49 seconds, there is a girl and guy sitting next to each other, and the guy is watching the girl roll dice. I don't know who the girl is, but the guy is Pat Picha. Pat is an interesting character, he looks kind of like a younger Mark Harmon (agent Gibbs from NCIS) with dark blond hair, and absolutely like your generic ex-jock. You would totally expect Pat to be the kind of guy who lives for drinking beer while rooting for his favorite sports teams, but you would be wrong. Pat is a total gamer geek who especially loves D&D and WoW. Still, he's a good-looking guy who is happily married to a very nice and very pretty redhead, who is not the girl rolling dice. Their young son is growing up to be even more of a gamer than his dad. I've invited Pat to my last two AmeriTrash events, but he had other stuff going on, probably D&D-related. At 1:07, they have Bob Wagner on camera, who used to work as a clerk at a nearby Shinder's, before they went out of business. Shinder's started out as a single newstand decades ago, and gradually grew into a chain of stores that also carried comics, paperback books, sports cards, rpgs, boardgames, CCGs, snacks and lots of porn. They were so successful that they had locations in nearly half the various suburbs of the Twin Cities, plus one in each downtown. Their business imploded as the owner got into all kinds of trouble involving drugs, guns and prostitutes. Bob had nothing to do with that, he was a chatty guy who was lucky to work at the Shinder's near an upscale hair salon with many cute employees. My co-designer Dave Raabe worked at the same Shinder's and knows Bob pretty well. My boss couldn't believe it, but I don't go to Con of the North. First of all, it's small-time compared to GenCon, which I've been to ten times over the years. Second of all, $27 bucks or more is too much to pay for something that I do for free the rest of the year. At least at GenCon, there is a lot of new product rolled out, plus I can talk to bigtime game designers and booth babes. Best of all, GenCon is now in Indy these days, where I grew up, so I get to stay for free and hang out with my old high school and college gaming buddies. The camera never really pulled back to show it, but the Source is sort of like a mini game convention that is open all year long. The footage showed the great big sand table that they use for miniatures and war game stuff, but they never pulled back far enough to show that they have lots of long tables in that back area, the kind that you see at conventions or maybe cheap weddings, and big stacks of chairs. It is not all unusual for there to be two dozen gamers on a typical week night, and as many as 50 on a Friday night. And in the old days, sometimes they would let people play extremely late if one of the store employees was willing to keep an eye on things. One time we managed to get 7 people who were willing to try Heresy, a CCG that is a cross between cyberpunk and the Book of Revelations. One of the store employees and I seemed to be the only two people in the Twin Cities who bought cards, so we were thrilled to get some willing players, especially since it was three years after the game died. It took a while to separate our players from other games and teach them the rules, so we finished playing at 5:00 AM. I drove home at dawn and slept for a few hours before forcing myself to get up for work. I was so lucky to have a job that started at 10:00 AM back then. Shellhead Sat, 16 Feb 2008 09:52:43 +0100 http://fortressat.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=173#josc939 [quote=mtlawson] One, Boardwalk, has been around since the late 70's and is half boardgames/RPGs and half plastic models. It's still in the same place as it has always been, in one of the squares on the east side of town, next to a bar (which hasn't changed but is a yuppie destination) and a dollhouse making store.... I have a much longer association with Boardwalk, and they're close to a bunch of other places I like to go to, so when I go to that part of town I make time to go visit. Plus, I have to admit, they've got one of the best selection of plastic models in the area, so between the games and the models, they'll stay in business for a while to come. --Mike L.[/quote] You forgot to mention Boardwalk also deals in vintage boadgames of all sorts from the '50s, '60s, '70s and from kiddy games to AH. And also those playsets with the little plastic army man-sized figures but with medieval and western themes, too. There's always something interesting to see each time I go there. BigLizard Fri, 15 Feb 2008 19:03:27 +0100 http://fortressat.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=173#josc938 I guess I'm lucky here in Cincy in that I have two FLGS' that I go to. One, Boardwalk, has been around since the late 70's and is half boardgames/RPGs and half plastic models. It's still in the same place as it has always been, in one of the squares on the east side of town, next to a bar (which hasn't changed but is a yuppie destination) and a dollhouse making store. The other, Sci-Fi City, has been open for technically less than 4 months, but that's because the old store, Nord's Games, got upgraded into the new store. Sci-Fi also sells time on X-Box stations and has a decent comic section in the rear area of the store. Of the two, Sci-Fi City is by far the one that wallows more in Geek Culture, but they were able to do it as Nord's in a mall on the north side of town for several years, which is no small feat. Sci-Fi now has some gaming tables, too, so the Warhammer crowd has started showing up to their location. I have a much longer association with Boardwalk, and they're close to a bunch of other places I like to go to, so when I go to that part of town I make time to go visit. Plus, I have to admit, they've got one of the best selection of plastic models in the area, so between the games and the models, they'll stay in business for a while to come. Hey Shellhead, did you see this article? What game store did they focus on that? http://www.twincities.com/localnews/ci_8265903 --Mike L. mikelawson Fri, 15 Feb 2008 17:10:40 +0100 http://fortressat.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=173#josc937 Aye. Sword of the Phoenix dying is what convinced me that Brick and Mortar was doomed. I still picked stuff up there occasionally, but over the years watched the store drift from Lenox to a second store at Perimeter and back to the single store in the shopping center to oblivion. A couple of the staff had worked there for close to 20 years. And I bought most of the GW games (Including that Chaos Marauders I sold to Dollar Bill), as well as my WizWar, and eventually my usual game hordes after I got the cool job. moofrank Fri, 15 Feb 2008 14:54:15 +0100 http://fortressat.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=173#josc935 My favorite, where he invokes his own nickname: "That motherfucker think I'm dead, but he don't know: I'm a human tornado!" (the improper grammer is left as appeared in the original) There are also some more recent films in this masterful series: Legend of Dolemite (late 70s) Shaolin Dolemite (late 90s) Return of Dolemite (2002 or so) Space Ghost Fri, 15 Feb 2008 13:24:35 +0100 http://fortressat.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=173#josc933 Ha! That's Bill Abner, once again...he added the poster, but I showed the movies. I don't know how many middle school-aged kids got to see Dolemite in action for the first time because of me. I actually prefer THE HUMAN TORNADO (DOLEMITE II) to the first one...it's more ridiculous..."Y'all don't think I really jumped did ya? Well watch this good shit!" Eat that, Jackie Chan. But then again, the first one has the immortal line "Dolemite, while you was in jail I sent your girls to karate school...and they're good too." Michael Barnes Fri, 15 Feb 2008 11:03:15 +0100 http://fortressat.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=173#josc932 Well, I just got a chance to read this article. With one swift move, you have cemented yourself in the AT paragon to me. Mind you sir, it was with nothing that you wrote, but your inclusion of a DOLEMITE poster in your article. I just have a few things to say about this: 1. Holy Shit...you can't believe the smile this brought to my face. 2. I had an agreement with a roommate in college who said he would pay my firstborn child's way through college if I named him/her "Dolemite" 3. Dolemite alias is "The Human Tornado" ...I suppose that this is from the whirlwind of roundhouses that he passes out. Well done. Space Ghost Fri, 15 Feb 2008 10:57:05 +0100 http://fortressat.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=173#josc930 We had another local game shop in the Twin Cities up until last summer: Phoenix Games. They operated a humble retail location in the bohemian section of Minneapolis called Uptown. http://zdrake.blogspot.com/2007/08/phoenix-games-moving-online.html When I first moved here, I found them in the Yellow Pages, and put up an ad in their store, to the effect that I was willing to run a GURPS Fantasy campaign. Within a couple of weeks, I had a fanatical group of 11 players every Friday night. At that time, Phoenix didn't seem to be hosting gaming at the store. A few years later, I started going to Phoenix on a semi-regular basis for card tournaments. The CCG craze caused them to open up a gaming area on the ground floor, and eventually another space in their basement. That basement was unforgettable. Dimly lit, dirty, and separated from adjacent basements on that block by doorways boarded up like a Romero zombie flick. The CCG craze was winding down, but RPGs got fire again with the one-two punch of Lord of the Rings and D&D 3.0/3.5. Around that time, Phoenix bought out the hobby shop next door, in an attempt to cultivate the local model-building and glue-sniffing fans. Uptown has been rapidly evolving in recent years, from a ghetto for weird white people into a yuppie mecca, complete with wall-to-wall condos. Somebody made an offer for the block that Phoenix was on, and there was too much money to ignore. After a few final weeks of fire sale prices last summer, Phoenix went from local game shop to strictly online game sales. Shellhead Fri, 15 Feb 2008 10:05:29 +0100 http://fortressat.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=173#josc926 Big Lizard- you're right, games-only stores I think just can't work anymore. We actually tried to diversify with something but boy, did we choose the wrong product to diversify with...it was something I was against but the Barrister and Dollar Bill were gung-ho for. That'll turn up in a later installment. Damn Joel, you're making me blush. Not only that, but you really hit on what I wanted the store to be like and I'm glad that came across. At one point I really wanted to do it like a Victorian gentleman's club. I don't think we could have ever afforded to theme out a store like that though. But who says we were uptight? I have to say that even though it was kind of stodgy and I hated the goofy new age music, I loved Sword of the Phoenix...I bought a lot of stuff there when I was a kid back when they were at Lenox Square (my god, that's unthinkable now- a game store paying rent in that mall?!) When I was running AGF, I was living literally a quarter of a mile from SotP and I _still_ stopped by there from time to time and bought something. Not only because they had a lot of wargames my distributors didn't carry, but because I wanted to do what I could to keep it open even though they were competition. It broke my heart to go in there and see they were closing. It was actually a very well run store and maybe since they didn't have in-store gaming it avoided a lot of the nastiness of other stores. Michael Barnes Fri, 15 Feb 2008 08:42:59 +0100 http://fortressat.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=173#josc923 More! Schweig! Fri, 15 Feb 2008 07:55:15 +0100 http://fortressat.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=173#josc922 The only two game stores I know of in Atlanta are up in Marietta, Dr. No's is one and the other is on Sandy Plains near Sprayberry HS, not sure what they're called. When I went to high school at Sprayberry, they went under the name "Colossal Games" or something, though I think they have changed management (and name, I think) several times since. Aarontu Thu, 14 Feb 2008 21:25:51 +0100 http://fortressat.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=173#josc921 Oh, I did love your store, Michael. It was much more than a store--kind of a club--in the old British sense, where uptight twentysomethings in crested blazers play snooker and darts and talk about golfing--but in Atlanta and replace darts with Mare Nostrum, and replace golfing with 1970s horror movies and Battlestar Galactica. As for me, I had some fierce loyalty to the store, and for the people who made the store possible. I'm sure there's a dark side to living the life of running a game store, but I'm very happy that you and your friends were willing to put up with all of the hassle, so that guys like me could have a place like the AGF to visit whenever I wanted. In Atlanta, I think Dr. No's is perhaps the only place I'd call a game store anymore, since it seems to regularly get new games in stock, but I could never bring myself to buy a game there because their prices seemed absurd, even for a FLGS, and the employees lack even rudimentary knowledge of board games. Oxford Comics on Piedmont sometimes gets a game worth buying. As for the rest of Atlanta, some of the comics stores have old dusty copies of Munchkin and HellRail lying around, but I wouldn't call them game stores. jabbott Thu, 14 Feb 2008 20:48:23 +0100 http://fortressat.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=173#josc920 Oh.....and excellent story, Michael. Vividly written. I can't wait to see how it ends. BillN. BigLizard Thu, 14 Feb 2008 19:58:19 +0100 http://fortressat.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=173#josc918 Thinking back on all the LGSs I've come across, it seems that the successful, long-lasting stores are the ones that combine games with other hobbies. They are usually more professionally run, usually lack the "troll cave", and the clerks usually know more about RC planes, model trains, or military models than about the latest games. I personnally feel more at home in this environment than at stores that cater only to game geeks, after all this is the type of store my dad and I would visit when I was a kid and I also love models as much as games. Maybe thats why I like AT games with lots of little plastic miniatures?! But I think any LGS is better than buying on the net. Going to the game store is an experience and an activity. It's a shame not everybody has that opertunity. Buying on-line just to save a few bucks is too easy and not very satisfying. There's just something about seeing everything laid out where you can pick it up and read the back, ask a question and get a real response, and then plunk down your money and carry your treasure away with you. BillN BigLizard Thu, 14 Feb 2008 19:54:03 +0100 http://fortressat.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=173#josc917 I loved War Games West. That catalog was my "Sears Christmas catalog." I remember thumbing through it and leaving pages for my folks to find. Good times, good times. Unfortunately, in San Diego we don't have any great FLGS. Nothing to bad, just not good. bobby_5150 Thu, 14 Feb 2008 15:40:08 +0100 http://fortressat.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=173#josc916 Steve- I'm already in talks with Uwe Boll. Send me a demo reel and we'll see what happens. I actually won the Dragon Con film festival one year- not really very hard to do, really. Jeb- GAMA is going to have an act all to itself...what a debacle. Be glad you didn't go. Aaron- yep, that's it. The sign is actually still there. Funny coincidence- the library I was working at when I met Dollar Bill is right there at South Atlanta and I285. Lewis A. Ray Library. Frank- we outlasted Batty's and SotP by over a year! But yeah, now there is literally no game store in Atlanta. Chap- the CCG thing, that's going to figure into all this too..The Great CCG Swindle, I think, has put a lot of stores under. More later. Michael Barnes Thu, 14 Feb 2008 14:35:25 +0100 http://fortressat.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=173#josc915 I have nothing but high praise for my local game shop. It's a big store loaded with boardgames, card games, wargames, tons of miniatures and paints, comic books, manga, anime, DVDs of various science-fiction tv shows and movies, etc. They are conveniently located near the Saint Paul campus of the University of Minnesota, the campus that is otherwise very lacking in terms of fun stuff to do in the area. http://www.sourcecandg.com/ Since 1994, I've been going there on a fairly regular basis, and now I even live less than 2 miles from the place. I'm on a first name basis with three of their employees, including the big guy who stars in their late night tv ads. When they had a 30%-off sale day near Christmas time, the place was literally packed, including a steady line of about 50 people waiting to check out at the registers up front. I showed up for the excellent free hotdogs and pop, and left with the 3-4 player Dungeon Twister expansion. It was almost like a class reunion that day, as I ran into more than a dozen past and current gaming friends. However, even though the store is brightly-lit paragon of retail space, and even though there is a generously large free gaming area in the back that actually even attracts the occasional female gamers (usually for D&D!!), they do get some stinky fanboys, too. They even had an employee back in the mid-90s who had some kind of blue fungal thing happening on his unwashed elbows. Shellhead Thu, 14 Feb 2008 14:16:54 +0100 http://fortressat.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=173#josc914 I worked for War Games West in Albuquerque NM. right before MtG took off, and during, and after the CCG fallout. The before years was almost reminiscent of a total gaming industry meltdown. RPG's were dying off. The boardgaming industry outside of the typical ToysRUs fashion was non existant, and War Games West and it's distro division was about 3 days from closing their doors. Then Wayne Godfrey got a hold of this interesting card game called Magic at GenCon and agreed to be it's initial distributor. From that point on for about 4 years, that's pretty much most of the business model of the FLGS. A few years after the Craze both the store and distributorship had bailed out and that was an end of that era. It was sad, as I remember going in there in the early 80's to pick up the latest D&D module, and a shiny new warrior mini. I still miss my Wargames West catalog coming every 6 months, which I'm sure some of you got too. Memories! From the corner of my mind! MWChapel Thu, 14 Feb 2008 14:09:12 +0100 http://fortressat.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=173#josc913 We used to have a hobby store around here that carried a pretty extensive selection of games. It had one guy who was pretty knowledgeable in alot of games and could tell you good ones and bad ones (and he was usually right too). Unfortunately, the rents got too high and they had to move. They didn't keep that guy which was kind of a shame. I play Star Wars Minis every Thursday night at the local comic/game shop. They also have Magic and Hero Clix the same night. The clientele run the gambit but they are mostly college kids. The store itself is pretty respectable but I'd be happier if it stocked wargames to boot. However, if there's a game I want and they have it, I will buy it from them. They are providing space for me, so I figure I should give them some money. But then again, I'm one of the few that will use a brick and mortar store over the internet if I can get something locally. I like the tactile feeling of shopping as well. You just don't get that over the internet. I realize it is tough to be all things to everyone. As for gamer funk....Hmmmm..... mikoyan Thu, 14 Feb 2008 14:05:09 +0100 http://fortressat.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=173#josc912 Aarontu: The good gaming store in the Atlanta area is....um....is.... If you order from Boulder, it usually shows up the next day... We lost Battys Best, Atlanta Games Factory, and Sword of the Phoenix mostly in the same year. It is a vast vacuum that has yet to be repopulated. Mike's store was Atlanta Games Factory. I still have a T-shirt somewhere that I think the Barrister gave me. ----------------- I did miss the bit with the girl, though. Such things always get surreal. Sandi picked up a gamer stalker once. He was looking up my college transcripts and hanging out in the parking lot where she worked. I'd like to say we killed him and buried the body in the 4 acres of woods we have behind our house so we could dig him up and have a really cool skeleton in a few years. moofrank Thu, 14 Feb 2008 13:57:21 +0100 http://fortressat.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=173#josc911 Yeah, I grew up on Chastain Rd between I575 and Canton Rd, and now I live off of South Atlanta Rd near 285. So, was your game store the one on 10th st right outside Georgia Tech? If it was, then I just noticed it last week on my way to school. No one has moved into the vacant spot yet or anything. That's too bad it's gone. I still haven't found a good LGS near my apartment. Aarontu Thu, 14 Feb 2008 13:43:33 +0100 http://fortressat.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=173#josc909 Having been in my share of game stores over the past couple of decades, I know the bad parts in my sleep. However, the decent game stores always made sure that they encouraged socially acceptable behavior. Sure, you can wallow in Geek Culture and have movie posters or life sized characters around, but keeping a clean store counts too. Being responsive to customers counts, and encouraging people who really do need to take a bath to do so counts loads. Mike, you'd probably have to invest in industrial grade gallons of Febreze to get rid of the "gamer stench", I'd imagine. There's one game store I've been going to for almost 17 years now, I know the owners like old friends, and they've held my kids as infants while we've chatted both in the store and when we've run into each other outside the store. Friendship and loyalty like that are often rewarded down the line; contrast that with one time as a college student I was at a (now defunct) game store where a huge miniatures game (Napoleonic, I believe) was going on at the back table. I stopped my browsing to watch, and even though I was watching quietly and had showered and dressed like a normal human, you'd think I'd crawled out of the swamps. After a minute or so of "the glare" from all present, I moved on and never returned to the store. --Mike L. mikelawson Thu, 14 Feb 2008 13:21:38 +0100 http://fortressat.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=173#josc908 I'm one of those talk-about-it-but-lack-the-intestinal-fortitude-to-go-for-it guys that wants to run a nice game store. Right now it's filed away as a retirement project. I've done the research--I still look at empty storefronts and guess at their rents. The nicest game store I've been in was Games of Berkeley. Well lit, nice enough layout, good prices, "memberships", etc. The staff was bitchy, but that's a given in Berkeley. Game playing was downstairs--a dungeon-like atmosphere that serves as the overall interior design of most game stores. I didn't do a lot of gaming down there--it was where the trolls lived. I had a tremendously shitty job for a couple of years, so I started really looking into this business. I spoke to the GoB owner, I spoke to their largest competitor (Eudemonia), thought about attending GAMA, talked to my rabbi about some things, etc. I was really into it. Then I got my current job, which fucking rocks and has a career built-in. The game store is officially back-burnered. I'm sure we all have horror stories about our LGS's (haven't found and "F" one yet around here). I just hope we can all luck into a scene as vibrant as the one Barnes' seems to have put together; at least for a little bit. jeb Thu, 14 Feb 2008 13:15:49 +0100 http://fortressat.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=173#josc907 I never post but that is some good writing. Look forward to the rest of the story. Lebrule Thu, 14 Feb 2008 13:07:41 +0100 http://fortressat.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=173#josc906 [img]http://www.centraldenverblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/06/movie_20director_small.jpg[/img] I must say this has the makings of a great movie!!! A Hobby Boardgame store trying to survive in a digital age. Barnes, can I direct this movie? I would like to enter into the film competition at Dragon Con!!! the*mad*gamer Thu, 14 Feb 2008 13:02:21 +0100 http://fortressat.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=173#josc905 WHAT?! You live in Cobb County? That's where I grew up, man! I went to Osborne, lived off Hicks/Austell Road for 25 years...the store was Atlanta Game Factory, but that's a spoiler. ;-) I know Robert is dying for me to recount the "Ass man" story once again... Frank, there is a girl...you may not have ever met her though...there may have to be an entire act about her, I've never seen such drama as when she stared hanging around. The Roomba...ha ha, I forgot about that. Michael Barnes Thu, 14 Feb 2008 12:55:27 +0100 http://fortressat.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=173#josc904 That's too bad about the store. I knew you ran one but never realized it was closed. Where was it/what was it called? I live in Cobb county so I may have seen it or even been inside. Aarontu Thu, 14 Feb 2008 12:08:44 +0100 http://fortressat.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=173#josc903 As a witness to parts of this story, I've gotta say - this is going to be good. robartin Thu, 14 Feb 2008 11:55:46 +0100 http://fortressat.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=173#josc901 It is a great story. Even has plot twists and a bit of action. No one gets the girl of course, because THERE AREN'T ANY. So it is definitely a gamer story. some of the details are missing like the Roomba vacuuming system, and the TV perpetually playing things like Battle Beyond the Stars, Krull, and I think I remember Beastmaster being on once. moofrank Thu, 14 Feb 2008 11:38:28 +0100 http://fortressat.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=173#josc900 This should be very interesting... PseudoIntellectual Thu, 14 Feb 2008 11:27:50 +0100 http://fortressat.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=173#josc899 Very engaging story...I'm eagerly awaiting future installments. I always knew you owned a game store, but somehow never got the memo that it had closed. That kind of sucks I always had this idea I would have liked to see your store the next time I traveled down near Atlanta. I'm sure there is a silver lining though...the store closing frees you up to pursue other endevours, right? I own and run a used bookstore, and while its entertaining enough, it does get old and I look forward to the days when it isn't holding me down. Kriz Thu, 14 Feb 2008 11:20:06 +0100 http://fortressat.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=173#josc898 Just for the record..I'm a svelt 284 lbs and I look damn good in my ass scented jacket. Steve"HardcoreGamer"Avery Stephen Avery Thu, 14 Feb 2008 11:07:28 +0100 http://fortressat.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=173#josc897 Steve- one thing you learn being immersed in gaming culture pretty much 24 hours a day 7 days a week is that there a shockingly large majority of gamers out there are completely unable to socialize or carry on a conversation about anything other than gaming. Gaming is a lot of these people's only "access point" to human interaction. I guess when you distance yourself so far from reality and come to value vicarious experience over real interaction your ability to interact outside of your hobby just breaks down. Or it could be that many gamers make the mistake of using the hobby to define who they are as a person. Case in point. We had this one character that was an absolute tool, sort of like Ralph Wiggum grown up but without any sense of endearing sweetness. He would come in, and I swear he was never able to hold a conversation that didn't tie back to Steve Jackson games or MAGIC. I'd hear people talking about something else and he'd interject himself into the conversation, almost as if he couldn't stand to hear people talking about anything other than games. We've all seen the type- they'll make game references even while talking to non-gamers because they have no other common ground with anyone but gamers. You see this all the time at game groups and events...there's the table of guys staring at each other and discussing nothing but games...then there's whatever table Robert and I happen to be at and we're talking about 1970s car movies and home renovations. I've seen people get really pissed off when I try to strike up a conversation during a game. Sadly, gaming attracts a lot of real fucking losers so when you run a shop you get them ALL. Not to put too fine a point on it, but most of the folks you see walking into a game store are pretty sad specimens. Seriously, the hygiene level was so bad I had to post rules (I'll reproduce them in a future installment- they made half my customers die laughing and the other have angry). Steve's right...gaming wouldn't be so marginal and shunned if you could walk into a game store and not run into some 300 pound slob with a greasy pony tail, horrible acne, and the smell of human ass all wrapped up in a XXXL black London Fog trenchcoat. There's a lot of really awesome people out there too, of course...we'll meet some of them as we get further into the story. Chapel- that's something you'll never see working in the game business. Michael Barnes Thu, 14 Feb 2008 10:39:56 +0100 http://fortressat.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=173#josc896 Pretty good story so far. mikoyan Thu, 14 Feb 2008 10:07:30 +0100 http://fortressat.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=173#josc895 [img]http://i147.photobucket.com/albums/r316/hellolove2889/3beaver_and_wally.jpg[/img] I have talked to 3 game store owners on my Podcast, Barnes, Ward Batty, and DW Tripp. All of them tell the same sad story. It reminds me of a story I heard about a woman who wanted to open a dating service in her town. She wanted it to be very exclusive with beautiful clients but the reality was she ended up with a bunch of less than glamourous gamer types and closed down in frustration. Many times I have walked into a game shop wearing t-shirt and jeans and felt so overdressed that I felt like I was wearing a tuxedo. DW Tripp also tells the story of overzealous gamers droning on for hours about their exploits in a dungeon. I blame the parents for letting their kids walk around like that and get so engrossed in D&D as to lose all sense of reality. Its up to the father if he sees this happening to grab this guy and go out and shoot some hoops! If there is no father in the house, its up to the mother to call BIG BROTHERS and get a positive male role model in this kids life! These gamers need to get more self respect. You can still be a rebel but for God's Sake clean yourslef up, Elvis and James Dean were bad asses but they looked good! If you owned a game store back in the 50's it would be more tolerable with customers like Wally and Beaver Cleaver! I don't mind paying the higher price if I can get the game now and it is in stock at the store. The price of gas going up shipping will go up and this will eventually effect all online stores. B the*mad*gamer Thu, 14 Feb 2008 09:55:35 +0100 http://fortressat.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=173#josc894 I'm looking forward to the next chapter. thdizzy Thu, 14 Feb 2008 09:52:07 +0100 http://fortressat.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=173#josc890 [img]http://i191.photobucket.com/albums/z3/KimeyAC007/1milliondollarbill-front.jpg[/img] EVIL! MWChapel Thu, 14 Feb 2008 09:17:17 +0100