The Business: Towards The Future Of The Hobby (In Business Terms)

I talk about the business side have a future only as a service provider. Let's build on that.

What does a casino do? It provides a space for people to meet and play games together. Everything else exists to either increase the revenue generated via extracting it from players playing, or by making it comfortable and convenient to spend a lot of time there (increasing both the odds of gameplaying and using other related services).

You are not making a casino.

You are making a secured location for people to play games together. This is already a secondary function of game stores; it should transition to the primary one, with a secondary service being to be a secured location for receiving physical product as well as Print On Demand because you have a POD printer on-site or nearby (and I do mean "Can walk over and back in 10 minutes or less").

The Core Business

Your job is to secure a space.

First you need a location; this can be virtual. This is already a viable option; people already set up accounts on Patreon and Subscribestar (and other such things) to set up a subscription model, and that subscription them purchases access to Member-Only channels in a Discord server (or something like it).

You can do this with physical locations; what do you think Members Only clubs are about? Only Staff and Members permitted. Hell, conventions do this as a matter of routine.

That's securing literally. Now to secure socially.

Second, you are going to do Due Diligence on every single prospective member, especially those that you do not know, as if you were hiring an employee. Scour their socials, check references, etc. There's a reason for this effort: to cultivate a secured environment for each member when on the premises, such that they are able to relax and play. If they trip up red flags, then you decline their application with nothing more than "You are not a good fit for our members" and move on- done and done.

Part of this means that you are not going to charge a trivial subscription fee. You are going to charge no less than $199/month per person and those will go up as your success takes off. You must do this to filter out those bad actors, almost all of whom are unable to afford that fee and many more will object on some bullshit principle that they don't actually hold.

By doing this you gain the power to police behavior via Contract Law. All such clubs have behavioral codes, including at times dress codes, that are actively enforced by Staff and Management (i.e. you). Death Cultists, Tourists, etc. are all free to yeet because they will violate your Terms of Service, and those Terms will include banning the bad behaviors and practices that they are all notorious for. This is already being done and proven effective; you are foolish to not do this yourself.

You also gain the power to be selective on whom to admit by erecting a clear barrier to entry. If the subscription fee is insufficient, then move to Invite or Referral Only as well as raising the subscription fee, imposing an application fee, or both.

Objections

"But this means-"

No free riders. This is meant to be a leisure pursuit, not a lifestyle, and as such it is a luxury and should be priced as such.

Every so often you may have open events, mainly to (a) advertise and (b) find new prospective members, but also to (c) identify potential threats before they become a problem by providing them the opportunity to demonstrate why they don't belong by their own (mis)behavior.

Remember, you are not selling product. Your business is security. For a specific purpose, but security nonetheless- no different than a nightclub or casino.

You charging for access is your primary revenue generator. You ruthlessly screening prospective members and enforcing a behavioral code on them is part of the service that you provide as your business. Once you get this nailed down and on lock, then you can expand and no sooner into secondary conveniences.

Complimentary Services

Once you've done a Bukele and made your space safe and secure for your members, then you can begin to add value to that membership by offering conveniences.

Remember, you provide a service- not a product.

For physical spaces, avoid food service; instead, make it convenient for members to order and receive delivery at the space. Don't sell product; make it convenient for members to receive packages at the space, and as soon as possible get one or more POD printers so members can (for a fee) get POD products on site.

For virtual spaces, you want to maximize user convenience having commonly-used virtual assets (or links to them) kept on hand for ease of use or reference. Those playing over Discord are already used to using dice bots in Chat channels, so having them already there is a no-brainer; a bot that can pull up rules from a reference document would be one to make your space stand out.

More Objections

"But doesn't-"

Now you're seeing where this is going because there are already trends going in this direction, but they are not secured properly because they are still in the mindset of needing to be a mass market affair when the real money is in a smaller, but more lucrative per head, base of customers; this is where you have room to usurp their market share via particularity and exclusivity.

You're aiming for the same goal as the indie authors: "1000 loyal customers". A membership-driven business works best with a policy of exclusivity and selectiveness, justified by high membership fees and added value via convenience service tie-ins.

The end goal is to be the destination for serious hobbyists looking for a safe, secure space to play and run campaigns. This has massive value and Wizards' pivoting in this direction (and taking up the low-end because they're the only ones that can) is proof that this is where the future of the business is- not in clearing forests for Yards Of Books that no one reads, let alone uses, as low-class coffee table status signals.

If you think this isn't viable, you've never been in a subscription-based Mastermind space. This is a proven business model.

Conclusion

I'm adapting a business model that works because there are enough hobbyists with money that would value it- just as the Hollywood Gaming Gang (and how they spend LOTS). The virtual space, in particular, is going to become a growth segment in the years to come because it is location-independent, can take members from anywhere in the world, and does not take a lot of time or talent to erect and maintain. High revenue, low cost, easy to erect/maintain- fantastic business model to pivot to as publishing collapses.

I ought to make a consultation business out of this. $5k for a one-hour call.