I can’t really blame shops for operating that way, D&D and Magic cards pay the rent after all. But its left me feeling that the “FLGS,” once vital to my gaming life, is now irrelevant to established hobbyist gamers. Several times recently I’ve made motions towards setting up a weekly open table at a shop just a couple blocks away from me, but everything I want to run is indie or distributed solely digitally or by POD (or worse, my own vnity design). I can’t imagine the proprietor being thrilled for promoting sales they can’t get a slice of, or stocking obscure books without a supplement stream with vague chances of appealing to their base clientele. Really, game shops aren’t primary means to network with potential players anymore, or to find new and different material. All that community stuff is online now. In talks with others about this trend, the consensus is we don’t really need a shop from which to buy games anymore, as much as we want a comfortable space to play in. Something we’re already seeing in some areas of hobby gaming with boardgame cafes; give me a space with a big clean table and refreshments close at hand, and I’d be a regular.