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my bf and i had a really interesting conversation about magic the gathering/adjacent hobbies (tcg games roleplaying games like dnd and warhammer) and local games stores.
i was talking about how, being afab (and lgbtq+), what i would change about local game stores and tcg/roleplaying game communities in general, and i wanted to share my list! if any of you guys have any other things you would add pls comment! i'd love to hear!
what i would change about local game stores (and hobby game communities):
- have tampons/pads available (and in plain site) in all bathrooms
- encourage players to bring friends + partners (in store discount? bring a friend events?)
- more two-headed giant events
- celebrate pride/black hisotry/indigenous peoples day/etc. month in store (even just with a flag/poster, showing solidarity is still showing solidarity)
- sell unisex merch (t-shirts/hoodies/etc.) along with masculine and feminine merch (by traditional standards that the world unfortunately still revolves around)
- have a diverse staff (not just white dudes in their 30s-40s)
there are definitely more points i touched on when we were talking, but those are the main ones i think.
i love the good parts of hobby stores and my little hobby community and i think there is so much potential within it, but there is so much isolation within it too that i really want to see go away.
:)
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saroyan °
would love it if they had more "trainee" programs - both for working in the actual stores and like as beginner's introductions to card games. would really make the field a lot more diverse and welcoming!!
u really raised some excellent points :D
=saroyan
ikr! getting into trading card games like a magic the gathering and roleplaying games like dnd is so intimidating. even as someone who has been playing both for a while now, there is so much i would change about how i started learning and how people get into the games in general.
it's very overwhelming at first but very fun, i wish there was a way to make the beginning less overwhelming and info-dumpy but i genuinely can't even beign to think of what that might look like lol!
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anicca
tbh I have nothing much to add but as someone who’s always wanted to get into this sort of hobby/community I totally agree that some of the things you mentioned you’d want to change would make me feel more welcome/inclined to do so!!
i’m happy i identify with these things! i wish i had the power to incite the changes on this list, i might see if i can email/message my local game store to see if any of these ideas could work for our store… i wouldn’t want to seem rude though. it might just be wishful thinking but i genuinely do hope that something changes.
^_^
by mae !!; ; Report