One of the great things about running a games shop with a play space is seeing the friendships that grow over time. This doesn't happen by accident, but is carefully nurtured, and here are some of the tips for those considering setting up their own social spaces!
Firstly, when we needed to move around 8 years ago we were torn between 2 spaces. One was quite a bit bigger, but split into several rooms. It also had it’s own entrance which would have been great. The other was in a shared building, so had a shared entrance, but had fantastic windows, good lighting, and importantly, was based in one large room.
The big single space was ultimately the decider for us. Had we taken the other space, and a person came in on their own or with a friend, they would be tucked in the corner of a room, and people incidentally crossing paths, and ultimately forming friendships would be more difficult, or at least would happen less naturally because of the environment.
As we've grown over the years, and many of those friendships have formed, I've often thought we would benefit from more space, and realistically, that would probably need to be in more than one room, but I stand by our decision at the time, and I dont underestimate the influence of the environment on social behaviour.
Another thing I have experimented with, and formed a conclusion about is table size. If you want strangers to sit at the same table and ultimately begin to break down the social barriers between them, then 8 seats is the optimal table size. I can imagine somebody reading this and thinking I've taken leave of my senses, but really this makes a massive difference!
4 seats are optimal if you want people to come in with people they already know (perhaps families or friends), play some games and then leave. 4 seat tables are good for tournaments, and they look aesthetically pleasing, so I have no problem with them per se, but for forming social bonds that do not yet exist they are not optimal. People will sit at separate tables unless there is no other space, and then they may leave rather than sit at a table somebody else is already sitting at.
6 seater tables are a little better, but I have found that similarly, people who are not yet friends will sit at a separate table if one is available. Something changes about people’s behaviour when you use 8 seater tables instead. Perhaps there is enough physical distance to not feel you are encroaching on somebody else's personal space, or there is a subconscious cue that these are not intended for single use, but whatever causes it, behaviour changes drastically.
At an 8 seater table, if one or two people are on one end, an individual will be more likely to sit at the other end of the same table than go and find a seat elsewhere. Proximity and familiarity over time gives fertile ground for the formation of friendships, and it is up to the people controlling that environment whether that is one of the things they are trying to encourage.
We also took the decision to get a music license and play music in the space, which not all games shops do. This is also a subconscious cue that this is a social space, and contributes to the atmosphere, although it can cause issues too. We made a choice to keep the playlist pretty neutral, and although we’ve wrestled a few times with the idea of having a way of players adding suggestions to the playlist, have leant away from it for a number of reasons.
Not least because people have massively different taste in music, and they may get upset or offended if none of their favourite bands/songs are added to the playlist. We don’t want the atmosphere to be dominated by death metal for example, however much some people may enjoy listening to it. We aim to have quite a neutral atmosphere so that most people could walk in and not feel instantly alienated, although obviously you can't please all of the people, even some of the time if I'm being realistic.
Another crucial aspect is personalities. Our lovely, thriving board game group basically exists because of one player (I’ll spare his blushes by not naming him, but you know who you are!). Before a group had formed, I explained to him that if we wanted something to form we would need to make sure that if we advertised it and somebody came in, they would need to have somebody there to play with, and that might mean weeks and weeks when he turned up and nobody else did. He and I played many fun games over those weeks, but it was far from the group he hoped to share his love of board games with.
He persisted where I have seen others give up, and his persistence eventually paid off. We have a lovely board game group, and people have formed potential lifelong friendships that are a joy to see. This is when all the hard work pays off. If you just wanted to sell things, you wouldn't go into gaming. If you just wanted a business to make money, similarly gaming would not be the sensible choice. You do this job for the love of it. It is weirdly vocational, and every time you walk into a games shop, it is the realisation of somebody’s dream or vision of what a gaming space could or should be.
Next month we are going to the first wedding that has come from people meeting through our shop. What a beautiful thing. Even if we had to close tomorrow, (which I hope we don’t!) we could do so with the knowledge that, in a small way, the thing we poured so much love and hard work into, had a positive impact on the world and on the lives of the lovely people who come to our shop.
