The question is will it be enough to reach that $1,000 a month threshold in order to break even.
Where did you come up with that number? Do you mean just for events?
LGS need to take in a lot more money than 1000 dollars a month, its way more than rent.
Rent (unless they outright own)
Mortgage (if they are purchasing)
Property Tax
Insurance
Business License fees
Electric bill
Water bill
Wages (Paying any employees)
Maintenance
Other overhead
Merchandise
Interest on Merchandise (when they borrow to buy stuff)
Advertising (local and/or online)
And I'm sure I am missing other costs as well. If I were to own a gaming store I wouldn't want less than 10,000 a month gross income (between brick and mortar AND online sales) and even then you probably would never even cut yourself a check for your own salary. So yeah, LGS are going to have to up their entry fees in response, they aren't a charity. Problem is then they up it and drive away the small amount of players they may have. It just flat out sucks. I'm not going to go into the politics of reopening. I have to leave it at that.
I would say no store is worth operating for less than $10k/week.
As much as you might love the work itself or lifestyle, a business has to be profitable to remain successful or it will fold fast.
There are also security costs (alarm company, cameras, and the cost of the time it takes to review security footage)
Merchant costs (the 3% you lose to Visa and Mastercard, Amex is even more, plus Paypal, Moneris, Crystal Commerce, or whoever your credit card processor is)
Phone and internet bill (best combined/reduced by using a Voip line), hosting fees (for your website, ssl certificate renewal fee, etc)
Various license fees (not just with the government for registering your business, but for the software you're using, and also if you're selling food and/or alcohol)
Lawyer and accountant fees (every smart business owner has both)
Health and dental insurance plan (most companies which have them split this cost 50/50 with employees)
Parking and gas costs for your vehicle (like many things these are tax deductible and not coming from your salary, but only if your business is earning enough gross from which to deduct said costs)
Employee uniforms (t-shirts, hats, many businesses want a level of conformity among staff)
Personal Protective equipment (Plexiglas. masks, gloves, face shields, hand sanitizer and more cleaning supplies than previously bought and used)
Sponsorship and promotional giveaways (this can also include prize packs for events, third party companies which promote your business through online press releases as new services and products are made available)
BBB membership fees (it's always better to be accredited)
Decorative costs (ie: full uncut sheets to frame on the wall, etc)
Motivational funds for increased employee morale and productivity (this is often money reserved to be spent on company lunches, a summer party, an employee's birthday celebration, a quarterly competition reward, holiday bonuses, etc)
Additional storage/warehouse space (most LGSs don't have basements and aren't big enough to have a play area and hold their entire inventory, or they'd rather not for safety purposes
The cost of potential bylaw infractions (some stores take the calculated risk to stay open for business later than they should and get caught/fined, and now you also have to worry about random health inspectors monitoring social distancing protocols)
Then you have to factor in untraceable losses from shoplifters and employees stealing toilet paper, other supplies, cash and/or merchandise (presumably singles more than sealed products which can more easily be chalked up to inventory errors if discovered missing at a later time) all of which probably happens often
A poorly trained employee inadvertently accepting damaged or fake cards from a seller and paying top dollar for them after which they can't be resold for a profit or at all
Diminishing returns from players who eventually stop buying as much sealed product, attending drafts, and quit coming back over time for various reasons, often family related (this number is usually higher than the number of young new regular or returning players joining the local competitive meta, especially now with the ongoing pandemic and many being apprehensive to return at the first available opportunity)
Emergency funds always set aside (I would say at least 50k but probably closer to 100k since you need money for purchasing singles from sellers and not just product from wholesalers, something every business needs in case there's a random unexpected maintenance repair required beyond regular expected toiletries costs... perhaps the a/c or toilet breaks, or a city pipe randomly bursts nearby shutting down your business or traffic to it temporarily preventing you from doing as much business as usual, or simply an occasional slow week where sales don't surpass payroll and other base operational expenses.
You also need money to pay out statutory holidays at times employees aren't actually working for you (a net loss), and also in case unexpected circumstances force you to lay off an employee abruptly after which they won't be helping your business for the next few weeks but still need to be paid severance and any earned/accumulated vacation pay. Training new employees can also be very costly because they inherently work less efficiently, at least at first than those who are already familiar with established protocols.
The risk/cost of overbuying (purchasing too many copies of particular singles for resale or opening too much sealed product and then not being able to sell those cards quickly enough, eventually watching as they slowly lose popularity you're forced to reduce the process, often selling at a loss which is barely made up for by recently hyped cards which you can mark up and still fly out of the showcase quickly).
It goes on and on...
Commercial rents per square foot are much higher than residential rents, and unless your employees are all family members or volunteers working for free, 10k per month gross means that you as the owner definitely aren't taking any salary, that is if you can even break even on basic operational expenses.
Anyone who thinks any business can operate on $1000 per month is disconnected from reality and probably still lives in their parents' basement. That's literally less than my rent at home which doesn't even include heating or electricity.
I would say no store is worth operating for less than $10k/week.
In a large metro area I would say you are probably very close. In smaller towns (less than 25,000 population) that number would never be reached in a week. A half million dollars in gross sales every year isn't being realized by many LGS even in the best of times.
I do agree with your assessment, and thanks for listing the other costs involved.
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Playing since 1994: Currently MAGS (HomeBrew),Standard & Pauper (Pioneer and Modern are degenerate trash formats)
STOP using "dude/bro" as a pejorative or insult. Grow up.
Margaret Thatcher: “The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people's money.”
Benjamin Franklin: "Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety."
Martin Luther King Jr.: "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character."
Card slinger, its impractical to base a business plan on a once a century event. Practicality dictates that if there is a rare event that can possibly destroy your business, but it's rare enough that you are very likely to die before it happens again, you don't let that hold you back from running your business.
Yes, lots of LGS will go under, as will lots of bars and restaurants and other service sector business that rely on people going out in crowds. LGS aren't the only businesses with these issues. Like LGS, bars and restaurants run pretty small margins and can get wrecked by something like COVID-19. Lots of them won't be able to weather this storm. But nobody is predicting that the restaurant or bar industries are going to die out, and people will open new bars and restaurants once the pandemic is over to replace the ones that close down. The same will happen with LGS. So long as there is demand enough to support a business, there will be businesses to meet that demand.
I hope most LGS can find a way to weather the storm. I hope their regulars stop in just to purchase product, and I hope they have landlords who willing to take a write-off on missed rent to retain a good tenant (more likely if they don't have people interested in the space). I hope the same for my favorite local restaurants. And just like with local restaurants, people who can afford to continue to support them during this time should. But retail is a fickle business in good times, especially retail that relies on people hanging out in the establishment like a bar, LGS, or restaurant, so some will invariably close.
I'm rambling a bit, but anyone who would avoid going into business because or the risk of an event that happens once every hundred years or less shouldn't be going into business at all, because they are too risk averse to run a successful business. Running a business requires a stomach for risk taking, because everything you do entails risk, and growing a business requires more risk than simply maintaining one. Certain businesses, like LGS, bars, restaurants, are often a few bad months away from closing even when they are successful. Most restaurant owners fail the first few times they open a restaurant. When you ask "who would open an LGS if a global pandemic could ruin the business" the answer is the exact same sort of people who would open an LGS if they weren't thinking about the risk of a global pandemic.
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The Meaning of Life: "M-hmm. Well, it's nothing very special. Uh, try and be nice to people, avoid eating fat, read a good book every now and then, get some walking in, and try and live together in peace and harmony with people of all creeds and nations"
Onering's 4 simple steps that let you solve any problem with Magic's gameplay
Whether its blue players countering your spells, red players burning you out, or combo, if you have a problem with an aspect of Magic's gameplay, you can fix it!
Step 1: Identify the problem. What aspect of Magic don't you like? Step 2: Find out how others deal with the problem. How do players deal with this aspect of the game when they run into it? Step 3: Do what those players do. Step 4: No more problem. Bonus: You are now better at Magic. Enjoy those extra wins!
Card slinger, its impractical to base a business plan on a once a century event. Practicality dictates that if there is a rare event that can possibly destroy your business, but it's rare enough that you are very likely to die before it happens again, you don't let that hold you back from running your business.
Given recent advancements in 21st century technology I don't think outbreaks that require the kind of response that we've made with COVID-19 are as rare as you think especially If the smartest people on Earth are able to replicate it easily enough to cause biological warfare as a means of depopulating the planet without having to launch military strikes on other nations. In that kind of scenario you have a situation where vaccines are being used as political bargaining chips in order to further advance agendas of certain nations and terrorist groups instead of nuclear warheads like it was done in the past. Why? Because it costs them less damage while strengthening their own military forces all in one foul swoop even If it costs peoples' lives in the process regardless of where they're from. It's more about forced population control than divide and conquer.
And It's not so much that COVID-19 style viruses aren't the new normal when the potential of them being used for geopolitical warfare is extremely dangerous compared to the traditional means of how we normally view geopolitical warfare through the use of military action and physical weapons. In order to diminish the possibility of another COVID-19 style outbreak we really need more safeguards in place to help prevent this sort of crisis from occurring again though currently we don't have that at the moment right now. Given how technology continues to advance it will be a lot easier to genetically modify a COVID-19 style virus to where it ends up becoming more advanced than the last that makes it more difficult to fight against. The question is whether If those who fulfill these kind of evil deeds are willing to risk the collapse of the global economy in their march for conquest.
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America Bless Christ Jesus
"Restriction breeds creativity." - Sheldon Menery on EDH / Commander in Magic: The Gathering
"Cancel Culture is the real reason why everyone's not allowed to have nice things anymore." - Anonymous
"For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?" - Mark 8:36
"Most men and women will grow up to love their servitude and will never dream of revolution." - Aldous Huxley, Brave New World
"Every life decision is always a risk / reward proposition." - Sanjay Gupta
I grew up during the Cold War. Needing to recognize where the nearest Nuclear Fallout shelter was. Practicing "duck and cover". (As if our grade school desks would save us from a nuclear blast. And yes our school practiced in the early 70's as we were near an Air Force Base and anti nuke rocket site) Fearing what the USSR was up to all the time. Mutual destruction. (MD is still around by the way.)
The point is we made it through that stage. If we have to worry about germ warfare currently then we will do the same as every civilization has tried to manage their endgame scenario and hopefully make it through. Life goes on in the meantime. Its a sad fact that businesses will go under. Others will pop up to take their place in time. We aren't going to be stuck in this outbreak forever. Life is hard and there are NO guarantees. I see you are quoting scripture in your signature. Look more deeply and I think you may find some solace. Its not the end, look for the good, seize it and don't let others bring you down. Again I would urge you, find family and/or friends and play Magic for fun, kitchen table style. Teach people formats that you like playing. You can have fun without someone having to organize for you, DO IT YOURSELF!!!
Playing since 1994: Currently MAGS (HomeBrew),Standard & Pauper (Pioneer and Modern are degenerate trash formats)
STOP using "dude/bro" as a pejorative or insult. Grow up.
Margaret Thatcher: “The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people's money.”
Benjamin Franklin: "Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety."
Martin Luther King Jr.: "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character."
I grew up during the Cold War. Needing to recognize where the nearest Nuclear Fallout shelter was. Practicing "duck and cover". (As if our grade school desks would save us from a nuclear blast. And yes our school practiced in the early 70's as we were near an Air Force Base and anti nuke rocket site) Fearing what the USSR was up to all the time. Mutual destruction. (MD is still around by the way.)
The point is we made it through that stage. If we have to worry about germ warfare currently then we will do the same as every civilization has tried to manage their endgame scenario and hopefully make it through. Life goes on in the meantime. Its a sad fact that businesses will go under. Others will pop up to take their place in time. We aren't going to be stuck in this outbreak forever. Life is hard and there are NO guarantees. I see you are quoting scripture in your signature. Look more deeply and I think you may find some solace. Its not the end, look for the good, seize it and don't let others bring you down. Again I would urge you, find family and/or friends and play Magic for fun, kitchen table style. Teach people formats that you like playing. You can have fun without someone having to organize for you, DO IT YOURSELF!!!
I think this sort of speaks to the "manchild" mentality of young millennials (like myself whose also part Generation X) or as Dr. Dan Kiley (psychoanalyst) describes it as "Peter Pan Syndrome" who're people stuck living in their parents basements where they continue struggling to build stable foundations for themselves instead of having to rely on others to do it for them. I get why that's appealing to them because they don't have to put in as much effort without having to deal with the financial / marital burdens of what previous generations had to go through to get where they are today. Eventually as we get older we have to rely on ourselves more than others just to survive in this ever changing world we live in and I think that's one of the cruel lessons I learned about the COVID-19 pandemic. Nothing is ever a certainty as tomorrow may be the last. That's why we got to try to make the best of what we already have left.
As Jordan Peterson mentioned about "Peter Pan Syndrome", it's all about choosing your own sacrifice (not to be confused with suicide) instead of allowing fate to decide for you. When COVID-19 occurred people with the syndrome (such as myself) were no longer able to ignore having to sacrifice anything as the pandemic already made the choice for them and now it's up to those who've been affected to make up for lost time compared to those who already fully matured out of adolescence. The way I see it is to treat "Peter Pan Syndrome" as you would drink alcohol by drinking responsibly as long as you don't get drunk enough on your own nostalgia to allow it to consume you before you become sober as dangerous as that might sound. It's real easy to allow nostalgia to cloud our judgment on things that don't match what is or isn't culturally relevant by today's societal norms.
"Restriction breeds creativity." - Sheldon Menery on EDH / Commander in Magic: The Gathering
"Cancel Culture is the real reason why everyone's not allowed to have nice things anymore." - Anonymous
"For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?" - Mark 8:36
"Most men and women will grow up to love their servitude and will never dream of revolution." - Aldous Huxley, Brave New World
"Every life decision is always a risk / reward proposition." - Sanjay Gupta
I think this sort of speaks to the "manchild" mentality of young millennials (like myself whose also part Generation X)
I'm confused, are you a Millennial or Gen X?
Eventually as we get older we have to rely on ourselves more than others just to survive in this ever changing world we live in and I think that's one of the cruel lessons I learned about the COVID-19 pandemic.
True. Count on the core individuals around you (family and friends). But realize it all comes down to YOU to look after YOURSELF. (If you are physically and mentally able). That doesn't mean you can be selfish, quite the contrary, help others how you would like to be helped.
It's real easy to allow nostalgia to cloud our judgment on things that don't match what is or isn't culturally relevant by today's societal norms.
Sorry, no. Those that ignore the failures of the past are doomed to repeat them, as the saying goes. Experience counts, its no end-all, but it offers perspective. Would you want a surgeon operating on you for the first time, right out of Med School? Or would you want an experienced Surgeon that has dozens of successful surgeries under their belt operating on you? I miss my mentors that have come and gone. Passed away and I can not now draw on their experience as I forge ahead. It doesn't mean you can't be open to new ideas, but we build a foundation on the past and present, not the future. Use nostalgia as a tool, not a template. We can't (and don't) need to go backwards to another time and model ourselves on it. We need to use those lessons to build/fix what is broken now or could be broken in the future.
LGS will fail or survive. LGS will return in time. It sucks, it isn't "fair". But its where we are at. Adapt and find your own answers. Patience and persistence is needed. Magic and gaming in general isn't over. Its changing. Hang in there.
Playing since 1994: Currently MAGS (HomeBrew),Standard & Pauper (Pioneer and Modern are degenerate trash formats)
STOP using "dude/bro" as a pejorative or insult. Grow up.
Margaret Thatcher: “The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people's money.”
Benjamin Franklin: "Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety."
Martin Luther King Jr.: "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character."
Card slinger, its impractical to base a business plan on a once a century event. Practicality dictates that if there is a rare event that can possibly destroy your business, but it's rare enough that you are very likely to die before it happens again, you don't let that hold you back from running your business.
Given recent advancements in 21st century technology I don't think outbreaks that require the kind of response that we've made with COVID-19 are as rare as you think especially If the smartest people on Earth are able to replicate it easily enough to cause biological warfare as a means of depopulating the planet without having to launch military strikes on other nations. In that kind of scenario you have a situation where vaccines are being used as political bargaining chips in order to further advance agendas of certain nations and terrorist groups instead of nuclear warheads like it was done in the past. Why? Because it costs them less damage while strengthening their own military forces all in one foul swoop even If it costs peoples' lives in the process regardless of where they're from. It's more about forced population control than divide and conquer.
And It's not so much that COVID-19 style viruses aren't the new normal when the potential of them being used for geopolitical warfare is extremely dangerous compared to the traditional means of how we normally view geopolitical warfare through the use of military action and physical weapons. In order to diminish the possibility of another COVID-19 style outbreak we really need more safeguards in place to help prevent this sort of crisis from occurring again though currently we don't have that at the moment right now. Given how technology continues to advance it will be a lot easier to genetically modify a COVID-19 style virus to where it ends up becoming more advanced than the last that makes it more difficult to fight against. The question is whether If those who fulfill these kind of evil deeds are willing to risk the collapse of the global economy in their march for conquest.
You're verging into conspiracy theory thinking here. So you're saying its not that COVID is the new normal, its that somehow people will make the jump in logic that they should be afraid of bio terrorism. First, that wasn't what you were saying before, nor does it support your previous arguments, so nice try. Second, to jump from COVID to fears of bio terrorism would require a paranoid, ill informed, extremely risk averse mindset that would lead to failed businesses regardless of how rosy the economic outlook is, so again, the only people who would be kept from opening an LGS due to bio terror fears are people who aren't fit to run a successful business anyway, so at least they won't be throwing their money away.
Third, and this is where I'll go slightly off topic, but no terrorist, government, mad scientist, or super villain would ever try to weaponize COVID-19, because COVID-19 sucks balls as a bio weapon. Bio weapons are most useful in causing terror in a target population or as an area of denial weapon. COVID-19 lacks the qualities that make it effective for these roles, or any bio warfare role. First, it simply isn't deadly enough. A 1% fatality rate is high enough to necessitate the sort of government reaction it has, as if we tried to get herd immunity just by infecting people the US would see about 35 million deaths, but its far too low to be effective as a bio weapon. You are going to do more damage, more reliably, with conventional weapons. Second, Its slow as hell. It takes 2 weeks for symptoms to show, and bio weapons need to act quickly for the desired effect. Third, it spreads too easily. Effective bio weapons kill your enemies but don't come back on you. For all the reasons COVID-19 has proven uniquely difficult to contain it would also prove a poor choice for bio weapon, as any state or group that carries out a successful attack is going to be sure it will hit them as well, possibly even worse than the target. Fourth, it is most dangerous to the elderly, while bio weapons are most effective, both in war and as terrorism, when they hit the young, specifically fighting age adults, at least as hard. The death rate among the younger generations is significantly less than among older populations, and the people most likely to be soldiers (young and in good health) are also most likely to not only survive COVID, but to have mild or no symptoms. Lastly, there a plenty of diseases that have been around for years that would make far superior bio weapons both for terrorism and warfare, including COVID's relatives SARS and MERS. Biological weapons are expensive and unwieldy, which is why they have rarely been used, and most of the time where used before the existence of Germ Theory. There are just too many easier, cheaper, more controllable, and more reliable ways to kill people, and even among bio weapons COVID-19 wouldn't make the cut.
Rather than letting your mind run wild with worst case scenarios that aren't based on fact, take a breath and educate yourself. And Jordan Peterson repackaging decades old self help pablum doesn't count.
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The Meaning of Life: "M-hmm. Well, it's nothing very special. Uh, try and be nice to people, avoid eating fat, read a good book every now and then, get some walking in, and try and live together in peace and harmony with people of all creeds and nations"
Onering's 4 simple steps that let you solve any problem with Magic's gameplay
Whether its blue players countering your spells, red players burning you out, or combo, if you have a problem with an aspect of Magic's gameplay, you can fix it!
Step 1: Identify the problem. What aspect of Magic don't you like? Step 2: Find out how others deal with the problem. How do players deal with this aspect of the game when they run into it? Step 3: Do what those players do. Step 4: No more problem. Bonus: You are now better at Magic. Enjoy those extra wins!
LGS will fail or survive. LGS will return in time. It sucks, it isn't "fair". But its where we are at. Adapt and find your own answers. Patience and persistence is needed. Magic and gaming in general isn't over. Its changing. Hang in there.
The LGS had to end at some point. Why do we continue to latch onto things that no longer serve us according to God, especially If it's distracting us from getting closer to Him? Luke 16:13 says that no one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money. It's hard because when it comes to gaming it glorifies ourselves more than it glorifies God. It doesn't necessarily mean that you hate God when it means that He's no longer the top priority to you while you're gaming which also kind of ties into the Lukewarm Christian mindset.
"Restriction breeds creativity." - Sheldon Menery on EDH / Commander in Magic: The Gathering
"Cancel Culture is the real reason why everyone's not allowed to have nice things anymore." - Anonymous
"For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?" - Mark 8:36
"Most men and women will grow up to love their servitude and will never dream of revolution." - Aldous Huxley, Brave New World
"Every life decision is always a risk / reward proposition." - Sanjay Gupta
There are enough things to worry about before getting to biological warfare (or what God thinks of you). You might just have anxiety, something that this virus is making worse, maybe seek some professional help. Seriously, you don't need to pull on those bootstraps yourself, Maybe, you just need some help because your brain doesn't produce the right amount of serotonin.
I was talking to you as if you were sane but you are a Peterson Fan *facepalm*
There are enough things to worry about before getting to biological warfare (or what God thinks of you). You might just have anxiety, something that this virus is making worse, maybe seek some professional help. Seriously, you don't need to pull on those bootstraps yourself, Maybe, you just need some help because your brain doesn't produce the right amount of serotonin.
I was talking to you as if you were sane but you are a Peterson Fan *facepalm*
I don't really follow Jordan Peterson all that much when I mainly found his discussion on the "Peter Pan Syndrome" to be really insightful to what the current generation of young adults are going through right now. Believe it or not it's actually based on an actual book published in 1983 titled, "The Peter Pan Syndrome: Men Who Have Never Grown Up".
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America Bless Christ Jesus
"Restriction breeds creativity." - Sheldon Menery on EDH / Commander in Magic: The Gathering
"Cancel Culture is the real reason why everyone's not allowed to have nice things anymore." - Anonymous
"For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?" - Mark 8:36
"Most men and women will grow up to love their servitude and will never dream of revolution." - Aldous Huxley, Brave New World
"Every life decision is always a risk / reward proposition." - Sanjay Gupta
There are enough things to worry about before getting to biological warfare (or what God thinks of you). You might just have anxiety, something that this virus is making worse, maybe seek some professional help. Seriously, you don't need to pull on those bootstraps yourself, Maybe, you just need some help because your brain doesn't produce the right amount of serotonin.
I was talking to you as if you were sane but you are a Peterson Fan *facepalm*
I don't really follow Jordan Peterson all that much when I mainly found his discussion on the "Peter Pan Syndrome" to be really insightful to what the current generation of young adults are going through right now. Believe it or not it's actually based on an actual book published in 1983 titled, "The Peter Pan Syndrome: Men Who Have Never Grown Up".
Except Peterson isn't insightful. He's blaming young adults for not moving out of their parents homes as early as their parents did, and ignoring the major financial challenges facing young people their parents didn't face. 20 somethings don't live with their parents because they want to, or because of Peter Pan syndrome, they do so because they start adult life in a financial hole due to college tuition, and use the money they save living at home to start working on the principle and saving for a house, which costs a lot more in today's dollars than it did when Peterson was in his 20s. Its simply good finances to live at home during their 20s instead of throwing money away into rent. Most of the people who do this have college debt because their parents didn't pay their tuition. Peterson types look down on these people but not on people whose parents paid their tuition, allowing them to graduate debt free and put their post college earnings directly into rent while also being able to save for home ownership.
I get the appeal of Peterson. Its mostly the same as any other hack life coach. When people are in a rough place and unsure of themselves, he's a voice giving simple answers. He packages this in an archaic worldview and a get tough message. Sometimes sucking it up and making sacrifices is the only way to get by when life hands you a crap sandwich, but Peterson plays that as a virtue and the right way to live generally instead of a necessary evil to survive in the face of adversity. He supports the very systems that cause the problems he claims to solve for people (and makes worse long term, like encouraging 20 somethings to make sacrifices to move out and pay rent as soon as possible which delays actually being able to own a home versus living at home and saving up buy a house). He fetishizes austerity and a mythical spartan masculinity that is as immature as overindulgent hedonism. Peter Pan syndrome is an old hot take that was simply a repackaging of the same complaint old curmudgeons have had about the next generation since Plato (literally, Plato made the same complaints). Its not real, its just old people railing against the young because they have an idealized view of their own life narrative and think the next gen aren't living up to it. Its why boomers rail against Millenials being lazy or profligate when they actually work more hours, are more productive, and more austere in their lifestyles than boomers were at the same age. You know The Peter Pan Syndrome book you reference was written in the early 80s, about Peterson's generation (Boomers), and now Peterson (and Boomers more generally) are crying about the same wolf with Millenials and Z. Its garbage pop psychology that serves to make the old feel superior to the young and any young that listen to it feel ashamed for being human.
Do not feel bad about liking magic, nor liking playing at an LGS. Don't think that liking games or anything considered "childish", and don't be ashamed about asking for help and support. Growing up isn't about posturing or signaling, its about being responsible. That's it. If people can rely on you, and you can basically take care of yourself, that's it. And taking care of yourself can mean understanding when you need help or support and having the humility to accept it. It also means self care, and that's different for everyone. For a lot of us here, playing some magic is self care. For others, its meditation, or watching the game, or going to church, or sitting around watching cartoons all weekend every once in awhile. And there's nothing wrong with that.
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The Meaning of Life: "M-hmm. Well, it's nothing very special. Uh, try and be nice to people, avoid eating fat, read a good book every now and then, get some walking in, and try and live together in peace and harmony with people of all creeds and nations"
Onering's 4 simple steps that let you solve any problem with Magic's gameplay
Whether its blue players countering your spells, red players burning you out, or combo, if you have a problem with an aspect of Magic's gameplay, you can fix it!
Step 1: Identify the problem. What aspect of Magic don't you like? Step 2: Find out how others deal with the problem. How do players deal with this aspect of the game when they run into it? Step 3: Do what those players do. Step 4: No more problem. Bonus: You are now better at Magic. Enjoy those extra wins!
Feeling bad about not "growing up" was a component of my anxiety problems at least when it got to crisis levels a couple of years ago (The major one was my younger brother dying of cancer). So I hopped on a plane and went and fended for myself for a while, travelling alone, and despite the occasional bad day, I did just fine with no one to fall back on. Most of the time more than fine since I am hypercompetent with the over planning habits of someone with anxiety.
It is rather bizarre to feel like you haven't achieved anything when you literally have a PhD but its just that PhD took a lot longer than you thought it would and your scholarship had run out for several years before you finished. To escape the stress I would just go play magic in my lunch break for however long a Commander game would take.
I have always found shuffling physical cards to be super relaxing, I actually always have a deck next to me at my computer so I can just shuffle it and deal out a hand, maybe play out a few turns before picking it all up again and shuffling some more.
LGS will fail or survive. LGS will return in time. It sucks, it isn't "fair". But its where we are at. Adapt and find your own answers. Patience and persistence is needed. Magic and gaming in general isn't over. Its changing. Hang in there.
The LGS had to end at some point. Why do we continue to latch onto things that no longer serve us according to God, especially If it's distracting us from getting closer to Him? Luke 16:13 says that no one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money. It's hard because when it comes to gaming it glorifies ourselves more than it glorifies God. It doesn't necessarily mean that you hate God when it means that He's no longer the top priority to you while you're gaming which also kind of ties into the Lukewarm Christian mindset.
My friend I really think you need to speak with a professional and unburden yourself of some things you are carrying around.
LGS don't have to end and they won't. You are being irrational and you can't see that at this time and place in your life.
God doesn't mind if you like to play Magic, he has a lot more pressing issues on his plate now and forever. Don't compare mindsets of others as well in comparison to your own. YOUR relationship with your Maker is all that matters as long as it positive.
My last advice in this manner is that you should seek the advice of a professional. They are out there and they may even offer free services. Get yourself to a good place and the game will reveal what it is meant to be, a fun hobby that brings joy to your life. I wish I could do more than these words here, but know there are people out there, that CAN and WILL help. Stay strong and again, seek help and don't be ashamed if you need a hand. God's Blessings to you if I may offer them.
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Playing since 1994: Currently MAGS (HomeBrew),Standard & Pauper (Pioneer and Modern are degenerate trash formats)
STOP using "dude/bro" as a pejorative or insult. Grow up.
Margaret Thatcher: “The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people's money.”
Benjamin Franklin: "Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety."
Martin Luther King Jr.: "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character."
LONDON (AP) — More than 200 scientists have called for the World Health Organization and others to acknowledge that the coronavirus can spread in the air — a change that could alter some of the current measures being taken to stop the pandemic. In a letter published this week in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases, two scientists from Australia and the U.S. wrote that studies have shown “beyond any reasonable doubt that viruses are released during exhalation, talking and coughing in microdroplets small enough to remain aloft in the air.” That means people in certain indoor conditions could be at greater risk of being infected than was previously thought. The WHO has long maintained that COVID-19 is spread via larger respiratory droplets, most often when people cough or sneeze, that fall to the ground. It has dismissed the possibility of airborne transmission, except for certain high-risk medical procedures, like when patients are first put on breathing machines.
In a statement on Monday, the U.N. health agency said it was aware of the article and was reviewing it with technical experts. WHO has been criticized in recent weeks and months for its seeming divergence from the scientific community. The organization for months declined to recommend mask-wearing, partly out of supply concerns and has also continued to describe the transmission of COVID-19 from people without symptoms as “rare.” The letter was endorsed by 239 scientists from a variety of fields. It stated that the issue of whether or not COVID-19 was airborne was of “heightened significance” as many countries stop restrictive lockdown measures. The authors cited previous studies suggesting that germs closely related to the new virus were spread via airborne transmission. They said “there is every reason to expect” that the coronavirus behaves similarly.
They also cited a Washington state choir practice and research about a poorly ventilated restaurant in Guangzhou, China, each of which raised the possibility of infections from airborne droplets. “We are concerned that the lack of recognition of the risk of airborne transmission of COVID-19 and the lack of clear recommendations on the control measures against the airborne virus will have significant consequences,” the scientists wrote. “People may think they are fully protected by adhering to the current recommendations but in fact, additional airborne interventions are needed.” Scientists around the world have been working furiously to understand the new virus. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says it is thought to mainly jump from person to person through close contact, but adds:
“We are still learning about how the virus spreads.” Martin McKee, a professor of European Public Health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine who was not linked to the letter, said the scientists' arguments sounded “entirely reasonable.” “Part of the problem is that everybody at WHO was moving with the paradigm of influenza, even though we know there are lots of differences between influenza and coronaviruses,” he said. McKee noted that with Britain's recent reopening of its pubs, restaurants and salons, the possibility of airborne coronavirus transmission might mean stricter interventions are needed indoors, including more mask-wearing and continued physical distancing. “We're getting accumulating evidence about super-spreading events happening in indoor spaces where there are large numbers of people in confined spaces,” he said. “Many of these are in exactly the circumstances that governments now want to open up.”
"Restriction breeds creativity." - Sheldon Menery on EDH / Commander in Magic: The Gathering
"Cancel Culture is the real reason why everyone's not allowed to have nice things anymore." - Anonymous
"For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?" - Mark 8:36
"Most men and women will grow up to love their servitude and will never dream of revolution." - Aldous Huxley, Brave New World
"Every life decision is always a risk / reward proposition." - Sanjay Gupta
Fortunately, many of the precautions that have been standard are good at combating airborne diseases, wearing masks especially. Airborne and droplet borne have a lot in common. The divergence is that droplet borne doesn't remain in the air as long, and is spread at about the same rate indoors as outdoors, while airborne stays in the air longer and spreads much better indoors, in crowded and poorly ventilated areas. LGS that have the option can host events outdoors with masks required and actually be safe. Many stores don't have that option.
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The Meaning of Life: "M-hmm. Well, it's nothing very special. Uh, try and be nice to people, avoid eating fat, read a good book every now and then, get some walking in, and try and live together in peace and harmony with people of all creeds and nations"
Onering's 4 simple steps that let you solve any problem with Magic's gameplay
Whether its blue players countering your spells, red players burning you out, or combo, if you have a problem with an aspect of Magic's gameplay, you can fix it!
Step 1: Identify the problem. What aspect of Magic don't you like? Step 2: Find out how others deal with the problem. How do players deal with this aspect of the game when they run into it? Step 3: Do what those players do. Step 4: No more problem. Bonus: You are now better at Magic. Enjoy those extra wins!
As for the recent revelation about COVID-19 being airborne, yeah I can definitely see how this will be a major challenge for Local Game Stores (LGS) where their infrastructure was never really built for Outdoor Play since they were originally designed for In-Store Play hence the name. The problem is that these stores aren't able to function like how some sports stadiums have a interchangeable roof depending on the cost of how much overhead is being used. The cost to maintain that sort of environment isn't worth it compared to being an online vendor like Rudy from Alpha Investments and Sports N More where they don't provide In-Store Play for people to play Paper Magic with the assumption that they're just going to play at home when they're not. Apparently only half of all offline MTG players prefer to play at their LGS while the other half prefers to play at home even though it's less convenient for gathering playgroups especially with those who don't have access to social media.
"Restriction breeds creativity." - Sheldon Menery on EDH / Commander in Magic: The Gathering
"Cancel Culture is the real reason why everyone's not allowed to have nice things anymore." - Anonymous
"For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?" - Mark 8:36
"Most men and women will grow up to love their servitude and will never dream of revolution." - Aldous Huxley, Brave New World
"Every life decision is always a risk / reward proposition." - Sanjay Gupta
Bubonic Plague is endemic to Mongolia. There are cases every year, usually from someone ******* around with prairie dogs or other animals that are natural reservoirs for the disease. Plague manifests quickly and is a well known pathogen, so its easy to catch early and stop the spread. We already have known, effective treatments for plague. It is, luckily, caused by a bacteria that isn't commonly exposed to antibiotics, so it responds well to antibiotic treatments. Its also present in Africa, and the USA. You can catch plague on a camping trip in the Great Plains or the Southwest. Typically a couple people do every year. We actually had a full on plague pandemic pretty recently, it lasted about 100 years and ended in the 50s. Turns out even then it was fairly easy for countries to control the spread and it thus mainly effected India and China. It killed about 12 million people, but that was spread out over about a century, and most of the deaths came before widespread availability of antibiotics, the advent of which greatly reduced the death rate and contributed to the rather swift end of the pandemic.
Hopefully this puts you a bit at ease. Sometimes its hard to have a good perspective on events. Human beings are predisposed to binary thinking, which unfortunately leads to difficulty reacting appropriately to medium threats. Plague is a very dangerous disease but also very treatable and reasonably containable based on how quickly it presents and how it spreads. If you get it, and you don't treat it, you will die, but its very unlikely that you will get it, and if you do its very likely that you will go to the hospital early enough to get treatment that will not only save you, but make it not horrible to get through. Most deaths come from poor rural areas in poor countries because people don't have access to health care and thus don't seek treatment until its too late. COVID-19 is a moderately dangerous disease. If you catch it, you are actually pretty unlikely to die from it without treatment unless you have certain risk factors, but its still dangerous enough that it is cause for concern. A death rate of 1% is a strange thing. It means that if you catch it, the odds are greatly in your favor to live (and if your one of the lucky 30 percent you may never even know you had it), but if EVERYONE catches it the world is looking at about 70 million deaths, and the US would be looking at about 4.5 million dead, which are unacceptable numbers when the means exists to reduce them, and they are large enough to wreck economies. Thus, its in our interest to take extreme measures to prevent and control it, but yet we should not be individually afraid because of the low individual death rate and the effectiveness of these measures at preventing us from catching it in the first place. Unfortunately, calm but cautious is not what we are set up for, so you have the extremes of "we're all gonna die" and "its a hoax" get far more play than they should, and the less extremes of fear on one end and recklessness on the other be widespread.
As for LGS, many do not have the ability to do outdoor events its true, but some do. Most LGS that I have frequented use those plastic folding tables and chairs or something similar, so simply moving them outside accomplishes the task. The big issue is whether the LGS has an outside to move to. That really depends on the location. In a city, the answer is no, yet city based LGS also tend to have a bigger audience they serve and are more likely to be able to be in decent shape, especially if they are near a college. Getting creative by reserving space at a park for events is a great option. That's usually free, but it depends on availability. Some more rural LGS, which are usually the ones that struggle the most due to a smaller player base, have access to yards or their parking lots are large enough to section off an area for the event. FNM conveniently takes place when many businesses are closed, so even LGS that share parking lots may be able to use the entire thing because their neighbor isn't open at the time. Its not a solution for everyone, but its worthwhile for any LGS that can do so to try it out.
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The Meaning of Life: "M-hmm. Well, it's nothing very special. Uh, try and be nice to people, avoid eating fat, read a good book every now and then, get some walking in, and try and live together in peace and harmony with people of all creeds and nations"
Onering's 4 simple steps that let you solve any problem with Magic's gameplay
Whether its blue players countering your spells, red players burning you out, or combo, if you have a problem with an aspect of Magic's gameplay, you can fix it!
Step 1: Identify the problem. What aspect of Magic don't you like? Step 2: Find out how others deal with the problem. How do players deal with this aspect of the game when they run into it? Step 3: Do what those players do. Step 4: No more problem. Bonus: You are now better at Magic. Enjoy those extra wins!
Bubonic Plague is endemic to Mongolia. There are cases every year, usually from someone ******* around with prairie dogs or other animals that are natural reservoirs for the disease. Plague manifests quickly and is a well known pathogen, so its easy to catch early and stop the spread. We already have known, effective treatments for plague. It is, luckily, caused by a bacteria that isn't commonly exposed to antibiotics, so it responds well to antibiotic treatments. Its also present in Africa, and the USA. You can catch plague on a camping trip in the Great Plains or the Southwest. Typically a couple people do every year. We actually had a full on plague pandemic pretty recently, it lasted about 100 years and ended in the 50s. Turns out even then it was fairly easy for countries to control the spread and it thus mainly effected India and China. It killed about 12 million people, but that was spread out over about a century, and most of the deaths came before widespread availability of antibiotics, the advent of which greatly reduced the death rate and contributed to the rather swift end of the pandemic.
Case in point my High School English teacher's daughter at 8 got it when she found a dead squirrel on a camping trip in Colorado, picked it up and buried it for a funeral (they are hunters so she wasn't scared to touch dead animal bodies). Once she got on the right antibiotic she was fine. No else in her family or the doctors who treated caught it.
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“There are no weak Jews. I am descended from those who wrestle angels and kill giants. We were chosen by God. You were chosen by a pathetic little man who can't seem to grow a full mustache"
"You can tell how dumb someone is by how they use Mary Sue"
"Restriction breeds creativity." - Sheldon Menery on EDH / Commander in Magic: The Gathering
"Cancel Culture is the real reason why everyone's not allowed to have nice things anymore." - Anonymous
"For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?" - Mark 8:36
"Most men and women will grow up to love their servitude and will never dream of revolution." - Aldous Huxley, Brave New World
"Every life decision is always a risk / reward proposition." - Sanjay Gupta
COVID-19 may have just forced Wizards of the Coast to expand the Reserve List to encompass the entire Modern format card pool. Why? Because realistically collectors will be the only target demographic that Wizards of the Coast caters Paper Magic toward as players no longer have a place to play at. The only way to get collectors to buy into non-Reserve List cards is by expanding the list itself to where they'll never devalue over time which gives Wizards of the Coast a good excuse to keep printing old / new card singles through Secret Lair drops.
Then they'll change the distribution of booster boxes / sealed product over to Arena / MTGO exclusively since players can only play digital nowadays where as collectors can still buy into Paper Magic. Imagine how much Ravnica Shocklands and Onslaught / Khans of Tarkir Fetchlands would go for If they were officially added to the Reserve List. Even popular Planeswalkers like Liliana of the Veil and Jace, the Mind Sculptor would double or even triple in price. Short printed cards like Sensei's Divining Top and Rings of Brighthearth would go through the roof.
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America Bless Christ Jesus
"Restriction breeds creativity." - Sheldon Menery on EDH / Commander in Magic: The Gathering
"Cancel Culture is the real reason why everyone's not allowed to have nice things anymore." - Anonymous
"For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?" - Mark 8:36
"Most men and women will grow up to love their servitude and will never dream of revolution." - Aldous Huxley, Brave New World
"Every life decision is always a risk / reward proposition." - Sanjay Gupta
I take great comfort in knowing that anyone who cries the doom of paper magic has no idea how any thing actually functions and can be safely ignored.
For those who would like light shine on why this is so. Paper magic and paper play make up that VAST majority of magics existence. The "pro" community that makes up all of tournament play is incredibly visible but also incredibly small. Believe it or not the majority of magic cards are bought by casual players who are buying them to play with their friends and families. Everyone who cries doom is either vastly ill informed or deliberately fear mongering.
I take great comfort in knowing that anyone who cries the doom of paper magic has no idea how any thing actually functions and can be safely ignored.
For those who would like light shine on why this is so. Paper magic and paper play make up that VAST majority of magics existence. The "pro" community that makes up all of tournament play is incredibly visible but also incredibly small. Believe it or not the majority of magic cards are bought by casual players who are buying them to play with their friends and families. Everyone who cries doom is either vastly ill informed or deliberately fear mongering.
Except Paper Magic wasn't designed to be a "take home and play" board game like Monopoly and Scrabble which is the mindset that Hasbro is trying to project on people who realize that Paper Magic's success is directly tied to the success of the Local Game Store (LGS). Hasbro doesn't see it that way where they're trying to change how the game is being marketed as compared to how people who've played for a long period of time knows how it SHOULD be marketed as. Because of COVID-19, Hasbro is forced to market Paper Magic as a traditional board game instead of a paper trading card game / collectible card game.
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America Bless Christ Jesus
"Restriction breeds creativity." - Sheldon Menery on EDH / Commander in Magic: The Gathering
"Cancel Culture is the real reason why everyone's not allowed to have nice things anymore." - Anonymous
"For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?" - Mark 8:36
"Most men and women will grow up to love their servitude and will never dream of revolution." - Aldous Huxley, Brave New World
"Every life decision is always a risk / reward proposition." - Sanjay Gupta
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I would say no store is worth operating for less than $10k/week.
As much as you might love the work itself or lifestyle, a business has to be profitable to remain successful or it will fold fast.
There are also security costs (alarm company, cameras, and the cost of the time it takes to review security footage)
Merchant costs (the 3% you lose to Visa and Mastercard, Amex is even more, plus Paypal, Moneris, Crystal Commerce, or whoever your credit card processor is)
Phone and internet bill (best combined/reduced by using a Voip line), hosting fees (for your website, ssl certificate renewal fee, etc)
Various license fees (not just with the government for registering your business, but for the software you're using, and also if you're selling food and/or alcohol)
Lawyer and accountant fees (every smart business owner has both)
Health and dental insurance plan (most companies which have them split this cost 50/50 with employees)
Parking and gas costs for your vehicle (like many things these are tax deductible and not coming from your salary, but only if your business is earning enough gross from which to deduct said costs)
Employee uniforms (t-shirts, hats, many businesses want a level of conformity among staff)
Personal Protective equipment (Plexiglas. masks, gloves, face shields, hand sanitizer and more cleaning supplies than previously bought and used)
Sponsorship and promotional giveaways (this can also include prize packs for events, third party companies which promote your business through online press releases as new services and products are made available)
BBB membership fees (it's always better to be accredited)
Decorative costs (ie: full uncut sheets to frame on the wall, etc)
Motivational funds for increased employee morale and productivity (this is often money reserved to be spent on company lunches, a summer party, an employee's birthday celebration, a quarterly competition reward, holiday bonuses, etc)
Additional storage/warehouse space (most LGSs don't have basements and aren't big enough to have a play area and hold their entire inventory, or they'd rather not for safety purposes
The cost of potential bylaw infractions (some stores take the calculated risk to stay open for business later than they should and get caught/fined, and now you also have to worry about random health inspectors monitoring social distancing protocols)
Then you have to factor in untraceable losses from shoplifters and employees stealing toilet paper, other supplies, cash and/or merchandise (presumably singles more than sealed products which can more easily be chalked up to inventory errors if discovered missing at a later time) all of which probably happens often
A poorly trained employee inadvertently accepting damaged or fake cards from a seller and paying top dollar for them after which they can't be resold for a profit or at all
Diminishing returns from players who eventually stop buying as much sealed product, attending drafts, and quit coming back over time for various reasons, often family related (this number is usually higher than the number of young new regular or returning players joining the local competitive meta, especially now with the ongoing pandemic and many being apprehensive to return at the first available opportunity)
Emergency funds always set aside (I would say at least 50k but probably closer to 100k since you need money for purchasing singles from sellers and not just product from wholesalers, something every business needs in case there's a random unexpected maintenance repair required beyond regular expected toiletries costs... perhaps the a/c or toilet breaks, or a city pipe randomly bursts nearby shutting down your business or traffic to it temporarily preventing you from doing as much business as usual, or simply an occasional slow week where sales don't surpass payroll and other base operational expenses.
You also need money to pay out statutory holidays at times employees aren't actually working for you (a net loss), and also in case unexpected circumstances force you to lay off an employee abruptly after which they won't be helping your business for the next few weeks but still need to be paid severance and any earned/accumulated vacation pay. Training new employees can also be very costly because they inherently work less efficiently, at least at first than those who are already familiar with established protocols.
The risk/cost of overbuying (purchasing too many copies of particular singles for resale or opening too much sealed product and then not being able to sell those cards quickly enough, eventually watching as they slowly lose popularity you're forced to reduce the process, often selling at a loss which is barely made up for by recently hyped cards which you can mark up and still fly out of the showcase quickly).
It goes on and on...
Commercial rents per square foot are much higher than residential rents, and unless your employees are all family members or volunteers working for free, 10k per month gross means that you as the owner definitely aren't taking any salary, that is if you can even break even on basic operational expenses.
Anyone who thinks any business can operate on $1000 per month is disconnected from reality and probably still lives in their parents' basement. That's literally less than my rent at home which doesn't even include heating or electricity.
I used to be a demigod, but now I'm an omnimage
In a large metro area I would say you are probably very close. In smaller towns (less than 25,000 population) that number would never be reached in a week. A half million dollars in gross sales every year isn't being realized by many LGS even in the best of times.
I do agree with your assessment, and thanks for listing the other costs involved.
STOP using "dude/bro" as a pejorative or insult. Grow up.
Margaret Thatcher: “The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people's money.”
Benjamin Franklin: "Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety."
Martin Luther King Jr.: "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character."
Yes, lots of LGS will go under, as will lots of bars and restaurants and other service sector business that rely on people going out in crowds. LGS aren't the only businesses with these issues. Like LGS, bars and restaurants run pretty small margins and can get wrecked by something like COVID-19. Lots of them won't be able to weather this storm. But nobody is predicting that the restaurant or bar industries are going to die out, and people will open new bars and restaurants once the pandemic is over to replace the ones that close down. The same will happen with LGS. So long as there is demand enough to support a business, there will be businesses to meet that demand.
I hope most LGS can find a way to weather the storm. I hope their regulars stop in just to purchase product, and I hope they have landlords who willing to take a write-off on missed rent to retain a good tenant (more likely if they don't have people interested in the space). I hope the same for my favorite local restaurants. And just like with local restaurants, people who can afford to continue to support them during this time should. But retail is a fickle business in good times, especially retail that relies on people hanging out in the establishment like a bar, LGS, or restaurant, so some will invariably close.
I'm rambling a bit, but anyone who would avoid going into business because or the risk of an event that happens once every hundred years or less shouldn't be going into business at all, because they are too risk averse to run a successful business. Running a business requires a stomach for risk taking, because everything you do entails risk, and growing a business requires more risk than simply maintaining one. Certain businesses, like LGS, bars, restaurants, are often a few bad months away from closing even when they are successful. Most restaurant owners fail the first few times they open a restaurant. When you ask "who would open an LGS if a global pandemic could ruin the business" the answer is the exact same sort of people who would open an LGS if they weren't thinking about the risk of a global pandemic.
Onering's 4 simple steps that let you solve any problem with Magic's gameplay
Step 1: Identify the problem. What aspect of Magic don't you like? Step 2: Find out how others deal with the problem. How do players deal with this aspect of the game when they run into it? Step 3: Do what those players do. Step 4: No more problem. Bonus: You are now better at Magic. Enjoy those extra wins!
And It's not so much that COVID-19 style viruses aren't the new normal when the potential of them being used for geopolitical warfare is extremely dangerous compared to the traditional means of how we normally view geopolitical warfare through the use of military action and physical weapons. In order to diminish the possibility of another COVID-19 style outbreak we really need more safeguards in place to help prevent this sort of crisis from occurring again though currently we don't have that at the moment right now. Given how technology continues to advance it will be a lot easier to genetically modify a COVID-19 style virus to where it ends up becoming more advanced than the last that makes it more difficult to fight against. The question is whether If those who fulfill these kind of evil deeds are willing to risk the collapse of the global economy in their march for conquest.
"Restriction breeds creativity." - Sheldon Menery on EDH / Commander in Magic: The Gathering
"Cancel Culture is the real reason why everyone's not allowed to have nice things anymore." - Anonymous
"For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?" - Mark 8:36
"Most men and women will grow up to love their servitude and will never dream of revolution." - Aldous Huxley, Brave New World
"Every life decision is always a risk / reward proposition." - Sanjay Gupta
The point is we made it through that stage. If we have to worry about germ warfare currently then we will do the same as every civilization has tried to manage their endgame scenario and hopefully make it through. Life goes on in the meantime. Its a sad fact that businesses will go under. Others will pop up to take their place in time. We aren't going to be stuck in this outbreak forever. Life is hard and there are NO guarantees. I see you are quoting scripture in your signature. Look more deeply and I think you may find some solace. Its not the end, look for the good, seize it and don't let others bring you down. Again I would urge you, find family and/or friends and play Magic for fun, kitchen table style. Teach people formats that you like playing. You can have fun without someone having to organize for you, DO IT YOURSELF!!!
STOP using "dude/bro" as a pejorative or insult. Grow up.
Margaret Thatcher: “The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people's money.”
Benjamin Franklin: "Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety."
Martin Luther King Jr.: "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character."
As Jordan Peterson mentioned about "Peter Pan Syndrome", it's all about choosing your own sacrifice (not to be confused with suicide) instead of allowing fate to decide for you. When COVID-19 occurred people with the syndrome (such as myself) were no longer able to ignore having to sacrifice anything as the pandemic already made the choice for them and now it's up to those who've been affected to make up for lost time compared to those who already fully matured out of adolescence. The way I see it is to treat "Peter Pan Syndrome" as you would drink alcohol by drinking responsibly as long as you don't get drunk enough on your own nostalgia to allow it to consume you before you become sober as dangerous as that might sound. It's real easy to allow nostalgia to cloud our judgment on things that don't match what is or isn't culturally relevant by today's societal norms.
"Restriction breeds creativity." - Sheldon Menery on EDH / Commander in Magic: The Gathering
"Cancel Culture is the real reason why everyone's not allowed to have nice things anymore." - Anonymous
"For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?" - Mark 8:36
"Most men and women will grow up to love their servitude and will never dream of revolution." - Aldous Huxley, Brave New World
"Every life decision is always a risk / reward proposition." - Sanjay Gupta
I'm confused, are you a Millennial or Gen X?
True. Count on the core individuals around you (family and friends). But realize it all comes down to YOU to look after YOURSELF. (If you are physically and mentally able). That doesn't mean you can be selfish, quite the contrary, help others how you would like to be helped.
Sorry, no. Those that ignore the failures of the past are doomed to repeat them, as the saying goes. Experience counts, its no end-all, but it offers perspective. Would you want a surgeon operating on you for the first time, right out of Med School? Or would you want an experienced Surgeon that has dozens of successful surgeries under their belt operating on you? I miss my mentors that have come and gone. Passed away and I can not now draw on their experience as I forge ahead. It doesn't mean you can't be open to new ideas, but we build a foundation on the past and present, not the future. Use nostalgia as a tool, not a template. We can't (and don't) need to go backwards to another time and model ourselves on it. We need to use those lessons to build/fix what is broken now or could be broken in the future.
LGS will fail or survive. LGS will return in time. It sucks, it isn't "fair". But its where we are at. Adapt and find your own answers. Patience and persistence is needed. Magic and gaming in general isn't over. Its changing. Hang in there.
STOP using "dude/bro" as a pejorative or insult. Grow up.
Margaret Thatcher: “The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people's money.”
Benjamin Franklin: "Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety."
Martin Luther King Jr.: "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character."
You're verging into conspiracy theory thinking here. So you're saying its not that COVID is the new normal, its that somehow people will make the jump in logic that they should be afraid of bio terrorism. First, that wasn't what you were saying before, nor does it support your previous arguments, so nice try. Second, to jump from COVID to fears of bio terrorism would require a paranoid, ill informed, extremely risk averse mindset that would lead to failed businesses regardless of how rosy the economic outlook is, so again, the only people who would be kept from opening an LGS due to bio terror fears are people who aren't fit to run a successful business anyway, so at least they won't be throwing their money away.
Third, and this is where I'll go slightly off topic, but no terrorist, government, mad scientist, or super villain would ever try to weaponize COVID-19, because COVID-19 sucks balls as a bio weapon. Bio weapons are most useful in causing terror in a target population or as an area of denial weapon. COVID-19 lacks the qualities that make it effective for these roles, or any bio warfare role. First, it simply isn't deadly enough. A 1% fatality rate is high enough to necessitate the sort of government reaction it has, as if we tried to get herd immunity just by infecting people the US would see about 35 million deaths, but its far too low to be effective as a bio weapon. You are going to do more damage, more reliably, with conventional weapons. Second, Its slow as hell. It takes 2 weeks for symptoms to show, and bio weapons need to act quickly for the desired effect. Third, it spreads too easily. Effective bio weapons kill your enemies but don't come back on you. For all the reasons COVID-19 has proven uniquely difficult to contain it would also prove a poor choice for bio weapon, as any state or group that carries out a successful attack is going to be sure it will hit them as well, possibly even worse than the target. Fourth, it is most dangerous to the elderly, while bio weapons are most effective, both in war and as terrorism, when they hit the young, specifically fighting age adults, at least as hard. The death rate among the younger generations is significantly less than among older populations, and the people most likely to be soldiers (young and in good health) are also most likely to not only survive COVID, but to have mild or no symptoms. Lastly, there a plenty of diseases that have been around for years that would make far superior bio weapons both for terrorism and warfare, including COVID's relatives SARS and MERS. Biological weapons are expensive and unwieldy, which is why they have rarely been used, and most of the time where used before the existence of Germ Theory. There are just too many easier, cheaper, more controllable, and more reliable ways to kill people, and even among bio weapons COVID-19 wouldn't make the cut.
Rather than letting your mind run wild with worst case scenarios that aren't based on fact, take a breath and educate yourself. And Jordan Peterson repackaging decades old self help pablum doesn't count.
Onering's 4 simple steps that let you solve any problem with Magic's gameplay
Step 1: Identify the problem. What aspect of Magic don't you like? Step 2: Find out how others deal with the problem. How do players deal with this aspect of the game when they run into it? Step 3: Do what those players do. Step 4: No more problem. Bonus: You are now better at Magic. Enjoy those extra wins!
The LGS had to end at some point. Why do we continue to latch onto things that no longer serve us according to God, especially If it's distracting us from getting closer to Him? Luke 16:13 says that no one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money. It's hard because when it comes to gaming it glorifies ourselves more than it glorifies God. It doesn't necessarily mean that you hate God when it means that He's no longer the top priority to you while you're gaming which also kind of ties into the Lukewarm Christian mindset.
"Restriction breeds creativity." - Sheldon Menery on EDH / Commander in Magic: The Gathering
"Cancel Culture is the real reason why everyone's not allowed to have nice things anymore." - Anonymous
"For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?" - Mark 8:36
"Most men and women will grow up to love their servitude and will never dream of revolution." - Aldous Huxley, Brave New World
"Every life decision is always a risk / reward proposition." - Sanjay Gupta
I was talking to you as if you were sane but you are a Peterson Fan *facepalm*
Pioneer:UR Pheonix
Modern:U Mono U Tron
EDH
GB Glissa, the traitor: Army of Cans
UW Dragonlord Ojutai: Dragonlord NOjutai
UWGDerevi, Empyrial Tactician "you cannot fight the storm"
R Zirilan of the claw. The solution to every problem is dragons
UB Etrata, the Silencer Cloning assassination
Peasant cube: Cards I own
"Restriction breeds creativity." - Sheldon Menery on EDH / Commander in Magic: The Gathering
"Cancel Culture is the real reason why everyone's not allowed to have nice things anymore." - Anonymous
"For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?" - Mark 8:36
"Most men and women will grow up to love their servitude and will never dream of revolution." - Aldous Huxley, Brave New World
"Every life decision is always a risk / reward proposition." - Sanjay Gupta
Except Peterson isn't insightful. He's blaming young adults for not moving out of their parents homes as early as their parents did, and ignoring the major financial challenges facing young people their parents didn't face. 20 somethings don't live with their parents because they want to, or because of Peter Pan syndrome, they do so because they start adult life in a financial hole due to college tuition, and use the money they save living at home to start working on the principle and saving for a house, which costs a lot more in today's dollars than it did when Peterson was in his 20s. Its simply good finances to live at home during their 20s instead of throwing money away into rent. Most of the people who do this have college debt because their parents didn't pay their tuition. Peterson types look down on these people but not on people whose parents paid their tuition, allowing them to graduate debt free and put their post college earnings directly into rent while also being able to save for home ownership.
I get the appeal of Peterson. Its mostly the same as any other hack life coach. When people are in a rough place and unsure of themselves, he's a voice giving simple answers. He packages this in an archaic worldview and a get tough message. Sometimes sucking it up and making sacrifices is the only way to get by when life hands you a crap sandwich, but Peterson plays that as a virtue and the right way to live generally instead of a necessary evil to survive in the face of adversity. He supports the very systems that cause the problems he claims to solve for people (and makes worse long term, like encouraging 20 somethings to make sacrifices to move out and pay rent as soon as possible which delays actually being able to own a home versus living at home and saving up buy a house). He fetishizes austerity and a mythical spartan masculinity that is as immature as overindulgent hedonism. Peter Pan syndrome is an old hot take that was simply a repackaging of the same complaint old curmudgeons have had about the next generation since Plato (literally, Plato made the same complaints). Its not real, its just old people railing against the young because they have an idealized view of their own life narrative and think the next gen aren't living up to it. Its why boomers rail against Millenials being lazy or profligate when they actually work more hours, are more productive, and more austere in their lifestyles than boomers were at the same age. You know The Peter Pan Syndrome book you reference was written in the early 80s, about Peterson's generation (Boomers), and now Peterson (and Boomers more generally) are crying about the same wolf with Millenials and Z. Its garbage pop psychology that serves to make the old feel superior to the young and any young that listen to it feel ashamed for being human.
Do not feel bad about liking magic, nor liking playing at an LGS. Don't think that liking games or anything considered "childish", and don't be ashamed about asking for help and support. Growing up isn't about posturing or signaling, its about being responsible. That's it. If people can rely on you, and you can basically take care of yourself, that's it. And taking care of yourself can mean understanding when you need help or support and having the humility to accept it. It also means self care, and that's different for everyone. For a lot of us here, playing some magic is self care. For others, its meditation, or watching the game, or going to church, or sitting around watching cartoons all weekend every once in awhile. And there's nothing wrong with that.
Onering's 4 simple steps that let you solve any problem with Magic's gameplay
Step 1: Identify the problem. What aspect of Magic don't you like? Step 2: Find out how others deal with the problem. How do players deal with this aspect of the game when they run into it? Step 3: Do what those players do. Step 4: No more problem. Bonus: You are now better at Magic. Enjoy those extra wins!
It is rather bizarre to feel like you haven't achieved anything when you literally have a PhD but its just that PhD took a lot longer than you thought it would and your scholarship had run out for several years before you finished. To escape the stress I would just go play magic in my lunch break for however long a Commander game would take.
I have always found shuffling physical cards to be super relaxing, I actually always have a deck next to me at my computer so I can just shuffle it and deal out a hand, maybe play out a few turns before picking it all up again and shuffling some more.
Pioneer:UR Pheonix
Modern:U Mono U Tron
EDH
GB Glissa, the traitor: Army of Cans
UW Dragonlord Ojutai: Dragonlord NOjutai
UWGDerevi, Empyrial Tactician "you cannot fight the storm"
R Zirilan of the claw. The solution to every problem is dragons
UB Etrata, the Silencer Cloning assassination
Peasant cube: Cards I own
My friend I really think you need to speak with a professional and unburden yourself of some things you are carrying around.
LGS don't have to end and they won't. You are being irrational and you can't see that at this time and place in your life.
God doesn't mind if you like to play Magic, he has a lot more pressing issues on his plate now and forever. Don't compare mindsets of others as well in comparison to your own. YOUR relationship with your Maker is all that matters as long as it positive.
My last advice in this manner is that you should seek the advice of a professional. They are out there and they may even offer free services. Get yourself to a good place and the game will reveal what it is meant to be, a fun hobby that brings joy to your life. I wish I could do more than these words here, but know there are people out there, that CAN and WILL help. Stay strong and again, seek help and don't be ashamed if you need a hand. God's Blessings to you if I may offer them.
STOP using "dude/bro" as a pejorative or insult. Grow up.
Margaret Thatcher: “The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people's money.”
Benjamin Franklin: "Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety."
Martin Luther King Jr.: "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character."
https://www.aol.com/article/news/2020/07/06/scientists-urge-who-to-acknowledge-virus-can-spread-in-air/24547938/
"Restriction breeds creativity." - Sheldon Menery on EDH / Commander in Magic: The Gathering
"Cancel Culture is the real reason why everyone's not allowed to have nice things anymore." - Anonymous
"For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?" - Mark 8:36
"Most men and women will grow up to love their servitude and will never dream of revolution." - Aldous Huxley, Brave New World
"Every life decision is always a risk / reward proposition." - Sanjay Gupta
Onering's 4 simple steps that let you solve any problem with Magic's gameplay
Step 1: Identify the problem. What aspect of Magic don't you like? Step 2: Find out how others deal with the problem. How do players deal with this aspect of the game when they run into it? Step 3: Do what those players do. Step 4: No more problem. Bonus: You are now better at Magic. Enjoy those extra wins!
As for the recent revelation about COVID-19 being airborne, yeah I can definitely see how this will be a major challenge for Local Game Stores (LGS) where their infrastructure was never really built for Outdoor Play since they were originally designed for In-Store Play hence the name. The problem is that these stores aren't able to function like how some sports stadiums have a interchangeable roof depending on the cost of how much overhead is being used. The cost to maintain that sort of environment isn't worth it compared to being an online vendor like Rudy from Alpha Investments and Sports N More where they don't provide In-Store Play for people to play Paper Magic with the assumption that they're just going to play at home when they're not. Apparently only half of all offline MTG players prefer to play at their LGS while the other half prefers to play at home even though it's less convenient for gathering playgroups especially with those who don't have access to social media.
"Restriction breeds creativity." - Sheldon Menery on EDH / Commander in Magic: The Gathering
"Cancel Culture is the real reason why everyone's not allowed to have nice things anymore." - Anonymous
"For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?" - Mark 8:36
"Most men and women will grow up to love their servitude and will never dream of revolution." - Aldous Huxley, Brave New World
"Every life decision is always a risk / reward proposition." - Sanjay Gupta
Hopefully this puts you a bit at ease. Sometimes its hard to have a good perspective on events. Human beings are predisposed to binary thinking, which unfortunately leads to difficulty reacting appropriately to medium threats. Plague is a very dangerous disease but also very treatable and reasonably containable based on how quickly it presents and how it spreads. If you get it, and you don't treat it, you will die, but its very unlikely that you will get it, and if you do its very likely that you will go to the hospital early enough to get treatment that will not only save you, but make it not horrible to get through. Most deaths come from poor rural areas in poor countries because people don't have access to health care and thus don't seek treatment until its too late. COVID-19 is a moderately dangerous disease. If you catch it, you are actually pretty unlikely to die from it without treatment unless you have certain risk factors, but its still dangerous enough that it is cause for concern. A death rate of 1% is a strange thing. It means that if you catch it, the odds are greatly in your favor to live (and if your one of the lucky 30 percent you may never even know you had it), but if EVERYONE catches it the world is looking at about 70 million deaths, and the US would be looking at about 4.5 million dead, which are unacceptable numbers when the means exists to reduce them, and they are large enough to wreck economies. Thus, its in our interest to take extreme measures to prevent and control it, but yet we should not be individually afraid because of the low individual death rate and the effectiveness of these measures at preventing us from catching it in the first place. Unfortunately, calm but cautious is not what we are set up for, so you have the extremes of "we're all gonna die" and "its a hoax" get far more play than they should, and the less extremes of fear on one end and recklessness on the other be widespread.
As for LGS, many do not have the ability to do outdoor events its true, but some do. Most LGS that I have frequented use those plastic folding tables and chairs or something similar, so simply moving them outside accomplishes the task. The big issue is whether the LGS has an outside to move to. That really depends on the location. In a city, the answer is no, yet city based LGS also tend to have a bigger audience they serve and are more likely to be able to be in decent shape, especially if they are near a college. Getting creative by reserving space at a park for events is a great option. That's usually free, but it depends on availability. Some more rural LGS, which are usually the ones that struggle the most due to a smaller player base, have access to yards or their parking lots are large enough to section off an area for the event. FNM conveniently takes place when many businesses are closed, so even LGS that share parking lots may be able to use the entire thing because their neighbor isn't open at the time. Its not a solution for everyone, but its worthwhile for any LGS that can do so to try it out.
Onering's 4 simple steps that let you solve any problem with Magic's gameplay
Step 1: Identify the problem. What aspect of Magic don't you like? Step 2: Find out how others deal with the problem. How do players deal with this aspect of the game when they run into it? Step 3: Do what those players do. Step 4: No more problem. Bonus: You are now better at Magic. Enjoy those extra wins!
Case in point my High School English teacher's daughter at 8 got it when she found a dead squirrel on a camping trip in Colorado, picked it up and buried it for a funeral (they are hunters so she wasn't scared to touch dead animal bodies). Once she got on the right antibiotic she was fine. No else in her family or the doctors who treated caught it.
"You can tell how dumb someone is by how they use Mary Sue"
at this point I don't know what to think
https://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/magic-fundamentals/the-rumor-mill/818153-organized-play-suspended-again
"Restriction breeds creativity." - Sheldon Menery on EDH / Commander in Magic: The Gathering
"Cancel Culture is the real reason why everyone's not allowed to have nice things anymore." - Anonymous
"For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?" - Mark 8:36
"Most men and women will grow up to love their servitude and will never dream of revolution." - Aldous Huxley, Brave New World
"Every life decision is always a risk / reward proposition." - Sanjay Gupta
In regards to stores being at risk, it doesn't look good but I guess it's up to stores themselves to survive
Then they'll change the distribution of booster boxes / sealed product over to Arena / MTGO exclusively since players can only play digital nowadays where as collectors can still buy into Paper Magic. Imagine how much Ravnica Shocklands and Onslaught / Khans of Tarkir Fetchlands would go for If they were officially added to the Reserve List. Even popular Planeswalkers like Liliana of the Veil and Jace, the Mind Sculptor would double or even triple in price. Short printed cards like Sensei's Divining Top and Rings of Brighthearth would go through the roof.
"Restriction breeds creativity." - Sheldon Menery on EDH / Commander in Magic: The Gathering
"Cancel Culture is the real reason why everyone's not allowed to have nice things anymore." - Anonymous
"For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?" - Mark 8:36
"Most men and women will grow up to love their servitude and will never dream of revolution." - Aldous Huxley, Brave New World
"Every life decision is always a risk / reward proposition." - Sanjay Gupta
For those who would like light shine on why this is so. Paper magic and paper play make up that VAST majority of magics existence. The "pro" community that makes up all of tournament play is incredibly visible but also incredibly small. Believe it or not the majority of magic cards are bought by casual players who are buying them to play with their friends and families. Everyone who cries doom is either vastly ill informed or deliberately fear mongering.
"Restriction breeds creativity." - Sheldon Menery on EDH / Commander in Magic: The Gathering
"Cancel Culture is the real reason why everyone's not allowed to have nice things anymore." - Anonymous
"For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?" - Mark 8:36
"Most men and women will grow up to love their servitude and will never dream of revolution." - Aldous Huxley, Brave New World
"Every life decision is always a risk / reward proposition." - Sanjay Gupta