D-Verse Publishing LLC

Bringing Pre-Painted Miniature Board Games to Retail Stores with the NEXUS: Arena Combat System

by J. Scott Rumptz, Co-Founder, D-Verse Publishing

Here at D-Verse Publishing, LLC, we have spent the last five years building up our fan base at conventions like Origins, Gen Con, Adepticon and PAXU. Over that course of time, we have discovered something that a lot of publishers don’t seem to be catering to. While some people love to paint, a large majority of gamers would love for their games to come prepainted. So, why aren’t more publishers doing it? It’s simple: pre-painted miniatures are an expensive addition to their manufacturing costs.

The Star Wars: X-Wing Miniatures Game is one success story to be sure, and there have been other experiments with pre-painted miniatures on crowdfunding sites, where publishers offer exclusive pre-painted sets at a very expensive premium price. And in some cases, they outperform the unpainted versions. This is especially impressive when you realize that these crowdfunding sites, and many of the publishers that use them, heavily cater to the miniature painting hobbyist. From our conversations with retail consumers at tabletop gaming conventions, the majority of whom don’t use crowdfunding sites, there is a good reason for this. They are sick of unpainted minis.

Many of your customers would be much more willing to purchase and enjoy miniature-heavy board games if publishers would simply complete the manufacturing process. What do I mean by that? Well, having spent a good portion of my life as a child, and being the parent of three myself, I have been around a lot of children’s toys. Something I don’t see much are unpainted toys. As a matter of fact, I don’t ever see that. As adults, why is there less effort being put into the manufacturing of our “toys”? I really think it’s time we change the way we look at miniature board games. I think we can all agree, not every tabletop gamer is, or cares to be, a painting hobbyist. Why exclusively cater to them?

So how is D-Verse Publishing dealing with that manufacturing cost issue? Well, with the NEXUS: Arena Combat System, D-Verse Publishing, LLC has decided to remove their markup on the cost of prepainted production and treat that cost as a marketing expense. We are trying to put our money where our mouth is. D-Verse Publishing, LLC is confident in this pricing model and hopes to bring more prepainted games into the retail space using this strategy. If this makes sense to you, why not join our little experiment?

Seriously, put it on your shelf and watch what happens.

MSRP $150

As shop owners, we spend the most money trying to get people into the store for the first time, so we want to make sure they are going to come back again and again. The best way to do this is to make them all feel welcome and valued. One of the primary values adds we have as a physical location is a feeling of community and the personal interactions that just aren’t possible outside of brick and mortar retail. It’s easy enough for us to want to make our Magic players feel as important as our boardgamers, but how do we make queer moms feel like we are their place just as much as teenage boys?

Hard statistics can be difficult to pin down, but if you take a look around at the industry it’s obvious that the explosive growth we’re experiencing is driven in large part by a massive influx of new gamers from a huge variety of identities and backgrounds. Further, people today more than ever are conscientious values driven consumers. So sure, you may not have a lot of trans customers, but you sure do have a whole lot of customers, or potential customers, who care about trans rights. Plus, if you aren’t presenting yourself as a space that cares, it’s highly likely that people are simply avoiding you and not bothering to make a fuss about it. Besides which, no matter what we may or may not want individually, the industry is moving inexorably towards inclusion and embracing the broadening demographics of gamers. Initiatives like WotC’s Premium requiring a shop code of conduct is just one of the first steps on the path we’re all walking together.

Fortunately, it turns out we can do a lot of work towards inclusivity that isn’t actually all that much work. (Though some of it can still be really difficult!) So here are some tips for how to promote a positive vibe of inclusivity while also growing your bottom line: Just Be Cool

First and foremost, it doesn’t cost us anything at all to treat people well. Inclusivity at its core is really very simple… treat people with respect, kindness, and a willingness to listen and accept their point of view. Follow that principle and you’re already doing great. Set Clear Expectations

Having a code of conduct and harassment policy, clearly posted both instore and online, is a strong statement that you care about issues of inclusivity and is a huge way to show you are a safe, welcoming space for all. There are a number of great

Safe Spaces Inclusivity Make More Money is more than just a moral resources online that you can lean on to help you craft one that says what it needs to, but also fits your store and community. imperative, If You See Something, Say so let’s Something The real crux of a code of conduct is in actually enforcing it and holding people be better to it. If you have an amazing code but let people get away with breaking it all the time, it’s not only a meaningless document, together. but even worse, it shows that you are aware of problem behaviors you’ve identified but actively don’t care about it. Don’t Tell People How They Feel Just because you don’t care about something or think it’s not a big deal, doesn’t mean everyone else feels that way. You might not think that anyone should care if a couple of teenage gamers are talking trash to each other using homophobic slurs, but for someone else, it could mean the world. If someone is upset, they’re upset. Full stop. It really sucks to be told you’ve hurt someone, but that’s on us. Accept their experiences as valid, and work together for a way to make things better for everyone. Remember Small Things Are Big Things It’s really easy to throw someone out for dropping a C-bomb at a female employee, and obviously, we need to be doing that, but it’s a lot harder to let someone know that it’s also not ok to talk about how hot they think that employee is to their buddy in the back of the shop.

Don’t Give Free Passes

Problem behavior can’t be left to fester. If everyone knows that player is a jerk, then why are they still allowed to be around? Give people the opportunity to correct their behavior, but letting people continually get away with terrible behavior because “that’s who they are” isn’t acceptable. (Check out “missing stair” theory for a lot more about this sort of thing.)

No More “Gamers being Gamers”

Gamers/teenagers/werewolves are perfectly capable of behaving in ways that conform to your code of conduct. Toxic players eventually drive away everyone but other toxic players. Remember, your community is only as inclusive as your worst behaving member. Maybe you think you make enough money off of angsty teenage boys, but you can be making a lot more if you keep toxic players in check.

Sexism is Still a Problem in our Industry

This isn’t up for debate. If you don’t think it’s much of an issue, you just aren’t seeing it and/or women aren’t comfortable sharing their experiences with you. Put a stop to a “boys will be boys” atmosphere. If you don’t have many women in your community, that’s not because there aren’t women playing games in your area, they just aren’t comfortable at your shop. Take a hard look at what you might be doing, even inadvertently, to discourage women from spending time and money at your shop. Few things can do more to hurt your reputation as an ally than to downplay the severity of issues women still consistently face or tell them things “aren’t a big deal.” (Obviously, other bigotry is a major problem as well, but sexism in gaming is currently on a whole different level of insidiousness.)

Use Preferred Pronouns When Asked

You already call your customers their preferred names (no one but my mother calls me Matthew), and using a preferred pronoun is no different. You may still mess it up, but just say sorry and correct yourself. Much like if you call someone by the wrong name, it’s on you to fix it.

“Free speech” Doesn’t Mean “No Consequences”

Sure, people can say whatever they want. But you have an unquestionable right to refuse service, tell people to leave, or otherwise restrict what they can say (and do) in your space. Don’t be shy about showing toxic people the door.

This Isn’t A Zero Sum Game

Being welcoming to queer non-binary people of color, doesn’t mean you’re pushing out straight white men. Inclusivity is about building a bigger tent, where everyone feels just as welcome as anyone else (within reason, Nazis, bigots, and their ilk can still hit the bricks since they are expressly about hate, exclusion, and hurting others). We focus a lot on how to bring in marginalized and oppressed groups because they are the ones who have been historically left out and are even now struggling for equal treatment, so they are the ones who need us to help improve things. That said, if we truly embrace inclusivity we also want to make sure we aren’t pushing away those people who already feel welcome and comfortable, or are still working through how to be better allies in an ever changing social dynamic.

No One is Perfect

Remember that this is a journey where we’re all trying to grow and become better, both personally and professionally. It’s inevitable that we all screw up sometimes. What actually makes things better is being able to grow from those mistakes. Plus, today’s cutting edge is tomorrow’s old news, so while the principles and concepts here should remain applicable for a long time, the details will continue to evolve alongside our own awareness. There is SO much more to say about all this, so hopefully this is just the start of a much longer conversation in our industry.

Finally, and perhaps most importantly...

Community Culture Comes From the Top Down

You set the tone for everyone else whether you like it or not. So, when you’re in the shop, especially when you are just hanging out, make sure you’re setting the standards you expect from everyone else. Create a dynamic where people feel comfortable talking to you about issues they may be experiencing, be they with you, your staff, or other patrons. If people feel heard, they will let you know when something is going on, and you can take action to make it better for everyone.

At the end of the day, if you create a community of inclusivity and kindness, not only will the world be a better place, but you’ll have more happy customers, and you’ll make more money.

About Matt Fantastic

Matt primarily does freelance game design, development, and art direction for publishers around the world as the Creative Director of Forever Stoked, the studio they founded over a decade ago. They also co-own a game shop/library (Elm City Games), are sometimes an adjunct instructor of game design, publish indie games, books, zines, vinyl records, and other creative weirdness with killjoy and Prettiest Princess, founded the New Haven Game Makers Guild, are on the board of the Tabletop Mentorship Program and GameDev CT, organize Fantasticon and the Connecticut Festival of Indie Games, and do consulting/fixing across the game industry as well as for corporate, NGO, and institutional clients like Netflix and Yale. Growing up in a family of gamers, educators, artists, and community organizers along with an adolescence filled with basement shows and political protests, Matt’s professional life is rooted in collectivism, art, nerdery, social justice, and DIY punk rock.