Why "Wichita Roleplayers" and not "GamestoreX Roleplayers"

Judd, of the [[http://www.ithacagamers.com/sonsofkryos.html|Sons of Kryos]] podcast, asks in a recent comment why I "feel the need to reach out to as many gamers as possible?" I started writing a reply and decided it was worthy of a post.

I started the Wichita Roleplayers because roleplayers in this town are so poorly connected... as an example, many of us thought our Hobby Town had been closed for a couple years, when they had just moved across the parking lot into a storefront you couldn't see from the old store. We're very poorly connected, both between game stores and even among the crowd that frequents a single game store. I'd had flyers up for our first Game Day in the store where it was held for weeks... yet many guys who claimed to frequent the store regularly had never even heard about the Wichita Roleplayers (around for over a year), let alone our Game Day.

I've lamented for years that it's very hard to find the kinds of roleplayers I enjoy playing with. Many of Wichita's gamers are on the Internet, but mention an indie game title and you get a blank stare from 99.9% of the locals. Heck, I meet regularly people who don't even know anything about GURPS, or regular GURPS players who don't know there's a new edition out, let alone indie games.

So my mission from the beginning has been very much "all of Wichita and its surrounding communities." I think sticking with one store, no matter how friendly they are, severely limits what we can accomplish. One happy gamer is a good thing... but if I can make twenty happy gamers with just a little more effort, I think it's worth it.

My goal is helping roleplayers connect with each other... and that means all the roleplayers, not just the ones within the orbit of a single game store. If I'm looking for Fudge players in Wichita, I may only find one if I restrict myself to a quarter of the players. If I want to find enough Fudge players to put together a game, I'm going to have to address all of the community, not just part of it. If I tell people to come to the Wichita Roleplayers meetings to recruit new players for their games, having a selection from all of Wichita instead of just part of it means a greater likelihood of finding compatible gamers.

And I think that is my primary motive... to connect all the gamers within easy driving distance of Wichita to maximize the possibility of finding compatible players. To reach only a part of Wichita fails in my goal of providing a service that connects people of like interests.

And in the end, it is what I decided to do. That another person would be satisfied with doing less doesn't mean that I can be.