Durban, South Africa, population 3.4 million, is not a gamer city. Currently, I find myself living there for at least 50 – 75% of the year. Most of this post will focus predominantly on me ranting and complaining about the situation. However, I shall also be listing some of the actions I intend to take to fix this problem.
First off, let me begin by stating that I’m going to be talking from a role player perspective. You’ll find several Magic: the Gathering and Warhammer players around. Also, I’ve recently discovered the details of a local board game enthusiast (but more on that in a later post). Right, so back to my tale of woe.
Durban is generally viewed (by other South African gamers) as being apathetic, insular and heavily clique-based. Initially, PB and I found it very difficult to even meet with other players (let alone join with other groups). Eventually, we did find a group of players that were willing to game with us (and with whom we were actually gaming-compatible). After much thinking, I believe that the issues we had could be traced to the following reasons:
- PB and I are gaming snobs. We would rather not game than game in an awkward or uncomfortable situation. There, I said it. Part of our problem was self-inflicted.
- There is no proper central hub for the community. The only store that provides any sort of gaming material only keeps the gaming stock on as part of the legacy left over from the previous owners. For one of South Africa’s larger universities, it’s sad that there is no university-based gaming society.
- Not many people move to Durban (at least when compared to Cape Town or Johannesburg; or university towns like Stellenbosch or Grahamstown). So you don’t get that constant influx of gamers, new to the area, looking for gamers.
- Following on from the above, many existing gaming groups do not change much over the years. You play with the same people you played with in high school. It’s known. It’s comfortable.
- On the other hand, many people (gamers included) move away from Durban, often moving to Johannesburg (economic center of ZA), for example.
OK, so what can be done? Here follows a list of few things I want to try out. In the future I hope to report back with a few positive results.
- Cultivate new players. It’s not that difficult to spot a potential player (Warhammer and Magic players!). It’s a completely different matter trying to convert a person from potential player to actual player. I’ve had some success in Durban, but more on that later.
- Play in public. Thanks to the guys at Subcultures, NL, I am now the proud owner of WWDNDGD 2 adventure (including the maps and minis). I think the self-contained adventure is well suited for such a purpose. Note, South Africa actually has pretty poor product support and many, if not all, of the ‘official’ game day events had to make do without the maps and minis. So, expect to see reports about me playing in public (coffee shops etc.) in the near future. This is how I recruited a lot of players back in my university days. I hope it works here.
Forseeable problems:
- I don’t stay in Durban for 100% of the year. Work has me travel quite a bit.
- We don’t intend to stay in Durban indefinitely.
Well, wish me luck. I hope to have good news in the near future.
If you have any other suggestions, please share.
This post was inspired by the Gamer Traveler’s post about the best gamer city.
- jatori
Public play is possibly the best way forward for you. Magependragon has organsied the WWDNDGD 1 & 2 here in Cape Town with some small success (we managed 3 tables for both days).
The main problem is roleplayers tend to be very cliquey by nature (atleast this is my experience in Cape Town) and getting them out to game with new people (or to try out new systems)can be difficult. Also people in general have a persistant negative view on rpgs.
The big thing is getting the word out – Facebook, Twitter and other social networking sites are most likely your best bet here, we have had several positive hits with them. Post on the RPG.co.za forums (there are people lurking, just not many active).
There is another style of games days, which seem to be informal cons which seem to work as well, where the organiser invites gms to come and run onceoff modules, any system and then advertise for players to sign up. Preferably not with thier usual gamegroup/gm so they can try different systems. I am looking to try and host one in Cape Town later this year and then having it regularly every 2 – 3 months or so. Even if it starts slowly with one or two games it should grow from there.
Also from what I hear there used to be a gaming society at the University, but I believe they were banned for illicit non-gaming activities (a certain poison Durban is famous for).
Don’t be discouraged if it takes time to grow a player base and good luck with your endeavours.
Comment by Phaezen — 26 June 2009 @ 1:02 pm
Glad to see someone new stepping up to the plate to try this. I tried while I was there and was met by a stone wall of typical Durbanite rpger mindset as you have described above. I wish you the absolute best of luck and will try and connect you to the few gamers I managed to find amongst the sugar cane while I was there.
You may also want to advertise on http://www.rpg.co.za – a few of the ones I met might still check in there from time to time.
Cheers,
Pen
Comment by Pen — 26 June 2009 @ 1:09 pm
Pen, Phaezen
Thanks for the comments. The net is where I started hunting for gamers (before even getting to Durban). I should actually redouble my efforts on this front (advertising, starting forum conversation, reciprocal linking etc.).
I am planning on running a DMG 2 WWDDGD here in Durban. (Un)fortunately (depends how you look at it), PB and I may be playing at Subcultures instead. More on that closer to the time.
And Pen, one of your contacts already got hold of me! Looks like our Durban gaming future may already be looking up.
Comment by jatori — 29 June 2009 @ 8:13 pm
Endeavor for the time being – but know that there will always be a warm loving RPG heartbeat in Stellenbosch waiting for the return of the messiah couple.
Comment by trashcondor — 26 June 2009 @ 4:40 pm
TrashCondor – if you Stellies players want to make some new rpg buddies, there are some of us CPT based players who are willing to travel out to you. I run the WWDDGD events with CLAWs but could organise for you guys as well, if wanted.
Comment by Pen — 27 June 2009 @ 8:56 am
Stellies doesn’t (last time I was there) have their own FLGS. Plus, organized play seems to have died since the death of the Ludus society and Stelcon. I don’t think many RPGA events get run since I stopped runing Living Greyhawk.
TC, are you able to give us an update on the CL RPG situation?
Comment by jatori — 29 June 2009 @ 7:58 pm
What do you do that has you in Durban?
You aren’t a used camel salesman are you?
Comment by Donny_the_DM — 27 June 2009 @ 12:59 am
There are no camels in South Africa! I sell zebra, lions and tigers!
Actually, I’m a SAP consultant. Moved to Durban for the job. Want to swap business cards?
Comment by jatori — 29 June 2009 @ 8:00 pm
We’ll get it when we go to the depot.
Comment by Donny_the_DM — 27 June 2009 @ 12:59 am
Or not – lol.
Comment by Donny_the_DM — 27 June 2009 @ 12:59 am
I love Subcultures. Tijn is a really super guy.
)
As far as suggestions go, you might try some alternative games. There are a lot of great self-contained RPGs out now that are designed for small groups (<4 players) and/or impromptu play. They also cover a wider gamut of genres which might help you recruit non-RPers in to the fold.
Comment by M Harnish — 27 June 2009 @ 9:05 am
Subcultures is currently my favourite gaming store in the whole wide world.
I have bookmarked several once-off or quick start rulesets to be used. However, right now, I think that minis on a colourful map may prove to be more eye-catching. Plus, the DnD logo is splashed over everything. People will know what we’re doing from just a glance. Once people are hooked, I’ll start introducing other systems, play styles etc.
Comment by jatori — 29 June 2009 @ 8:04 pm
I had the same problems in Australia. My solution: recruit friends. If you dig a bit, lots of people turn out to have played once in the past/play computer games/ be vaguely interested, so it can work. My friends tended to be more socially functional than most gamers, so it worked out. The downside is they don’t care about the rules, only the story. But that can be a good thing too. Also they stop playing when they get a girlfriend. But seasoned rpg-ers do that too…
Comment by faustusnotes — 27 June 2009 @ 12:03 pm
First, one has to make friends
. When PB and I moved to Durban, we had no support base here. Normally, when moving somewhere new, I meet and make friends through the gaming scene (clubs, stores etc.). In the case of Durban, breaking into the gaming scene proved to be quite difficult.
However, both PB and I managed to subvert one friend each (met through other activities, obviously). I intend to bring more into the fold.
Comment by jatori — 29 June 2009 @ 8:08 pm
Nice turnaround on my post! I’ve linked this one from the originating post as well.
Good luck on effecting change on the gaming scene in Durban. Keep talking about how it goes.
Comment by Daniel M. Perez, The Gamer Traveler — 28 June 2009 @ 8:33 am
Hey everybody,
Thanks for all the responses. Apologies for not getting around to them sooner. PB and I just finished moving to our new apartment over the weekend (Still unpacking).
I’ll start with the proper replies later today.
j
Comment by jatori — 29 June 2009 @ 9:09 am
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In my experience, Natal at large is simply brutal in terms of role playing. However, I wouldn’t put the rest of SA that much further ahead.
When first coming to Pietermaritzburg, I was looking to replace some books that disappeared in the process. Asking the clerk about Dungeons and Dragons elicited a gleeful ‘You play? Oh thank God!’
That was some time back, but still remains the most accurate commentary I’ve yet to find for the scene here.
Comment by Kurrel — 13 July 2009 @ 12:06 pm
Hmm. Some facts about Durban role-playing:
* You’re right about the University; the only relevant society that existing was The Tolkien Society, and it was about alcohol, weed and bad philosophy rather than RPGs.
* Continuity in the RP community died more from migration than apathy. There are only two people left in Durban that have ever been involved in organising a convention or even a games day (excluding jatori’s new effort). The rest have moved (permanently or otherwise) to the UK, Japan, Canada, you name it. A number of older role players migrated to Magic years ago, and never came back to the RP scene because of historical enmity between the two camps (ironically related to the conventions and games days).
* Various people have looked at putting together a convention for the last couple of years, and we always hit the same two problems: (1) no suitable venue; (2) key people leave Durban during the planning stages.
* Durban role players fall into one or two categories: insular apathetic, or megalomaniac. No-one interested in organising the community is interested in joining existing efforts. There is a KZN Roleplayers group on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=6460998765), and there is rpg.co.za (although it often degenerates into a flamefest and has no proper notification mechanism which makes it useless for communicating with people who don’t visit regularly). How is a Durban role-player supposed to locate _this_ blog? (Sorry jatori, not specifically singling you out as a megalomaniac
).
Word is that there are a couple of dozen active role-players in Durban, and more than that in PMB. The problem is to locate and organise them. So please, encourage EVERY KZN role player you know to join the FB group.
We do need a solution for those ardent anti-FB people out there. I suggest a mailing list, because web sites & blogs just aren’t working. I can possibly host such a list if required, but we need to ensure that all event announcements to the FB group also go out to the mailing list.
If anyone wants to be involved in organising a convention, or can propose a venue, please mail me (my address is on my web site in the About section). We have seldom attracted more than 2 groups to a games day; if there are 2 sessions with 2 groups (5 players + 1 GM) and everyone is prepared to pay R15 each, that’s R360 max for the venue. If you extend those calculations a bit you’ll quickly understand why we can’t find a venue for a larger RP convention unless we include other non-RP activities to subsidise the cost.
Regards,
Twylite
Comment by Twylite — 17 July 2009 @ 6:19 pm
Hey Twylite,
Thanks for the comment! I’m going to guess that you’ve lived in Durban for a longer time than I, and so, you’re insights are greatly appreciated.
As far as getting the word out, I’m trying multiple web-based options (gumtree, FB, twitter etc.). I also highlighted the FB issue in one twitter conversation, so any alternate platform from which we can organize things would be needed.
As far as venue, Destiny lets us play for free (I think that they’re hoping our presence drives an increase in gaming sales ). Two tables fit there. Maybe three… at a push. Of course, since it’s a store, there will be some issues (noise, store hours), but we can work around it for now.
And as for a con. Well, it would be nice, but I don’t think it is absolutely necessary to have one in the near future. A healthy gaming scene doesn’t need one, in my opinion.
By the way, the internet says that the psychopathology I’m most likely to develop is narcissm, which is only one step away from megalomania
Comment by jatori — 18 July 2009 @ 12:04 pm
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