@ Dakkar I read the Monthly Poll question on my phone and wrote my answer without checking for new comments. Sorry for making the same point (LGS) all over again. Rather I should have answered to your comment, since I see your point, but don't really put all the blame on Kickstarter.
No prob, Ljevid, and glad you made the same point. And I should clarify, I don't put all blame on KS for LGS woes or Spartan's missteps. Some other majors factors include:
Factor ONE -- Direct Sale Discount deals like Spartan's Corinthian Club (whatever it was called), or FFG's annual clearance sale, or Wyrd's Gen-Con sale all undermine the LGS. Gen-Con in general is bad enough, when 70-90% of cool new releases hit there, and a sizeable percentage of folks buy them there, and the LGS gets left with the scraps from what should be a major sales bump for them.
If folks know they can get stuff at discount reliably, or with promo models, then they'll wait for those times and avoid the LGS altogether for "big plans" or the new shiny.
Aside: I have at least one set of friends who's response to the LSs losing sales is "So what?" They've convinced themselves that the Brick and mortar model is outdated and unnecessary. Unsurprisingly, they game exclusively amongst their clique, in the homes of their clique. And in years, have never added a new person to the mix (except by skype RPG with older friends).
I've heard horror stories of whole cities without LGS's from my time as a Privateer Press Press-Ganger. I've seen this town without an LGS (only a game club), and without a game-club. I'd say Denver suffers from the lack of a central and stable LGS (two prior mainstays having failed in the past decade for the above reasons); while Colorado Springs has an embarrassment of game circles and variety, and flourishes, thanks to 3-4 fairly stable LGS's and a couple Hobbytowns.
I've seen clubs come and go too - Clubs fail to internal politics and costs far more often than not. One local group "Dead Generals" essentially fell apart when a prior leader of the group moved to Kansas, and *sued* for copyright to the club name.
Bottom Line - If your LGS goes away, there's few public play options. Clubs fail, and playing in someone's basement means ZERO growth for the hobby. So no LGS eventually means no tabletop games like we've become used to.
FACTOR TWO -- Internet retailer discounts program player entitlement to discounts. LGS's and game-selling already have a crazy low margin, almost as bad as books, to worse in some cases. Feeling forced into discounts is how the majority of LGS ventures fail. Our LGS used to have a fairly robust Warmachine group. But they hadn't bought *anything*, not one new release, in over half a year while still demanding table preference in the game area. This led to a disagreement with the LGS manager, and the group huffed and took themselves off to another store, which folded last year. People still play, because many devoted themselves to the game, and Denver-Ft Collins has healthy groups. But there's little of it in the Springs, and many veterans have moved over to Guildball and such.
FACTOR THREE -- Games need Demo Programs! If a company isn't actively promoting, they're not growing. If you aren't growing, you're dying - doubly so for games. Warmachine's downfall is also rooted in cancelling their demo teams (forced by fear of court action due to some awful and bitter MtG Judges). Court action was thrown out, but damage was done. Few in the industry still offer demo programs (Wyrd and Guildball being exceptions). I'd hope Warcradle creates a good volunteer demo program to jump-start (but not kickstart) the new Dystopian and Firestorm products.
FACTOR FOUR -- The Tourney-Player/Grognard effect. Anything that makes a new player feel excluded can fatally poison growth. Guildball and Malifaux locally both suffer from these ailments. Star Fleet Battles long ago locally axed itself due to grognards. But oddly local 40K and Warhammer don't suffer from it, possibly because local leaders are committed to the casual player in a meaningful way.
To cap it all off, I'd rank Kickstarter around 2.5 in the above. It varies because what can be an annoyance and cash drain to an LGS can ramp to a major hit when a company uses KS as their "new release engine", and cuts the LGS out.
One last KS downside - overexposure. If people hear about a game forever, but never see it on the shelves for over a year, then all excitement over the initial product has fled. Its like oversaturating a movie trailer, then delaying release. So when it does come around, its gets a shrug instead of a smile. Wyrd's game THE OTHER SIDE has me super excited when I heard about it well over a year ago, and played it at last GenCon. If they're lucky, they'll hit store shelves around THIS Gencon, and by now, I'm not even sure I care anymore. And this is a game with Pith-helmeted troopers, my special weakness! (HUGE fan of ZULU). Maybe the fact they basically have a Wakanda faction (Abyssinians) will save them. :-)
Okay, enough rant...back to work :-)
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