Originally the plan for this article was to head it as a New Haven post, but to be honest, any roleplay community, whether contemporary, like New Haven, Steampunk like New Babbage, fantasy like Rosehaven or post-apoc like Wastelands…this article holds true for all roleplay regions, no matter what the style, era, or theme.

Having moved into your new home in your chosen RP town or city, getting it all furnished, going to the event and having started to get to know the regular residents, you no doubt have probably seen smaller buildings or parcels which are up for rent that have been earmarked for “Businesses”. These plots or builds come in all shapes and sizes, for convenience, we’re going to be concentrating on New Haven’s business builds.

First things first, don’t expect to make your next fortune if you open an RP business. In fact, don’t even expect to break even to cover your tier. There’s a myriad of reasons for this statement. The main one is the fact it’s a roleplay environment. Roleplay-type shops, like cafes, restaurants, and grocery shops, spend a lot of their time empty with no one in it. Even if you were to stick to a schedule of the shop/business actually being staffed with real people, there is still no guarantee that you will get anyone to visit.

There are only two exceptions to the above paragraph. A club, which doubles as an RP place when no events are going on, and a shop which offers “tangible services”. The first one is obvious, clubs/nightclubs will have semi-regular events, and if you are the DJ, which is the case for The Attic in New Haven (Vic owns it and DJ’s it) then the money you bring in from tips could, theoretically, offset the tier cost of the build that being rented. If you are not the DJ of the club/nightclub, then the DJ will be making the bulk of the takings and you will have to rely on the club donations tip jar.

The second exception which is “tangible services” is what Fit & Lit, the SML-based RP Gym we have running in New Haven comes under. The SML system is a hud-based “mini-game” where you level up by working out. We make enough donations per month to cover about half the tier costs of the original Fit & Lit build. However, since we have rented a second build next door for a future expansion, it will be a case of the donations only making up about a quarter of the tier cost for both builds.

Yes, running an RP business, unless you REALLY nail it…is a loss maker. So, you are probably wondering “Well, what the hell is the point in opening one?!”

What it comes down to, is community. Opening a cafe, or a butcher shop, like the two shops above, are two more roleplay scenario shops that the entire community you are living in can visit and RP inside, sure, you won’t make any money, sure, its gonna cost you extra tier, but the most important thing it will do is give you new contacts and friends in the community that you have settled into.

Whether that be from the regular “customers” that pop in, or just from the general chatter in RP chat of people looking for a cafe or butchers, people will get to know you that little bit quicker, and you are on the flip side of that coin, will get to know the community you are living in by dealing with them in an RP scenario in your shop!

There are however some caveats with all of this…you need to ‘read the town’ first. What do I mean? Well, let me explain. Let’s say you want to open a little coffee house serving coffee and cakes…

1: What competition will you have?

This is an obvious one. If you are opening a coffee house, and there are 5 other coffee houses within a 1 min walking distance of the place you are renting, well, you see where I am going with this. You are opening a shop in an RP town where that “market segment” is already over-saturated.

2: What’s the foot traffic like?

Depending on the location you rent, you will either have a lot of walk-in visitors or practically no walk-in visitors. Try and rent as close to the ‘old centre’ of towns, the first regions that popped up for your respective RP place are usually where the administration (town hall, police etc) are based. These places, like town halls and police stations, generally generate much foot traffic. Having your store close to these areas will benefit from the foot traffic they generate.

3: Have a plan BEFORE you open.

Events, advertising your business, what schedule you intend to do for RP. These are all things you need to consider before opening your RP business especially if you intend to have set hours of the week you will be in there staffing it.

Once again, to wrap this up, do not expect to open your store/business and see the money come rolling in. Do however expect to add a little but more colour to the RP of your respective town that you have settled into!

Written by Fenella Baily
Edited by Liza Blackwood.