Wargames clubs with bookable table space?

[bong-67]

It's interesting to read Wyrmalla's comments as he is one of my fellow members in the club I'm talking about and I'd say his point of view represents that of most of the club's membership which I why I think there is no point in raising the issue of a booking system with the club committee.  Most of our members subscribe to the "happy anarchy school" so they'd never accept it.
I don't subscribe to the "booking tables prevents drop-in gaming" as nearly everyone I know plans and prepares games a week or more in advance.  For many people it takes time to get the stuff for a game together, out of storage and ready to bring to the club so I don't see how many games can really be "done on the night".
Perhaps the best idea is for a mix of bookable and free space and some people on this thread have already said they know of clubs who do this.  If I were running a new club that's the system I'd use.  I don't think a lot of people like the idea of rules or organisation impinging on your leisure activity but sometimes it's the only way to ensure fairness and that's the way that professional leisure facilities operate.

[Wyrmalla]

Ah, I wasn't aware that you attend G3 ...but knowing people's real name and user names here is difficult (I see pictures of Nick McLean in one of your pictures. George?). 

The issue in particular at that club is perhaps the general apathy of the members towards change, and the committee's slovenliness in its implementation (where change occurs its usually in spite of them).

In any given night I arrive usually between 5:50 and 6:20. In that period there's usually a few tables going spare on most nights. On the busiest ones, or later on in the evening then it becomes more competitive. Which then leads to the situations where you have to go up to guys and ask them politely to stop using an extra table just to stow their junk on (not looking at some guys in particular...).

With this particular club in all the years that I've been going to it I'd only seen one night where people had to leave due to inadequate space. On that day guys were putting boards across chairs and sticking ones together to make more space. However, that instance was a result of the local Games Workshop doing something stupid and us taking on a few dozen new members for that short time till things sorted themselves out.

On any other night though, I've not really seen any table issues. At least with those gamers who are willing to make their own space (as opposed to ones who turn up, don't see an immediately free table, then leave ...which I have seen happen before).

I've raised the issue of tables with the committee there multiple times over the years. The resolution however is either, 1) that membership isn't a constant, so on most nights the current allotment is fine, or 2) new tables are too expensive to buy (which considering how much we apparently have in the bank, and how much has been spent on new terrain that only a handful of players use, is awry ...especially if there happens to be tables going cheap say from a closing school).

So if there is an issue with either space or tables, its more one down to organisation of the play space (guys taking up areas which could fit four sets of tables, or using more tables than they need to), or a lack of communication ("Hey, can we push these tables together and fit my game in?"). I don't see G3 ever having a scheduling system, due to the cocktail of anarchism and apathy most of the members have. For guys coming off work and just wanting to play with toy soldiers, that's just another level of bureaucracy they don't want to deal with (there's enough mutterings in the background about the implementing of club and council policy in the running of the club as it is. ...You still hear grumblings about the "no flags on council property" incident).

Edit:

Oh and if this is George, and you're referring to a case that I heard about a few weeks ago regarding table space. That would fit into the circumstances of poor management. Where people feel entitled to space, and are affronted when they find out that their claim to it is superseded by people who actually want to play games.

There's the expectation that on most nights we'll be either a deal below, or just under capacity, so cases where people are vying for tables shouldn't be an issue (a bit like the British power grid. If it fails then there's no contingency plan, so let's just cross our fingers that it doesn't and don't think about it). Where any night that we are over capacity we'll either be only just, so people can come up with inventive solutions, or the fallout will be kept to a minimum as the next week it'll be back to normal. Again refer back to the laissez-faire management style that's in place (and the stubbornness that people have towards any sort of change, but ease in which they can fall into complaining about things).

(And I type way too much. Need an editor)

[bong-67]

Hi Wyrmalla
Yes it's me!  You've sprung my secret identity!  I get your points but when I started this thread I wanted to see if booking table space in clubs was possible, if anyone was in  club with one or if the whole idea was just a fantasy.
Before I joined the G3 I was in another Glasgow club which was always very tight for table space and where I struggled to get a table most weeks.  I got so fed up with the situation and the way that the club management delt with it (or rather the way they ignored it)  that it was one of the reasons I left.  So for me the issue of fair table space has been a long-running problem.
Regardless of whether you have a formal booking system or not there should always be a contigemcy of some sort to avoid turning people away if possible.
The anarchy and apathy thing also bothers me though.  It's something I've seen in all four wargames clubs I've been involved with and it gets a bit wearing after a while.  I really wish Glasgow had a commercial gaming centre like Common Ground Games in Stirling where I could occasionally book table space and just get on with gaming with no need to worry about club politics or policy.

[Wyrmalla]

I asked for a door step to be placed on the doors leading into the club space (there's already one on the set of doors leading up to that set). The response from the committee was derision and as I walked away a (spoken allowed, not under breath), "well nobody else seems to care". I made my point that opening those doors every week whilst your arms are full can be a pain in the arse. They'd said that it'd be difficult to arrange a door step, and would be impossible as the club would have to pay for them.

So I went to the staff that actually run the site, and they had no problem with it. They laughed when I mentioned the club having to pay for them, and didn't care about any fire policy. A week later they were there. A week after that the door steps were gone. I believe someone at the club complained.

Which is to say that you're fighting against that nature whenever you want any change there. If a lack of tables are the issue, as yes we could probably fit more in there, then the solution would be buy more tables. Of course, then the question is rather, why should I as a regular member being organising this and not the committee, which may be a larger problem. So the issue at heart may not be all these myriad of faults that are discussed, instead its a load of small problems that could be fixed, but bureaucracy and apathy exacerbate things till we have spates of dissent, though no real change in the long term.

If this is a major issue I'd suggest raising it as a topic of discussion on the Facebook site. Then, in order for it to be actually addressed, raise it for the club as a whole to have a stance on during a club right. Rather than solely with the committee, unless you want the usual shrug and derision.