Here in Finland a lot of libraries are open pretty late (scan card and PIN to access, free of charge). Some close because of vandals, but it mostly works.
Not much socializing, though. Mostly people choose the drinking in domestic isolation.
That is why our local libraries started hosting board game nights. Mixed bag because there are already a bunch of successful board game clubs attracting the more experienced crowd.
Yes! But not a door. When you pull the book, the entire shelf/floor spins around to take you to the hidden speakeasy. Ideally with a jazz piano player named Sam who greets you by name.
Yup, even though I’m pretty new to D&D I’m hosting a game with a few people from the us (I’m from Europe), nearly every weekend I’m chuckling because of the things they come up with, some of the best fun from the entire week, even though it’s literally 1 am for me at that time
Yes I get a little bit sleep deprived, but I fix it by oversleeping till 10 AM
Life sucks but this is some of the few things keeping me here
I refuse to play D&D online. It is my “real people time”, an irony considering we’re all playing imaginary characters.
About five years ago I started hosting D&D 9pm (21:00) Friday evenings. There was a restaurant in town that was open late, largely serving takeout orders. So we requested a regular table in the back corner and they offered us a free plate of nachos every Friday. We usually played for three or four hours, and a few people ordered drinks or finger food – enough for the restaurant to break even on the nachos at a minimum. It was our “bar replacement” activity. I immediately had buy in from the players, and had to turn people away.
I moved a few years later, and my new house had a large-group friendly basement suitable for D&D. In my new city, I posted looking for players for the same time slot: 9pm Fridays. I was oversubscribed within a few hours. We had a few pauses during COVID, but are still playing at the same timeslot.
I still use the “in person only” rule at my table. During COVID, a bunch we’re proposing we play online. I don’t want to play online. I can do that with innumerable games that already fill that niche. I want pencil and paper and friends.
You should check out some board game/card game shops around where you live.
Also, Cards Against Humanity is funny if you play it with your friends once every couple of months, I wouldn’t want to play it regularly, it gets old really fast.
Public libraries hold community events all the time, though…? At least the ones near me have conference rooms and such that can be booked. One reason why drag time story hour has been under attack lately. One of the many avenues to further ostracize us
Well, first off, “free” is not a requirement for a 3rd place, but even if we accept that the best third places are free, that doesn’t make ones where money is involved bad by default.
The difference is between paying admission or membership dues like gyms usually require vs a public space where there’s an expectation you will buy something but it’s not a requirement for entry, and it’s not the only thing to do there.
Stores don’t work because the purpose of being there is to buy things, so there’s nothing else to do, and no other acceptable behavior beyond maybe some chit chat.
But at a cafe, the seating area is designed for you to just chill and do other things besides ponder what you’re going to buy next. The seating areas are open and there’s an expectation a purchase is made, but you can order nothing while a person with you orders something, or you can order something small and cheap, and get the same level of access as anyone. That’s a very low barrier of entry for a place that is purpose made for social activity.
Same is true of bars. You need to buy something, sure, but the place is designed for social activity, not just reading the menu.
I feel like this video (link below) does a good job of explaining why a lot of current third places aren’t quite meeting the need, or just don’t really fit the definition of third places.
I can think of a few places that meet most of the criteria near me, but there’s very few. The closest ones are probably the gaming shops, where you can show up and just hang out playing games with friends for free - but those are kind of geared towards specific activities, so you can’t always show up and just hang out with others whenever, as there are usually only regulars on certain days of the week, and often they are involved only in playing a game, not casual conversation.
I’m hoping to eventually open something like a board game cafe to help address this for my hometown. Far from a perfect solution, but I would like to get as close to a “third place” community-oriented vibe as possible without going totally broke, at least.
It’s actually pretty easy to book libraries for after hours events. There’s a small cost associated because it requires staff to work outside normal hours.
I can’t even afford to rent a room during normal working hours though. Plus, I’m pretty sure my local library doesn’t offer evening bookings.
Asterisk: I can technically afford it, but I’m not paying like $160/mo to host a weekly club at the library. That defeats the whole point of a third space.
Paying for something doesn’t defeat the point of a third place. Enterprising and profit do. People covering just the cost of materials required for their activity is not that bad a thing.
I would rather more basic activities be covered by taxes too though.
Just throwing it out there: most libraries do have one late night day a week, there are probably a million people on earth right at this moment that would love to play a tabletop game with you or take a zoom class, every single area has clubs/associations/charities that would love some new faces.
Don’t expect the universe to give you companionship. You need to do it yourself
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