The Kingdom of the Emerald Hills

Here's a place Alley Cat and I are eyeing as a possible MS location.

http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&sugex ... CBgQ8gEwAA

It has ample parking, a playground within sight of an Amtgard area, restrooms, trees, plenty of space, a few pavillions, and easy on-off from Northwest Highway or I-635. It's on O'Banion, down the road from the old location. I've visited several other parks with restroom facilities in Plano, Richardson, and Garland, and this is the one that seems to have everything we need. The only real downsides I see are that you have to walk a little ways down from the parking lot to get to really flat ground, and obviously, it has less visibility than Haggard Park (as do almost all parks of any size). It's farther away for some people in the north, but is literally down the street for Alley Cat and I. It is close to many hot spots for recruiting, such as retail, schools, and community centers.

Above all, it has atmosphere. It's basically a compromise between the old O'Banion park's accessibility and 111 Ranch's ammenities.

I just don't understand how moving 2 blocks from the old location that wasn't conducive to growth, is conducive to growth. We are still going to be drawing from the old demographic, still directly competing with AP for members, etc.

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Simply Asking:

Have you guys tried advertising? Since King's Point has stabilized we've began to gear up for an advertising campaign. Near by colleges, high schools, always hit up anime clubs, gaming shops, and other places that you'd probably go to.

There's plenty of potential players... you have to find them... and then make them actually put forth the effort to show up.

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GMR of King's Point

You raise some good points, Elder. I think I have some pretty good answers, but I am also open to hearing different solutions to some of the issues we have dealt with in the current and previous locations.



Compared to the old location, we are looking at double the parking, 100% less cricket matches, playground equipment for the kiddoes, and plumbed restrooms.



The issue of competition with AP remains, and probably will remain, unless MS ceases to be a north/NE group. To address that issue, which we will have to if we do anything other than close shop, I have been communicating with Aria and Sutra. We will be coordinating our recruitment strategies, with the idea that new recruits will decide for themselves as far as Saturday v. Sunday and geography. There isn't an easy answer to the recruitment of older, previously active members. However, I think that is balanced by the possibility that if both groups thrive, we may have more players visiting other parks on opposite days.

As far as demographics go, I am adopting a whole new playbook. If we end up settling at this location, I am going to try to create a park from a demographic that spans not only Garland but into Mesquite and east Dallas. The name of the game will be recruiting: new players, young players, people not entrenched in existing dynamics.

Keep in mind also that the further north we move, the more we are competing with existing HFS groups, including some with former Amtgard members. One of our new recruits, as you will recall, is an HFS player who plays Sundays at one of the Richardson parks we scouted.