I’m excited to report the results from our most recent Community Survey, which wrapped at the end of September. Ninety-one members participated (more than ever before), but we still went through every response and comment one-by-one to help us figure out how we’re doing and what we should be prioritizing.

Because this survey covered a lot more than usual, I’m splitting my overview into three parts: Waystone’s “Bread & Butter” (data about our current efforts to support community around miniatures games), feedback about our upcoming move, and lastly a holistic update on how we’ll put all this feedback into action.

Let’s dig into Part One, starting with what’s most essential:

Community Goals and Values

Waystone’s goal is to create a space that fosters connection and belonging around a shared love for miniatures games.
Everyone deserves to experience the joy of our hobby without judgment on the basis of their gender, experience level, sexuality, playstyle, disability, religion, race or socioeconomic status, and without the pressure of unwanted romantic pursuit or demand for overt displays of political agreement and social savvy.

The feedback we get on this question always tends to be very positive, which is great—making sure everyone feels happy and safe at Waystone is unequivocally the thing we spend the most time stressing about. On the other hand, this makes it important to pay attention to the few points of constructive feedback we received–they’re nuggets of wisdom that represent both a love for our club and a willingness to help us improve in important ways.

Many of the comments in this section related to our recent efforts to set boundaries around political discussion in the Discord, though some did have to do with community-building more broadly. It shouldn’t surprise anyone that we’re all grappling with how to preserve the restful nature of our hobby without remaining eerily silent about what’s going on in the world around us.

Overall, there seemed to be widespread agreement that even if no one wants the Waystone Discord to force users into political discussions, our values still need to be made clear.

“The political side is hard because we’re all political people… we don’t want to be a “politics free” space, but we also don’t want to be griping all day. I see y’all working on it”

“…We exist in a hobby ecosystem which, despite our best efforts, many people feel welcomes those with extremely negative worldviews... If we wish to change our community for the better, I am not certain we can do so …without acknowledging current political realities...”

The Games We Play

40k is still by far the most popular game at the club, but it’s notable that each time we conduct a Community Survey, we see a slightly smaller proportion of 40k players. From where I’m standing, I don’t think this is because we’re migrating away from 40k—more that it’s becoming normal for new folks to come to Waystone to play other games.

On a separate note, many once-diehard 40k players are trying out new games with the friends they’ve made here. I know this is the case for me— the more I get to know folks, the more I’m interested in simply exploring games together. (It’s what led to me becoming a rabid Battletech evangelist.)

Table Booking Experience

This is one part of the survey where I was really hoping to see a strong result. It’s the simplest chart, but it’s also a powerful indicator of how we’re doing as a club.

For context, in our last survey, over a third of our members reported having trouble booking tables. There had been a big surge in the number of folks checking out Waystone, and the Speakeasy always felt packed. People were booking games two or three weeks in advance, issues with last-minute cancellations were exacerbated; things in general just felt claustrophobic.

We’ve been working really hard in the last year to point things in a more sustainable direction:

We made a complete migration to a more flexible booking system.
We negotiated a lease, renovated, and opened an additional space—the Waystone Annex–with three more tables.
We added a 24-Hour Access option, providing an avenue to book games outside of typical business hours.
We revised booking system rules and policies to allow reservations on shorter notice.

The final result from this survey tells me that our work is paying off. The proportion of members who are having a hard time booking games has gone down significantly, even as membership continues increasing. In an ideal world this number would still be lower, but we’ll get to that in Part 3.

“I like the annex as an option a lot... the main space rules too but it’s nice to have a quieter option…”

“…it doesn’t seem that hard to lock down a game unless its the first weeks of all the different leagues syncing their startups at the same time. I had no problems getting all my league games scheduled and even ran a couple casual matches too.”

Club Improvements

The club improvements we voted on were all nominated by the community during an open ideation period in the Discord. We then asked participants in this more formal survey to prioritize them.

Clearly, folks are yearning for some more structure around how we organize and store terrain. This surprised us a little at first, but it makes sense. Nine months ago, we had fewer games being played at the club, and most terrain was being set up by staff. Now, with a more diverse array of games being played and many folks setting up their own terrain in the Annex, that’s all changed.

There’s also a growing demand for more specific, predefined terrain layouts among folks playing our most popular games (40k, Kill Team, and Age of Sigmar). Having a way to keep terrain bundled and organized in a sensible format will make everyone’s lives (including staff’s) easier.

*Zack’s recent event brought folks together to celebrate the new edition of Kill Team with a day of games and prizes.*

Events

The data we collected about events doesn’t lend itself to a nice condensed chart, but we learned that overall, folks are just really supportive of the number and variety of events we’ve been running—even when it’s for a game they don’t play.

Notably, most comments focused on how they valued that events bring specific game and hobby groups together in-person, and act as important motivators when it comes to painting and staying engaged.

We owe a huge shoutout to Lily. Since taking on the role of Waystone’s Events Coordinator, she’s helped us build the capacity to consistently host at least two events each month (or more), and revamp how we do announcements so that signups are easier and more accessible.

“ ...having that enthusiasm as a background hum of excitement [around events] really adds to the club atmosphere and encourages people to think of new things we can do as a community.”

“Sunday Open Hobby Days were absolutely vital to getting me to give Waystone a try. Without those, I would have been too intimidated to give the place a chance. As someone with social anxiety and difficulty navigating social cues, it was really important to be able to come with a little project and sit quietly with folks and not have the expectation for prolonged conversation.”

Final Thoughts

As I get ready to hit ‘send’ on this overview, I’m letting out a big exhale and ruminating on how far things have come, not only since Waystone opened, but in just the past year. Opening the Annex was a big (and honestly, scary) move, but I think we managed to do it in a way that enhanced our club without compromising what makes it special. This is something we wouldn’t have been able to do without the involvement, feedback, support (and furniture contributions) from all of you.

I’ll see you in Part 2 next week. I’ll be sharing the feedback we collected about our upcoming move—including the community’s priorities for our next space, and an opportunity for you to help us with the search. I’ll be sure to post in the Discord when that’s ready to share. Keep an eye out!

All the best,
Dustin

Community Survey 006 Results: Bread & Butter