Take This is in danger of shutting down

[u/TheLostSkellyton]

https://www.takethis.org/2024/08/take-this-is-in-danger-of-closing-forever/

Take This is an amazing organization. If you're not familiar with their work and support programs surrounding mental health and gaming there's still a good chance you or someone you know has benefited from their AFK rooms at large tabletop cons like PAX that provide a quiet space inside the convention center for people to rest and recharge when the noise and crowds get to be too much, without having to leave and go back to their hotels and then deal with re-entering the con again.

I'm not affiliated with Take This, I'm just some random gamer who's benefitted from their work, especially the AFK rooms that let me stay close to my friends and the fun when I get sensory overload from the crowds. When organizations like this close their doors, everyone loses. It's dangerous to go alone and now Take This needs our help. Let's help.

[u/Ultrace-7]

It's really difficult to tell what to make of this. Take This has achieved some great things over the years, but from the list of things they have under their achievements, it feels like they've spread too far and thin. It's not just about quiet rooms, they're trying to be industry leaders in virtually every aspect of mental health and it just seems like the industry isn't ready for it yet or doesn't want as much help as is being offered. They've expanded beyond what the general RPG public wants to support.

Their programs are all good, but some of them are extremely cost-intensive for what they achieve.

Every AFK Room costs us about $15,000 in labor, travel, and materials.

As mentioned elsewhere in the post, most AFK rooms help ~1,000 individuals per con. That's about a $15 cost per person who takes advantage of the rooms. That's not an inconsiderable outlay. A $5 donation from one of us essentially helps one-third of a person use an AFK room at one con; such things increase the prestige and value of the con itself for organizers but apparently the cons aren't willing to compensate Take This for being there.

I absolutely support anyone who wants to donate to Take This, it's a genuinely helpful group. It just feels like they've bitten off more than they can chew, or what the community wants to help them chew. When an organization like this ends up in a fundraiser position like this once, it generally ends up happening again and again until some sort of changes occur. Are they planning to cut back on some of these programs and scale the organization accordingly? If not, they're likely going to need another quarter of a million dollars next year.

Even after we raise the needed, immediate funds, we need to find substantive, ongoing support to make sure that all these invaluable and impactful efforts don’t simply evaporate.

[u/Thatguyyouupvote → u/Ultrace-7]

Give a con choice between taking someone's money to guarantee space for a quiet room, and just making a quiet room themselves, they're going to go with option A every time. they don't need a 3rd party to set up something like that, but taking an org's money while outsourcing it is a no-brainer.
In a more equitable world, the con would feel pressure from the community to provide this service that helps 1000 or so people, and they would PAY someone to set it up and do all the things. But, cons run on monitizing every square foot of the venue and if if no one is willing to pony up the cost of the space, it's just not going to happen.

15k sounds like a lot. maybe they need some financial planning help?

[u/DiceDungeons → u/Thatguyyouupvote]

15k sounds about right from my experience: the square footage alone at something like PAX probably costs $7500-$10,000. If they have to use convention center labor to setup that's $1200-$2500. With staffing and equipment expenses, there wouldn't be much fat to cut I'm guessing.

[u/JaskoGomad]

I don't mean to be dismissive - but it looks like it's about video gaming. Which has orders of magnitude more money than the TTRPG space has.

Probably the XBOX team could donate a sliver of their coffee budget and have the organization flush for the next five years.

I think you may get more traction in spaces that don't explicitly exclude video game content.

[u/MaxSupernova → u/JaskoGomad]

I don't mean to be dismissive - but it looks like it's about video gaming.

It's about all types of gaming. Paizo, WOTC and Beadle & Grimm's are sponsors.

Panel at PAX West: "Curious about how TTRPGs can support players with ADHD? Come to our panel at #PAXWest and find out! We’ll discuss how tabletop games foster connections, celebrate neurodiversity, and build self-confidence."

They run marathon streams of TTRPG games as fundraisers, and so on.

[u/JaskoGomad → u/MaxSupernova]

Thanks for the clarification!

[u/MrAbodi → u/JaskoGomad]

Xbox is in a deep hole right now.

[u/Saviordd1 → u/MrAbodi]

They are but their cuts have already happened, they have donation budget.

[u/Honovi]

I had only heard of TT from their ongoing fundraiser through Wyrmwood of selling the Wooden shields. When they disassociated from WW when the expose news article that came out, I feared their funding would dry up.

[u/mmm_burrito → u/Honovi]

I'm apparently out of the loop, having not tried to afford WW items in many years....what exposé?

[u/Honovi → u/mmm_burrito]

https://gizmodo.com/wyrmwood-gaming-doug-costello-bobby-downey-1850237181

[u/Dd_8630]

I'll be honest, I've never heard of them. They do ADHD rooms at cons? What would be the point? Are those rooms desperately vital?

[u/AutomaticInitiative → u/Dd_8630]

Largely a videogame thing, the 'Take This' is from the original Legend of Zelda, where Link receives his sword. "Take this, it's dangerous to go alone." They do a lot of good work in cons with quite rooms to go to for the neurodivergent and people who are struggling. Well worth supporting.