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The motivation to visit an LBE - why social gaming is so attractive

It's interesting when we examine the primary reasons people visit an out-of-home leisure or entertainment activity, as it is counterintuitive to what most people in the location-based entertainment (LBE) and FEC industry think. Research with cultural institutions finds that the primary reason most people visit a live performance, such as a dance, music, or play, isn't for the entertainment aspect of the experience; it's for socialization. Socialization is also the #1 reason to visit an art and craft fair. Eventbrite's research shows that the 2nd top reason Millennials attend food, wine, and beer festivals is to "do something with friends and family" (the 1st is to be exposed to new products and companies). When it comes to the motivations to visit sports and live events, research finds that the sports and events are a mere backdrop for time to spend with friends and family. People come to all these venues to come together in a physical space and interact face-to-face - to socialize, to have a social bonding experience. Most of the time, the social nature of the occasion is the primary driver of the visit decision, not the activity, entertainment, or food and drink. They are all only excuses for and facilitators of the socialization.

The social aspect of the occasion is where so many location-based entertainment venues and restaurants fail to achieve their true potential by not understanding and designing the guest experience to offer the optimal social experience. Typically, the focus is on the entertainment and/or the food and drink, not on a synergistic combination with all the other aspects of the experience that must be correctly executed to facilitate socialization.

Socialization brings up the need for food and beverage at non-restaurant venues. It all goes back to early humankind sitting around the primal campfire as a group and eating that day's kill. Evolution has hard-wired the appeal of the primal campfire social experience into our genes. Today, we substitute a candle for the campfire in many dining instances. People seem to need food or beverage to enjoy a social occasion. We are programmed by evolution to socialize around food and beverage. We need to eat and drink multiple times a day. We have no biological need to bowl, play games, or ride go-karts. That probably explains why the eatertainment-oriented venues have far outlasted many pure entertainment ones. You might not remember the Mountasia & Malibu Grand Prix FEC chain. It was all about "entertainment" and didn't last. However, Dave & Buster's has been around for over four decades.

We are seeing the emergence of many new hybrid combinations of dining, drinking, interactive social games, and group functions with an emphasis on socialization at social gaming venues. Social gaming venues (sometimes mistakenly called competitive socializing despite not being about competition) combine very approachable, high-repeat appeal analog, participatory games (that might be technology-enhanced) played by a small group of people who don't have to be experienced players while simultaneously enjoying, high-quality, foodie-worthy food and beverages. One person plays while the other group members watch, talk among themselves, and eat and drink. There is light-hearted competition that isn't taken very seriously. The best social gaming venues typically have a trend-forward, globally inspired menu, including sharable dishes and a curated beverage selection. The food and drink never play second fiddle to the participatory social games. Instead, it is as important, if not more so. Typically, food and drink generate half or more of the revenue. The combination of enjoying the food and drink while playing creates a high-fidelity, "social bonding," memorable experience that a simple restaurant or typical entertainment venue experience alone doesn't offer. Social gaming venues are becoming the popular third place for adults in the post-pandemic world.

To succeed against the disruptive pull of the digital and virtual worlds, LBEs need to evolve with a focus on the social experience, not the activities, where food and drink play a significant role, most times even more important than the activity components. The digital and virtual worlds can offer entertainment and social experiences, but they can't provide food and beverage (at least not until they invent the food replicator that Star Trek had) and face-to-face socialization facilitated by interactive social games and activities.

Unfortunately, many players in the various out-of-home entertainment industries, whether it be movie theaters, bowling, laser tag, LBEs, or family entertainment centers (FECs), just to name a few, continue to be prisoners of their industry's language for defining their venues with the entertainment experiences that take place in them. Entertainment venues need to stop even calling themselves entertainment venues, as that is a major psychological barrier for owners and management getting beyond the paradigm of that descriptive term. As long as those industry segments continue to classify and think of themselves in those terms, they will stay stuck in their paradigms and not transition to what it takes to be successful both today and even more so in the future.

The emphasis should not be on the entertainment and activities but rather on the social experience, creating a social bonding experience -- the primary reason people leave their homes is to go out together. Developing successful LBEs requires a holistic view of the guests' social experiences rather than believing guests are coming primarily for entertainment.

It is not at all surprising that most of the new LBE venue concepts that are grasping this concept do not come out of the entertainment industry. Many come from the restaurant industry. They are even using social in their names rather than the type of games they offer.

Our company is pleased to be at the forefront of researching and identifying these and other trends impacting today's and tomorrow's out-of-home leisure culture. We take seriously the need to develop projects for our clients that can compete in the future, not just in the present. That is why we make a significant investment in trends research that we can apply to designing and producing future-proof projects for our clients.

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