Does this player sound familiar to you?

He's remarkably skilled and deeply engaged, but withdrawn and intellectual. His play advice is on point, but often reveals harsh truths in a less-than-delicate manner.

How about this one:

He's charismatic and confident, but easily discouraged and intolerant of gameplay variance.

Of course they sound familiar. Every store has players like these. And no store has an easy time managing them.

But Jared Jay, organizer with Playset Games, managed to pull it off.

How?

He Formed a "Store Team"

And he used it to realign their goals, leverage their virtues, and make positive changes in his community.

Take the first player—the skilled intellectual. We'll call him Bill.

To join the team, players need to possess two skillsets: gameplay acumen and social acumen.

To help Bill develop the latter, Jared designed exercises that took advantage of the former.

In one such exercise, Bill was asked to take a less experienced teammate's collection, build something competitive with it, then learn to pilot the result until he could win consistently.

Once he did, he would mentor the less experienced player, teaching him to do the same.

"He's very goal-driven," says Jared. Exercises like this pointed him at new, healthier goals that helped him grow as a player and as a person.

Nowadays, Bill is an invaluable teammate, with insights that better the team as a whole.

Because make no mistake, Team Playset is committed, and they want to win.

And that was the weak point of the second player. We'll call him Ted.

"He was known to quit as soon as it looked like he was going to lose," says Jared. "Which isn't very respectful."

So Jared Taught the Value of Losing.

In Ted's case, the key was education.

First, gameplay education: "I told him, you're a good player, but I think you can be a great player."

He'd have to work with Jared to build those skills before qualifying for the team.

But here's the coup: in this process, Ted grew to endure variance and defeat with poise, by learning the value of losing.

"You can come in and win seven matches straight, but you don't learn very much from that," says Jared.

Ted has learned a lot since then, and is now among Playset's top players. But that's not to say the project is finished—not in either player's case.

"It requires upkeep," says Jared. "You have to keep paying into it to keep getting dividends."

The dividends continue to come in, and inclusivity is your capital. Everyone wants to be part of the team, and that can be a powerful motivator.

Put it to use in your store!

By Matt Neubert