Campaign to Boycott the Idiocy of GW

[Zema]

Yeah, I'll agree with this. The fact is there is NO communication between GW and the player base, in either direction. So they don't tell us why something is changing, and we've no way of reliably getting our opinions on the changes over to them. Hell, you can't even give them GOOD feedback now.

A previous poster mentioned wizards of the coast, they are a big bussiness, but they offer so much more, GW is very much a one way street: they decide what to give us and when. Als the flames of war website could (should) be a revelation to GW, loads of articles, rules for armies, fan input.

I just think that if would just put its ear to the ground and listen to their fanbase, they could really improve a lot of things. It's not even as if they'd be the first company to actually LISTEN to their clients, this is no new-age twaddle.

Nike even has a whole site where people can design their own sneakers, and popular ones get mass produced, that's listening to your buyers!

[Phoenix]

I just think that if would just put its ear to the ground and listen to their fanbase, they could really improve a lot of things.

I guess this is the essence of what I am trying to achieve here. We need some way to get through to the people who matter...

[KevinJohnston]

I guess this is the essence of what I am trying to achieve here. We need some way to get through to the people who matter...

But you're never going to get through to them buy simply buying their product. You'd essentially need a massive, literal boycott, not some half assed "Let's not buy direct!" thing. Ever hear of Buy Nothing Day? It's a day where people are supposed to buy nothing, sending corporations a message. The message that is sent is that not a lot of people have heard of that day, and most of them will just buy the next day.

Until you can get a massive portion of the fan base to just not buy any GW product for 6 months, you'll never get heard. Those who don't buy GW product don't toot their horn and if they did, it wouldn't be heard. And the folks that do buy obviously enjoy the game/models/fluff too much to stop or think GW is on the right track.

Either you get rich and buy enough of the company to have a say, or get enough people to stop buying altogether or for a decent length of time. Either way, good luck.

[Lanrak]

Hi all.
I refuse to buy ANY GW product , untilll GW put game play as top priority ...
Thats me joining the 80% of customers who quit GW....

As there are loads of companies offering TTMG product at far better VFM.I will support these companies.
You know the companies who actualy listen to thier customers, and let game devs talk directly to the gamers on their web sites....

TTFN
Lanrak.

[sithjack]

Until you can get a massive portion of the fan base to just not buy any GW product for 6 months, you'll never get heard. Those who don't buy GW product don't toot their horn and if they did, it wouldn't be heard. And the folks that do buy obviously enjoy the game/models/fluff too much to stop or think GW is on the right track.

You overestimate GW's financial situation if a massive portion of the fanbase didn't buy any product fo 6 months there wouldn't be a company to come back to. Fantasy, 40k, and their multitudinous spin offs would be dead.

[Jon Quixote]

You overestimate GW's financial situation if a massive portion of the fanbase didn't buy any product fo 6 months there wouldn't be a company to come back to. Fantasy, 40k, and their multitudinous spin offs would be dead.

Actually, they are doing amazingly well this year.

http://investor.games-workshop.com/d...ear_end_09.pdf

Check it out. Who'd have thunk that in the global recession, GW could squeeze out a fabulous profit this year.

[KevinJohnston]

The 6 month figure was just a random number to illustrate an extended period of time. It wasn't chosen due to any financial analysis, just to differentiate between an actual boycott and simply supporting GW through less direct means. Don't read anything literal into it.

[Phoenix]

Actually, they are doing amazingly well this year.

http://investor.games-workshop.com/d...ear_end_09.pdf

Check it out. Who'd have thunk that in the global recession, GW could squeeze out a fabulous profit this year.

The reason they do well is because of the vets who are ok, but not happy, to put up with their hikes, and the persuasive sales techs they use on kids to grind money from parents. Combine these both with falling prices of production (using more plastic than metal, and plastic getting cheaper) which are not passed onto the consumer (infact very much the opposite...) then we really are getting screwed as GW looks better and better... makes me sick

[matus]

Never trust GW's figures when they say they are doing well. As much as we like to believe they are raking it in so we can rage even more about their price hikes, even when they were at their lowest ebb, the report to shareholders and some clever moving around of figures made it look like they are doing well. GW may have staved off bankruptcy for now, but they are not and probably never will again be a proverbial gold mine.

At the risk of going all historical (but then I am a historian) they kinda remind me of King Charles just before the English Civil Wars. Strapped for cash and suffering from various problems, but never explaining what he did to try and sort them. Rather Refused to communicate, extorted money in less than sensible ways and destroyed his public image. The backlash from his perviously loyal supporters ended with his head separated from his body, lets hope GW don't go that way.

Games Workshop needs to raise more money, it needs to expand into other media and it needs to defend its IP. I don't have any problems with what its doing, is the way its doing it i take issue with. A major company with a massive computer literate following that doesn't even its own forums or fan site kit... that just seems foolish. Price hikes are unavoidable, but attempting to hide them or pass them off as improvements a little patronizing. They once had a forum, they once had reader contributed journal, they were well ahead of other companies, but just as gaming companies catch up they abandon it. I just don't understand.

Please please GW, communicate and that includes listening. People will respect you for it and work with you during these hard times. Don'tand you will get flaming threads and boycots!

[Draake]

I don't think plastic is getting cheaper. Plastic is derived from by products of oil, and oil is running out. I wouldn't be surprised if plastic is already more expensive than it was 5 years ago.