WELL DONE GAMES WORKSHOP! ...
It's been a few days already since Games Day and Golden Demon UK 2013. I wish I could properly translate all my feelings into a single post, but I'm afraid it is difficult right now. I will do my best.
GD UK is the flagship of GDs all over the world. Every year thousands of nerd fantasy miniature enthusiasts attend this event massively to get their yearly dose of hobbygasm. The event is supposed to be a huge gathering where GW fans can do all of these things:
- Meet the creators of their favourite minis and games and talk to them
- Enter the legendary Golden Demon competition
- Participate in fun activities such as:
- Traditional wargaming in huge gaming tables that are so cool that they could not fit in any other kind of event
- Super fun speed painting
- Scrap Demon conversion contests where your creativity flows without boundaries
- Cosplay contest where you can walk all around the place as whatever fantastic creature you can think of
- Exclusive new releases that are unleashed that same day to the surprise of everyone
- Buy GW products with super interesting discounts or massive deals
Well, I am sad to say this is all but a thing of the past. From all the points abovementioned, only the first remains intact. This is what you could do on this one:
- Meet the creators of their favourite minis and games and talk to them
- Enter a hugely commercially biased Golden Demon competition where if you don't paint the latest release you are in a more than obvious disadvantage
- Participate in fun activities such as:
- Sitting on a bench unpacking whatever you just bought from the huge sales area
- Buying GW products at their normal retail price after waiting huge queues.
Needless to say this was by far THE WORST GD UK I HAVE EVER SEEN.
I feel like I don't need to say more. Just tune on to masterminis.net because Michael had more strength than me to put all his disappointment into words. What a great article my friend, thank you so much.
Obviously this decay is not something new. We have all seen GW destroy their most important event year by year. I think they can't do worse than this. My only concern is what will happen next year. Probably only GD UK and GD US? Let's see.
14 comments:
It is so sad to see the dozens of reports and hundreds of people who are massively disappointed with Games Workshop's 'premier' event...
Meeting new friends and meeting all of you again, however, was priceless.
Lol the USA Games Days started to tank way back in '06 or so when they got rid of the Outrider program and started to let gaming clubs fill up space instead of running GW tables. Some of the clubs have great tables and people but tend to wander off to look at stuff and buy.
It really was awful, especially when Games Day 2012 was really good. This year I saw no games, the venue was smaller, there were less people to meet, the queues were somehow worse. I made it there at 9am, by 12 me and my friends had seen everything and bought from the store, 2 of those hours were spent queuing. We just gave up and went home, didn't think waiting 4 hours to see who won Golden Demon was worth it.
Not that GW cares, because PROFIT WAS MADE!
Something just hit me regarding GW and this is not just a bash. This hobby is unique in that the companies deal with product and with people. It's not just a factory where "we make quality goods." Quality goods must be made, but we're not talking about making a lightbulb that works, works well, and can save the consumer money. This is quality goods that function to form social bonds and communities amongst the consumers, therefore some weight should be placed upon continuing to entrench the company amongst that community. I like GW models, I do; but I do feel that they are a impersonal company now and have been trending that way for years. There are fanboys for GW, Privateer Press, Secret Weapon, etc... because of the multiple ways their products brings us together. I don't know a whole lot of communities centered around the awesomeness of Hanes socks. (Not to say that their socks aren't great, but we don't dye them, customize them then go to tournaments and conventions and show off our awesome socks.) Do I remotely make sense?
What you just said makes complete sense, and it's very very wise. May GW hear you!
I couldn't fit my responce into this area so I wrote it in a blog post.
http://www.kamui.co.uk/2013/10/04/response-to-overly-negitative-gamesday-post-by-volomir/
In summary, Gamesday is what you make of it. I had a great time and would go again.
This one I just don't get. Why buy something and then complain about the size of the sales area? :) The only way to show GW that you dont like GD to become Sales Day is not buying anything from Games Day. Instead you buy regardless, so why GW as a business has to do something else if people still buy?..
Hey Cristopher! Thanks for your opinion! :) Let me answer in your blog since it seems more fitting.
Anonymous: if you refer to me complaining about the sales area and buying, then I have to say that I didn't buy a single thing. As I said, if I want to buy something at retail price, I just go to my local retailer. Why would I travel 2500km to go to the GD and then travel back with boxes of stuff I can buy at home at the same price? Doesn't seem appealing to me. :)
Also... where do you guys get the feeling that I didn't have fun? Wait for my next post about the people which make everything worth it!!!
Couldn't agree more bro. Whole day was a joke. Only decent thing about it was that there were some wonderful people there to catch up with. I agree with everything you have said.
OK I will also post here the response to Christopher's post on his blog:
Hey Christopher!
You are right, Games Day is what you make of it! And don't get me wrong, I had an awesome time there! But not thanks to GW and their stupid new policies. I had fun because of all my friends and great people I get to meet there every year, which make the 2500km and more than 300€ trip worth it. It's the people and not the minis that are important to me! If I wanted to attend a GW sales event, I would definitely think about it twice.
About the Golden Demon being commercially biased, I don't mean the Slayersword. David Soper's diorama was one of my personal favourites of the day, and I was right when before the awards I talked to him telling him that I thought he was going to win. I refer to the scandalous Fantasy Single category where exactly the same miniature won the three awards. A miniature which was conveniently released a month ago. Ridiculous. I saw a lot of minis in that category that where way more interesting than the skink.
And the "sitting on the bench" comment makes a lot of sense to me. That's the feeling I got from walking around the seating area of the GD, where everyone was unpacking their minis and reading books, things they could do at home, but since the GD didn't offer anything to them, that's what they were doing. I heard lots of comments of people saying they left early because they had absolutely nothing to do. Why stay 3 hours to wait for the GD ceremony? Not even the food was worth it.
In my opinion, a huge disappointment. Very bad decision to bring the event back to NIA in my opinion, and I really don't like where this is going.
Cheers!
Rafa
And also, I forgot mentioning that yes, there where discounts on sales back in the day, there was even a VIP ticket you could buy which would enable you to enter before anyone else to grab yourself the best deals before anyone else does. Hence, the enormous queues in the sales area in the past. Why would I go to the sales area in a Games Day if there is nothing different from what I find on my local retailer/internet store?
The last couple of years have shown GW turning into a real money-greedy monster, so reading this small report doesn't really surprise me. If you don't agree with the GW house-rules, it's best to keep your distance to avoid disappointment. That's why I didn't go to GD Germany this year....
Lot's of alternatives available :)
Cheers,
Gerrie
Sad thing is I remember going to games day at the nia in 1994 and 1995. Was great. Loads to do. Golden. Demon was up in the main hall and it was the third party sales/marketing stands (computer games) down in the sports hall.
Of course I was a bit biased too. Won the "general of the galaxy" competition on the space marine/epic tables and with it a copy of all gw boxed games.
I have to throw in my two cents about the Golden Demon this year. While I completely agree with all of the above, saying how it was just a gigantic sales hub, the only reason I went was for the Demon comp. I can only say: what a fucking sham.
What you mentioned in your blog about it being a commercial competition, where only the latest miniatures are even considered, is just the tip of the iceberg here. I was told. Yep, TOLD, by one of the staff members that the "Open" Category, and "40K Single" had pretty much been decided before people even walked in the door. And when you have people blogging, saying thanks to all the GW staff that helped them to win their respective demons, and coach them through the process, one can only feel a little pissed at a supposedly "fair" competition. And it has gotten FAR worse since last year. I have to say, that the Demon was the only reason I pitched up. But when staff are actually telling me that categories had already been decided before I walked in, then what is the point?
I will stick to Crystal Brush, Hussar, Grumpy Con, etc.. I want a fucking refund for GD.
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