GD UK 2010 Aftermath

[theultimateqpa]

"Tony" response shocked me, his words "no we don't make as much money on those so we wont be doing anymore"

Shocked You? No offence, but You seem to be very easily shocked. The showcase models, didnt sell very well. I personaly would love to see Forge World bring them back, but it turns out that, i am in minority, as there wasn't enough people ready to throw out the cash for them. Sorry but I think its a bit silly and unfair to be angry and "shocked" at a company for not making a product, that few people want to buy.

 

[bsop]

Im looking to make it to my first gamesday this year... How did the US version fare as far as organization?

 

[mabnkat]

Shocked You? No offence, but You seem to be very easily shocked. The showcase models, didnt sell very well. I personaly would love to see Forge World bring them back, but it turns out that, i am in minority, as there wasn't enough people ready to throw out the cash for them. Sorry but I think its a bit silly and unfair to be angry and "shocked" at a company for not making a product, that few people want to buy.

The point i was making was that its ALL about money & profit to them now ! and to say people dont want them !?! how do you know ? Did you see how many of the large scale marines where at GD this year ? Whats to stop them from making them to order, instead of just stopping them altogther just because they dont make as much money on them as they do with other stuff ?

Point is this year GD was PANTS ! and its all to do with profit.... when i got my GD ticket the guy on the phone said that it was smaller this year because they didnt the the larger hall free this year !

I was shocked because i expected him to say something else but he (in so many words) said its because we dont make as much money ! sorry but thats crap !

 

[generulpoleaxe]

The point i was making was that its ALL about money & profit to them now ! and to say people dont want them !?! how do you know ? Did you see how many of the large scale marines where at GD this year ? Whats to stop them from making them to order, instead of just stopping them altogther just because they dont make as much money on them as they do with other stuff ?

Point is this year GD was PANTS ! and its all to do with profit.... when i got my GD ticket the guy on the phone said that it was smaller this year because they didnt the the larger hall free this year !

I was shocked because i expected him to say something else but he (in so many words) said its because we dont make as much money ! sorry but thats crap !

sales figures in the acounting books tells a business if a venture is worth following or if it should be stopped and the money placed into other more profitable ventures (a business has bills and wages to pay as well as tax.)

 

[mabnkat]

sales figures in the acounting books tells a business if a venture is worth following or if it should be stopped and the money placed into other more profitable ventures (a business has bills and wages to pay as well as tax.)

Thanks for clearing that up I didn't know that.

So a company as big as this wont make something people want just because they dont make as MUCH MONEY, not that their lossing money just not make AS much ?!? Pretty Sh*t if you as me.

 

[PegaZus]

Thanks for clearing that up I didn't know that.

So a company as big as this wont make something people want just because they dont make as MUCH MONEY, not that their lossing money just not make AS much ?!? Pretty Sh*t if you as me.

Actually, sounds like a normal, logical business decision.

 

[black dagger]

Personaly i would love to see some new large display stuff from forge world. I know that large 125mm space marine still sells very well. Thats why its still available now to buy on there web site. They should def do a new and updated version tho. that would be ace.

 

[nels0nmac]

Did I see how many of the FW large marines were at this years GD....yup .. at least 4 and one of them was mine. Why so many?!? check out last years silver in the Open Catagory. Giganticdarks Ultramarine entry and the amazing WIP he did on the forums here inspired many to have a crack at converting their own versions.
I don't think they need to update that particular model but it would be nice if they did something else in that scale.

Very few businesses sell "loss leaders" ie items that dont make them any profit but bring people into the range/habit of buying a particular product range. On the whole if it don't sell, it don't get made. It's fine if you do business for the love of it, but if you want to make profit - and keep the shareholders happy- you sell what you make money on and ditch the rest.

 

[RuneBrush]

Can't believe GD was 3 weeks ago and I've barely had a chance to hop on and catch up since (oh the joys of having a girlfriend 100 miles away in Wales...).

GD for me was better than last year, but still numerous improvements they could make. One big improvement was because there were less people there I got smacked in the face less by inconsiderate people with big rucksacks! Not sure if anybody else saw it, but the White Dwarf seminar was really quite interesting and it was nice to see them actually canvasing the people in it for their opinions, in this case it genuinly seems like they're listening to the customer (but don't forget that a magazine is a different beast to the production side of the company).

Didn't get to the ForgeWorld seminar because I couldn't find where they were pushing out tickets... The sales side of things was yet again a mess - why they can't follow a similar approach to Black Library and actually have a queue, I don't know! Same applies to the Golden Demon cabinets. Some years ago (when it was still in the NIA) they had a one-way system and everybody filtered round. It worked fantastically and meant that everybody got to see all of the things they wanted to.

Getting into the actual show was bliss this year, litterally just walked in, no queuing, faffing or similar. There seemed to be a lot of things to actually see this year, me and my brother managed to get round most of them and speak to a handful of the staff as well. Plus I saw a couple of LARPers who I know and caught up with them as well. Only last annoyance was the actual presentation - what pillock thought to leave two ruddy great banners either side of the hall and block the view to the big screen!

At the end of the day miniature painting/gaming - especially Games Workshop - is an expensive hobby. Looking at the number and demographic of people there it was quite different to other years it wouldn't surprise me if the format changed for next year.

pete

 

[cheelfy]

GW reads the mails! I had sent them one about the different thoughts everyone had about their Golden Demon judgement and the things they could improve about, thinking they'd not even read it but they did; here's their answer:

"Hello Louis,

Thank you for forwarding the thoughts about this year’s UK Golden Demon event. I would like to clarify that we do value any feedback regarding our events, and consider it when looking at what we can do going forward.
It is important to understand that we do have a clear policy regarding the judges not entering into correspondence regarding how they judge the competition.
However, I have passed on the comments to next year’s organizer, who has asked me to pass on their thanks, and will be considering the comments when planning next year’s event.
Thank you again for your e-mail, and I hope we will see you again at Games Day 2011.

Regards, Zak

Zak Gucklhorn - Support Services & Gaming Hall Manager"

Not the best I could have wished but at least they pay attention to our crits.

 

[Torn blue sky]

The cynic in me is almost certain he filed your letter in the bin after answering to ensure you attend next year and give them your precious monies.
The Optimist in me is too busy crying over double rainbows and chasing unicorns to add any input at this time.

 

[cheelfy]

The cynic in me is almost certain he filed your letter in the bin after answering to ensure you attend next year and give them your precious monies.
The Optimist in me is too busy crying over double rainbows and chasing unicorns to add any input at this time.

I also think of the cynic version of it, but I still think at least one of the GW guys read that mail. And that doesn't mean I'll attend GD UK.

 

[Torn blue sky]

Take that, GW minion!
Wonder if they actually just copy and paste that response to everyone...

 

[cheelfy]

Wonder if they actually just copy and paste that response to everyone...

No, they change the name of the guy who answers you.

 

[fieldarchy]

Someone had asked about the US GD this year. I actually haven't heard a peep about this year, not that I've been on a lot of forums recently. Even so, a lot of people that have gone in the past that I correspond with didn't go. For me I chose not to attend because the past two years really have been quite disappointing with judging appearing to be arbitrary. Entries get overlooked at the US GD as well and it seems more like a popularity contest more than anything else, which is fine if that's what they are going for.

I'd say to skip out on GD in the future and attend Gen Con, Reaper Con, MMSI or some other multi-day convention that you can get a lot out of. I made the decision this year to return to Gen Con and it was fun. More to do, more time to hang out with people and it was more like a vacation than me going to GD is (partly because I see my family in the DC area and they are exhausting! ) ).

This is not to say that some of the entries winning aren't deserving of their awards. Some definitely are but I do believe that some aren't. Also if you don't paint in a style the judges like or a model that really does it for the judges (no matter how well painted it is) it won't get considered.

I feel that the "better" competition are showing up at other conventions. Gen Con had a lot of really great entries and it was some stiff competition.

 

[Avelorn]

I think the reasons for the judging being sometimes weak are due to the usual factors of time and inability of other people to discern quality, poorly disguised as the tendency for people to sometimes have a different taste then mine The timelimit imposed for judging is very short indeed (how many minutes per category? 10 for most 20 at most? how many seconds is that per mini?). This coped with differing tastes, and to the judges defence, I will also add, the inability for some viewers to see the miniature under good lighting as the judges (hopefully) do, probably account for almost all the differences. Some of the more controversial decisions by the UK GD's for example I can stand by because I had the chance to see the miniatures under close scrutiny. Others I admit I am completely dumbfounded by, but that doesn't mean I revert to conspiracy theories.

I've judged some local competitions and honestly in retrospect I'm not sure I've always made the right decision. And I can't blame time really, I could see the miniatures on several occasions with different lighting and probably look at the entries for hours in total. Despite relatively low number of entries there were still miniatures in each category that were very difficult to judge in between.

 

[Torn blue sky]

Woo, conspiracy theories.
I still maintain that wizards did it.

 

[Einion]

Thanks for clearing that up I didn't know that.

So a company as big as this wont make something people want just because they dont make as MUCH MONEY, not that their lossing money just not make AS much ?!? Pretty Sh*t if you as me.

Actually, sounds like a normal, logical business decision.

QFT

Much as we might like to think of companies having the warm fuzzies for their loyal customers a business is usually run in a very hard-headed way (lots of examples of this historically, some of them pretty disgusting). As far as GW go they've shown again and again and again that for them the bottom line rules all.

The timelimit imposed for judging is very short indeed (how many minutes per category? 10 for most 20 at most?

Jesus, is it that short? I knew being a one-day event it would be short but that's just ridiculous.

There is no way anyone can judge properly or fairly in only a few minutes, no ifs ands or buts (this coming from a seasoned judge).

Some of the more controversial decisions by the UK GD's for example I can stand by because I had the chance to see the miniatures under close scrutiny. Others I admit I am completely dumbfounded by, but that doesn't mean I revert to conspiracy theories.

Even with much more time (essentially unlimited) this same thing can occur sadly.


As for this:

Thank you for forwarding the thoughts about this year’s UK Golden Demon event. I would like to clarify that we do value any feedback regarding our events, and consider it when looking at what we can do going forward....

Blah blah blah...

At least you got an answer cheelfy, but I wouldn't expect there to be any positive steps taken about any of the input no matter how good it might seem to us given some of the history here - see previous posts on this from Adrian Bay (vincenti).

Einion

 

[Trilobite]

So a company as big as this wont make something people want just because they dont make as MUCH MONEY, not that their lossing money just not make AS much ?!? Pretty Sh*t if you as me.

Lol I usually hear people deride GW's lack of business sense, seems it really is true that you cant please everyone eh! Speaking of pleasing people, surely the idea is to channel the money spent making the less popular model that they now have at their disposal into producing newer, more popular products. People voted with their wallets and it looks like GW were taking notice.