Is this a drinking thread?
- Thread starter EArkham
- Start date
Ebonbuddha
Active member
I would say drink. But I am not sure.
No, not exactly a drinking thread I don\'t think, although most folks here don\'t need an excuse do they?
Mark Wells comes from a more business background, so in that respect you\'d think it could be pretty good news as far as GW working themselves out of the slight pickle they have found themselves in over the last few years.
The thing is though, once you\'ve been at GW a while and begin to understand the inner workings of the place, you can get a good idea of what it takes to move ahead in the company. You could interpret the following as the bitter rantings of someone who didn\'t get where they wanted to go in the company, but it\'s not that at all, I had a great time and never really planned on working my way up the ranks. It\'s more an observation that I made whilst working there. Take what you want from it I guess.
OK, so to get on and really move up in GW you have to work yourself into the old boys club. Basically, you have to be chums with all of the old guard and pretty much not rock the boat or suggest ideas that vastly differ from their existing ideas about how the company should be run and what its ideals are. This means that things are pretty similar to what they were when GW started out and will probably stay that way unless they appoint someone who has no real links to GW at all, and that\'s just not going to happen.
Anything really new and adventurous tends to be viewed as scary and dangerous rather than exciting and packed with potential. It\'s very much the attitude \'it worked in the past so we should keep doing it\'. The thing is, it\'s not the past any more, so perhaps it\'s worth trying to do things a little different.
The fact that Mark has seven years of experience at GW means that a lot of his business thinking from the Boots days has probably been rather watered down by the GW thinking required during his time at the company. This means that things probably aren\'t going to change that much.
Now I\'m not saying he\'s a bad bloke (I think we exchanged a brief \"Allright?\" or two during my time at GW and that\'s it so I really don\'t know him) or that he doesn\'t have the credentials. I also have nothing against (certain) members of the old boys club. They are generally awesome folks, but they just don\'t necessarily have the chops to be in the position of power that they are in. And yeah, I\'ve never managed a company or a division, but I think I can still tell when someone\'s completely out of their depth, and I think it\'s fair to say that some of GW\'s very high ups have been waaay out of their depth for years, even decades in some cases.
So to summarise yet another long rambling post from me, I wouldn\'t expect anything to really change much at all. The last quote from Kirby says it all for me, Mark is pretty much a Kirby clone who can continue once Tom can\'t.
Mark Wells comes from a more business background, so in that respect you\'d think it could be pretty good news as far as GW working themselves out of the slight pickle they have found themselves in over the last few years.
The thing is though, once you\'ve been at GW a while and begin to understand the inner workings of the place, you can get a good idea of what it takes to move ahead in the company. You could interpret the following as the bitter rantings of someone who didn\'t get where they wanted to go in the company, but it\'s not that at all, I had a great time and never really planned on working my way up the ranks. It\'s more an observation that I made whilst working there. Take what you want from it I guess.
OK, so to get on and really move up in GW you have to work yourself into the old boys club. Basically, you have to be chums with all of the old guard and pretty much not rock the boat or suggest ideas that vastly differ from their existing ideas about how the company should be run and what its ideals are. This means that things are pretty similar to what they were when GW started out and will probably stay that way unless they appoint someone who has no real links to GW at all, and that\'s just not going to happen.
Anything really new and adventurous tends to be viewed as scary and dangerous rather than exciting and packed with potential. It\'s very much the attitude \'it worked in the past so we should keep doing it\'. The thing is, it\'s not the past any more, so perhaps it\'s worth trying to do things a little different.
The fact that Mark has seven years of experience at GW means that a lot of his business thinking from the Boots days has probably been rather watered down by the GW thinking required during his time at the company. This means that things probably aren\'t going to change that much.
Now I\'m not saying he\'s a bad bloke (I think we exchanged a brief \"Allright?\" or two during my time at GW and that\'s it so I really don\'t know him) or that he doesn\'t have the credentials. I also have nothing against (certain) members of the old boys club. They are generally awesome folks, but they just don\'t necessarily have the chops to be in the position of power that they are in. And yeah, I\'ve never managed a company or a division, but I think I can still tell when someone\'s completely out of their depth, and I think it\'s fair to say that some of GW\'s very high ups have been waaay out of their depth for years, even decades in some cases.
So to summarise yet another long rambling post from me, I wouldn\'t expect anything to really change much at all. The last quote from Kirby says it all for me, Mark is pretty much a Kirby clone who can continue once Tom can\'t.
I\'m not sure either, but its hard to imagine someone who may be great at business also understanding the nuances of the hobby.
I think what it boils down to is more hard decisions that may make some short term cash for GW, but will continue to hemmorage long time hobbists who are feeling very alienated by the \'corporate\' model.
I think what it boils down to is more hard decisions that may make some short term cash for GW, but will continue to hemmorage long time hobbists who are feeling very alienated by the \'corporate\' model.
EArkham
Necromancer
Yeah, agree with everyone thus far. Just... not sure. I\'m going to stay optimistic about it, however.
Haha, no... buncha lushes.
Sadly, what lono says happens in a lot of corporate environments. It was probably one of the major things that contributed to my burnout when I was a game designer (computer, not tabletop). It\'s really bizarre to think that the corporate world for games -- a medium that one would think of as embracing new and fresh ideas -- would have the same crap being tossed around in it.
Kep
Haha, no... buncha lushes.
Sadly, what lono says happens in a lot of corporate environments. It was probably one of the major things that contributed to my burnout when I was a game designer (computer, not tabletop). It\'s really bizarre to think that the corporate world for games -- a medium that one would think of as embracing new and fresh ideas -- would have the same crap being tossed around in it.
Kep
JesterzUSMC
Recovering Megalomaniac
This says it all....
\'Mark and I share the same vision for Games Workshop, and we have ambitious plans for growth and value creation. I trust Mark absolutely to do the right thing for the Company, our shareholders and our staff.’
let me repeat the important bit:ambitious plans for growth and value creation
This for those who don\'t know...means they have plans to screw every last penny from their dwindling customer base, while trying to attract a new, younger, and generally more clueless customer base.
Value creation = Hype our crap until it shines like bling
and
Ambitious Plans for Growth = Sell old ideas in new packages to increase sales profit margins for our SHAREHOLDERS!
This is what kills the souls of the people in a corporation. The corporation wants money for its shareholders, not value for its customers, that\'s why it has to \"create value\". It\'s cheaper to fake it, than to actually instill it.
oops, I ranted again...sorry.
:~(
\'Mark and I share the same vision for Games Workshop, and we have ambitious plans for growth and value creation. I trust Mark absolutely to do the right thing for the Company, our shareholders and our staff.’
let me repeat the important bit:ambitious plans for growth and value creation
This for those who don\'t know...means they have plans to screw every last penny from their dwindling customer base, while trying to attract a new, younger, and generally more clueless customer base.
Value creation = Hype our crap until it shines like bling
and
Ambitious Plans for Growth = Sell old ideas in new packages to increase sales profit margins for our SHAREHOLDERS!
This is what kills the souls of the people in a corporation. The corporation wants money for its shareholders, not value for its customers, that\'s why it has to \"create value\". It\'s cheaper to fake it, than to actually instill it.
oops, I ranted again...sorry.
:~(
hubbabubba
New member
I know very little about the structure of GW, so a question...
How many of the people making the decisions actually play the games or paint the minis?
Seems to me that this is what has changed most over the last 28 years or so.
How many of the people making the decisions actually play the games or paint the minis?
Seems to me that this is what has changed most over the last 28 years or so.
