Games Workshop Boycott!!! (Online Store Freedom)

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**kenshin620**

Yay the quarterly gw boycott topic!

Been waiting for the next one

Anyways until this site changes its name from something 40k related, to something....not 40k related then gw will continue their merry way

**juraigamer**

Support your FLGS, don't buy online, and stop trying to use boycotts to solve problems.

**Pacific**

MeanGreenStompa wrote:
Dear OP,
Every 4 months or so GW does something fairly obnoxious, to varying degrees of injury to the hobby or retailers or fanbase.

During these times there is initial outburst anger and vehemence, especially from those in the hobby who are 'cresting the wave' from being initially enthused to becoming more aware of the business practices, mindset and attitude of the company.

You may be surprised that your outrage is not shared, that we give you a jaded and cynical response, but for many of us, the company's mustache twirling, conniving, bullying and greed have long passed our anger and lounges nonchalantly in our apathy.

I used to love the company, dearly. I then passed into absolutely hating it. Recently I've split my feelings over it, I continue to love much of the background, many of the minis and playing the game with friends, but I loathe the corporation, it's arrogance, bullish attitudes, intolerance and overweening pride. Perhaps that will change when that bloated spider in the web, Kirby, leaves the company but I wonder what will be left after his wringing of every last dollar from it.

Meanwhile, I spend little now with them, if they produce something really good and I can justify the price (something rare nowadays) I'll still buy it, but likely now I will be moving more and more into other games and, more likely, other mini ranges to play the still popular GW games. I am currently pricing out alternative models to build a Vampire Counts army for fantasy and I think it can be done fairly easily and a lot cheaper, thanks to mantic, gamezone miniatures, reaper, avatars of war and many others. Also an imperial guard army with mantic's corporation and perhaps some hasslefree and studio mcvey minis as officers.

So chill, let them carry on with their evil schemes, wish a pox on their house quietly and await the downfall/change of ownership/replacement as top dog that will eventually claim them.

I burned up a lot of energy and enjoyment of the hobby by raging against them, now I just mutter, roll my eyes and get 'creative' in obtaining what I need to continue my hobby enjoyment.

Don't waste your time on them.

Was going to take time to write a post, but I think this sums it up pretty well.

Only thing I will advocate (and something which might have produced a better natured community spirit) would be 'support your local FLGS, regardless of what games you enjoy'. But, I think that's the kind of thing that most people do anyway if they have the opportunity.

**-Loki-**

Pacific wrote:
MeanGreenStompa wrote:
Dear OP,
Every 4 months or so GW does something fairly obnoxious, to varying degrees of injury to the hobby or retailers or fanbase.

During these times there is initial outburst anger and vehemence, especially from those in the hobby who are 'cresting the wave' from being initially enthused to becoming more aware of the business practices, mindset and attitude of the company.

You may be surprised that your outrage is not shared, that we give you a jaded and cynical response, but for many of us, the company's mustache twirling, conniving, bullying and greed have long passed our anger and lounges nonchalantly in our apathy.

I used to love the company, dearly. I then passed into absolutely hating it. Recently I've split my feelings over it, I continue to love much of the background, many of the minis and playing the game with friends, but I loathe the corporation, it's arrogance, bullish attitudes, intolerance and overweening pride. Perhaps that will change when that bloated spider in the web, Kirby, leaves the company but I wonder what will be left after his wringing of every last dollar from it.

Meanwhile, I spend little now with them, if they produce something really good and I can justify the price (something rare nowadays) I'll still buy it, but likely now I will be moving more and more into other games and, more likely, other mini ranges to play the still popular GW games. I am currently pricing out alternative models to build a Vampire Counts army for fantasy and I think it can be done fairly easily and a lot cheaper, thanks to mantic, gamezone miniatures, reaper, avatars of war and many others. Also an imperial guard army with mantic's corporation and perhaps some hasslefree and studio mcvey minis as officers.

So chill, let them carry on with their evil schemes, wish a pox on their house quietly and await the downfall/change of ownership/replacement as top dog that will eventually claim them.

I burned up a lot of energy and enjoyment of the hobby by raging against them, now I just mutter, roll my eyes and get 'creative' in obtaining what I need to continue my hobby enjoyment.

Don't waste your time on them.

Was going to take time to write a post, but I think this sums it up pretty well.

Only thing I will advocate (and something which might have produced a better natured community spirit) would be 'support your local FLGS, regardless of what games you enjoy'. But, I think that's the kind of thing that most people do anyway if they have the opportunity.

This, always. If you ususally buy your GW stuff at your FLGS, and you start boycotting them over this, the only thing you're really doing is hurting your FLGS. Games Workshop is a large corporation bringing in money from more sources than just their tabletop games these days, but your FLGS isn't.

**Platuan4th**

kenshin620 wrote:

Anyways until this site changes its name from something 40k related, to something....not 40k related then gw will continue their merry way

Technically, this site was named after the store before it closed.

**Pipboy101**

I have not given GW any money for a year and a half since the last boycott and they seem to be just doing just fine.

**Palindrome**

pretre wrote:

Doubt. People have been saying this for 10-20 years.

And its never been closer to happening.

**pretre**

Palindrome wrote:
pretre wrote:

Doubt. People have been saying this for 10-20 years.

And its never been closer to happening.

Well sure. If we say that the 'Demise of GW and their return to old values' is inevitable, then by definition, each day that passes is closer to happening than the day before. In fact if tomorrow, GW passes out free puppies and candy, it will still never have been closer to happening than then (excuse the tenses).

Unfortunately, we don't know that it is inevitable. So today (and every day after this), the 'Demise of GW and their return to old values' was both Never Closer to happening and The Furthest from ever happening. That is, of course, until it either happens or something occurs which invalidates this 'inevitable result'.

Okay, that was all just silly.

**Pacific**

It's OK, I kind of understand what you mean

**Kingsley**

There have been a lot of calls for GW boycotts over the years, but none of them have been very effective. Ultimately the community is based on enjoying miniatures games and most people aren't willing to stop buying cool new stuff for their favorite games in order to make a point about GW's business practices. Further, there are always new people who have joined after the changes in question and thus see them as normal.

One ironic twist is that rumors indicate GW is shutting down the bitz sellers because it wants to start up its own bitz service again. If that's true, the "old guard" should remember just how good that is for the hobby.

**cheapbuster**

We've boycotted our GW, It not just the prices which has annoyed us. Every Thursday night we would go down to use their games room (had about 20 6x4) tables) there would be about 40 people there sometimes more; However, a few months ago they stopped the Thursdays 'veterans night' for no reason, I mean, the amount of extra money having that many people would have made it doesn't make sense to close it?

**Palindrome**

pretre wrote:

Unfortunately, we don't know that it is inevitable. So today (and every day after this), the 'Demise of GW and their return to old values' was both Never Closer to happening and The Furthest from ever happening. .

Thats only true if the demise of GW is something that will never happen, even if GW management was competent they will still die/be boughtout/merge eventually. All I know is that if GW carries on like they are they are fethed.

**Crazy_Carnifex**

lord_blackfang wrote:
Another month, another call for boycotting GW. Yawn.

I hear that in America, they are celebrating a festival called "Spring".

**Swan-of-War**

Pipboy101 wrote:
I have not given GW any money for a year and a half since the last boycott and they seem to be just doing just fine.

Same here. Baby steps. More shall join. The storm grows.

Just waiting for GW to claim that any model killed in a game must be destroyed immediately

**pretre**

Palindrome wrote:
pretre wrote:

Unfortunately, we don't know that it is inevitable. So today (and every day after this), the 'Demise of GW and their return to old values' was both Never Closer to happening and The Furthest from ever happening. .

Only if the demise of GW is some preprogrammed event, it isn't. All I know is that if GW carries on like they are they are fethed.

Ahh, but they have been carrying on like this for years and they have never been fethed. So experience says that they won't.

Just being the devil's advocate.

**Byte**

Nah, won't be boycotting GW. The drive to work creates more aggravation in my life.

yawn...

**Palindrome**

pretre wrote:

Ahh, but they have been carrying on like this for years and they have never been fethed. So experience says that they won't.

GW's margins are getting ever tighter though, sooner or later they will run out of road and its a process that has becoming more and more focused for nearly a decade now. Thats why I say that it has never been closer. They may well pull back from the brink of course but they are showing no sign of it yet.

Its stil perfectly possible to play GW games without giving GW a penny of revenue though which is what I encourage everyone who is thinking of boycotting to do (ideally I would prefer it if they moved in the wider world of wargaming).

**R3con**

Hmm I've been kicking around buying 2 more black knight boxes, now maybe I'll buy 4 to make up for your boycott

**Pacific**

pretre wrote:
Palindrome wrote:
pretre wrote:

Unfortunately, we don't know that it is inevitable. So today (and every day after this), the 'Demise of GW and their return to old values' was both Never Closer to happening and The Furthest from ever happening. .

Only if the demise of GW is some preprogrammed event, it isn't. All I know is that if GW carries on like they are they are fethed.

Ahh, but they have been carrying on like this for years and they have never been fethed. So experience says that they won't.

.

Although.. that's a line the British motor trade used for years. Not even updates of the Morris Minor could save it, and now even the Mini has become a cruel mockery of its former self, waved under our noses in a gloating manner by the blasted Hun

To be fair, I don't think it will be vets moaning and groaning on forums that will herald the doom of the company. As has been said, that has been going on since time immemorial (even though such groaning has become more protracted of late), and they are not really the target demographic anyway.

It will be when the kid off the street simply can't afford to play a game, has no interest in doing so for whatever reason, and when that happens in sufficient numbers, the Chinese investment companies backing Hasbro (or someone similar) will pounce and the next thing we know Marines will be coming pre-painted in clear plastic packaging on the shelves of Toys'r'us. And then we'll be really sad, some will claim this was inevitable, and others will rejoice that they need less time for painting (I'll be most certainly in the former camp).

There might be a cool animated TV series with a Dwarf and his human thief though, which will be cool

**kevlar'o**

so if this is bad then for example i ( as a business) can not buy a packet of 16 chocolate bars and then resell them later? even that the chocloate bars have written on the packageing '' not for individual sale''

i see nothing wrong with what gw are doing, yes it may suck for you but it's a little thing call life - you can deal with it and grow up or get back inside your mum

**tarnish**

*Blinks in utter surprise to see that this thread is still open*

**H.B.M.C.**

MGS wrote:I used to love the company, dearly. I then passed into absolutely hating it. Recently I've split my feelings over it, I continue to love much of the background, many of the minis and playing the game with friends, but I loathe the corporation, it's arrogance, bullish attitudes, intolerance and overweening pride. Perhaps that will change when that bloated spider in the web, Kirby, leaves the company but I wonder what will be left after his wringing of every last dollar from it.

Meanwhile, I spend little now with them, if they produce something really good and I can justify the price (something rare nowadays) I'll still buy it, but likely now I will be moving more and more into other games and, more likely, other mini ranges to play the still popular GW games. I am currently pricing out alternative models to build a Vampire Counts army for fantasy and I think it can be done fairly easily and a lot cheaper, thanks to mantic, gamezone miniatures, reaper, avatars of war and many others. Also an imperial guard army with mantic's corporation and perhaps some hasslefree and studio mcvey minis as officers.

I have no words, 'cause MGS took them from me.

I think in the last year and a half I've bought 2 Codices, the Dark Vengeance box and... umm... some Forge World Raven Guard torsos. As someone who used to splurge $600+ every 3-4 months or so, this is a big change.

All the money has gone towards Kick-Starters for different games (Zombicide, which is awesome, Sedition Wars, Relic Knights, Rivit Wars) and towards the 40K RPGs (which are better than anything GW does, and I'm not just saying that as a writer of some of those books - I was a fan long before I got asked to write anything).

Kingsley wrote:
One ironic twist is that rumors indicate GW is shutting down the bitz sellers because it wants to start up its own bitz service again. If that's true, the "old guard" should remember just how good that is for the hobby.

If we're lucky sell individual packets of Kool-Aid! (/snark)

**Pacific**

kevlar'o wrote:

i see nothing wrong with what gw are doing, yes it may suck for you but it's a little thing call life - you can deal with it and grow up or get back inside your mum

Are you posting drunk.. ? Or even for real.. ? Whatever, seriously mate, if this is just a joke spree you are on, tremendous work - I've been coming across your threads throughout the forum, and in between the comments about wiping North Korea off the face of the earth, telling people to shut up or otherwise just go back inside their mum, there is some really sterling work there. Keep it up man, it's hilarious

**Grot 6**

We've already got 5 or 6 boycotts in place. We have the main gate, and are already burning Matt Ward at the stake. The main factories are going to the torch after we figure out how to work the guillotine.

Why are you late? We had to start the fires without you!

And- I've spent my money elsewhere and have been all the better for it.

**KingmanHighborn**

rhothy wrote:
I understand that this change in policy is to prevent companies from selling recasts sold "as is, without te boxes" which you can find relatively easily on ebay where one guy is selling 4-5 of one specific item at a deep discount. Look I get it... but what happens if companies like Dakka Dakka etc... decide to stop supporting the hobby now that they are no longer able to sell their products.

A bit off topic but I've never seen this on Feebay. Here recently you save about 5 bucks once shipping is factored in on most sales, and none are obvious recasts. I mean...I have no problem knowingly getting recasts of bitz and even models, if they are quality and cheap. Even trade authentic GW stuff for the recasts if it fills my needs.

**Sean_OBrien**

Platuan4th wrote:
kenshin620 wrote:

Anyways until this site changes its name from something 40k related, to something....not 40k related then gw will continue their merry way

Technically, this site was named after the store before it closed.

Dakka-dakka was actually used in some of the earlier Moebius comics from the 1970s as the onomatopoeia word for automatic weapons.

**hotsauceman1**

Ok, ill participate. Right after the tau release and after my eldar army and tyranid.
But i promise Ill boycott eventually.

**Sean_OBrien**

To the point of the thread, if it is something that you are serious about - then you should go about it in a concerted manner.

At the very least, you start a Facebook page which allows you to actually track boycott members in a reasonable manner. The other plus of that is that corporations have an irrational fear of Facebook. If you manage to get enough people on board their, and then follow up with concise goals for your boycott - you will likely get GW's attention. I think it was at around 800 or so members that the Australian Facebook Price concern got GW's attention.

Follow that up with a twitter hashtag and frequent (but poignant) use of it. Again, corporations have this weird view of social media...it is voodoo or magic to them.

Get everyone to fax, mail or email copies of receipts when you buy goods from other companies to GW Nottingham. Again, if one person does it...not much impact. You get 500-1000 people cramming up inboxes or fax lines with copies of receipts and it gets the attention of management...if for no other reason than it slows their secretaries down.

It isn't something that will be an overnight impact - but actions like those have caused significant changes in corporate policies. A retailer based movement would be more effective faster - just a question of whether or not any of them are in a position to stand up or roll over.

**Platuan4th**

Sean_OBrien wrote:
Platuan4th wrote:
kenshin620 wrote:

Anyways until this site changes its name from something 40k related, to something....not 40k related then gw will continue their merry way

Technically, this site was named after the store before it closed.

Dakka-dakka was actually used in some of the earlier Moebius comics from the 1970s as the onomatopoeia word for automatic weapons.

That's a neat factoid, actually. I wasn't aware of it, thank you.

Doesn't change a bit what I said though. DakkaDakka the website is named for DakkaDakka the store.

**Sean_OBrien**

Platuan4th wrote:
Sean_OBrien wrote:
Platuan4th wrote:
kenshin620 wrote:

Anyways until this site changes its name from something 40k related, to something....not 40k related then gw will continue their merry way

Technically, this site was named after the store before it closed.

Dakka-dakka was actually used in some of the earlier Moebius comics from the 1970s as the onomatopoeia word for automatic weapons.

That's a neat factoid, actually. I wasn't aware of it, thank you.

Doesn't change a bit what I said though. DakkaDakka the website is named for DakkaDakka the store.

True enough...just that the path normally extends back beyond the GW point in the sequence of creative events. Might have been used even before Moebius used it - though he is the oldest that my addled mind can recall. A lot of people seem to think that GW is the headwaters of all things science fiction (and strangely otherwise...had someone swear up and down that ultramarine blue would be liable for trademark violations if GW ever found out about it...).