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Didn't see this topic somewhere yet...

A GW Manager Takes Your Questions....
http://www.belloflostsouls.net/2014/02/a-gw-manager-takes-your-questions.html



Visited the forums the manager posted on and picked out this comment:

Well trust me they monitor forums, and so theyll see this

I guess keep that in mind when we post

That reads just as much "company line" as anything I've heard from GW staff in person, so I guess there's a chance it is actually the truth.

Hey guys, please bring back Epic, Necromunda, Warmaster, Mordheim, release that Inquisitor game and bring back good White Dwarf kthx bye.


Yeah, that should do the job.

 His Master's Voice wrote:
Hey guys, please bring back Epic, Necromunda, Warmaster, Mordheim, release that Inquisitor game and bring back good White Dwarf kthx bye.


Yeah, that should do the job.

You forgot Battlefleet Gothic. You should never forget BFG.

It really does, doesn't it?

It also reads like he just doesn't get it either.

Oh well!

 Alpharius wrote:

It also reads like he just doesn't get it either.

Yeah it really does sound like that

Hmm, meh, either way, it doesn't tell you very much others haven't already guessed or made up anyway. Seriously, in this day and age, how come one of our tech savy dakkites hasn't managed to hack into GW or something to find out the truth!

I've seen Fringe, I know this is possible!

 Alpharius wrote:
It really does, doesn't it?

It also reads like he just doesn't get it either.

I believe the expression you're looking for is "tin eared".

 His Master's Voice wrote:
Hey guys, please bring back Epic, Necromunda, Warmaster, Mordheim, release that Inquisitor game and bring back good White Dwarf kthx bye.

I think in part of the forum conversation the GW manager says that Dreadfleet sold terribly and he still had copies kicking around his store. I think that was in reference to specialist games... So the outlook isn't so good.

There is that Chaos in the Old World game... Wonder how that sold. Plus GW had to notice the attention HeroQuest got recently. My bet is a new board game or specialist game would sell to old-hats and new-hats... Especially right around Christmas. That's just my thoughts though...

gravitywell wrote:
I think in part of the forum conversation the GW manager says that Dreadfleet sold terribly and he still had copies kicking around his store. I think that was in reference to specialist games... So the outlook isn't so good.

I'd like to think that GW's market research abilities extend a bit beyond "Space Hulk sold very well, sold out in fact, but forget about that. Our not-asked for and not-wanted murder of the old Man'O'War game didn't do very well, so let's never ever do another specialist game ever again. Ever."

I'd like to think that...


And then there's this:

A GW Store Manager wrote:GWs policy towards online interaction is that it's a waste of time...

Well. That's problem number 1 right there.

gravitywell wrote:

 His Master's Voice wrote:
Hey guys, please bring back Epic, Necromunda, Warmaster, Mordheim, release that Inquisitor game and bring back good White Dwarf kthx bye.

I think in part of the forum conversation the GW manager says that Dreadfleet sold terribly and he still had copies kicking around his store. I think that was in reference to specialist games... So the outlook isn't so good.

Of course it sold terribly. No one wanted or asked for it, and it was a limited release.
GW's business strategies are bizarre...

As I've said before, GW expects us to buy what they make, rather than looks to make what we'll buy.

No GW store manager has Dreadfleet boxes still kicking around, they were all called back a while ago. Sounds fishy even for a one-man-store-staff.

 Kroothawk wrote:
No GW store manager has Dreadfleet boxes still kicking around, they were all called back a while ago. Sounds fishy even for a one-man-store-staff.

That was my thought too when I read that. I call fake!

A GW Store Manager wrote:
GWs policy towards online interaction is that it's a waste of time...

Actually I found that bit the saddest really. Do they not look at the other, often quite interactive communities that exist with other wargames companies, and those where official spokesmen are able to have some form of dialogue and constructive feedback with their customers? But, so much easier I suppose to say that it's because all of the fans are whiners and will complain whatever you do, so probably best not to bother and continue to pat each other on the back for a job well done.

The disregard and contempt for the fan-base is practically dripping off the people that run that company. The cancelling of official events & tournaments, of reducing Games Day to a store with a longer queue, the 'limited edition' army books that are about 80% of the content you read in the last one, with pay-for updates that come weeks later. It couldn't be more obvious if they released a monthly magazine with nothing but pictures in it and attempted to flog it to people as a substitute to those who had paid for a White Dwarf subscription...

As for the staff, I think generally it's fun while it lasts. It was great fun when I was there years ago, with 3-4 staff in even small stores, although I doubt the one-man show who work there now get much of a chance to stop and think about anything in-between running between answering the phone, cleaning, painting the minis for the window and running an intro game. Not sure if the standard GW-staffer 'life span' has changed as a result; it used to be 6-12 months, depending on how quickly the appeal of cheap minis wore off, and how quickly the management spiel filled up your BS-O-Meter.

++EDIT++ Wow, that came out sounding incredibly bitter! I suppose, when you see what something once was, how a company used genuinely have a desire to create wonderful imagery and fun games for fans that they cared about, it's painful to see it change into something where that patently isn't the case...

 Pacific wrote:
Wow, that came out sounding incredibly bitter!

It did. So bitter in fact that I levelled up after reading it.

Isn't it funny that the GW Manager actually used that old trick of comparing prices of 5 years ago.

I recently bought a Tamiya Tiger Tank of 1/35th scale and it had only gone up in price of a few dollars in 15 years.

Now consider this i could buy 4 years ago a 24 man box of Mordor Orcs for $41.00 dollars and now to make up that number i have to buy 2 boxes of 12 man Mordor Orcs at $37.00 dollars each costing a grand total of $74.00. They also did that to Imperial Guard Cadian Shock Troops cut the box from 20 per to 10 per and heavily jacked up the prices. That's why GW has problems.

I know i saw overnight the death of Lord of the Rings in my area, it went from healthy participation to Death Valley in the space of the month dozens of gamers junked their LotR armies, it has never recovered.

However something tells me this faked, it is a gut feeling, this i suspect was staged.

Didn't GW have a representative posting on Dakka back around 2012ish. What ever happened to him/them/it?

 Snrub wrote:
Didn't GW have a representative posting on Dakka back around 2012ish. What ever happened to him/them/it?

They were to linked with recruitment specifically.

We frightened them off.

Ah. Yeah well not surprising really. I don't envy the poor sod/s who had to face the horde of screaming, ranting and raving Dakknauts who charged headlong at them with a million and 1 questions about this and that.

 H.B.M.C. wrote:

gravitywell wrote:
I think in part of the forum conversation the GW manager says that Dreadfleet sold terribly and he still had copies kicking around his store. I think that was in reference to specialist games... So the outlook isn't so good.

I'd like to think that GW's market research abilities extend a bit beyond "Space Hulk sold very well, sold out in fact, but forget about that. Our not-asked for and not-wanted murder of the old Man'O'War game didn't do very well, so let's never ever do another specialist game ever again. Ever."

I'd like to think that...


And then there's this:

A GW Store Manager wrote:GWs policy towards online interaction is that it's a waste of time...

Well. That's problem number 1 right there.

Don't worry H, the internet is a fad.

Well, if you look at introducing 'online interaction' in a vacuum, then yes, it is a waste of time.
Every answer would be 'no' or 'check out this weeks copy of White Dwarf!', or maybe 'check out NEXT weeks copy of White Dwarf' if they loosened the chain a little.
They would have to fundamentally change their level of transparency to make it worth doing.

 H.B.M.C. wrote:

 Pacific wrote:
Wow, that came out sounding incredibly bitter!

It did. So bitter in fact that I levelled up after reading it.

see this is why i dont say much around here, you and pacific say what i would say for me.

This interview was fairly worthless.

Whoever this was, if they were legitimate, they were not sufficiently on the ladder to contribute in any other way than 'this is the company line', 'people online are hostile to GW so GW doesn't want to interact' and 'there is no problem, everything is working as it's supposed to, my bosses said so'.

1 man store managers are kiosk operatives, not game designers, not master sculptors and not directors.

And then I read this:
we are paid well above what could be considered fair.
And, having seen what everyone was being paid in GW UK in 2010, unless there has been a major upscale in the last 3 years, decided this person is 'something of an optimist' as the store managers were paid less than the junior clerks in the office I was working in when I saw the salaries.

 MeanGreenStompa wrote:

And then I read this:
we are paid well above what could be considered fair.
And, having seen what everyone was being paid in GW UK in 2010, unless there has been a major upscale in the last 3 years, decided this person is 'something of an optimist' as the store managers were paid less than the junior clerks in the office I was working in when I saw the salaries.

He states his salary at $33k/year. So yeah, he is a pretty upbeat guy. The way be sees it, he gets to sit around playing with models all day. If anything, he should be paying GW for the privilege. He just doesn't want to give Kirby any ideas yet.

I opened and ran the one man store here in Hyde Park, OH and while I no longer work for GW most of the stuff he said sounds typical of the average one man operator. The salary and benefits he describe are right for their lower retail band of stores when it comes to fiscal performance (although his idea of profit margin vs. cost of store operations is definitely incorrect). They have been busy cutting things back to the bone expensewise for these one man stores. When I was employed there were quarterly training trips to Memphis for hobby skills camps and trainers would come out to the stores to check on your progress and make sure you were doing things their way. This has all ceased for the most part from what I have heard from friends who have stayed longer than I did with them. The way he describes the dissemination of information is very accurate so it would surprise me if this person is current or worked for them recently. While their business methods seem strange and downright crazy sometimes they do have what they feel is a plan and while I dont agree with it at all (one reason I no longer work there) I do enjoy their product, although I buy far less than I used to since I don't have my employee discount anymore. One other thing that struck me as true was the manager's statements about how corporate GW feels about the 'net and the constant flames and complaints. They truly don't care and few in upper management there even bother to read it. It truly falls on deaf ears and they encourage their managers not to bother with it, another reason why I feel this is at the least a reasonably legit source. Like anything else you can take it with a grain of salt but I do know exactly what it is like to work with them so if you haven't worked for the company i would not be so quick to dismiss this person because if he doesn't run a store I would be surprised if it wasn't some type of leak from GW directly.

Everyone keeps going on and on about how much the "manager" gets paid. $33,000 is how much second level experienced people can expect to make in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. My wife is a host administrator for a national food chain, and she is making $32,000. Level 2 computer techs can expect to make around $33,000 starting. So, it really depends on where this person lives. I know on the coasts in America, $33,000 sounds like a joke. But, in Oklahoma, where the cost of living has stayed the same for decades, it is not a bad wage. In fact, if a couple were each earning that same amount, they would be considered "middle class" here. Just because houses cost hundreds of thousands of dollars in other states doesn't mean that is the case everywhere. I used to work in banking, and would help people set up their retirement in Oklahoma after they sold their small houses on the coast. They literally retired off of the money that they made selling their houses. So, keep this in mind before throwing GW under the buss...

if i made in oklahoma what i make in california now doing the same job, i'd have lived like a damned drug lord.

This is one of two things, a skilled troll or he's reading verbatim what he's heard from his Regional manager.

My only sane response to this GW Muppet is:



Just incase he's not any of the above, i feel sorry for the guy and i hope he keeps his job in the next round of "expansions"/cost cutting.

The same corporate BS that sounds memorized. But then, I really don't see why anyone thought he would say anything else. Did you really think he would risk his job for a ten minute interview?