A Petition to Games Workshop

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**Sean_OBrien**

One thing to keep in mind though. They are just business men who would like to have an easy job, without much headache.

GW is such a small potato, that they would not even blink to dump it and pick up something else that doesn't create noise. It wouldn't even be a rounding error to them.

That effect is significant, even if the end result is just an intern sending an email to GW asking what is this noise and what are you going to do about it.

**Swastakowey**

In order to make noise you need media attention or something.

In my opinion nothing will happen unless you do something that will get the interest of online media or something. Even if its spamming their emails or I dont know but something that will get the attention of many people not just GW.

If enough people hear about it or if it becomes something thats well known among the internet then change is more likely to happen.

Gotta get more "wow!" factor and attention. At the moment we are a bunch of angry quiet customers not angry potential customers.

I dont know how to explain it very well, but something more shocking needs to be done to get everyones attention. We clearly have the support, just not the coverage.

**jonolikespie**

Perhaps find whoever it was that did the articles about GWs last financial reports and their definition of 'good', they might be interested in a follow up.

**frozenwastes**

GothmogLordofBalrogs wrote:
I started to include them on the petition, but realized those are just investor firms and not the investors themselves. They all have a bunch of business men and venture capitalists and whatnot just pooling money and investing in anything and everything that seems profitable. Just seemed like they would have no real effect, at least to me. I could be wrong though.

The possible effect could be worth it. It basically just means needing to write an introductory paragraph explaining why you are contacting their shareholders. Not a huge time investment to send a few emails. And who knows, maybe one of the fund managers who was already iffy on GW due to revenue and profit declines will get clued in as to what's going on with GW's customer base.

**Graphite**

The BBC? Possibly worth a punt, there were a couple of articles a few years ago with by-lines.

Susannah Reid

Samira Ahmed

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-17344366
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-17274186

It probably wont' get any interest, but if they've got column inches to fill and they're bored it might get somewhere. And GW's bizarre tendency not to talk to the media EVEN WHEN IT'S GOOD STUFF may have annoyed them.

**Medium of Death**

Well Susannah Reid doesn't work for the BBC anymore AFAIK.

It might be worth a punt to some journalists with prior GW links and a smaller summary.

I still think sending it to the investors would be better. Not sure how anybody would go about it.

When's their next AGM?

**Skinnereal**

AGM:
http://investor.games-workshop.com/agm/
"The next Annual General Meeting will be held on 16 September 2015."
Some time yet...

http://investor.games-workshop.com/the-board-of-directors/

This really needs media attention to get to the next step.
Submitting petitions are one thing, 10k people signing one is another. If the target doesn't listed, make sure those who they listen to about hear instead.

**Grimtuff**

WayneTheGame wrote:
Think I might take one for the team and repost to Warseer since the previous thread disappeared without a trace.

Posted it. Let's see if it stays around or if I get banned for not towing the party line.

Just seen it. The responses are typical Warseer.

**MWHistorian**

Grimtuff wrote:
WayneTheGame wrote:
Think I might take one for the team and repost to Warseer since the previous thread disappeared without a trace.

Posted it. Let's see if it stays around or if I get banned for not towing the party line.

Just seen it. The responses are typical Warseer.

I'm afraid to look.

**Wayniac**

MWHistorian wrote:
Grimtuff wrote:
WayneTheGame wrote:
Think I might take one for the team and repost to Warseer since the previous thread disappeared without a trace.

Posted it. Let's see if it stays around or if I get banned for not towing the party line.

Just seen it. The responses are typical Warseer.

I'm afraid to look.

Just typical 10k signatures doesn't indicate anything, people still buy, and one person still picking apart bits of the petition to show how poorly written it is (and, ergo, GW should ignore it because it's not professional)

**hiveof_chimera**

The guy literally picked up one mistake and was all like " This is so shoddily done no wonder why GW don't reply". And the other complaint was about a petition of about of whatever number of people a minority of 60/???? decide to go back to playing the game (CoD) instead of boycotting it, and he's all like " petitions are so worthless"

**Wayniac**

hiveof_chimera wrote:
The guy literally picked up one mistake and was all like " This is so shoddily done no wonder why GW don't reply". And the other complaint was about a petition of about of whatever number of people a minority of 60/???? decide to go back to playing the game (CoD) instead of boycotting it, and he's all like " petitions are so worthless"

AKA typical Warseer. But hey, at least it wasn't BOLS. Those people are completely brainwashed. There's this one guy who posts on everything saying how GW is awesome for him, he doesn't run into any of the issues that people claim (ergo they must be lying), and he's so excited for everything they do, and finds ways to dismiss/ignore anything to the contrary. Like one time his argument was that GW has to charge high prices because they're publicly traded, while companies like Mantic and Warlord are private corporations so can get away with lower prices. And he also claimed that GW provides good value with all the extra bits too.

**insaniak**

OK guys, let's stick to the topic rather than bashing other forums, hmm?

**wuestenfux**

WayneTheGame wrote:
hiveof_chimera wrote:
The guy literally picked up one mistake and was all like " This is so shoddily done no wonder why GW don't reply". And the other complaint was about a petition of about of whatever number of people a minority of 60/???? decide to go back to playing the game (CoD) instead of boycotting it, and he's all like " petitions are so worthless"

AKA typical Warseer. But hey, at least it wasn't BOLS. Those people are completely brainwashed. There's this one guy who posts on everything saying how GW is awesome for him, he doesn't run into any of the issues that people claim (ergo they must be lying), and he's so excited for everything they do, and finds ways to dismiss/ignore anything to the contrary. Like one time his argument was that GW has to charge high prices because they're publicly traded, while companies like Mantic and Warlord are private corporations so can get away with lower prices. And he also claimed that GW provides good value with all the extra bits too.

I guess this guy is working for GW in its marketing department if any.
Or maybe it's JJ by himself.

**Swastakowey**

Anyways I still think getting attention in the media is better than simply getting GW attention.

But I have no idea how to get about it. Usually areas like tumbler and facebook can sometimes find their way into the media but I dont think thats a good area to get this out for our group.

Someone mentioned BBC I think, wouldnt it then be a good idea to look at all the authors on news areas and email them a story pitch or something on this topic?

Someone may know more than I on the matter but I think its the way to go.

**GothmogLordofBalrogs**

Grimtuff wrote:
WayneTheGame wrote:
Think I might take one for the team and repost to Warseer since the previous thread disappeared without a trace.

Posted it. Let's see if it stays around or if I get banned for not towing the party line.

Just seen it. The responses are typical Warseer.

I feel like I have a black eye from some of the other forums...

BUT I obviously did something right, because for every negative post/comment, I get 100 signatures.

The best is attacks on grammar, especially when the posters don't bother to use it themselves. I know there are likely some typos (I just caught one now) and a few errors for "proper english", but a petition should be plain conversational english, as to appeal to the widest audience.

As far as media attention goes, I am an American, so there is really no media organization here that would cover it. I doubt that monster that is the BBC would pick it up untill after other smaller media outlets did. Are there any good newspapers in the UK to reach out to? Anyone want to help do so?

Now to get back to painting my old Metal Furioso...

**Torga_DW**

GothmogLordofBalrogs wrote:
Grimtuff wrote:
WayneTheGame wrote:
Think I might take one for the team and repost to Warseer since the previous thread disappeared without a trace.

Posted it. Let's see if it stays around or if I get banned for not towing the party line.

Just seen it. The responses are typical Warseer.

I feel like I have a black eye from some of the other forums...

BUT I obviously did something right, because for every negative post/comment, I get 100 signatures.

The best is attacks on grammar, especially when the posters don't bother to use it themselves. I know there are likely some typos (I just caught one now) and a few errors for "proper english", but a petition should be plain conversational english, as to appeal to the widest audience.

As far as media attention goes, I am an American, so there is really no media organization here that would cover it. I doubt that monster that is the BBC would pick it up untill after other smaller media outlets did. Are there any good newspapers in the UK to reach out to? Anyone want to help do so?

Now to get back to painting my old Metal Furioso...

Heya, i said something similar on warseer and i'll say something similar here i guess. Granted it was writing a letter on an established site and posting on forums to get people to add their emails, but what was the specific point of this? Yeah the haters are going to hate, but if you've gone back to painting your old model, where's the passion? This is one of the reasons why gw will ignore the petition no matter how many signatures it gets: the guy writing it doesn't seem to care not long after the big 10k event. Buying a tyrannocyte when it comes out? I'm not intending to 'hate' here but i'm aware i'll be coming across as one. What was the point other than to show people you could get 10,000 likes?

I agree in principle with your petition, and would have probably gone further in suggestions myself, but why even click the like button if the guy who wrote it is going to leave it there. What's your plan now that you've got a respectable level of signatures? As i said in warseer, the purpose of a petition is the threat of boycott. Are you, the author of the petition, considering boycott if the petition is dismissed? If all i have to do is click a button to theoretically get what i want and i don't think its worth the time and effort, what makes you think gw is going to consider making these changes?

**matphat**

A year ago I quit buying minis from GW. I wrote them a letter detailing why I wouldn't be a customer anymore, and I've recently signed Goth's petition.

This is about the extent of what a normal person can do, and maybe, eventually, it will have an impact. I'm not going to waste more time and effort on it than that.

I plan on keeping tabs on the community and what GW might do about the problem, if anything, but that's about it.

**Wayniac**

LOL the new thread I posted a few days ago just vanished from Warseer. I posted in their help section asking why, I wonder what reason (if any) I'll be given, or if I'll just get banned for daring to question them. I have to say speaking as a moderator on a large (the largest?) MMO gaming site (MMO Champion) I find that behavior insane from moderators to just delete a thread with actual discussion for no reason.

**GothmogLordofBalrogs**

Torga_DW wrote:
GothmogLordofBalrogs wrote:
Grimtuff wrote:
WayneTheGame wrote:
Think I might take one for the team and repost to Warseer since the previous thread disappeared without a trace.

Posted it. Let's see if it stays around or if I get banned for not towing the party line.

Just seen it. The responses are typical Warseer.

I feel like I have a black eye from some of the other forums...

BUT I obviously did something right, because for every negative post/comment, I get 100 signatures.

The best is attacks on grammar, especially when the posters don't bother to use it themselves. I know there are likely some typos (I just caught one now) and a few errors for "proper english", but a petition should be plain conversational english, as to appeal to the widest audience.

As far as media attention goes, I am an American, so there is really no media organization here that would cover it. I doubt that monster that is the BBC would pick it up untill after other smaller media outlets did. Are there any good newspapers in the UK to reach out to? Anyone want to help do so?

Now to get back to painting my old Metal Furioso...

Heya, i said something similar on warseer and i'll say something similar here i guess. Granted it was writing a letter on an established site and posting on forums to get people to add their emails, but what was the specific point of this? Yeah the haters are going to hate, but if you've gone back to painting your old model, where's the passion? This is one of the reasons why gw will ignore the petition no matter how many signatures it gets: the guy writing it doesn't seem to care not long after the big 10k event. Buying a tyrannocyte when it comes out? I'm not intending to 'hate' here but i'm aware i'll be coming across as one. What was the point other than to show people you could get 10,000 likes?

I agree in principle with your petition, and would have probably gone further in suggestions myself, but why even click the like button if the guy who wrote it is going to leave it there. What's your plan now that you've got a respectable level of signatures? As i said in warseer, the purpose of a petition is the threat of boycott. Are you, the author of the petition, considering boycott if the petition is dismissed? If all i have to do is click a button to theoretically get what i want and i don't think its worth the time and effort, what makes you think gw is going to consider making these changes?

It was to speak out to them as the consumer what we want to change. If you read the comments on the petition itself, many people have said they have stopped. But A general boycott is impossible. Too many fans. What this is supposed to be is a caution flag, an early one, before they loose even more business and market share to the competition and end up becoming a background wargaming entity. Think of GW like Sega or Atari. They were kings of the video game industry, but lost out in the long run. I don't want GW to be Sega or Atari. I want them to succeed. That is the core concern.
Think of the petition as more of an open letter to the company.

I am going to physically send copies to them, and if anyone on here that is in the UK can get attention of any media source, that would be amazing. I didn't expect it to get to 10k, so now that it is this big finding a way forward is the next step.

I said I was going back to painting my dread (that I have had since the 90's. Strip and repaint) because I was simply logging off the computer for the night and settling in to watch some QI and hobby a bit. That is the passion isn't it. To be in love with the game and hobby so much that you weather the storm. The petition is attempting to end the storm though, or at least get GW to realize that it is raining outside.

I am more than open to suggestions to take it forward from here and would love the help.

**TheKbob**

GothmogLordofBalrogs wrote:
Think of GW like Sega...

You shut your

mouth! SEGA has been trying to turn crap around outside of burning the effigy that is the blue hedgehog.

Valkyria Chronicles comes out on PC in 3 days... If it's a good port, it's a sign of good times ahead I hope!

**sarpedons-right-hand**

I'm going to be signing it in a few minutes but I've had an odd idea. There are celebrities that play GW games right? Would it be worth emailing them somehow and getting a bit of weight behind this? It can't hurt, right?

**MWHistorian**

TheKbob wrote:
GothmogLordofBalrogs wrote:
Think of GW like Sega...

You shut your mouth! SEGA has been trying to turn crap around outside of burning the effigy that is the blue hedgehog.

Valkyria Chronicles comes out on PC in 3 days... If it's a good port, it's a sign of good times ahead I hope!

Valkyria Chronicles for PC? Awesome!
I friggin' love that game. Similar mechanics to Infinity.

**Wayniac**

Oh for the record the answer I got from Warseer was that threads discussing petitions have never been allowed since they are ultimately useless.

**Kal-El**

Huffington post and New York times maybe? They ran spreads on EA and simcity...if you find a gaming journalist they might take a look into tabletop news. Worth a shot.

**TheKbob**

MWHistorian wrote:

Valkyria Chronicles for PC? Awesome!
I friggin' love that game. Similar mechanics to Infinity.

'Dat game... Let me tell you what...

But yes, if you get a news outlet to actually pick up this thing (on a slow news day), then you might have weight to it? Probably aim for the gaming blogs or something and start there.

**MWHistorian**

TheKbob wrote:
MWHistorian wrote:

Valkyria Chronicles for PC? Awesome!
I friggin' love that game. Similar mechanics to Infinity.

'Dat game... Let me tell you what...

But yes, if you get a news outlet to actually pick up this thing (on a slow news day), then you might have weight to it? Probably aim for the gaming blogs or something and start there.

Agreed, start with gamer blogs and work your way up.

**Azreal13**

Ok, so I've drafted a message this afternoon and sent it off to a few outlets, please feel free to copy paste if you wish, don't worry about sending it to the same organisations multiple times, this is more likely to garner attention.

Hello,

I thought this might be of interest to the business news team, Games Workshop PLC, who have posted substantial falls in both revenue and profits in their previous two financial reports, are the subject of a petition requesting a change in focus from their customers that at time of writing has attracted over 10 000 signatures. I believe this would be sufficient to get a petition discussed in parliament were it to to be relevant?

The crux of the matter is that Games Workshop produces model kits based on it's own science fiction and fantasy universes for use in a tabletop wargame.

In recent times it appears (this is largely speculation as amongst the chief criticism levelled at GW is their insular attitude and lack of communication, they have in the last two years closed most of their social media pages down) they have been more determined to sell their models as collectibles and the game has become a secondary consideration, the quality of the game, and therefore people's enjoyment, has suffered. The petition is requesting a change in focus to make the game a priority once more.

10000 signatures and falling sales would suggest that their customer base, or a large part, is dissatisfied, despite the somewhat tenuous excuses provided by Tom Kirby (GW's CEO and Chairman) but as Mr Kirby claimed that Games Workshop do not perform any sort of market research in their last report because it is "otiose" (apparently it essentially means redundant, I had to look it up!) then it is quite possible that they are unaware of this, or if they are aware, have little idea why.

I hope you feel, as I do, that a PLC with falling revenue and thousands of dissatisfied customers who appears to be doing very little to address those issues might be of interest to your readers, especially any who may have a financial interest without being actively engaged with the company's products (and therefore be unaware of issues affecting it) and is worth maybe a few column inches, or at least a story on the website.

The petition can be found here

https://www.change.org/p/games-workshop-limited-refocus-your-business-model-on-the-sale-of-a-game-and-support-of-a-gaming-community-vice-the-pure-sale-of-collectible-miniatures

Along with comments of some who have signed, detailing there reasons for doing so.

Kind regards

Azreal 13

**Swastakowey**

Just got back in time to see action being done!

Awesome, I will have a look around and send this off to a few places as well.

**Azreal13**

I can't believe I got autocorrected to the wrong version of "their" in the last line.

Anyone stealing this, for god's sake correct that!