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It's a well known symbol, and one that stands for stability above all else |
Well a little over a month ago I poured out some thoughts that I had bottled up in my brain, and maybe a few emotions I'd stored up in my heart. I poured them into this article
here, and I hoped it would spark a bit of debate amongst bloggers and hobbyists alike. Not nerd rage or the normal play ground arguments we're used to seeing on an awful lot of message boards out there, where insults and ignorance win the day. No, I had hoped I'd get responses from like minded gamers, who care about our hobby, and yes care about Games Workshop. I wanted people to stop and think about things properly, rather than just leap into the pro or anti camps as so often happens with any attempts to discuss Games Workshop. In my first article I really did wear my heart on my sleeve, I was honest about how I felt. I wanted others to respond in a similarly passionate way and convince me of some of the counter arguments.
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It didn't happen quite like that, or at all. In some respects the article was a success. I know from the responses I've had to the article and also private emails I've received that the article itself did get many people thinking about Games Workshop properly, rather than just blindly falling into the pro or anti camps we so often get. It was a success on the old hits counter too, if you can measure success in such ways. What I didn't expect though, if I'm honest was that the over whelming amount of responses I got to the article were people agreeing with me in the main or totally. My attempt to create a bit of passionate discussion, or debate without resorting to name calling, mud slinging and nerd rage failed. To be honest it spectacularly failed and as such I view the article as a bit of a personal failiure. Hell in the end I'd have taken a bit of nerd rage if it had sparked a bit of debate. So I've been pondering that article for a little while now.
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Yeah so they're cannon fodder, but they're devoted cannon fodder! |
You see, I deliberately chose the Imperium as a metaphor because I thought it was such a vast concept with the 40k background that it could in fact be twisted quite easily to whatever purpose you wished, when describing Games Workshop. I still believe the broad brush strokes I made in that article, when viewed from certain angles or perspectives ring true today, but I was deliberately one-sided in my commentary because that's normally the way you spark debate, even if I do more readily associated with those views I passionately expressed. It's certainly true of academia and other fields I have worked in, but not it seems wargaming. Perhaps the article was too long, perhaps people thought it so badly written that it neither deserved or indeed needed a well written riposte! Or maybe the contrary is true, perhaps people thought what I had written was so comprehensive and potentially intimidating that no one dared take it on...