Games Day Germany - August 11, 2013 - Part I

Part 2 with more info tomorrow morning 8:42 CET!
Stay Tuned!
My most honored hobbyists...

Games Day 2013 - a subject that we here at masterminis.net have talked about quite a bit in the last couple of weeks - rumors upon rumors - and it seems all of the news we 'spread' were true.

And now I have an announcement that you probably have to read twice before you truly believe it.

Quo Vadis, Games Workshop?
I think this guy knew... He looks a little sad :( 

Let me preface this by saying that even what follows will not bump me off my position of #1 GW & FW fanboy in the world. I want them to do good, I love them - always have, and I know they have not made this easy on us over the last few years. I still love them. Inspite or maybe because of their fluffy little qwirks...

At this point I would like to thank a 'disgruntled employee' from the southern part of Germany who accidentally forgot an internal document in my printer. Stranger things have happened....

I will provide you with most of the German text - and also an English translation. I will fail to refrain from some personal comments and I wish to apologize for my views in advance. Right now I feel a mixture of sadness and disbelief.

You will find the original text, then the translation and then my innermost secret feelings as I provide you with a play-by-play commentary from the bottom of my black little heart!

OH well, here we go:

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1. "Der Games Day kommt! Nachdem wir uns in der Zentrale so lange in Schweigen gehüllt haben, möchte ich euch als der verantwortliche Projektleiter für den Games Day ein wenig in die Hintergründe einweihen und euch mit Infos rund um das große GamesWorkshopEvent versorgen."

"The Games Day is comming! After we at HQ have been silent for so long, as the responsible project leader for the Games Day I would like to tell you a little bit about the background and information of this great GamesWorkshopEvent."

ad 1) Games Day is comming! Yippeeeee! So far so good, I am excited, a little sweaty. My pupils widen, my breath is increased. Heart skips a beat. I am biting on my fingernails.

2. "Der Games Day wurde im vergangenen Jahr sozusagen erwachsen. Aus einem Event, das jedes Land irgendwie ähnlich Realität werden ließ, wurde in mühevoller Kleinarbeit der englischen Kollegen ein globales Ding. Dazu schaute man sich wirklich jeden Games Day weltweit und wirklich jeden auch noch so kleinen Aspekt an ... und man hatte eine groooße Lupe! :)"

"Last year the games day basically grew up. Our english colleagues turned an event that every country by themselves somehow turned into reality into a global thing. They looked at every little detail of every Games Day worldwide - and the had a biiiiig magnifying glass."

ad 2) Games Day grew up last year? Oh, I missed that. It was a great comming-of-age-party I guess. But that was true for the 10 years before that, too.
Anyhow, so far, nothing mindbogglingly mindboggling, they even got a big magnifying glass, I wonder if there will be ants in the story. 

3. "Aus den gesammelten Erfahrungen entstand dann ein echter GamesDayCodex, der weltweit Standards festlegt. Man betrachtete nicht nur die Qualität und die Eigenschaften der Veranstaltung, sondern nahm auch die Kostenseite ins Visier. Dabei musste man feststellen, dass die Organisation und Durchführung insgesamt mehr Ressourcen verschlang und Kosten verursachte als man gemeinhin annahm, und so überdachte man auch diesen Teil."

"With all the gathered experience a true GamesDayCodex emerged, one that set global standards. They did not only look at Quality and the individual parts of the event, but also narrowed in on the cost of running such an event. In doing so it was determined, that organization and running the event cost way more ressource and money than it was originally thought - so this was reconsidered as well."

ad 3) Oooh, Games Day Codex! I wonder If I can buy 8 differently wrapped limited editions of that one, too! And worldwide standards? I am all for it, always have.
Oh what's that? Surprise revalation! After years and years and YEARS of Games Day someone looked at the cost of them. And lo and behold! It was more expensive than we all would have thought! Darn! 


See what a management change can do for a company. Someone knows the word 'cost' and applies it thusly. Let's see if they have heard about the word 'customer satisfaction', too!
I am getting excited. Heart resumes beating at irregular intervals. 

4. "Das alles ist auch der Grund, warum wir so spät mit Informationen zum Games Day rausrücken, denn wir haben uns lange nach alternativen Austragungsorten umgeschaut und lange an Plänen herumgetüftelt, wie er realistisch nach den weltweiten Standards zu machen ist. Letztenendes landeten wir doch wieder im altehrwürdigen Gürzenich in Köln."

All of this is the reason, why we are so late with the information on the Games Day since we have looked for alternative venues and the implementation of worldwide standards for a very long time. At the end, we still ended up at the venerable Gürzenich in Köln [same venue as before]. 

ad 4) sooo, cost was too high and then you end up at the same place? And all of that took at least 9 months since the last event to figure out? Well,... ok, fine with me, I don't care.

5. "Die am Anfang wohl sichtbarste Änderung ist, dass wir den Ticketpreis auf ein nun realistischeres Maß anheben müssen. Eine Preiserhöhung tut freilich immer weh und wird beim einen oder anderen verständlicherweise ein Grummeln hervorrufen wenn man sich aber ins Gedächtnis ruft, was zum Beispiel die Karten für ein 2bis 3stündiges Musical oder einen Tag im Disneyland kosten und welchen Aufwand der Games Day für uns als Firma bedeutet, welche dann wirklich alle Mitarbeiter in Köln zusammenkarrt, um dieses 8StundenEvent zu bestreiten, dann ist der Eintrittspreis schon eher nachvollziehbar."

"Initially, the most significant change is that we now have to increase the ticket price to a realistic level. Of course, price increases always hurt and some people might understandably be unhappy, but if you think what the tickets for a 2-3 hour musical or a day at Disney Land cost and how much effort the Games Day means for us as a company - a company that really gets all of their employees to Cologne to run this 8 hour event, then you understand that the price is reasonable.

ad 5) LOLWUT? OK,.... hold your horses, boys and gals,... we don't know the new ticket prices yet. Realistic level... I see... So I would think 50-75€. Tickets at the opera or musical cost me around 120-150€ a pop (first row baby), Disney Land would cost me around 1120€ (1000 for the trip to Japan and 120€ entry fee, sorry, Paris), and I heard about those prices professional street workers charge by the hour! No, I think 50-75€ is quite reasonable. Well, of course, we need to pay the trip by train (50-80€) and a hotel room (70-100€) on top, plus then we can finally buy stuff at normal retail (add another 500€, we loooove Forgeworld)... So I think it is reasonable to go to a company event as a valued customer, shelling out between 100-800€ - I have done this every year and it was worth every penny. Honestly. No, I really mean it. Really. 

6. "Wie dem auch sei, wir werden auch in diesem Jahr wieder daran schrauben, den Games Day noch interessanter zu gestalten der stabilere Kostenrahmen und die Limitierung auf 2.000 Besucher sind dabei ein Schritt nach vorn. Darum arbeiten wir gemeinsam mit euch an:"

"Be that as it may, this year we will tighten the screws again and strive towards making the Games Day even more interesting and a more stable (cost) budget as well as the limit of 2000 tickets are a step ahead. That's why together with you we:" 

ad 6) LOLWUT DAFUQ? US Games Day: Limit to 1000 (!) visitors, Germany Games Day: Limit to 2000 (!!) visitors... Can I hear 3000 for UK? Limbooooo!

The German Train service thinks like this: "What? We had less customers last year? Let's increase the prices! See? Profits are easy!" (then next year rinse and repeat).

Here is what GW does: The event is too expensive. So let's go back to the same venue. Instead of 4000ish people at 35€ (who then also buy stuff) let's get 2000 people at a 'realistic price'.

Am I the only one here who went to university and conquered basic arithmetics? I was pretty good at marketing, too! :D

Well, the unknown x is the 'realistic price'. So let's say the price was a hypothetical 70€ per ticket - then of course we would close in on the break even point. 150€ would really get 'us' a long way.

How all of this is a 'step ahead' I don't know. In Germany we have a saying: "Yesterday we were standing on the edge of a deadly chasm. Today we are a step further." Must be something along those lines.

But since we don't know the 'whole package' yet (I am SUUURE we get like awesome t-shirts, a limited edition FW Fellblade or something), I think we should wait on the details for the final verdict.

7. "- Mehr Miniaturen wir werden mehr Vitrinen bereitstellen und sie mit eurer Hilfe bestimmt auch füllen. [..]
- Mehr Kreation die Platten im Hobbybereich sind der große HobbyHingucker und ein Spiegel des jeweiligen HobbyJahres. Ob Spieltisch oder HobbyDisplay, was ihr mit euren Stammkunden bastelt, wollen wir soweit es geht euch überlassen. Habt Spaß beim Bau, dann haben es die Besucher auf dem Games Day auch!
- Mehr Gäste wir holen mehr Gäste aus UK nach Köln als jemals zuvor
- Mehr Material wir werden die Workshops erweitern, um mehr Leuten die Möglichkeiten zu geben, davon zu profitieren
- Mehr Sitze im Auditorium der “Hobbyhörsaal” kehrt trotz beengter Platzverhältnise in den großen Raum zurück und so verdoppeln wir mal eben die Sitzzahl
- Mehr Service wir verbessern den ForgeWorldStand, damit es schneller geht. Auch Retail und Black Library werden mehr Kassen bekommen
... und noch mehr. Wir spielen noch mit einigen weiteren Ideen. Hast du selbst einen (grob realistischen) Vorschlag, schreib mir!"

"- More miniatures in more display cases (and with your help we will most likely even fill them)
- More Creation (?) the gaming tables in the hobby area are the big focus and a mirror image of the active hobby year. Gaming tables or hobby displays - whatever you will build with your core customers, is up to you. Have fun building it, so the visitors of Games Day will have fun too!
- More guests from the UK than ever
- More material - we will enhance the workshops so more people can profit from them.
- More seats in the 'hobby lecture hall' in spite of limited space we have doubled the amount of seats.
- More service - we will improve the Forge World booth, so it will run more smoothly. Also, Retail and Black Library will receive more cash registers.
- ... and a lot more. Wie have a few more ideas. If you have a (somewhat realistic) suggestion, let me know."

ad 7) Now please don't get me wrong, but I personally do NOT go to a games day to look at filled display cases, armies and gaming tables painted by store staff and their hard core customers. I would not even go their to look at a full display case of my own miniatures. Is GW seriously 'employing' their customer base to create 'content'?
I am happy though, that there are more registers. Nothing is worse than standing in line for 3 hours only to buy stuff at non-discounted retail. Everything else looks cool, too. Of course, no mention of the Golden Demon event.
[here follows a list of names of responsible people, I took it out] I will only point at the professionalism of the project leader who describes himself as 'flea circus tamer'. 

8. "Auf zur TicketAttacke am 20. April und auf zu 2.000 zufriedenen Gästen des Games Days am 11. August 2013 in Köln!"

"Ticket Attack on April 20th for 2000 satisfied guests of the German Games Day on August 11th 2013. 

ad 8) I know I am going to try to get a ticket. But I guess this time I won't be disappointed if I don't get to go. Black market prices for GW tickets... 

If GW is REALLY clever, they will do it like Blizzard. Put up an official GW Auction House and ONLY THERE you can trade your GW tickets. Or do it like the FIFA World Cup in Germany - only let people in with RFID tagged tickets and a valid copy of your passport. Now there are some 'somehwat realistic' suggestions. Maybe someone can relate them to Games Workshop :D

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So here is what I think

The first time I read the memo was the worst. 

The second time I read the memo, was the worst, too. 

Then it went into a bit of a decline.

The good news

There will be a Games Day Germany 2013. Hooray - we all kinda new it. We even ended up at the same venue - and that is quite unexpected. 

The weird news

People will not congratulate painters on their Slayer Sword or their Golden Demon any longer. 

They will congratulate them on getting one of the limited 2000 tickets.

Will I go? 

I sure will TRY. Probably have to use a false name now that I posted this :D

Anyways, I hope you found this report stimulating!

If so, please do me a favor: SHARE & ENJOY!

Yours truly,

Zaphod xoxox

P.S.: I still love you GW and FW! I really, really, really do! *big heart*