Willmark:
Since Gamesday is in the USA this time around I’ll be handling tweets.
Want to follow me? Willmark13
5-days and counting to go. This time around I’ll be making sure to have new batteries in the camera.
Xander:
Dude, you can set up your phone to tweet to CDO’s Twitter feed.
It’s quite simple. 
iPhones support MMS, and to send image and updates, you simply need the CDO’s special Twitpic email address saved as a contact. 
Willmark:
Well there we go then 
I’ll use the CDO handle.
One thought is if someone wants to keep an eye on Twitter here and post updates for those who don’t/won’t use Twitter. That way everyone is up to date
Alternatively we could tie it to facebook but it would be nice to have the focus here.
GRNDL:
No, I don’t really, no offence to your enthusiasm. I’m boycotting all things to do with this Gamesday as its a big slap in the face to fans across North America. How can they think that their hobby/business can be adequately supported with a single Gamesday???
Good luck with the coverage, but you should remind them that GW has basically flipped the bird to its fans with its non-regional events.
AGPO:
Yeah, I would ask why France, Germany and Poland (none f them the world’s biggest hobby centres) need their own Gamesdays but a country the size of a continent only gets one…
Willmark:
No, I don't really, no offence to your enthusiasm. I'm boycotting all things to do with this Gamesday as its a big slap in the face to fans across North America. How can they think that their hobby/business can be adequately supported with a single Gamesday???Enthusiasm? Hardly, if anything I'm in a low point for GW at the moment. Health issues have been my big concern.
Good luck with the coverage, but you should remind them that GW has basically flipped the bird to its fans with its non-regional events.
GRNDL
Also you be hard pressed to find someone who likes GW less.
GRNDL:
re: enthusiasm
I meant acting on behalf of CDO…
Swissdictator:
Wish I could be there, but not at all practical for me. So I’ll be following the tweets.
Thommy H:
Yeah, I would ask why France, Germany and Poland (none f them the world's biggest hobby centres) need their own Gamesdays but a country the size of a continent only gets one...The market for GW products in each of those countries is probably at least the size of the market in the USA and Canada. GW is a European company, after all, and they've been trading longer in the UK and Europe than they have in America. They're more entrenched, and hence more popular there. Anyway, if North America was able to support so many Games Days then they'd still be happening, wouldn't they? Evidently they were running at a loss.
AGPO
Swissdictator:
I still think the US Games Day should be in Chicago, not Baltimore. Chicago is a more central location for people in the west or midwest.
cornixt:
The population is much more concentrated on the east coast though, so you’d get more people that drive than you would if it was in Chicago.
Willmark:
I still think the US Games Day should be in Chicago, not Baltimore. Chicago is a more central location for people in the west or midwest.This is because of where he lives. :)
Swissdictator
GRNDL:
@Willmark
But that is the point. We had a place to go to, and now we don’t. Wherever it is when there’s only one, some people are left out and that fanbase not covered. They went from covering it to basically ignoring it. We went from 5-6 conventions to one… Not to 3-4, or 2… 1. Nice going… Especially for a fan supported industry. “Beading” gets more coverage.
@Thommy
As for the GW is a European company meaning something and that’s why they focus on the European market rather than NA or anywhere: BS. GW is an internationally traded public company selling its wares across most of the civilized world. They’ve traded in NA for over 20 years, and had chains of stores going across it for at least 15 years. Their market is very large in NA, probably more stores per capita than in Europe, so the business end doesn’t add up. The overhead of doing business in NA needs to address the idea of supporting fan events, IMO.
Secondly, if a website like Penny Arcade (meaning, not a huge corporate giant) can organize a twice a year convention (PAX East/West) that receives 10-20 times the amount of people (stats outperformed the E3 convention even in its prime) and deals with a hundred times as many companies as GW does in its conventions (exhibitors, merchants, catering, etc), then I don’t see how a multi-million dollar, internationally traded public company can’t set up at least an east and west coast convention for its fans with its licensees and its subsidiaries. Especially after all the price hiking and other crap they’ve pulled.
Corporate reorganizing or not, convention downsizing was not a smart move. IMO.
Servius:
I was hoping to go… but I wish they were holding it in a better city… sorry but Baltimore holds no interest for me…
Thommy H:
GRNDL, I assume if the amount of business they do in North America could support multiple Games Days then they’d still be doing it. I.e. if they made money from it, they wouldn’t have stopped. Evidently it wasn’t profitable enough to justify continuing that many. It’s just market forces. Geography is irrelevant - they used to do a single US Games Day back in the 90s when their business was smaller, and obviously with the global recession, they’re seeing a hit in profits that’s forcing them to scale back to a business model more in line with how things worked back then.
Willmark:
I’m still trying to figure out GRNDL is arguing with in terms of less conventions. I think most people would want more not less. I’m not disagreeing it’s a bad move on their part either.
Servius- it’s only in Baltimore because of the location of the US GD HQ, nothing more or less.
GRNDL:
My point is that Warhammer and tabletop gaming is a fan driven hobby and that GW has a responsibility as a figurehead of the hobby to cultivate fans and fan support by means of setting up events - it drives business and good will amongst customers. This year, GW has essentially plugged the plug on fan support via conventions, having only one that is almost inaccessible for most people for a continent with an excess of 300,000,000 people…
I really don’t think that a convention for at most 5000 people is a huge money sink, especially since they charge $20 a head and gouge peeps for crappy burgers, etc. I can see the impact of multiple conventions on the authors, artists, sculptors, designers and other personalities having to go on tour, but really, as a company dependent on its fans for continued support, I don’t think its a huge drain on them.
Khaosbeardling:
If I ever went to a Games Day, I’d go regardless of the distance. I live in Kansas, so no matter where you put it there is going to be distance for me. I can see why they have had to scale back and since I’d have to specifically plan to go to one it wouldn’t matter where GW put it for me and my two other friends that would be interested.
Thommy H:
This year, GW has essentially plugged the plug on fan support via conventions, having only one that is almost inaccessible for most people for a continent with an excess of 300,000,000 people...They don't have even one Games Day for China or India, and they have in excess of a billion people each. As I said, it's got nothing to do with geography - the size of the country is irrelevant: it's the size of the fanbase in that country that determine the success or failure of conventions. America is actually not the biggest market for GW games. I would bet that any large European country has just as many players, and therefore equal justification for a Games Day of their own.
GRNDL:
As GW defines its regional activities, there’s not much difference between North America, Northern Europe and Continental Europe.
Sales in millions, from 2010 annual report
Northern Europe £36 ish
Continental Europe £35 ish
North America £31 ish
Emerging Markets £3
However the European markets declined last year and NA grew from £29 mill. That’s an emerging fan base in a recession which needs cultivation and support, but got none. Not only that, with GW closing hobby stores left and right, its getting harder to see the hobby in action. China and India are part of the emerging markets, so there’s no criticism of there not being a Games Day there, but then again, maybe having one there would help.
There’s an old saying: speculate to accumulate, or spend money to make money. Or even, keep the punters happy. Point is, if you want to expand or remain stable, you have to go out there into the public and do something for them - discounts, promotions, etc. Not just show up all the time with crap models and demand wads of cash. If you want to do that, have a convention to counterbalance it, and make sure your customers can get to it.
So my point is that with GW shrinking its exposure to fans and new customers alike, its potential for growth or retention of fans is growing less each year.