Games Workshop: "No fanfilms."

[ClaysGhost]

Unlike me, these people are lawyers and state the situation for UK law.

[Oni Koneko Damien]

Just remember, this is the same company that states that you are not allowed to have *tattoos* of anything they hold a copyright over. My room-mate found that interesting and rather hilarious portion of their website. We now have active plans to get Space Marine tattoos once money is available just to see how they plan on enforcing it.

[Singular Intellect]

Why would any company even want to try and forbid fan material?

It's for intents and purposes practically free advertising for their products.

[Feil]

Fear. The mind-killer. The little-death that brings total obliteration. They ought to face their fear, and permit it to pass over them and through them, but apparently that's one shred of Dune that they haven't decided to rip off (then guard with obsessive paranoia as their own precious Intellectual Property, the loss of control of which would spell INSTANT DOOM FOR WARHAMMER!!! [unlike raising the price of the models at a rate that makes Israel's inflation rate look low, which is clearly benefiting the company]).

[Ritterin Sophia]

Just remember, this is the same company that states that you are not allowed to have *tattoos* of anything they hold a copyright over. My room-mate found that interesting and rather hilarious portion of their website. We now have active plans to get Space Marine tattoos once money is available just to see how they plan on enforcing it.

I've been planning on getting a big BT Cross on my back just to spite them.

[Feil]

Amusingly, "Andy Jones, Head of Group Legal and Licensing, Games Workshop" would have just earned himself a DR6 violation if he were posting here...

Dear Huan Vu, no, I have no answer to your "There are several points that leave us puzzled and I hope you can shed some light on them", because the only light I'm shining here is the one coming out of my ass.

[Ritterin Sophia]

Amusingly, "Andy Jones, Head of Group Legal and Licensing, Games Workshop" would have just earned himself a DR6 violation if he were posting here...

Dear Huan Vu, no, I have no answer to your "There are several points that leave us puzzled and I hope you can shed some light on them", because the only light I'm shining here is the one coming out of my ass.

Why do all the good settings have to be owned entirely by morons and pricks?

[Klempik]

Well, if they weren't pricks in the first place they wouldn't have stolen so many good ideas and their setting wouldn't be that great...

[Stark]

Wow, that's *hilarious*. Not only are GW increasingly bad at making rules, but they employ complete wankers to follow up their stupid decisions.

They're really a class act, all round. I might go play Warhammer with the little orc guys that came with my Crossbows and Catapults game just to spit them. Do you hear that? MY MODELS DON'T ACCURATE REFLECT WARGEAR!

[NecronLord]

Are GW's actions on this matter rational, if we ignore ethics and fanbase-fucking?

From the completely profit-oriented view of their upper management, does this move improve their long-term gains?

It's paranoia. But not unjustified paranoia. Imagine if a court somewhere upheld the fan's right to use GW imagery in their own products. Within a month or so, there'd be 'Space Marine Maker Kits' for £5 on the internet, and their business would be sunk. Their business, after all, now operates on having coverage and ubiquity to effectively pump a captive market. Losing control of their IP would mean people would be able to directly sell minatures that fit with their games (even though they'd obviously ban those for their own events) and they'd be stuffed.

That's part of why they're so insanely worried anyway.

[PeZook]

Are GW's actions on this matter rational, if we ignore ethics and fanbase-fucking?

No. They lost a PR opportunity that could bring them very real money for very little expense, and expose a shitload of people to 40K.

All they'd have to do is organize an event around the movie. Or, hell, hire a subcontractor to do that - get the movie into some cinemas for a showing or two, organize fairs around these premieres, costume and army painting contests, a campaign centered around events from the movie, maybe a battle re-enactment. Basically, they could easily hype the movie using their existing resources, get a shitload of good PR from the fans and advertise their products.

Of course, they would have to follow up the events with some sensible pricing decisions in order to hook the newfound customers, but hey. They're not doing either, anyway

[Feil]

The fact that they're worried is perfectly justified. Their inability to differentiate between threats and non-threats is nothing but fear-wrought irrationality, and deserves nothing but scorn.

Frankly, their justification for the "no movies" nonsense, if they actually meant it, should mean "no fan creations of any kind period forever", because uherberrecht applies to every artistic creation, be it movie, art, or fiction. They're being stupid. Ergo we mock them.

[Uraniun235]

Do you hear that? MY MODELS DON'T ACCURATE REFLECT WARGEAR!

Somewhere, a Warhammer fanatic wails and gnashes his teeth.

And, bless you Stark, the very image warms my heart.

[Vendetta]

Why do all the good settings have to be owned entirely by morons and pricks?

All the decent people have left Workshop. Jervis is gone, Jake Thornton is gone, Andy Chambers has not only gone he's now Creative Director of Blizzard, which must be an absolute kick in the teeth. Seriously, they've lost all the good designers, and their entire management team was cut and pasted directly from Boots (and they're running it like a retail chain, not like a games company).

[Falkenhayn]

AC is the Creative Director at Blizzard? Did Red Star go under that quickly?