Denzark,

Most posters in these threads have been very civil and respectful in spite of disagreements.

I understand your point, but the topic under discussion is GW's management decisions, specifically about the company's methods of attracting new customers. I've criticized those before. I've never thought that the hobby centers were a good idea.

Col. Gravis was talking about a type of experience with Games-Workshop that was relatively alien to me. I found that intriguing and decided to find out what might be the reason for the difference. The reason, it seems, is that the majority of GW hobby centers in the US are clustered around six major metropolitan areas. If, then, Games-Workshop's intention is to draw in new customers with a profusion of easily-located hobby centers in well-trafficed areas, that doesn't seem like a viable option in the states.

I think it would require opening many, many new hobby centers. One observation I made in the above post was that many of the large college towns around the US don't have any GW hobby centers. In my experience, a regular cycle of fresh 20-somethings is a great boon to a flourishing gaming culture and successful gaming stores. I've stated that opinion on these forums before.

From what I've heard, GW hobby centers have been moving out of high traffic areas like shopping malls. From Col. Gravis's description, that's something necessary to the function of GW hobby centers. I haven't observed any of this first hand, obviously, but I think it is reasonable to conclude that if Games-Workshop is having trouble staffing its extant US hobby centers and keeping them in locations necessary to their function as an initial point of contact for new customers, it is unlikely that increasing the number of hobby centers in the US is going to achieve the intended goal.

There's lots of things that I love about Games-Workshop. I think the sculpting is getting better and better with every new release. The customer service department is staffed with swiftly responding, courteous, and genial employees. I think that the company is starting to respond to customer demand by releasing FAQs more quickly and patching out of date codices. I like that the new codices coming out have been designed with flexibility in mind. I love the 40K universe. That's why I play the wargame.

The fact that I'm concerned about Games-Workshop's policies and management is an indication that I have an emotional investment in the company. I want GW to do well. But this doesn't mean that I have to approve of everything it does. These threads haven't been about talking about how much you love Games-Workshop or even about how much you love Games-Workshop's products. The board is called Wargames Corporate Discussion.

You're trying to nullify my opinions by arguing that I am taking positions adverse to Games-Workshop on principle. Essentially the same argument could be made about you. But in either case it's a gross generalization, not germane to the discussion, and disrespectful.