So this is going to be a thing apparently. What do you think? The fantasy/AoS one seems like it could plausiby work without breaking the setting as AoS/fantasy seems a mildly friendlier place than 40K, or at least more in line with stuff that is already common in fantasy for younger kids. But the 40K one just seems weird. For example there's a kid inventor, like the adaptus mechanicus wouldn't hunting him down immeadiatly for such heresy…. Also, it seems weird to make kid-friendly variations of it. Just imagine some poor 6 year old reading one of these, asking for another and then getting one of the adult books on accident about say the nighthunter flaying people. The 40K one just seems like somewhat of a bad idea.
A great lesson for kids. "Eat your vegetables or the Emperor's finest will hunt you down as a heretic!"
It makes sense on their part. Little risk and a large (potential) upside. I think this conversation is running in 3 places simultaneously. Seems to be the topic of the week.
I just had an thought related to this that sent me into a cackling fit. The Adventures Of Lil' Gotrek and Felix, with the titular characters in chibi style artwork.
meh, there's a fairly significant risk of accidently scaring young childeren, resulting in a bunch of angry mothers. Which could easily damage the reputation of the game/hobby significantly as keyboard warriors come along to defend the hobby… I'm sure you can already find rather angry and nasty reactions to it on the internet...
Well I am assuming that it will be very much toned down. My guess would be that it would include the lore/characters/setting in name only; a quick and easy way to pull more youngsters into the universe. It's the internet... what else is new? There literally isn't a single thing that doesn't cause some sort of offence on the internet. Keep in mind that I have ZERO interest in the books, but I understand where they are coming from.
I don't see how that'd work for 40K though… AoS/fantasy has friendly enough places for a "kids" story. There's the possibility of meeting a handfull of baddies without immediatly being horribly murdered there. In 40K meeting a baddie basicly means your planet is being invaded and you're screwed. You can't really have "small" adventures in a setting like that. O it's nothing new. It's just that some parts of the fanbase are rude even by internet standards, If those start trolling about to defend their hobby then GW and the hobby would be the ones taking the backlash. I just hope they manage without anyone triggering those trolls.
That is only valid if they hold true to the lore/setting. I highly doubt these stories will be considered canon, so they are free to do with it what they will. Bend it and change it so that it is palatable to both kids and parents alike. True it will look nothing like the source material, but that isn't the point. Maybe aside from using the faction names it will be completely different. The point is that it can be done quite easily, even in the case of 40k. Nobody fears those people. Let them put a a stink in the forums, it will have no effect on GW or the rest of the fans. Truth be told, we all know that they won't say or do anything in a real life setting.
Meh, at that point i wouldn't call it 40K anymore. But yeah, if you bend enough it could work I suppose. I don't so much fear their actual "power", but they won't limit themselfs to forums. There's plenty of em willing to DDoS some random newspaper site or some such nonsense in a misguided attempt to "protect" their hobby. The actually DDoS might not bethat big of a deal, but the fallout that creates for the obby and GW would be. Ah well, let's just hope it'l all turn out to be a storm in a teacup.
I agree, it will be 40k only in name. But it will still serve their purposes. Not sure what that means. Ultimately they have very little power to influence GW because they are a vocal minority at best. If they had any real power they would have axed AoS right from the start (before the General's Handbook). GW will just ignore them, to do otherwise would only empower them.
DDoS means "distributed denial of service." essentially, think of if hackers were able to take lustria offline for anything up to a week.
Thank you! You really think they will risk legal trouble to protect their hobbies? Something tells me that a whiny pimple-faced GW hobbyist isn't going to fare too well in jail/prison (not sure how much cred that gets you on the inside ).
It wouldn't be the first time it happenend. You had similar stuff happening surrounding that whole gamersgate thing a while back with largely a similar group of keyboard warriors. Of course GW will try to ignore em, but just like with afformentiond gamergate some of the whining will make the news, or even outright target news-sites (e.g. trolls commenting the usual vile stuff on an opinion piece by a worried mom thus rather proving the mom's worries...). And that'l rubb off on the hobby as a whole.
I just don't believe they are as influential as you do. If I was GW I would pay no attention to them at all. If they don't like the books, tough sh$t. I honestly believe they won't do anything about it, and if they do, let them go to prison (the rest of their-like minded fellows will fall in line real quick). Bottom line, you don't make business decisions to appease the trolls. Let them do their worst. As for their antics making the news, who cares? GW have a right to create children books from their IP. The general public would see it that way as well and the trolls would be seen as losers and likely turned into meme-fodder (which is great, because that will provide me with even more content for my Just for laughs thread ). GW's official response (and for the record I am not a fan of Conor any longer, but the line is fitting):
I love the idea of more kid-friendly warhammer books. It just means I can get my little girl into it sooner rather than later!