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Blood Bowl Rules Committee change; Tom Anders (Galak) forced to step down
Topic Started: 20th December 2009 - 07:41 PM (988 Views)
Skaven Lord Vinshqueek
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Bunny ear says flop

Yes, this could have been posted in the Specialist Games section as well, but since this reflects on the current actions of Grandma Wendy (both on management level and from out of the legal department), I thought this might be just as well suited in the General Wargaming section.

... and for those that don't know what this is about, just read the following.

Greetz
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URL: http://www.talkfantasyfootball.org/viewtop...hp?f=20&t=29466

DoubleSkulls
Dec 16 2009, 12:16 AM
Just so you are aware Galak has been asked to step down from the BBRC with immediate effect.

This is not expected to impact the release of LRB6 in any way, and the final version should be unchanged from the version produced by Galak.

I'd like to pass on my own personal thanks to Galak who has worked immensely hard and taken lots of criticism over the years. Blood Bowl would not be in the excellent state it is today if it wasn't for his dedication and commitment to the game. I'm sorry to see him leave the BBRC.

GalakStarscraper
Dec 16 2009, 01:45 AM
Thanks Ian and everyone.

Best guess is that I've contributed around 3000 volunteered hours to creating the LRB 5.0 and 6.0 over the last 5 years. (2000 of those were for the LRB 5.0 over 2 years and 1000 for LRB 6.0 over the last 3).

I personally typed up around 90% of the Rule part of the LRB 6.0 based on a starter document provided to me based on his re-creation of LRB 3.0 by Josh Blanchette (thanks Josh!). The entire Background I typed up. (I created around 50% of the new background ... Stephen Hutton the other half). For those that don't know why this is true ... GW lost the source documents for the Blood Bowl rulebook after LRB 2.0. That's why I've created the LRB for them since LRB 3.0 (I had the software and knowledge how to do it).

I'm disappointed to be forcibly removed from the BBRC ... but to be honest ... I'm not angry.

GW is on a legal rampage as of late ... I'm not sure what they think will be the end benefit from it but I personally feel that Blood Bowl just isn't important enough for them to worry about its fan base. Its just the bitter truth of GW's business model. What would be an flagship product for another company doesn't register for them on the importance scale. Jervis discussed this at GenCon in 2005. If you've never heard that speech ... take the time out to listen to it and you'll understand a lot more of where Blood Bowl falls on GW's business model http://www.midgardbb.com/JervisRules/Jervis_Talk_08172005.mp3

Anyway ... I'll go back to topic of I'm not angry. GW has a new head of legal and she is cracking down. Part of that crackdown was directed at me and they felt I should be removed from the BBRC.

The bottom line all of you should take away is this and its very important to me that this is the take away:

LRB 6.0 is finished. My opinion is that what GW just did to me will not effect LRB 6.0 going live. Everything should still be in the works ... its just moving at huge corporation speed. So patience. Does it suck that after everything I've done that this is the parting gift from GW ... yeah ... but I didn't do this work to be appreciated by Jervis or GW ... I did this work because I felt Blood Bowl was going to be destroyed as a fun game based on the original plans for LRB 5.0 that were presented to me. I did this work for the game and the community ... and LRB 6.0 is the best damn set of rules Blood Bowl have ever had ... so my personal mission was a success as soon as LRB 6.0 is officially posted. Despite what folks have accussed me of over the years ... I didn't do this because I got some high working for GW or wanting the glory of the role ... I did it to make sure my favourite board game stayed my favourite board game. I'm excited to play in my next LRB 6.0 tournament ... I've played Slann at some events but haven't played 'Flings since LRB 4.0 (3 1/2 years) ... I'm looking forward to doing that again.

Also ... the role of the BBRC is done. As has been indicated by my signature for a year ... LRB 6.0 is it. So if there is not a planned date at all for a future LRB ... the need for a BBRC is just not there. So being officially removed from a group that was done away isn't the worst thing that could happen if it was a needed thing for LRB 6.0 to become official.

At the end of the day ... I did all this work for the game and the incredible community behind the game. Those elements are not done with me. So yesterday was a sad day for me in many ways ... but I still look forward to LRB 6.0 becoming official and that is much more important than something happening to a fan of the game over in Indiana, USA.

Thanks for the kind words guys ... since I'm typing this anyway ... I'm going to encourage everyone to NOT (I repeat NOT) start making fake LRB 6.0s. I have faith that the right thing is going to happen and if me not being part of the BBRC is what it takes for LRB 6.0 to become official ... its a small small insignificant price to pay.

Galak
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Morkskittar
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:(

Silly GW... I do not think they understand the magnitude of BB's popularity. :P

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Yobtar
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I dont think they understand the magnitude of the popularity of any of their games besides 40k and fantasy.

Some of my favorite games to have gone by the wayside (aka Specialist range)

EPIC Space Marine (the old version with command chits)
NECROMUNDA (best game GW ever made imo)
Blood Bowl (2nd best ever)
Mordheim (not one of my favs but still fun to play)
BFG (same as Mordheim)
Talisman
Heroquest
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Milney
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So all the rediculous "clamping down" (which isn't really correct, as most of the action being taken is un-founded in law) on the internet is due to a new head of legal?

That makes me laugh. Out of nothing but the hope that the company doesn't fail in the immediate future, I hope they come to thier senses and either set her straight or fire her soon.

Workshop has already been suffering some pretty major losses in its overseas ventures, and despite gearing up for a new surge in the UK, it's actually in a fairly bad position.

Having the head of thier legal department kick out someone who devoted so much time (and creative effort) into maintaining such an iconic game is rediculous. Yes I know he's not angry, and I'm happy that he's not holding a grudge, but the sole reason for this, is that as a volunteer he most likely hadn't signed a contract stating his IP was owned by the company (as all GW employees do) and so with her somewhat limited knowledge of the law (as demonstrated by her recent action against websites) probably thought he was a risk of walking off with said IP and so prompted the removal.

Just sad. The company was formed off the back of veterans who pitched in, gave free lessons to people, guided them how to model and as Galak demonstrated even writing the source material. As much as GW wants to position itself as some independant creative powerhouse it's just shooting itself in the foot.

Still, glad that LRB6.0 should still make it out as he wrote it. Just a shame it was heralded by this...
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Ratemis
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I think it's a BS thing for them to do. However, Jervis mentioning that online following doesn't equal real-life following is true, and they are a company that has to justify their costs.

However, they're doing things very very stupidly. Blood Bowl has a good chance of being a very popular game, just about a sub-main-stream kids/teens game. I'm really frustrated with the very sorry quality of questions that get thrown out at QA sessions, and someone needs to stand up and ask them why they're killing specialist games and punishing their support online.
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Ratemis
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Milney
Dec 20 2009, 06:38 PM
So all the rediculous "clamping down" (which isn't really correct, as most of the action being taken is un-founded in law) on the internet is due to a new head of legal?

That makes me laugh. Out of nothing but the hope that the company doesn't fail in the immediate future, I hope they come to thier senses and either set her straight or fire her soon.

Workshop has already been suffering some pretty major losses in its overseas ventures, and despite gearing up for a new surge in the UK, it's actually in a fairly bad position.

Having the head of thier legal department kick out someone who devoted so much time (and creative effort) into maintaining such an iconic game is rediculous. Yes I know he's not angry, and I'm happy that he's not holding a grudge, but the sole reason for this, is that as a volunteer he most likely hadn't signed a contract stating his IP was owned by the company (as all GW employees do) and so with her somewhat limited knowledge of the law (as demonstrated by her recent action against websites) probably thought he was a risk of walking off with said IP and so prompted the removal.

Just sad. The company was formed off the back of veterans who pitched in, gave free lessons to people, guided them how to model and as Galak demonstrated even writing the source material. As much as GW wants to position itself as some independant creative powerhouse it's just shooting itself in the foot.

Still, glad that LRB6.0 should still make it out as he wrote it. Just a shame it was heralded by this...

This has been happening for a long long time. A new legal head is nothing, but they all want to justify their paychecks (and indeed in a corporation they'll need to to keep that position).
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Skaven Lord Vinshqueek
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Bunny ear says flop

Milney, things are a bit more complicated then the way you put it.

Tom Anders is the head of Impact! Miniatures. This company produces miniatures for the fantasy football range, though many were used for Blood Bowl (not to forget the fact that they've supplied various Blood Bowl tournaments with a limited set of give-away models). Up to this point, I can fully understand that there's a conflict of interest that comes up... However, the IP of the Blood Bowl game has always been of Games Workshop. Even for artwork/ background submitted for the LRB, it was mentioned in advance that all rights would immediately go towards Grandma Wendy (which was one of the reasons why I didn't try my hand at writing a bit of background for some of the starplayers). In that regard, I find it harsh that they've put someone out of the BBRC like the way they've done. ESPECIALLY, someone like Tom Anders who is a fairly known figure amongst the (global) Blood Bowl tournament scene.

... which brings me to the 'quote' Ratemis mentioned of Jervis Johnson regarding the online community. Yes, there will propably be less people from the online community then there are gamers in total. (While he doesn't provide numbers, impossible as it might seem, neither can we, so the actual difference remains vague at best). The 'problem' with Blood Bowl in this case is that with the banishment of the game from the GW stores (fact from experience in the Netherlands), people go look for a secondary option, which eventually is the internet.

So there will propably be more Blood Bowl coaches then you can find online, but the real 'hardcore' tournament gamers ARE online and for the past few months, Grandma Wendy is really doing her utmost best of pissin' them off badly.

Greetz
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Ratemis
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Thus I welcome you to the lives of the Dogs of War, Chaos Dwarf, Necromunda, and Mordheim veterans. All of which have had such crackdowns several times over the last four years, several site, content, faq, and pdf removals, and such.

Like I said, nothing new. A new suit to try and prove their paycheck with paper results that result in player misery.
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Gaz Taylor
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Ratemis
Dec 21 2009, 02:58 PM
Like I said, nothing new. A new suit to try and prove their paycheck with paper results that result in player misery.

Pretty much my thoughts as well. I know GW have to protect their IP but there has to be more fan friendly ways of doing it?

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Ratemis
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Gaz Taylor
Dec 21 2009, 09:07 AM
Ratemis
Dec 21 2009, 02:58 PM
Like I said, nothing new. A new suit to try and prove their paycheck with paper results that result in player misery.

Pretty much my thoughts as well. I know GW have to protect their IP but there has to be more fan friendly ways of doing it?

Not really, from what I've seen. The idea of uploading copyrighted matertial to the internet for download doesn't register as a bad idea for many people, and I've gotten into many an e-argument with people to that effect. I've been there as multiple sites got slapped with C&Ds and had to be taken down for long periods to remove copyrighted content. With the number of people and the number of sites you can find every day who are, wittingly or unwittingly, giving away copyrighted materials they have to be hard. How the site managers choose to react is up to them.

I'd still prefer it if GW would open release a lot of their material that they no longer freely offer or support on their site (several articles, multiple FAQs, some PDF army lists, ect). However, it's still entirely their decision.
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