A lot of people don’t seem to get it so it’s time for a quick lesson on publicly traded companies, lore, and law. A thread.
1/

Games workshop is publicly traded. For the uninitiated this means that they have shares that are traded on the stock exchange. They are a FTSE250 company. This means they are one of the 250 most valuable companies on the FTSE register.
2/

For reference their current market cap, that is the value of all shares combined is approximately 3.38 billion pounds. That’s billion. With a B. For perspective the UK fishing industry, all of it, is worth 1.4 billion.
3/

GW are doing so well that they actually returned the pandemic support money they received because they didn’t need it. They are extremely good at selling plastic toy soldiers.
4/

Why am I telling you all this? Well our little community of warmongers has a bit of a problem. That is there is a small group of men, it’s always men, who feel some kind of ownership of GW and in particular the lore.
5/

Now I can appreciate getting invested in a hobby. I paint the models and read the books myself and get no small enjoyment out of it. It’s not the same for everyone though. In particular these gatekeepers are actively attacking the women in our hobby.
6/

They seem to feel that ownership of a neck beard, testicles, and a rudimentary understanding of lore give them the right to harass and threaten. Needless to say this is unacceptable.
7/

One of the biggest flash points is the idea of having female marines. I’ve written about this elsewhere but needless to say I believe there are many arguments in favour and some pretty weak ones against.
8/

Which brings us back to lore. Lore for our hobby takes the form of rules and stories. But here’s where the neck beards make their first mistake. They believe that lore dictates business. Lore is mutable, it changes all the time.
9/

An example. In Dan Abnetts Gaunts Ghosts series there is a character called Lucky Bonin. So called because he was killed off in one book but brought back in another because the author forgot.
10/

The biggest lore change recently is the whole Cawl/Primaris/Indomitus sequence. Make no mistake, these things are done to sell more models. That is the only major consideration.
11/

So when gatekeepers threaten to walk away if FSM become a thing they really really need to understand that GW doesn’t care if they do. The only calculation that matters is how it will affect the bottom line. If they think sales will increase it will happen.
12/

And given the direction of travel I’m reasonably certain it will at some point. When it does there will be rules, codexes, and novels. The lore will change once again.
13/

A final thought. Gatekeepers suck. It would be to our enduring shame and a massive loss of women were chased out or barred from entry. It is up to all of us to call out the asshats and keep the gates open.
#WarhammerCommunity #WarhammerIsForEveryone #Warmongers.
End/

Oh and by the way. Online harassment is a crime. It’s literally breaking the law in the only way that matters.