I think his main point, and what can’t be overcome without a cultural shift is on these paragraphs:
> For those in the 3D printing crowd who weren't big into playing, just painting, part of the point is showing off your incredible work to everyone else. Except nobody wants to see a 3D-printed forgery of an official model. It's like showing up to a car show with a kit car that looks like a Ferrari. Sure, it's impressive in its own way, but it's not really a Ferrari, and everyone knows it, and now we're all standing around pretending we don't know it, and it's uncomfortable for everyone.
> Once someone figured out one of your minis was 3D printed, shops generally wouldn't feature it in their display cases. So there was no reason for people who were going to put in 10+ hours per model to skip paying for the official real models. If you're going to invest that much time, you want the real thing. You want the little Games Workshop logo on the base. You want to be able to say "yes, I paid $60 for this single figure" with the quiet dignity of someone who has made peace with their choices
They want the “real thing”. I.e. the overpriced chunk of plastic a company managed to inflate the price of.
It is about the ritual. They want all the love, skill and time they put into this craft to be poured on this talisman. They don’t want it to be wasted on the cheap unofficial knockoffs.
It’s interesting how companies in consumerist societies manage to create artificial value by engaging communities in these type of branded religions (the article used that word, and I think is apt)
>I think his main point, and what can’t be overcome without a cultural shift is on these paragraphs:
GW isnt a ferrari in this scenario. They have come a long way, but third party providers like Scibor, who preexist 3d printing, are still leagues better. Not to mention all of the third party support for their less supported lines, like Warhammer Fantasy. You would 100% put a scibor mini in your display case.
Its not that the 3d print isnt a ferrari, its that it specifically does everything GW's minis do, often better. So the culture has been designed to hate on it.
>If you're going to invest that much time, you want the real thing.
I mean this would tend to exclude even conversions. And people put 100s of hours into those.
>You want to be able to say "yes, I paid $60 for this single figure" with the quiet dignity of someone who has made peace with their choices
This seems like he is trying to enforce the culture, not defend it. I dont care what I paid as long as the result is good.
>It is about the ritual. They want all the love, skill and time they put into this craft to be poured on this talisman. They don’t want it to be wasted on the cheap unofficial knockoffs.
Thats the thing, lots of these miniatures arent knockoffs. Many are. But many exceed, or provide alternatives to GW. This is mostly just a confession note about being addicted to a single company rather than participating in a hobby. GW loves and cultivates this mindset.
> For those in the 3D printing crowd who weren't big into playing, just painting, part of the point is showing off your incredible work to everyone else. Except nobody wants to see a 3D-printed forgery of an official model. It's like showing up to a car show with a kit car that looks like a Ferrari. Sure, it's impressive in its own way, but it's not really a Ferrari, and everyone knows it, and now we're all standing around pretending we don't know it, and it's uncomfortable for everyone.
> Once someone figured out one of your minis was 3D printed, shops generally wouldn't feature it in their display cases. So there was no reason for people who were going to put in 10+ hours per model to skip paying for the official real models. If you're going to invest that much time, you want the real thing. You want the little Games Workshop logo on the base. You want to be able to say "yes, I paid $60 for this single figure" with the quiet dignity of someone who has made peace with their choices
They want the “real thing”. I.e. the overpriced chunk of plastic a company managed to inflate the price of.
It is about the ritual. They want all the love, skill and time they put into this craft to be poured on this talisman. They don’t want it to be wasted on the cheap unofficial knockoffs.
It’s interesting how companies in consumerist societies manage to create artificial value by engaging communities in these type of branded religions (the article used that word, and I think is apt)