I’m not boycotting Games Workshop. In fact, I’ve probably spent $200 on Games Workshop products in the last week (and that’s not even including the pre-order for Kill Team).

But I wanted to explain why I’m not boycotting Games Workshop, and why you won’t see me abandon Games Workshop stuff on this site. I’ve broken this down into five reasons.

#1. Boycotting Games Workshop Isn’t Going To Hurt Games Workshop

Of course, I can’t speak for anyone but myself here, but I love Warhammer. I love 40k and I love Age of Sigmar. I love Necromunda and I love Blood Bowl. I have been playing these games for thirty years and getting a lot of enjoyment out of them–enough enjoyment out of them that I spend thousands of dollars a year on the hobby and have a blog dedicated to wargaming.

I don’t think I’m alone here. In fact, I know I’m not alone. The simple truth is that Games Workshop made £350 million last year, which is an awful lot of Space Marines being shipped out of the warehouse. There is a MASSIVE fan base.

And what the boycotters seem to miss is the fact that Games Workshop is going to be JUST FINE without them. Games Workshop will continue to make games, players will continue to paint miniatures, tournaments will continue to be held, and–the kicker–people will still continue to have a good time.

I’m a professional marketer, so I hopped on two of my favorite internet traffic tools, Ubersuggest and Keywords Everywhere, and I looked at the amount of traffic that is going to Games Workshop at any given time. According to Ubersuggest, Games Workshop is getting 4,410,940 organic monthly visitors to their website. And that’s organic! The amount of direct visitors is at least that much, probably much more so.

On the other hand, the search term “Games Workshop boycott” doesn’t even register. Ubersuggest estimates it at 10 searches in the last month. I know enough about Ubersuggest to know that it’s an estimation, but the point is the same: the boycotters are in a tiny minority.

There’s a Change.org petition going around for the boycott of Games Workshop, and it has a whopping 266 signatures. There’s a GW Boycott infographic on Reddit that has been upvoted 18,300 times. Neither of these things is going to make a dent in Games Workshop.

So 18,300 upvotes versus 4.4 million monthly organic visitors to their website. Games Workshop is not going to be hurt by this boycott.

Now, I know what you’re going to say: just because Games Workshop is going to continue to exist doesn’t mean that *I* have to support them. This is a moral stand, regardless of whether it damages Games Workshop.

If that’s your stance, then go for it. I mean, in the points below I’m going to talk about why I *don’t* think a moral stand is called for, but I’m not here to tell you how to spend your hobby money.

My point is just this: I have enjoyed Games Workshop all of my life. Games Workshop is going to continue to produce the things that I like, whether this boycott proceeds or not, so why don’t I still continue to enjoy Games Workshop products?

2. The IP Issue Isn’t Tyrannical

I have written fifteen novels, and I am a New York Times bestselling author. If you go to fan fiction websites you will find fan fiction that is based on my books. If you go to Deviant Art you will find fan art that is based on my books. Admittedly, the fan fiction that my books generate is nowhere near as popular as the Games Workshop fan animations on YouTube, such as TTS.

BUT: I own the copyright to my books and my characters. I don’t mind that people write their own stories set in my worlds–in fact, I love it. But when someone wants to earn money off of that fan fiction? That’s when my agent gets involved and we start signing contracts and licenses are issued and the lawyers show up.

Because this is a thing that I own, and when you start profiting off a thing that I own, then it limits what I can do with my own IP. Case in point: one very popular author in my genre was writing a bestselling series, and fans were waiting for the next book to come out. As the fans waited, they wrote fan fiction of what they hoped would happen in the sequel. And when the sequel was finally released, and the fan fiction writer was correct in their assumptions, the *fan fiction writer tried to sue the author for plagiarism*.

When we talk about owning intellectual property, and licensing intellectual property, and allowing people to make money off of our work, this isn’t idle talk. This is stuff that can really bite you in the butt if you’re not careful.

Guarding your IP–even if you have not been guarding it tightly in the past–is not a bad thing for an IP owner to do. It’s a very important thing to do.

In the case of the fan fiction written about my book, and the fan fiction written about my fellow authors’ books, we make it a point to NEVER READ IT ANYMORE. Because we’re afraid of legal battles with fans who think that they are owed.

Imagine if the fan animation Astartes was about the reappearance of Lion-El Jonson, and then Games Workshop tried to reintroduce the Lion into the current lore, there would undoubtedly be people crying foul. People who are saying that, at the very least, Games Workshop should send a little credit to Astartes for popularizing the idea.

Is the problem that Games Workshop is cracking down now on fans who are monetizing their IP? Or is the problem that GW waited far too long to crack down and led people to believe that they could get away with whatever they wanted? I think the latter is true–which is, yes, Games Workshop’s fault, but it doesn’t mean that Games Workshop is somehow in the wrong for making the move now, even though it’s later than it should have been. The best time to protect their IP was thirty years ago. The second best time is now.

#3. It’s Possible to Play More Than One Game

People talk about voting with your hobby dollars, which is fine–in fact, it’s healthy. But I don’t think we should lose sight of something: just because we want to encourage small games to grow up into big games, and we want to popularize Star Wars: Legion or Marvel Crisis Protocol, doesn’t mean that we can’t do both.

I spend too much money on Games Workshop products, but I spend nearly as much money on Bolt Action. And I’m always adding games to my collection. We can go on a crusade to popularize a lesser-known game at the same time we play Games Workshop games.

At my FLGS, they play two tabletop wargames: Warhammer 40k and Age of Sigmar. I think once I saw someone playing Kill Team, but that’s it. They don’t sell other games, they don’t play other games. (They make the bulk of their money off of Magic: The Gathering.) I have, on occasion, taken my Bolt Action down to the store, bringing Germans and Americans with me, to be a game advocate and try to get other players to join in. And we had a good time. But my attempts haven’t changed the habits of any of the store’s regulars.

(Which is not to say that it’s impossible to change the habits of store regulars. But regulars are going to be reluctant to play a game that is not sold in the store, and stores are going to be reluctant to stock a game that no one is playing. It’s a vicious circle, admittedly, but it’s a real concern.)

But the point is: just because I’m being a game advocate for Bolt Action–a game which I love–doesn’t mean that I have stop being a regular at my FLGS and playing Games Workshop games with my friends.

#4. This Is a Tempest In a Teapot

I visited two FLGSs this week, both of which stock Games Workshop products and have game tables set up. And, for research, I asked the managers what they thought about the Games Workshop boycott. One of the managers had heard something about it but said they hadn’t noticed a dip in sales, and the other manager said that she hadn’t heard a word. It was news to her.

We live in the online Games Workshop world, those of us who have hobby websites and YouTube channels, and we think that everything we see online is happening on the ground at stores. But, it’s just not. Just going by those search engine numbers again (4.4 million organic hits to GW’s webpage) compared to the subscribers to TTS (235,000, and getting 11,000 views per day).

I think that the Games Workshop Boycott is shouting into an echo chamber. Wargaming YouTubers are seeing that another YouTuber is in peril, and so they’re worried that they’re in peril, too, and they talk about the issue, and hobby blogs talk about the issue (like I’m doing now) but we’re probably only talking to, at most, 10% of the Games Workshop fanbase. And I think 10% is probably overly generous.

In other words, for all the influencing power that all of us online wargamers have, we’re not actually spreading the word to the vast majority of wargamers. And, to be honest, the vast majority of wargamers have probably never heard of TTS and aren’t concerned about its demise.

Which leads me to my last point:

#5. Are We Getting Upset Over Nothing?

TTS sort of declared themselves to be in violation of the IP rules and made the decision to stop making their videos. But has anyone yet seen a cease and desist order? A lot of people are worried about Games Workshop coming down with the ban hammer to exterminate a lot of fan channels, but so far all we’ve seen are updated guidelines. To date, as far as I can tell, no legal action has been taken against anyone.

So I say again: are we getting upset over nothing? I have a hunch that Games Workshop updated the language of their IP guidelines to cover their butts (see #2 above) but that they’re not going to take any action against anyone unless something is egregious.

Now, does that mean that their IP guidelines haven’t scared artists and YouTubers into silence? I’m sure that it has. For good or ill, some of these artists have demonetized and shut down their sites. Yes, I feel bad for them. They may well have been able to continue doing what they were doing and fly under the radar.

And, of course, it’s easy for me to say, because I’m not an artist who has to worry about getting sued. But I still think the question is worth asking.

Conclusion

Ultimately, I am not going to boycott Games Workshop because they make good stuff that I enjoy, because they’re not doing anything illegal or even unethical with their IP guidelines, I can spread my hobby dollars to other game companies and STILL have money leftover to spend on Games Workshop, and I think that the vast majority of wargamers are completely unaware that this is even an issue.

If Games Workshop starts getting more aggressive, shutting people down and suing others; if the games stop being fun anymore, or, at least not fun enough to justify giving money to a company I deem unethical; then maybe I can get upset and consider boycotting Games Workshop. Until then, I’m content to keep playing Warhammer.