Why Winters? Why resist the Grimdark?

[leeharvey]

 So I was taking part in a group chat livestream with 40k batrep youtuber Winters SEO. I asked him if he had heard of or played Grimdark Future. He said he had heard of it, but didn't want to play. After some more gentle prodding he flatly refused to even consider trying it once. From what he said he believed that if he were to try Grimdark Future he would lose out on his friends who play 40k, and he would lose the opportunity to meet new people who play. I'm just guessing, but it seems like he is so emotionally attached to 40k that it causes literal terror in him to branch out. Has anybody else seen this type of behavior in hardcore 40k players? I am wondering what fosters such a strong attachment to a particular rules set ,especially such a convoluted dumpster-fire cash grab of a game as 40k, that one won't even consider playing a new game that is easy to pick up, fair and fun. I even made it obvious to him that he could still enjoy the lore and universe of Warhammer 40k and that he could continue to play with the models he loves. Essentially just replacing the rules themselves. Didn't make a difference. Why such resistance? Will the GW police come and round him up for breaking their NDA (which he obviously signed in order to get early copies of GW products) if he openly talks about playing anything other than a GW train-wreck on his channel? I really enjoy his content, he genuinely makes batreps that are super fun to watch. I think he would make excellent Grimdark batreps too if he would only expand his horizon a little bit.

It's just disappointing to me that these better known YouTube batrep creators are so bought into the GW cult.


 What if we as consumers of content were to continually encourage the creators we like to take up Grimdark Future or Age of Fantasy? Not necessarily to replace what they are currently doing, but in addition to it. Variety is the spice and all that. Maybe we can start influencing them and thereby grow the whole community and increase OPR's presence in the space.

[Thorvir Hrothgaard]

If you wanted an honest discussion, maybe cut the anti-GW tirade out and perhaps look at things from his perspective. Leading with such bias may not be the best way to figure this out.

His content is 40k. He makes money from his content. People go to his channel for that content. Why would he change or consider anything else?

Growing our community is fine, but not at the expense of others.

[menacing]

and he WANTS to play 40k.. you dont convert the people who like the game

[baradaeg]

It seems like he makes content specifically for 40k players and fans with an almost daily upload cycle.

Batreps for OPR games is the playing field for smaller channels to grow with it or mixed channels that don't focus on a single system.

Single system channels have the problem that if they want to introduce a new system to their repertoire they have to make extra content for that system, without lowering the amount for their primary system.
If the single system channel also is the main income resource for the person behind it and the upload cycle is already packed there is not much they can do and saying they should switch to another system is the same as saying stop making money.

[leeharvey]

I said nothing anti-GW in the chat stream to Winters. Go look it up. I was totally non-adversarial about it. That's why I was taken aback by his response.

[Thorvir Hrothgaard]

You were very anti-GW in this thread.

[ariktaranis]

The dude doesn't want to play for whatever reasons. He doesn't owe you any anything. So if someone says "No thanks" just leave it at that maybe?

[mathygreen]

I asked him if he had heard of or played Grimdark Future. He said he had heard of it, but didn't want to play. After some more gentle prodding he flatly refused to even consider trying it once.From what he said he believed that if he were to try Grimdark Future he would lose out on his friends who play 40k, and he would lose the opportunity to meet new people who play.

I'm just guessing, but it seems like he is so emotionally attached to 40k that it causes literal terror in him to branch out. Has anybody else seen this type of behavior in hardcore 40k players? I am wondering what fosters such a strong attachment to a particular rules set ,especially such a convoluted dumpster-fire cash grab of a game as 40k, that one won't even consider playing a new game that is easy to pick up, fair and fun.

I even made it obvious to him that he could still enjoy the lore and universe of Warhammer 40k and that he could continue to play with the models he loves. Essentially just replacing the rules themselves. Didn't make a difference. Why such resistance?

Will the GW police come and round him up for breaking their NDA (which he obviously signed in order to get early copies of GW products) if he openly talks about playing anything other than a GW train-wreck on his channel? I really enjoy his content, he genuinely makes batreps that are super fun to watch.

Reliable Permit Solutions, LLC

[talonone]

Some people just don't want to leave what they know and are comfortable with. Not to mention what all of their friends play with them. I don't think it's weird.

[lemandarin]

This is perfectly normal. Winter SEO has a content creator contract with GW which allows them to receive stuff in advance with an NDA etc. It's almost mandatory for a YouTuber who wants to be responsive on content. Unfortunately, having already had the opportunity to see paragraphs of this contract, there is a non-competition clause which prohibits talking about competing games and which also prohibits talking about 3D printing... So if he does not does not want to risk a breach of contract, he has no other choice than to completely cut short a discussion on OPR.