Sunday Sermon: Does familiarity breed contempt?

I loved 4th Edition Fantasy, warts and all.

I asked myself this very question over 3 weeks ago now. I was thinking mainly about my sometimes awkward 'relationship' with Games Workshop. Here is a company that over the last 27 years, nearly 28, has given this hobbyist countless hours, weeks, months and years of gaming and hobbying pleasure. There is no doubting that without Games Workshop I wouldn't be the horribly shameless nerd, and depending on your viewpoint, totally awesome geek that I am. If it wasn't for 4th Edition Warhammer Fantasy and my High Elf army I'd almost certainly never have gotten into playing wargames as much as I have. If it wasn't for Blood Bowl I would never have made as many hobbying friends as I have. In my Sunday Sermon entitled 'The games that define us' I spoke at length about the games that have come to shape me as a hobbyist. Lets be brutally honest about it here, 6 of my 10 games were Games Workshop products, true they weren't always positive experiences, but they were Games Workshop games. Going further I would say that 70% of my wargaming past-time has indeed been dedicated to the products developed and supplied by Games Workshop, and for the most part I've enjoyed my hobby... just not those rare occasions when I lose!

A few months back now I wrote a Sunday Sermon that was sort of about somebody who had fallen out of love with Games Workshop, and in particular 40k, because familiarity had sort of breed contempt. Then this past week I purchased the first Games Workshop product I have in a fairly long time, thanks to you guys... and even though it felt like a good product, I was underwhelmed... so yes, I have asked myself the question as to whether the same thing had happened to me? Had I become overly familiar with the products produced by Games Workshop? Did this mean I was forever doomed to view their product through the eyes of a jaded cynic? Can I no longer feel the joy of seeing yet another Space Marine Chapter being released? The answer is possibly. Yep, for sure I've seen it all before with Games workshop, very little they do now surprises me... no... scratch that, nothing they do now surprises me. I am more than familiar with what they are doing, and how they do it. There has been very little over recent years that has taken me by surprise. It's all become predictable for me, so is it this predictability that Games Workshop are actually struggling with?
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