=][= GUERRILLA MINIATURE GAMES CLUB - AN EXPERIMENT =][=

[Brother Tyler]

You can now see the Guerrilla Miniature Games Club that has been created as an experiment. This is the first step in the changes to our advertising here at the B&C. Why did I choose GMG for this experiment? Because it is one of the very few external WH40K sites that I visit on a regular basis - almost daily.

 

GMG provides video content via YouTube, and while GMG covers the entire range of tabletop miniature wargames, the focus here is solely on the content that covers those games set in the Warhammer 40,000 setting, as well as some videos that cover tabletop miniature wargames in general and grimdark.

 

The idea here is that the "club" provides an index of and links to all Warhammer 40,000 setting videos that GMG has uploaded to YouTube, providing a handy way for hobbyists to find relevant content. In essence, we're trying to help members of the B&C community to access useful content. In addition, we're trying to help out other sites that support the Warhammer 40,000 hobby.

 

And while GMG provides video content, the theory is that we can extend the range of clubs to cover the full scope of Warhammer 40,000 hobby content that is (a) appropriate to the B&C (i.e., no NSFW material, etc.), and (b) helpful to members of our community. I'm also working on a similar club for a third party terrain provider, serving as another example of the realm of the possible, but that one is barely off the drawing board so it's not public yet.

 

The concept is that members of our community can provide updates about content (videos, products, services) that is available at other sites, helping other members to find useful/entertaining stuff. In the case of GMG and other YouTube influencers, new videos can be posted and the club can serve as an easily accessible focal point for all of their relevant videos. In the case of other sites that provide terrain, miniatures, mats, etc., links to new products can be provided. Each new video or product can be covered in its own topic, and a pinned index makes it easy to organize and find topics about videos or products.

 

The GMG club content is not finished. I was leaving the two games with the most content (all editions of Warhammer 40,000 and all editions of Kill Team) for last, then I got distracted with other things. And, of course, GMG keeps adding videos, requiring the index and topics to be expanded and updated. I'm working on those so there's no need to add updates. I'm not quite certain that the structure and templates I've built are necessarily the best, though, so I'm making this club public now so that other members can take a gander and make suggestions (there is a pinned topic there for suggesting improvements).

 

Note, building a club like this takes a lot of time and work. Once the basic structure is built, it's relatively easy to keep things updated as long as other members of the community are helping. The staff has the onus of the work. Creating similar clubs for other content providers or third party product providers, especially those that have been "in business" for some time and who have a large amount of content/products, will be time-intensive. Now content/product providers will be a bit easier. If the community likes this concept and wants to use it, we'll have to figure out best practices and what-not. Alternately, we may decide that having expansive lists/indices is too time-intensive, especially if the community isn't willing to share in the effort, and we may simplify things a bit. For example, instead of a club dedicated to each content/product provider, we may have a few clubs dedicated to content, products and whatever, with all different providers listed therein. This is like the old links concept, but turned up to 11, and then dialed back down to 10 because this is a manual process that depends upon the time and effort of many volunteers (though we're trying to keep things as simple as possible).

[Cenobite Terminator]

This is super exciting I’m a big fan and love his content.

[Brother Tyler]

Okay, following up on this.

 

Has anyone found this club to be useful?

 

The concept behind it was that the club would serve as an outreach point, giving members a direct link to useful videos from a hobby influencer. Ideally, members that follow Guerrilla Miniature Games would post links to new WH40K videos and those would be added to the index. There has been zero discussion, however, and no one has posted links, leading me to wonder if the juice is worth the squeeze. A ton of work goes into building this kind of thing, but it's only worth it if (a) it helps members of the community to find useful content, and (b) members of the community help with the upkeep and maintenance of the club (or if the influencer/company does that work themself - which they'll only do if it's worth their time).

 

Ultimately, this was an experiment. At this point it doesn't look like it achieved what was hoped for.

[Mazer Rackham]

Speaking very earnestly as a guttersniping pleb who posts (tasteful, bespoke and topical, but possibly annoying) 40k memery on unsuspecting forumites, I have a suspicion that the problem is self-fulfilling:

 

On 11/6/2024 at 10:57 PM, Brother Tyler said:

GMG provides video content via YouTube...

 

Problem the first: Everyone has access to Youtube.

 

On 11/6/2024 at 10:57 PM, Brother Tyler said:

...and while GMG covers the entire range of tabletop miniature wargames, the focus here is solely on the content that covers those games set in the Warhammer 40,000 setting, as well as some videos that cover tabletop miniature wargames in general and grimdark.

 

Problem the second: GMG's biggest video, at a squint, is 57k and it's about LoTR. His channel has solid subscribers, he does good work, but he is diversified, B&C is not. Pulling through all his content and winnowing out the chaff is going to be time consuming. If people are not interested in the channel in the first place, they aren't going to become so.

 

It's a similar problem to that discussed in Adeptus Bloggus, (yes, I spy on you) but that's another conversation entirely.

 

On 11/6/2024 at 10:57 PM, Brother Tyler said:

The concept is that members of our community can provide updates about content (videos, products, services) that is available at other sites, helping other members to find useful/entertaining stuff. In the case of GMG and other YouTube influencers, new videos can be posted and the club can serve as an easily accessible focal point for all of their relevant videos.

 

Problem the  first  third: Youtube. I'm currently listening to an Aeldar lore video as I type.

 

On 11/6/2024 at 10:57 PM, Brother Tyler said:

Note, building a club like this takes a lot of time and work. Once the basic structure is built, it's relatively easy to keep things updated as long as other members of the community are helping.

 

Problem the fourth: if my experiences have taught me anything, this is a big ask with people's commitments, and doubly so if they're not interested in the first place.

 

Solution mine: Allow GMG to advertise and keep a club here that they can update if they so wish, but obviously the team across there will most likely focus their efforts into the broader contact footprint from social media they can better control and interact with.

 

My two honest, and likely poorly educated pence.

[brother_b]

I love GMG but their 40K content is minimal

and he doesn’t do much in the way of actual 40K content, meaning the war game portion. Most of his gaming is small scale skirmish, with Killteam front lining the 40K content.

 

No snub or anything about GMG I watch his content frequently. My input would be can “creators” take control of the “club” and do the work themselves? A sort of direct invite to hobby YouTubers/instagram etc. that they can then create club posts.

 

Awesome idea I’ll be following closely.