Subject:
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Re: Behind the curtains - LEGO Factory AFOL Project Team
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.lego
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Date:
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Wed, 17 Nov 2004 17:43:04 GMT
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Highlighted:
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5981 times
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In lugnet.lego, Terry Prosper wrote:
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I thought long before posting about this. Mainly because I don’t think I
have anything positive to add and it may seem negative at first glance, but
what I am hoping is for an explanation so I can understand.
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Like you, I debated for a while on whether to respond. Text is such a bad medium
for communication, especially if you have a dry sense of humor like I do. Please
read the message is the most positive way you can, as I’m not at all upset as I
type.
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See, I read your first post a few days ago about this factory website. You
sounded all excited and I thought : Nice, something positive from TLG for a
change! But then, I visited the website and it didn’t make me happy about
anything. Sure, it’s a nice website and all, but it doesn’t do much for me,
the average AFOL. I mean, I’m not a micro-scale town addict, although I
enjoy the great projects other show on various websites.
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With all due respect, I don’t think you’re seeing the bigger picture here. I
know you might not be into micro building personally. But there’s so so so much
more to this project than that.
We are, for the first time ever, allowing ALL consumers to participate in
designing and producing new products. Sure, it’s not a product that you,
personally, are into, but that’s not the bigger picture. I assume that you like
the concept of the MOC sets, right? Do you have to be into trains or castle in
order to appreciate the coolness of that concept?
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So what is The LEGO
Factory good for if I’m not into that kind of building? Will it expand to
something else than town? Have I missed something?
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Who knows what will happen! That’s the point, and that’s the bigger picture. If
you set aside even a couple minutes to imagine how this thing *might* extend out
over time, you can imagine many many great ideas. We certainly have.
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Maybe, I’ll admit I
abandonned my research quite hastily when I found out it didn’t appeal to me.
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Again, all due respect, but you hate something you didn’t fully research? It’s
hard for us to have a discussion about something you admit you didn’t fully
understand.
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Then, you post this. Great, TLG has included 10 AFOLs in the project, in
secrety. It’s nice for them, it’s nice for the community to see that TLG has
accepted us as a part of their universe, but at the risk of sounding grim, I
like many others have not yet swallowed the color-change pill. I mean, TLG
can make cool websites with 10 AFOLs all they want, it won’t make the bricks
any better for us average AFOLs not included in these projects.
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Several points here I want to touch on:
In business, sometimes projects require NDAs, contracts, and secrecy.
Competitors are always keeping an eye on you, and to openly share your plans is
often an invitation for disaster.
It would be great to include the entire AFOL community in every project that
takes place, but that’s just not realistic. 10 AFOLs were chosen in order to
form a fast, effective, responsive group. Sometimes a project just makes sense
to have a small number of people on it. I used to have a boss that said that it
was a mathematical certainty that as the number of people in a working group
increased, the effectiveness decreased.
(And no, these 10 were chosen based on two things an two things alone: micro
building skill, and professionalism. I was the person responsible for choosing
the team, and I didn’t think one time about which side of the color change
debate the fell on. Not once.)
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And before anyone starts ranting, this isn’t about the color-change at all.
It’s about respect for the AFOLs. This website is intended primarily for
children who like micro-scale towns, not for the majority of AFOL. I am sure
most people here do not really care about it. Although it’s a great tool for
those who are concerned, it’s not any good to most of us.
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You’re right, this site is targeted, mainly, to children. That’s our core
business. We’re doing as much as we can to deliver products that work for both
kid and adult audiences, but the reality is that a vast majority of our
consumers are kids.
But again, look at the big picture. Computers didn’t first start at $500 for a
3ghz machine. They started as room sized things that wouldn’t power my cell
phone today. If you were to look at the early days and say “well, average people
can’t use these room sized monstrocities, so computers must be irrelevant”, it
would be missing the bigger picture.
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IMHO, TLG can’t expect us AFOLs to forgive and forget the way we were treated
with the color-change by asking 10 AFOLs to help them make a cool project
even better.
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I’m honestly confused. I thought you didn’t think much of the micro/LEGO Factory
concept. But now you’re saying you think it’s cool. Perhaps I missunderstood?
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I guess some may reply that they feel TLG has redeemed itself, that they
didn’t need to in the first place or things like that. I accept the fact
that everyone has his opinion. However, there is an important part of this
community that feels TLG has mistreated us and that we deserve a better
treatment in the future. I understand that AFOLs are not a big part of the
market, so maybe we don’t really matter in the end. But it saddens me to
hear people rant (like me) about how they love the LEGO bricks, but not the
company anymore.
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There is a massive difference between small part of the market and thinking that
small part of the market “doesn’t matter”. I’ve always maintained that AFOLs are
a very important group of people. In the last two years, the thinking of many of
my colleagues has changed to that belief too.
Just look at the concept at play with LEGO Factory and then think about the
bigger picture... we’re allowing LEGO builders to actively be part of the
product design and product selection process. We’ve included a group of AFOLs in
the concepting process. We’ve designed the contest in such a way that 20% of
the winners will be adults. A few years ago, NONE of this would have happened.
Who knows where we’ll be in a few more years.
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Is your excitement about the fact that for a change, TLG has included some
AFOLs in a nice project? Do I completely miss the point here?
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Once again, with all due respect (text is such a bad communication medium), you
admitted not having fully researched the concept. As such, I do think you are
missing at least some of the points of why this is so cool. It’s not all about
what’s here today, its about what we’ve started.
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I hope I am
and you can explain to me why I should feel happy about this, so I can start
saying “I love and respect the LEGO company once again”... not just their
older bricks.
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I’m not sure I can explain why you should be happy. I can try to explain the
significance, and hope that makes you happy. I know the color change has had a
deep and harsh effect on you, and that you are upset to this day. I’m not sure
I’ll/we’ll ever be able to do anything to get you saying “I love and respect the
LEGO Company again”. If I’m wrong, please let me know.
Anyway, I hope this message is read with the voice I intended. I know it may
sound like I’m upset, but I’m not at all... just the nature of the text
communication.
Jake
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Jake McKee
Community Liaison
LEGO Community Team
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Message has 1 Reply:
 | | Re: Behind the curtains - LEGO Factory AFOL Project Team
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| (...) Hello Jake For once, we're on the same page :-) Text IS a bad media to express our emotions and feelings. As I was reading your answer to my post I had to keep in mind your warning about you not being upset at all, as some answer or comments (...) (19 years ago, 17-Nov-04, to lugnet.lego)
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Message is in Reply To:
| | Re: Behind the curtains - LEGO Factory AFOL Project Team
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| (...) Hi, I thought long before posting about this. Mainly because I don't think I have anything positive to add and it may seem negative at first glance, but what I am hoping is for an explanation so I can understand. See, I read your first post a (...) (19 years ago, 17-Nov-04, to lugnet.lego, FTX)
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