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Subject: 
Re: LEGO Company Welcomes Adult LEGO Enthusiasts
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.lego.direct
Date: 
Wed, 6 Dec 2000 13:49:18 GMT
Viewed: 
9285 times
  
In lugnet.lego.direct, Jonathan Mizner writes:
Oh.  My.  I just can't help but feel that everything is about to change
WAY to quickly for any of us to keep up.  OK, I have to much to write, and
to little time to write it (or type-who cares).  Don't you guys realize what
this means for all of us?  OK, sure this means everyone can own a
Spiffcraft, or the Neverwhere.  But what about the BAD effects?  I hate to
say this, but do you know how many people are going to be selling cheap
copies of any old set without a specialty printed part?  MILLIONS!  I was
about to buy a $20 Solar Power Transporter on eBay, but now that I read the
press release, I might not.  All of a sudden the distinguishing factor in a
Lego auction is the instructions, which can be ordered from Lego at $2 each
(in color for recent ones).  So much for Lego eBay.  And there goes
Sanburnsystems, and Brickbay, and any other loose part selling site.
Basically, this is all about the economic side of things.  Who cares?  This
is a free market.  People will buy what they want.  As much as I have used
and appreciate what AucZILLA, Brickbay, etc. have done for making available
specific pieces and sets, I would much prefer to be able to order these
things directly from TLC.  This should, on average, lower how much it costs
me for lego.  Your concern seems somewhat petty ("TLC is going to offer
people what they want and <gasp> people might buy it and put eBay Lego out
of business!!!").

Also,
what will happen to LUGNET?  I mean, if some parent comes onto Lugnet from
Lego, and sees the Spamcake messages, they might be scared (or at least
worried about the sanity of the people who wrote the messages) because they
don't understand.  Lugnet is a (relatively) small community.  How will it be
affected by being exposed to the rest of the Internet?
This is virtually guaranteed to happen (if it hasn't happened a thousand
times already).  People will always look at what you are doing and not
understand.
The only real concern I have about this is that TLC might mimic everything
done on LUGNET, but not as well.  And because there was an officially
sanctioned website that does all the same functions, interest would drop off
in LUGNET.  Personally, I would like to see TLC make some sort of fellowship
to fund something like LUGNET.  And of course, I'd like to see that go to
Todd and Suz so they can continue there work with LUGNET.  I think they have
a much better chance of keeping the ball rolling.  I like the fellowship
idea since I don't think it would be good to make them direct employees.
Does anyone else have any ideas on this?

I wish Henry or Todd
would have told everyone about this sooner.
What they do is their business.  After all these individuals have done for
the AFOLs and KABOBs, I would not presume to tell them what they should do.

And what about Lego themselves?  Does this mean that new themes
development will cease in 2002 (or whenever) the new part availability
service becomes available?  Will a few dozen theme designers be out of a
job?  I have had high hopes for quite a while about working for Lego
designing new sets.  Now it seems I need to look for different career
posibilities.
I find this unlikely.  But even if it does happen, it is not an uncommon
thing.  The application of technology to problems always makes some jobs
obsolete and creates other jobs.

Overall Lego will be making millions, because now I can
custom build anything I want, for a nice fee of course.
That is their prerogative.

Anyways, what will
happen to everyone having unique models?  If Mark Sandlin builds a cool
little shuttle, and I like it, all I need do is order it from Lego, and
suddenly Mark's Lego design is mine.  Will anything ever be the same?  All
of a sudden those dreams about alternative Ice Planet models on store
shelves will come true...  Only time will tell what will happen to Lego...
If Mark lets TLC have his model design that is his right (after all, that is
what designers do!)  Does the community at-large really care if it is a
saleried TLC designer that does the work or if it is an AFOL?  Why should
we?  Right now, no one can force me to build the box design.  There are
people who never build the design that the set comes with and others that
build nothing but the stock designs (some people even <shudder> glue their
stock sets together).   And when it comes down to it, that ability to choose
what you want to do is the beauty of Lego and I wouldn't want it any other way.

The only thing that is absolutely certain is that change is inevitable.

P.S.  Does this mean all of these Lego sites will be able to remove those
"not affiliated with the Lego Group" signs?
One can hope.


I hope this didn't come off too harsh, but your original post was awfully
"the sky is falling, the sky is falling!!".

Regards,
Steve Martin
martins@mail.com



Message has 1 Reply:
  Re: LEGO Company Welcomes Adult LEGO Enthusiasts
 
My concern is this: If I design a set and post it, and it's extremely popular, what do I gain from it? Will LEGO give me a royalty on it? Will they instead reward me with bricks? Publicity? A job? If I submit my own design and stand to lose my (...) (23 years ago, 6-Dec-00, to lugnet.lego.direct)

Message is in Reply To:
  Re: LEGO Company Welcomes Adult LEGO Enthusiasts
 
(...) Oh. My. I just can't help but feel that everything is about to change WAY to quickly for any of us to keep up. OK, I have to much to write, and to little time to write it (or type-who cares). Don't you guys realize what this means for all of (...) (23 years ago, 6-Dec-00, to lugnet.lego.direct)

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