Subject:
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Re: Question: Does the market realy want junorization?
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.general
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Date:
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Thu, 6 Dec 2001 02:52:18 GMT
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Highlighted:
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(details)
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> In lugnet.general, David Eaton writes:
> > In lugnet.general, Jonathan Wilson writes:
> > Lego keeps saying that junorization is what todays video-game kids want
> > but is it really true?
>
> I think there's a couple problems. Lego is marketing itself as a specific
> kit. What can you build with the Hogwart's Castle set? Hogwart's Castle of
> course! It uses *all* the pieces nicely with none leftover, and doesn't
> provide (any?) alternative model instructions and very few ideas. Now look
> at K'nex. Slews of ideas. It's marketed more as a BUILDING toy, and less of
> a 'set'.
Exactly. The worst part is that LEGO used to be the industry leader. Their
name was virtually synonymous with *building* toys.
> Result? Kids buy Lego for the model, not for the building toy. LOTS of kids
> buy Lego for the set, build it, then promptly leave it built forever.
Which they wouldn't do if the sets actually contained some basic bricks that
they could use to model something else.
> Lots of kids complain I bet. They hate that it takes so long to build, that
> it's difficult to do (you've got to pay attention to the pictures and find
> the right bricks!), etc.
Whoa whoa.... back the truck up.
Who are these attention deficit disorder delinquents? Take an average group
of 100 adult males. How many of them have the patience and smarts to make
it all the way to the end of a Super Mario Bros game? Now take an average
group of 100 10-year-old boys and give them the same challenge. I'll put my
money on the group who hasn't started shaving yet.
This idea that video games and television and computers has ruined kids
attention span is such utter nonsense. I grew up on all those things (mind
you the first home video games, non-cable TV and Commodore PET computers)
and I still found time, attention and desire to build the first Expert
Builder Auto Chassis (http://guide.lugnet.com/set/853 ) when it came out. I
was 9 years old. I'll bet any 9 year-old kid today could build that same
set faster than I did then, and certainly faster than I can today.
> Result? They complain. And they don't play with the sets. Parents complain.
> Lego hears the complaints. They dumb down the sets. The kids complain less.
> And we complain more. Who's the larger market base? Kids by far. They win.
Who's buying them the sets? The parents. Please the parents.... please the
company's bank account. Result? The kids get more sophisticated sets,
adult fans get something they actually *want* to buy, and the company
doesn't go broke. Everybody wins.
> BUT. The interesting thing is that there ARE kids who want it as a building
> toy. And the ones that have the resolve and patience to build a
> non-juniorized set get less attached to Lego since it's not as much fun. It
> means less long term "hard-core" fans.
Exactly!!!! A point I've been trying to make for weeks now. This is the
real problem. And it's not one that we'll see today, it's a long way down
the road... if the company's even still in business then.
> Also. Will Lego's sales REALLY be hurt if they take juniorization away? I
> dunno. How much will sales drop? I dunno. How much would they pick up? No
> clue. It's really too bad that there isn't good market data available. Plus
> there's so many other factors that it's tough to judge... What's best for
> Lego? Nobody knows. We just know what we want.
To bad the company isn't even willing to *try*.
Allan B.
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Message has 1 Reply:
 | | Re: Question: Does the market realy want junorization?
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| (...) My younger brother, for one. He complained that they took too long to build. And upon several occasions where I've seen kids playing with Lego (my cousins of varied ages, other family's kids, etc) I've seen kids get frustrated and find the (...) (23 years ago, 6-Dec-01, to lugnet.general)
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Message is in Reply To:
| | Re: Question: Does the market realy want junorization?
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| (...) I think there's a couple problems. Lego is marketing itself as a specific kit. What can you build with the Hogwart's Castle set? Hogwart's Castle of course! It uses *all* the pieces nicely with none leftover, and doesn't provide (any?) (...) (23 years ago, 5-Dec-01, to lugnet.general)
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