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 17:39:02 GMT
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In lugnet.lego, Terry Prosper wrote:
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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? 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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Note: I’m speaking for myself here, not Lego.
I think there are a couple of big things to be excited about:
1. From Jake’s original post: “If the idea catches on, we will open up the
virtual LEGO Factory for all LEGO fans to have their own models produced and
sold on-line”. The Lego Factory represents the first potential step in realizing
the ultimate Lego fan dream: on-demand fan-designed sets directly from Lego.
This has been a dream discussed for so many years by the fans. But dreams will
remain dreams without a business case to pursuit them. Finally an initial
business case has been developed and is now being tested through the Lego
Factory concept. The relative success of this concept will help dictate how far
Lego can take this in the future.
2. The potential for AFOL involvement in future Lego product development. Our
group was the first test case. If we failed, then you could probably write-off
any chances of AFOLs working with Lego development teams again. The good news is
we succeeded and delivered way above and beyond what was expected by Lego. As
Jake had mentioned, now other teams are looking into having their own AFOL
teams. This doesn’t necessarily mean that Lego only wants AFOLs to help develop
AFOL-type products. We are being looked at to help with a wide variety of
things. The Lego Factory proves this. Everything has a business case behind it.
Some, like the ISD, cater more to typical AFOL wants, while others don’t. The
good news is we may be asked for input into future products that are aimed at
older audiences (like ISDs, Mindstorms, etc) as well as others designed for
younger groups. That’s quite a potential stake in the future of things.
As to why micro was selected for the Lego Factory, I think the reasons are
fairly obvious. Small piece counts make designing and building the models on the
computer easier and fun - especially for younger builders. The theme itself has
basic appeal and most importantly, such designs are affordable to a wide
consumer base. It would be incredibly disappointing to a child to put together a
model that was just too expensive for their parents to order. As Jake said, we
started working on the micro-city as a product line and it was later determined
that it would be a perfect fit for the factory concept. But that doesn’t mean
that the Lego Factory has to be limited to micro-town in the future. Although
limited, I think the LDD factory palette is a pretty impressive mix of useful
elements that can be used for a variety of purposes. It’s easy to see that the
factory idea itself can be flexible and expandable.
Spencer
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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 (...) (20 years ago, 17-Nov-04, to lugnet.lego, FTX)
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