Summary
You wouldn’t steal a car. You wouldn’t steal a television. You wouldn’t steal an entire range of independently sculptedBlood Bowlminiatures. Except, someone has.
Waia Gamesis an independent miniatures manufacturer. Primarily creating alternative teams forGames Workshop’sBlood Bowl game system (or any other fantasy football game of your choosing), Waia is run by one person, and the sculpts are brilliant. I have a number of their teams myself, and the quality of the resin pour is brilliant, to the extent that it’s easy to forget how small an operation this is.
“I live off this, and because of people like this who profit from our work and all our family investment, they could make Waia Games cease to exist.”
However, all these brilliant miniatures are in jeopardy after Waia revealed that it has been the victim of piracy, as its creator joined a Telegram group which bought up a significant amount of its stock and threatened to scan the miniatures in and release the STLs for free, so that members of the group could 3D print them for nothing.
Miniature Piracy
“We’ve been pirated,” the company wrote on social media. “Yes, you read that right. We don’t offer STL files because we don’t want our products to be available for FREE or for others to provide different qualities or experiences that aren’t ours.
“We don’t know exactly who it is; we only have a list of people who bought the entire campaign. WARNING: One customer bought more than half of our stock. If this customer is the one doing it, it could cause Waia Games to shut down completely. Is that what you want for the hobby? These kinds of practices are totally fraudulent and prevent artists from offering quality products.
“What do you think about this? We won’t stop until we find out who is profiting from my work. I am a sole worker in a family business. I live off this, and because of people like this who profit from our work and all our family investment, they could make Waia Games cease to exist. I’ve spent nearly 5 years trying to make this brand profitable. We are NOT a big brand, we are NOT GW, I am just a self-employed person working more hours than there are in a day to make a living from this. To all who support us, thank you.”
In further comments, Waia explains that it was added to a Telegram channel which claimed to have access to every one of the Waia teams. It was planning on scanning them in and creating STLs for people to download and print themselves, undercutting the independent business and threatening the owner’s livelihood.
The Dark Side Of 3D Printing
you may find 3D scans of Games Workshop models on the internet, despite how quickly the corporation takes them down. How much impact does this have on a multi-million dollar company? It’s impossible to say, but it’s a drop in the ocean compared to the profits it makes. When it comes to an independent creator, though? It’s very serious.
Have you ever wondered why the prices of Waia Games Blood Bowl teams are so high? Perhaps it’s because one person trying to produce everything on a small scale faces far higher costs than a company fitting new moulds into its multiple warehouses of production machines.
Miniature piracy is something that sounds really cool. I picture Dreadfleet, or a nautical-themed tabletop game where you play as Blackbeard and his lover Stede Bonnet. The reality is far more grim, however, and it could result in unrecoverable loss of income for independent manufacturers.
It should go without saying: pirating independent miniatures is not a good look. These are small teams or solo manufacturers building loyal communities through hard work alone. Stealing from them is not ‘sticking it to the man’ or ‘redistributing the wealth’, it’s actively harming someone’s livelihood. If you can’t afford a Waia Games Blood Bowl team, then set about learning how to design miniatures yourself. It’s a hefty time investment, and will likely take years to get to the quality of those you can buy from Waia, but that’s the point. You’re paying for someone else to put in the effort for you. If you want free models, roll your sleeves up and showcase your creativity.
For the most part, stealing other people’s designs is frowned upon in the 3D printing community. Some people revel in printing Space Marines, others redistribute paid files for free, but they’re the minority. Most people believe that sculptors and designers – especially independents – should be compensated for their hard work. If you don’t agree, maybe it’s time to take a step back and have a long, hard look at yourself.
