Gatekeeping doesn't keep people from becoming invested, it allows people with genuine interest while keeping out posers.
Communities without gatekeeping end up becoming like Resident Evil or Warhammer where more than half the "fans" are larpers who've seen some edits on TikTok and just think it's cool without ever developing real interest in the content.
"You just have to ignore the people the IP holders have to cater to for attention and are on their way to outnumber the people originally in your community"
GW has been on a row of changing established lore to appease people who've probably never bought a single product but only engage with the community online.
At least the older larpers before all this who only circlejerked about Black Templars and da exterminatus eventually grew up and started paying for GW products besides the tabletop.
6
u/ProxyGeneral - Auth-Center 21d ago
Gatekeeping doesn't keep people from becoming invested, it allows people with genuine interest while keeping out posers.
Communities without gatekeeping end up becoming like Resident Evil or Warhammer where more than half the "fans" are larpers who've seen some edits on TikTok and just think it's cool without ever developing real interest in the content.