This just hit me today in a random thought when looking at
various new things on Indiegogo and Kickstarter. So many good projects and some
not so much that made me wonder with the concepts of these and the high tech
world of the internet that we may be over saturating the gaming world. Look around
we have millions of models (perhaps more than insects in the world), tons of
books (including PDF and reader friendly ones) along with tons of board games
always flopping out along with billions of cards for various CCGs!
It is great that we can all find something we like, everyone
has different tastes. Then again, what if you are the only person with that
taste or one other? So, you have a pile of books, miniatures or board game that
sits around collecting dust with the sad hope of being used and enjoyed.
There are only so many hours in a day and gaming just taps a
small amount of that time as we are hit with family, friends, work and school
to just name a few things that munch on our ability to play games. In a perfect
world I would love to win the lottery, open my own mega game store and enjoy my
hobby all flipping day and travel the world with my wife. Maybe dabble in the bar/food
industry…..if anything wine or beer making! But I digress, how do we fit in all
those cool games? We can’t is the simple answer.
Look around you house, count the number of board games, miniature
games, amount of miniatures and such you may just be shocked if you take into
account the overall scope of things. Like food and other things we are
gluttons, we buy something because we want it, not because we need it. Now a
hobby is just that, not a need per se but not a luxury either. A hobby helps us
unwind, gives us a social outlet or at least one for our creative side to get
some exercise. Thus, it is mental health in the long run. Gaming is a good
thing as it can keep our minds sharp (sadly not our waistline). We need the psychological fuel of something
like this to keep us engaged and give us a break from the real world because
let’s face it…IT SUCKS!
You disagree it sucks? Do you REALLY LIKE TO GO TO WORK?
Pissing away hours of the day? Mix that in with sleep and you get a small
window for yourself (oh and can’t forget things like housework, homework, paying
bills, dealing with animals and such!). Think about that also.
Still, there is also a thrill of the purchase which is I
think the deadly thing with our wallets these days. Go online, find something
cool and click! Then it shows in your mail magically! Yay! So, where am I going
with this? Be moderate with your hobby and you will enjoy it more instead of
finding frustration that you have not played X game or Y game and selling it
off on Ebay or otherwise…..
Share your thoughts...
It really is a great time for games out there right now. There are so many options; amazing board games, dazzling video games, spectacular miniatures and skirmish games. Tools, tutorials, painting videos, blogs, game reviews...I could go on. However, without people to play a game with it really doesn't matter how cool it is, or how beautifully you've painted your models. It's not a game until you play it.
ReplyDeleteI was talking with my wife the other day about the same topic the other day and it is a catch-22. You basically have two options in gaming which partially come from the saturation in the market. One, you can submit to the whims of the big hitter companies like Games Workshop, D&D, Pathfinder, or Magic. If that company jacks up their price (Games Workshop) or if they go in a direction you don’t like (D&D), you are stuck. The advantage is that you are fairly certain that the products you purchase with your hard earned money will be used. You will have tournaments, games, and a multitude of other things that make your purchase worth the money. Your other option is to go with a small press game that really suits your needs and wants in gaming. You can get a super-specialized game of Superheroes fighting Dinosaur riding Nazis, but finding people to play with you is a huge problem. Odds are the company will produce a basic line, get a good set of initial sales, and then slowly collapse like a bad soufflé. Now all that hard earned cash you spent on this game is collecting dust on your shelves and taking up space that your wife complains about weekly (or is that just me). I have been burned on so many games that people swore up one side and down the other that they would play and join in on, but in the end, I was stuck with the bill! Sometimes you are screwed by a company that discontinues a line, which basically will kill a game, though it should not be as destructive as people make it out to be.
ReplyDeletePossible solution: Form into official gaming clubs. This way you can charge yearly dues and the club can vote on games to buy. This also guarantees that if you buy miniature for a game, you will have people to play it with, at least for a while. I have read about gaming clubs of this nature in other areas of the country and they seem to work out, but the victors write the history. I am sure these clubs are full of politics and in-fighting that plagues all human organizations. Bottom line the more organized we get, the better it is for the players, but the less relaxing a hobby it is, which undercuts the reason we get into the hobby in the first place.
I think there is quite a good market for solo gaming ATZ for one.
ReplyDeleteWe actually goto work to put a roof over heads and feed our family yes it sucks and we miniatures to make it suck less
Thinking of picking up the "After the Horsemen" by 2 hour Wargames, the rules looked interesting and the players can play on the same side against the game or solo play. Hard to find much of a decent review about the mechanics and options in the game.
DeleteNice article :)
ReplyDeleteIt is the same for me -except work sucking- I love my work, but yes, it wouldn't be good if I didn't have time for my own hobby too and if i could get paid to do my own, then the ratio would dramatically shift to be sure ;)
I have a lot of minis projects that fit into the 'I hope I can someday find someone to play this with' or 'I hope my one friend who said he was also interested will someday make progress on this too'.
I say 'squeaky wheel' around here a lot: projects sit half done or not-started waiting for the wheel of actual game-time to start turning for it, to motivate me to get going on it.
But I have found I enjoy the unusual and quirky more than the better represented games, so will likely continue pursuing them than putting the effort in to make a much bigger project at the expense of many, to play something I know has many players like 40k or WHFB