take us seriously

[bigblokeinblack]

didnt know where to post this so its here .

As we are all aware our favourite hobby is firstly expensive and secondly quite time consuming and intense ( painting rules army lists etc ). recently i have had to explain to various friends and family members why my house has been taken over by \"TOY SOLDIERS\" . now after trotting out the same answers for what seemed like the 2,000,000th time icame to one stunning and equally annoying conclusion . we as a community are ridiculed and misunderstood and its more than a little down to our suppliers the evil games workshop. now i have been here from issue one of white dwarf i was at the opening of the first gw store in london (hammersmith). i have lived through all its incarnations and as with all gigantic organisations its started to consume itself . dont get me wrong i love my hobby and i regularly go to nottingham and partake of a libation in bugmans , but through stagnation and a lack of vision the older nay veteran gamer is being marginalised . i want to be taken seriously iwant my hobby to be recognised , ive seen models so fantastically painted they border on works of art . gw supply us with such brilliantly sculpted models and games systems that are both stunning in their simplicity but mind blowingly complex but we are still classed as playing with \"TOY SOLDIERS\" i feel its time to fight for legitimacy to take our game to a sport type level go pro and get rewarded for our hard work . its time to stop playing and start competing . it doesnt have to loose the fun factor but our bobby needs to move forward , people who collect stamps dont have to justify themselves why should we . this is the start of my campaign join me for the realisation of our hobby .

[NathanS]

Right on brother.

[kharn the betrayer]

Ah but you are using the wrong scale and the white undercoat is wrong just plain wrong.

All joking aside we will never really get away from the term playing with toy soldiers, after all thats what we do.

But I agree that GW has some of the blame because of the kiddy classes that they hold. It used to say not suitable for under 14\'s on the games.

Choas used to be scary now it\'s just spiky...


Right on as was said before. It\'s your hobby claim it back,as a long term player like yourself I feel that for years the Vets have been neglected and forgotten about.

I will sign up and we will form a mob with pitchforks and mill about and then go home and paint more overpriced models. That will show them.....

:evil:

[adders]

Dude you are so right.

Sadly unless you conform to what is considered \"normal\", which currently means spending all your free time watching TV (or maybe the internet) there must be something wrong with you.

My sister-inlaw is a case in point, she comes home puts on the tele and that\'s her sorted for the evening. I paint some models or work on Astro and am the sad weirdo (she has even said this \"jokingly\&quot. Personally I\'d rather be spending my time creatively than vegetating, I\'m sure you guys feel the same.

Incidentally, it\'s not all doom and gloom a pastime I used to spend a lot of time on, computer games, is now considered normal/cool, sadly I see no signs of 40k going the same way.

Well done Big Bloke in Black.

Cheers

[Hephesto]

I know the feeling guys, very annoying from time to time. We\'re actually placed below people who play videos games all day :S Alright, we might actually just be playing with plastic \'soldiers\', but at least we are doing something constructive with our time. I for one really feel a certain amount of achievement after building something cool. The idea of actually been involved in something from the beginning to the end has been very satisfying for me.

And from a psychological point of view we\'re actually doing pretty good. All this creative labour helps to keep or brain active (yes, not using it a lott actually makes it slower) and it also serves as a great outlet of all the stresses of normal life.

I is indeed a bit of a pain in the ass, getting looked down upon by a lott of people because of our hobby. But a lott of people have absolutely no idea what is actually involved in the whole miniature hobby.

Strangely enough a lott of people will change their opinion about it been childish etc.. when they actually take a real look at it and/or see how something is made. Especially when they find out the sometimes insane amount of work and patience that went into it.

There might he hope for us after all

Post edited by: hephesto, at: 2007/04/26 15:12

[Silver]

Hephesto wrote:

And from a psychological point of view we\'re actually doing pretty good. All this creative labour helps to keep or brain active (yes, not using it a lott actually makes it slower) and it also serves as a great outlet of all the stresses of normal life.

I can hold a moral speech now that we are devoting our time ultimately to things related to WAR and (imaginary) gore and bloodshed. But I\'ll quit rambling since I too enjoy the hobby! :P



Hephesto wrote:

...getting looked down upon by a lott of people because of our hobby. But a lott of people have absolutely no idea what is actually involved in the whole miniature hobby.

Strangely enough a lott of people will change their opinion about it been childish etc.. when they actually take a real look at it and/or see how something is made.

...besides, it\'s spelled LOT (with one \'t\')



The main reason why people think we \'immature 40y/o virgins\' (btw I\'m 16 lol) play with toy soldiers is because they do not know that we actually PAINTED them ourselves! And if they had even the faintest idea of how complex the rules are...........

I think GW should start ads on TV - and I mean a lot. Not in the sense of \"weeeee toy soldiers for you and your friends to paint and play with\", but rather summon the Dark and Gothic background of a Universe filled with War, aliens and heretics and Inquisition and hot bit- err Sisters of Battle. Ya know...Rated M style?


Cheers,
-Silver

Post edited by: Silver, at: 2007/04/26 15:39

[Aun O Vader]

Well, I\'m in agreement with most of the comments in this thread, I do feel put upon by GW, but a lot things have been improved. More importantly I\'ve been on the sharp end of the Toy Soldiers debate for some time, with my parents and my inlaws! My wife has actually come to realise that there is more to the games than she originally thought (and has recently shown an interest in learning about some of them).

GW adds could eb very cool, and if they made them in a similar vein to the computer games adds that they are producing they\'d probably see some serious movement from some decent ads.

When Mrs V and I have kids we\'d much rather they were doing a healthy combination of sport and playing GW games than most of the other stuff that kids seem to do these days, but I may be whistling in the wind for that!

Silver wrote:

...besides, it\'s spelled LOT (with one \'t\')

and you do know that Heph is from Holland don\'t you, and that English is not his first language?

[Hephesto]

AunO Vader wrote:

Silver wrote:

...besides, it\'s spelled LOT (with one \'t\')

and you do know that Heph is from Holland don\'t you, and that English is not his first language?

Reading my post a second time before posting would probably help a lott

[Farskit]

I\'ve been facing that problem for quite some time, but now things are beginning to change.

Now, although my parents can\'t understand why I pay so much for plastic models (and sometimes, so do I... but then I fall back into my GW addiction), they have no problem with the hobby.

They prefer to see me painting, gluing, converting, and then going out to my local store than watching TV all day long.

[Honsou]

Hephesto wrote:

AunO Vader wrote:

Silver wrote:

...besides, it\'s spelled LOT (with one \'t\')

and you do know that Heph is from Holland don\'t you, and that English is not his first language?

Reading my post a second time before posting would probably help a lott

going back 1 1/2 centuries: \"Lot\" was originally spellt \"Lotte\" and has since been continually reduced- however, as there has been no ban of old language \"lott\" is still technically acceptable.

However, on point, it is difficult to persuade others and we will always have problems from some dumbass idiot...besides, its our hobby why should we care what they think?
Also, i doubt that advertising would help our cause- by focusing on the gory aspects we would probably be ridiculed anyway (plus if it became \"trendy\"- think of the price rises..

Honsou