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To preface my essay, I'd like to say that this not in any way an indictment of what someone else finds value it. The opinions expressed are my own personal perspective and driven by my own personal hobby... so please dear reader I hope you do not take this as a slight against anything that you enjoy, please continue to enjoy it!

I will begin this story by observing that I appear to be amongst a dwindling population of gamers.

I hesitate to place labels, but if I were to soul-search I think I would qualify myself as a romantic. During my formative years as a young man experiencing the hobby of miniature wargaming I was captivated by what I can only call the experience of wargaming. It was not anything I had done but the works of others that I was so smitten with. In gaming and comic book shops and at local clubs in basements and community centres I bore witness with growing fascination to these tiny, crystalized worlds where heroic battles took place. I marveled at these tiny soldiers as they marched across blasted landscapes and open fields to lay waste to their enemies. I could see the mud torn into the air by the tiny tracks of tanks and hear the clash of shield on shield as ranked infantry catapulted into their foes. It was inspiring! The detail! The craftmanship! The amount of love poured into creating these scenes was something that completely caught the attention of my mind and said to me 'This... I want to create something like this.'

And so I tried. I built battlescapes out of Legos and eagerly slathered Testors enamels across lead figures and plastic beaked space soldiers. I pestered these older gamers for advice and help. I made towers out of sour-cream contaiiners and hovercraft out of deoderant tubes with the stolen guns of GI Joes. Crude as my legions were, I was very proud of them and took great pleasure in being able to put them on the wonderfully tables the shops and older gamers I knew had the forebearance to teach me to play on.

Moving ahead two and change decades, that is still the driving force behind my hobby. As an openly polygamerous individual, when I discover a new game or model line i don't just create a force to play in it, I build scenery. I make little accessories and objectives to play for. And until the setting is complete enough, I do not signal the call to arms. It just isn't in me. I enjoy the strategizing of any good game. I love testing my wits and having those 'aha!' movements were you pounce upon your foe and drive him into the sea. But for me, part of that is the visual portrayal of what we do. It is what sets the miniature hobby apart from board games and video games. We create what we are going to experience and bring it into being.

I have been fortunate in that all of my life I have traveled. Even as a child I have ended up in far flung and different communities in Asia, Europe and North America. When I was younger, I assumed that everyone expereinced the wargaming hobby in the same way as myself. Not because of what they said (I mean, playing in a Grand Tournament or attending a convention fifteen years ago, you might only 'know' the gamer you were meeting for an hour or two), but because of what they had with them. Every meeting was prefaced with that grinning display of someone elses army. You would get right down and peer at it inches away, figuring out how a model had been converted or how a particular detail had been aciheved. There was this shared sense of pride.... this feeling of 'I did that. This is mine and it is unique and I brought it onto this battlefield'. Does that mean they were beautiful? Heavens no! The height of innovation of the day was drybrushing. It was the pinnacle of painting techniques. But everywhere I went (and I obsessively sought out gaming stores, hobby shops, conventions and clubs the breadth and width of my travels) that common thread seemed to be there. I still remember using a disposable camera to take photos of a scale tank from Warzone someone had crafted in Oxford UK because it was just that cool and I wanted to remember that.

I still travel. Constantly... as in 36 weeks a year I'm on and off airplanes all over North America. Somewhere though, and I think I'm just starting to realize it, that thread has been cut. I still see those people in gaming shops and at local conventions... but they're very far between. They're usually only talking to each other. There as still tons of games being played and clashes of arms occuring. Shouts of victory and cries of outraged defeat. But the scenes are different. Pre-painted terrain has replaced the hand-made battlements crafted from foam and painted with textured paint. Grey (sometimes black or white) legions of armless, weaponless army-men move token-like across blank tables. The warhorns don't ring in the air when i watch that happen. Silence hangs as I see these models tossed casually into a tool box or old cardboard container. I see those other gamers, playing each other in the corner, quietly pack away their game and leave.

Perhaps this is what it feels like to start generationally gapping. I don't have anything in common with these gamers. They can't hear the martial beat of drums when the dice are dropped. They don't seem to know the exploits of their armys commander, or the legends of his followers. I watch the games take place and I feel... nothing.

It can't be age. I know it isn't, because every now and again I'll come accross a new hobbyist peering into a glass cabinet somewhere with that feverish look in their eyes. He'll have his nose to the glass and that crease in his brow that screams 'How did they do that?.... How can I do that?' He will demand from those around him to see it explained. You can just tell that he can hear the drums and when you watch him play games he will always seek out those quiet ones in the corner with their proud and carefully transported foes.

It is almost as if a genetic line is slowly breeding itself out. An evolutionary dead end. Where before traveling and meeting gamers felt like reuniting with long lost cousins, today it is almost like returning from a long voyage to find the homestead changed and your people moved on. Did you change or did they? It was a small thing and a slow change. It happened in little steps over years and years. Perhaps this is why we weren't supposed to talk about Fight Club? Does the illusion lose its magic when the trick is explained? Perhaps broadening the audience away from us obsessive few has thinned us out.

Sadly, I don't think there is an answer. In fact, I may not even have asked a clear question. I have many fellow hobbyists and friends who can still hear the drums. I have some who could in the past but seem to have lost the trick. I feel I won't be able to finish this tale with any kind of moral... in fact that may be at cross purposes to what writing it was trying to achieve. If there is a statement I'm making it is that in the past twenty years, the experience of the wargame seems to have taken a backseat to the individual model and the gameplay.

Perhaps it is best I end this with a questions.

Has the time of the complete hobbyist (one who finds joy in completing all of the aspects of the Wargaming Hobby) passed?

Thank you for reading.


Please, a reminder caveat; do not pass judgement on anyones personal preferences in wargaming. This is almost like an anthropological debate about a tribe dwindling in number and why.

I don't think it has or ever will while there is Wargaming. There will always be the lazy, who have simply given up because they think their painting is crap and don't feel like putting the effort in to improve it. It has to be the best ever and from the start.

Or the few who don't see the point in painting it, who only see it for the gaming aspect.
But, there will always be the group who enjoys placing a completely painted army on the table, especially when it is to battle another. It's that little bit of extra effort that makes the game a little more enjoyable. The bonus is you can look back on the older stuff and see how you have improved.

There are even a few who are probably a little more than what you were talking about. I remember seeing an Imperial Guard army, each infantry converted to be unique and given their own name.

That being said I will battle the unpainted, but I won't enjoy it as much as if they took the extra bit of effort and gave the models more life, so to speak.

I, for one, take great pride in knowing that my army is heavily converted, and fully painted to the best of my ability, complete with display board. That's part of why I love tournaments so much: fully painted armies!

But yes, I see what you mean. My last two games were against a black primer DoA army, and a gray ork army with one model.........that had red skin. And bright green armor

In the past years, gaming as a whole has changed a lot. I remember when I was a kid and my dad took me to gaming conventions, there was nowhere near as much boxed terrain for sale. Most terrain was handmade, handpainted, and made from found materials. I grew up going to these big gaming conventions, seeing hordes of painted models fighting each other, and as a result that's what I like to see best. I love 40k, but the spectacle of painted armies fighting on a nice tabletop covered in painted terrain is what keeps me interested.

I don't want to exactly say this hobby of ours has become "mainstream" because it certainly hasn't - however, in the past couple years GW has been going a long way to ensure that pretty much every aspect of the hobby is covered somehow. Other companies have stepped up their game to match, and as a result we have a hobby where there's a lot more stuff readily available and ready to paint right out of the box. I guess you could say that mentality has passed on to new waves of gamers who are just... lazier? I don't want to accuse folks of anything here.

People with this kind of mindset still exist, obviously. Maybe not as commonly as some, but we're out there. I wouldn't give up on the hobby though; just be selective who you play with. Better yet, host at your home and play with friends. I'd take that over pick up games at the FLGS any day of the week.

For the record, I don't think I COULD give up wargaming. This is more an observation of... my perception of change in the wider hobby. It's more of an observation than anything.

My hobby is perfectly healthy.

Interesting narrative. I can't sum it up entirely, but it sounds like you feel that many people (and by exension yourself) have lost the DIY aspect and they joy of the spectacle of painted armies clashing on the table top.

I don't think that the hobby you have described is gone, just not as common as it once was.

Regarding the DIY aspect:
GW and others have gone to great lenghts to see that whatever was once made from plastic tubs and deoderant containers is not available in kit form for 54.95 plus tax.

As to the Spectacle of armies:
Though the "standard" for a painted army has risen, the gaming aspect of the hobby has taken a larger and more dramatic upswing in the past decade and a half. For many folks, army list building has become more important than army painting, and it shows on the tabletop in waves of grey.

It was not always this way, and it has gotten worse in recent years. Take heart though, there are still those of us out there who value the above aspects of gaming, but it's less and less likely that you'll find them at your local store.

Achillies,

Have you been to Adepticon?

If not, I suggest you make plans to attend. Every time I doubt the glory of the hobby in general is waning all I have to do is come back from Adepticon each year, bone tired physically and mentally but completely renewed in the sense of what amazingly cool gamers there are out there in our hobby.

And I'm not just talking about the hundreds of tables with terrain built by the Adepticon volunteers and I'm not even talking about the hundreds of gamers playing on those tables with their fully painted armies. But I'm talking about the amazing spectacle and comradery of the team tournament armies and displays that people create every year. And I'm talking about the amazing Gladiator armies featuring spectacular super-heavies. And beyond that, just all the people playing in side-games, going to hobby tutorials, etc, etc, etc.

The glory is still out there for you to find.


I think what has happened is that you've fallen into a common trap of romanticizing the past while ignoring its flaws. This is something that happens generation after generation. According to the elder generation, we are always living in 'dark times' as opposed to the glory days of yester-year.

Back in 1992, when I started playing, the only places to find games was in the darkened corner of a cramped gaming store that had a couple of tables. Yes, all terrain was hand-made because it had to be. Sure, some of it was glorious (it still is and people still make it), but you're forgetting that people were just as likely to be playing on table filled with pieces of felt or unpainted cardboard buildings. And if you didn't see any of that back then, let me assure you it existed, as did plenty of people playing with unpainted or base coated miniatures.

The big difference I think is that over the years there has been a bigger push to make nicer gaming stores with plenty of table, good lighting and store terrain...I think GW's push into retail space was a big driving force behind this change. Also, although the prices for playing an army-based war-game have remained fairly prohibitive (again, GW leads the way in that too), there has been an incredible amount of changes that have made it easier for people to play at a base level, the least being the move from metal to plastic miniatures on the whole.

So the popularity of miniature gaming has definitely improved since the 90s, and anytime you get an increase in population you're going to notice an increase of the people who don't involve themselves in the hobby the same way.

For example, when Dakka was small and had less members it was far easier to notice the really talented people because they made up more of the population of the gamers. But as Dakka gets more popular you get an increase in all types of users with the result being that you tend to see the people who post frequently without too much to say over those that wait until they've got good content to post.

Does that mean there are less of the 'good' posters around? Nope. In fact, there are more of those people around, there's just also a whole lot of the other types of people around as well.

And that's what you're noticing in general. You're seeing all the gamers who don't partake of the hobby quite like you do and not noticing that there are actually more of those super passionate gamers around now then ever before...but they're just surrounded by the less passionate gamers now as well.

So if all you see at your gaming store are unpainted armies being pushed around in tournaments that don't appeal to you, why not try setting up a campaign where only painted armies are allowed? I think you might be surprised to find out how many other 'quality' gamers there are just waiting to jump in and play with you.

Like many things, I blame the "connectivity" of the day, for lack of a better term. The majority of people these days getting into the hobby are the younger generations, who only know the "modern, connected life." They are used to having everything at their fingertips. Painting and the "hobby" is less important the the aspect of proving yourself superior.

I'm not sure where I'm going with this. I have a hard time putting it into words.

@Yakface - I've been to many an Adepticon (and their analogs elsewhere). Perhaps I haven't been clear in my narrative. The difference I'm seeing isn't about armies being painted or unpainted... it's almost an attitude. People don't seem to experience wargaming the way they used to.

There have been resurgences of this. I think the Apocalypse expansion for Warhammer 40,00 was a wonderful addition to this. The experience of the game seemed more the point.

I think some of the above posters may have keyed into something, that it may just be a dispersion thing. In the eighties when I began gaming, there were simply fewer ways to connect with gaming and the people doing it. A lot of gamers existed in isolation, only connecting a few times a year at events, clubs or conventions. Maybe that is why the experience was so important; you had to make it count.

As I said above, I don't know precisely what has changed (because a lot has). I just know its in the air.

I should also point out again that my hobby is quite healthy; it's more an expression that my personal hobby seems less common today than it did 25 years ago.

By the by, where do you game in LA (or if not game, shop)? I've likely been by there at some point.

*Breathy voice-over, camera panning across an epic, barren wasteland*

"The world is changed. I feel it in the water. I feel it in the earth. I smell it in the air. Much that once was is lost, for none now live who remember it."

Okay, couldn't resist . Being born in the early 80s, I probably can't comment on the change you're talking about...

Another thing to look at as explained in the another post. "maybe this is why you weren't supposed to talk about fight club".

While the gaming scene is not mainstream, there are certainly a lot more players than there used to be. When I started playing there was about 5 people at a gaming store to play 40k with. Now a days, there's 20+ at most stores.

The full hobbiest was always a small cliche of a cliche. And, still is. I still see about 5 people who fully paint, convert and love all aspects of gaming. As, time goes on and we get older, more money/responsibility, these gamers tend to withdraw to their homes and personal gaming areas, just like it used to be. Garages, spare room in the house, with their own terrain.

If the gaming business only focused on these players they would go out of business, or at the very least not have the massive amount of gaming support most companies have these days.

When dealing with younger generations of gamers, I always try to instill a little identity of "Immersion" which is what a "full hobbiest" is all about. Some understand it some don't, most pick up a little here and there. But, remember most new gamers have a mentality brought on largely by video games and other media outlets (cell phones) of immediacy and accessability. The I want it now mentality.

Also, we have to remember when at least I started a game might have 20-30 models in it, now we have games with 60-100 models. My personal lazyiness keeps me from having fully painted armies, along with my ability to drop 400 dollars for the new cool models that come out, much more frequently.

Achilles wrote:
By the by, where do you game in LA (or if not game, shop)? I've likely been by there at some point.

I've been working nights now for about 6 years, which has absolutely killed my ability to attend any kind of weekly gaming night at any store.

Therefore, my gaming has become relegated to tournament play on the weekends. For a while I was barely even doing that, but the last 6 months or so I've gotten out and played quite a few local RTTs, mainly at Aero Hobbies in Santa Monica, Game Empire in Pasadena and most recently at Dragon's Den in Hollywood.

A long time ago I used to just drive down to the Battle Bunker on a weekend and try to find a pick-up game, but after striking out a couple of times I realized that probably wasn't the best idea and I haven't been to the bunker in a *long* time, especially not to game.

Ah; I haven't had a chance to check out the gaming shops on the north side of LA yet; that's a great list for me to go see! I've mostly been around San Pedro, Santa Ana, Longbeach and the OC and Ontario (so places like Brookhurst and Pegasus). Thanks for that!

Do they still play at brookhurst? I went there a couple times a few years ago and it seemed like they stopped the friday night games.

No clue friend. I'm a gypsy, so I mostly roll in and see what's new.

They did have a HUGE stack of Man O War ships for sale when I was there a month back. Couldn't believe that. There must be like veins of striated old product moldering in their stock room that they sometimes unearth. lol

I believe it. I found a tonne of ancient models at the place in long beach last time I went. And Brookhurst is a distributor too!

Its the lazy, shiftless video game generation. They have no imagination. They need everything imaged out for them.

Mind you Im pretty lazy, as lazy as I con possibly get away with, but this current generation is terrible.

I see it at work all the time You can hardly get most of the younger people to show up on time, stay a full shift, or work a full week...nevermind actually getting anything close to real work out of them. Now if something needs to be done sitting in a chair at a computer, they start fighting over the job.

Why do you think many newer games have gone pre-painted. They know many younger people scoff at the idea of taking time to build and paint minis. Same for card games...no work involved. Simply open the packs, pick your cards and play.

I don't know, while I'm sure wargaming has changed around you, I think you're eliminating the possibility that you've changed a little quickly.

It's hard to enjoy something with the same passion for 20+ years. If nothing else, when you start there is more of a feeling of exploring the worlds.

I'm one of those that come from the "video game" and "I want it now" generation (The '90s). Well, I do not necessarily have those traits (I dropped them when I first discovered DnD and how my imagination is the limit to my enjoyment, which has slowly drawn me away from video games and more to tabletop games), but I used to be.

It is partially true that with my generation, we scoff at having to actually assemble and paint toys because we've never been exposed to it before. A normal response to something that is unknown is to get away from it or to associate with it as least as possible. Especially with something viewed as "highly nerdy" (I still will never understand the whole anti-intellectual philosophy my generation has, then again I am one) Albeit this isn't a fair example, but ask any random college student if they're heard of Flames of War, Warmachine, WHFB, or any other tabletop game. Most of the time they will not be aware of it since they have not been exposed to it. I'm sure a lot of the newer players in the past couple of years (myself included) would have never been exposed to the 40k universe if it wasn't for DoW. This is partially GW's fault since they seem to scoff at the idea of advertising outside of the niche. Then again, we're participating in a hobby that will always be a niche considering the time and money required to be spent on it. But that's another discussion.

You also have to consider the type of people that tabletop games tend to attract. Don't expect the college fratboy (being used only as an example here) to be attracted to the hobby when you exclude the looks of 40k models; these games attract a certain type of mindset, a certain kind of mental power. Yes, this is a huge euphemism, but those that participate in this hobby are in many ways on a higher level than a video game player. This statement is not taking into consideration real-world factors than can hinder growth in the hobby. And as we all know, people like that are a small percentage of the population.

It sounds to me that the OP is possibly burnt out on the hobby. Perhaps taking a step away from it for a couple of months would do him best.

I would make an observation that Wargaming has become more diverse, there are more Wargames and they are more accessible. When I was young and a teenager I knew of GW and a few other gaming sytems, now due to the advent of the Internet (not available when i was young) I have learnt about 10's of gaming systems if not 100's.
I have learned that there are more 28mm models out there than i ever imagined and more conversions and opportunities for originality than ever before.
It is true that video gaming has affected this, may for the better (Dawn of War 1 & 2) it got me back into the hobby again...

I can see this 40K MMO being a killer App, if it is good i can see my time painting being reduced (not good)....

What can i say, the future is bright, we just need to keep learning from our mistakes reading tutorials and keep striving to improve our modelling, painting, tactics and gaming skills...Oh and encouraging youngsters that working for something is worthwhile rather than mouse clicking and typing for your rewards...

Perhaps this is what it feels like to start generationally gapping. I don't have anything in common with these gamers. They can't hear the martial beat of drums when the dice are dropped. They don't seem to know the exploits of their armys commander, or the legends of his followers. I watch the games take place and I feel... nothing.

It can't be age. I know it isn't, because every now and again I'll come accross a new hobbyist peering into a glass cabinet somewhere with that feverish look in their eyes. He'll have his nose to the glass and that crease in his brow that screams 'How did they do that?.... How can I do that?' He will demand from those around him to see it explained. You can just tell that he can hear the drums and when you watch him play games he will always seek out those quiet ones in the corner with their proud and carefully transported foes.

It is almost as if a genetic line is slowly breeding itself out. An evolutionary dead end. Where before traveling and meeting gamers felt like reuniting with long lost cousins, today it is almost like returning from a long voyage to find the homestead changed and your people moved on. Did you change or did they? It was a small thing and a slow change. It happened in little steps over years and years. Perhaps this is why we weren't supposed to talk about Fight Club? Does the illusion lose its magic when the trick is explained? Perhaps broadening the audience away from us obsessive few has thinned us out.

Sadly, I don't think there is an answer. In fact, I may not even have asked a clear question. I have many fellow hobbyists and friends who can still hear the drums. I have some who could in the past but seem to have lost the trick. I feel I won't be able to finish this tale with any kind of moral... in fact that may be at cross purposes to what writing it was trying to achieve. If there is a statement I'm making it is that in the past twenty years, the experience of the wargame seems to have taken a backseat to the individual model and the gameplay.

Perhaps it is best I end this with a questions.

Has the time of the complete hobbyist (one who finds joy in completing all of the aspects of the Wargaming Hobby) passed?

In truth I didn't read this in full, I think i need to give you a cup of hot milk, a hug and then tell you it is going to be alright. Seriously though I think what you are seeing is the old "Mom & Pop" type FLGS changing into a faceless, homogenous morass of souless corporate chains (Sound a bit like Tim Robbins don't I?). But in truth the amateur days of Modelling, with its feeling of warmth and make and make do, have probably gone. But then did these halcyon days actually exist? or is it the "Pink Glasses" effect of looking back on our youth? I have a very active imagination and a reasonably high IQ so i need something that is engaging, challenging and multi dimensional, keep working on my modelling, then painting, then my tactics. The most enjoyment i get is gaming but the post game discussion where you discuss like adults, what went well, what didn't, which model is "Man of the Match" etc and then having a few beers and enjoying the "Banter" of playing in a club. The usual "oh no, here comes Chris with his Burna Boyz" or "Oh dear god no, not Mephiston again Adam..." "Ah Skulltaker, this isn't going to be pleasant is it?"...
IMHO you need to find some worthy gaming friends and then start exercising some CLM (Command Leadership & Management) and start guiding the younger gamers through the hobby...

mwnciboo wrote:

....Oh and encouraging youngsters that working for something is worthwhile rather than mouse clicking and typing for your rewards...

So very true. ANYTHING worth having requires a lot of effort. I learned that earlier than my generation from what I've been seeing, locally at least.

Brookhurst no longer has gaming tables for 40k, they still sell 40k at 20% off which is awesome, it's also nice to see people visit Dragon's Den, it's owned by my good friend Brenden and his dad.

I find the decline of the hobby in the San Fernando valley is due to the pricing, horrible internal codex balance and an abundance of WAACs.

Though we still have a successful RTT circuit here and there.

I'm trying to hold out as one of the last in my neck of the woods that plays at game ogre.

A brief note about the have-it-now generation and painting. This is a very real phenomenon and it's not really all their fault.

I was born in '81, and for all of my childhood, Toys'R'Us, Target and even Walgreens had plastic models, and paints and brushes and model glue on their shelves. Painting models wasn't something all kids did, but alot more of them had exposure to it, so the idea painting figures wasn't a totaly foreign concept.

How many model kits and paints do you see for sale at Target, Toys R Us and Walgreens now? It, and other hobbies (HO trains, model rockets, etc), are just not part of the general toy culture anymore.

I must admit, I started out in the hobby with a legion of grey/primed black tanks and guardsmen, playing on relatively featureless terrain playing games to beat my opponent, and nothing else. Lucky for me, before it became a terrible habit, the rest of the college's wargaming club returned from summer training and promptly insulted me for weeks on end, mocking my grey models endlessly and comparing them to their beautifully painted armies in a multitude of game systems accross every scale and theme. I was not permitted to use my models in a game until they were painted (I could use other people's painted models, just not MY grey plastic), which, though harsh, forced me to sit down and paint.

I now have a painted Firestorm fleet, a mostly painted 30+ ship NSL (Full Thrust) fleet, and a number of IG tanks nearing completion in less than a year. Prior to these experienced wargamers showing what a wargame should be, I only though winning mattered. My mind couldn't handle the idea of playing a game WITHOUT points. But it was explained to me that though they weren't playing with points, the goal wasn't to win or lose, but to engage in a tactical excercise with a flowing narrative over beautiful terrain, imagining the Soviets steamrolling the Americans in the open fields of Europe (playing a homebrew ruleset for modern 6mm warfare).

Then it dawned on me.

I have been promoted to Jedi Knight status following my organization of a 40k escalation league where every model had to be painted to be fielded. The club is also working on creating some beautiful terrain for 28mm gaming.

I guess I'm lucky to have discovered the hobby with a large group of VERY experienced wargamers who love the hobby equal to the game. Had I not had that experience, I doubt any of my models would have progressed past the priming stage.

Don't worry, there are still some 'younger' wargamers who care for the hobby, every aspect of it.

OP: I think its time to change your hat from observer to mentor. Remember the gamers who taught you the ropes?
Time to be one of them. Sometimes it only takes a little encouragement to get younger gamers started down the right path.
These days there are abundant recources for terrain making and gaming and painting that simply didnt exist when we started. If we built memorable tables from cardboard, imagine what could be done by an inspired new gamer today.

It is my belief that the WAAC gamers, and the people who want to dissect the game have hurt the hobby. Their primary interest is exploiting the game system rather than being involved in a hobby as described by the original poster. Sadly, these gamers outnumber the hobbyists by a large margin. I am always happy when GW makes broken new rule sets, as it turns some of the WAAC gamers away from the hobby.

Another problem is that GW wants you to play their games their way. They would not want us just buying Black Reach and playing with it endlessly. They want us to build up at least a 1500 point army. The daunting task of assembling and painting so many models turns many people away from the hobby and towards the game system. I personally think that all beginners should start with a game like Necromunda which does not require as many miniatures. Ideally those miniatures could then be used in a larger game.

I started out the hobby with little intention of painting. Content with friendly games and tournaments where painting was optional coupled with my complete lack of artistic skill and pride (I could have my armies commission painted, but it wouldn't be my army anymore, it'd be 2/3 of my army; the other 1/3 of it would be owned by the guy who painted it) i've just never found painting of any kind 'fun'.

It's not because i'm 'lazy' or 'can't be bothered', it's because I play this game for relaxation and enjoyment, and I will cut out the parts of it that don't deliver; people might be relaxed by painting but it infuriates me that I can never be good at it, and that the only way I can paint my army is using a pre-determined 'speed painting' scheme that I don't even like and I didn't come up with. I don't enjoy staring at my 'completed' models and thinking "That'll have to do." because further work risks ruining the bits of it that are actually good.

It's because of that that I don't think the time of 'complete hobbyists' has come to an end; I dispute there ever being a time of 'complete hobbyists'; I think that personal preference has simply become a larger part of the hobby.

As people, we are forever living with less and less spare time. You work 9 to 5 shifts, you have to travel, you have to work around family and you have to divide your time between working, relaxing in the sense that you relieve the sresses of the day, eating, family time, sleep and then free time taking a back seat. Fewer of us have the ability to purchase, build, paint and use our armies, and we simply neglect the aspects that don't make our time spent in them worth it as much as the others do. We're having to become more resourceful, and that starts to apply itself to all parts of our lives.

I wouldn't be here now if it were not for Dawn of War 2. And I think broad, sweeping statements about video gamers being inferior hobbyists are somewhat misguided. The reason I wanted to play the tabletop version, rather than just the video game, is because it was a physical being. You could hold the thing in your hands, you could modify it, paint it, do whatever to it. That is just something a video game is not capable of. And I don't feel my imagination has suffered either...

They aren't inferior, just different. Different mindsets and goals to gaming in general. I don't think there is a problem with computer gamers playing miniature games, I've always been one, most mini gamers are. And, Dawn of War brought a large influx of players into the game.

Individuals are individuals, but that doesn't mean generalizations are invalid either. They may not apply to specific cases, though they may as well.

One thing I have observed at least about myself. I no longer typically have a Generic Heroic character, with its own fluff and battle history. There is a larger reliance on special characters with established fluff now. This most likely isn't gamers fault but the direction GW is pushing the game.

I've seen it with other people too. But, not everyone. I realized it a short while ago, so when I picked up my Dark Eldar, I wanted to name my HQ and use a non-special character for him. Haven't thought of a name yet though. He seems to like getting chaos as slaves though... odd. LOL

And currently My ork commander is named after my online avatar, however, I haven't really developed any back story or character to him yet.

Despite their tangable benefits I do think that the Net is a distraction. Many is the hour that I have surfed on Dakka or been completing one one mission on DoW when I should have been painting [or working as I am currently proving ].

Contary to my own failings [and I have been going at this hobby since 1987], I see more of the creative aspects that the OP describes in evidence to day that I have seen at any point previously.

What I have also seen change is the increasing number of people/companies that now exist to provide even minor things that previously would have had to be home made. Almost everthing is catered for now, I take this to mean that the wargaming community is bigger and stronger than before [good] but equally it seems so much more corporate as a result of this [bad-ish]. But if we want professional service and products we have to accept that the latter is here to stay, and I don't necessarily mean GW btw.