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Clearly the hobby should be something for us to be ashamed of: I was spraypainting some Grey Knights outside of my Halls of Residence today, right by the side of the building to escape the wind, and I had two ping pong balls and three bottle caps thrown at me from the windows...

I wouldn't take it personally.

I'm sure anyone who happened by those windows would have been hit with stuff.

Henners91 wrote:Clearly the hobby should be something for us to be ashamed of: I was spraypainting some Grey Knights outside of my Halls of Residence today, right by the side of the building to escape the wind, and I had two ping pong balls and three bottle caps thrown at me from the windows...

Bahhh us "nerds" are very accepting of others hobbies and personal likes. Its unfair that we dont get the same in return.... at my school, all of us nerds "talk shop" in our area of the student center we have taken over. We have to segregate ourselves to avoid persecution by pretty much everyone else....at least once a day someone gets lost and ends up in our area, they look scared and confused when they sit down for longer than 5 mins...

Well, in my younger years I would never have admitted to this. However, nowadays when it comes up, I don't even flinch. To be honest, when I describe it, I speak confidently and matter of factly about what it is. Most guys are like "Wow, that does sound pretty cool." Most girls are like "Oh, well if you enjoy it then that's cool."

And, to be perfectly honest, on the scale of things I need to be embarrased about in my life, this doesn't even make the top 5.

I am actually proud of my hobby. I dont go round telling everyone I meet about it but if it comes up I dont play it down.

Can talk all day about it with people that are into wargamming but they are rare these days.

In the least snobby way possible I think most people who take the piss out of warhammer in a mean, not light-hearted, way are normally pretty stupid and have their own problems that are a lot more embarassing than playing warhammer.

But as many other people have said I wouldn't bring it up in conversation unless I thought the other person played/collected aswell. But it's the same with other things, I play guitar and bass but I don't bring it up in conversation all the time because most people couldn't care less what I do in my spare time and would be bored to death telling them about the 3-band EQ Musicman Stingray I managed to get for a bargain price online, around half price, there was only one little dent in the headstock which I popped out using wet tissue and a soldering iron. Some people don't like the pre-amp in it but I can get that classic stingray sound I want out of it and......see you are bored allready arn't you lol.

And my girlfriend, who I've been living with for about 2 years now is fine with whatever hobby I take up, geeky or otherwise, so long as it makes me happy.

My hobbies are not something that I am embarrassed about period.

I am in an "MI" unit in the army, which means that around 60% of the people in the unit are WoW gamers, which on a nerd scale and social aspects of life, I am a completely normal guy (actually many people are seriously surprised that I am "so nerdy" by playing warhammer, etc.)

At work however, there are some things in my personal life that I am completely 100% cool with bringing up myself, and others not. I will gladly talk about cigars and alcohol (its the army, so alcohol is easy an easy topic), but ironically within my unit we 40k and table top wargamers are few and far between.

For some reason, I actually catch more flak at work for my cycling hobby than I do gaming (weird aint it).. but I suppose that this should be expected when I show up first thing in the morning wearing skin tight lycra and spandex clothing

I am only ashamed at the amount of money spent on the hobby as a whole....

Except D&D.... hell I bought a Reaper Mini, converted that gak, and then borrowed the books... least expensive ever.

I think most people will look at you like an idiot if you admit how much your little plastic men cost...

My gf thinks it's fine if I enjoy it as 'hobbies are expensive' (her embroidery ain't cheap, probably cheaper, but not cheap) but others will pretty much up and call me a moron for paying that much.

I like the term 'plastic crack'.

Henners91 wrote:I think most people will look at you like an idiot if you admit how much your little plastic men cost...

My gf thinks it's fine if I enjoy it as 'hobbies are expensive' (her embroidery ain't cheap, probably cheaper, but not cheap) but others will pretty much up and call me a moron for paying that much.

I like the term 'plastic crack'.

This is why, amongst all of my hobbies I rarely bring up cost, unless its specifically a question... Particularly where my bicycles are concerned. This is also why my wife cringes anytime I mention wanting to look at a new activity that could be construed as a hobby.

Just because I cook and eat roadkill does not make it my hobby!

Oh you mean warhammer.... Honestly me being a loudmouth about my hobby as doubled the amount of gamers in my store so

My desk is covered in basing materials currently, and friends know not to call me before 9pm on Thursdays unless we've preplanned going out.

Once you make it routine, people see it as routine.

Milisim wrote:I dont hate the stigma of playing tabletop games..... I just find it hard to defend them when someone actually goes into the store and see all these black t shirt wearing, long haired, zitty face kids hooting and hollering over there 3 cm plastic toy =]

Whoa, whoa, whoa. I don't like what you're insinuating about black T-shirts. They're as stylish as I'm ever going to get, look reasonably smart with jeans and are as comfy as rolling in a marshmallow waterfall.

OT: Yep, I'm paralytically embarrassed about my hobby, but then as a hopeless person fearful of any kind of connection with another breathing cattle person, I'm paralytically embarrassed about everything.

Its funny. When i got into the hobby i had no shame. I would read codexes and rule books during study class and english class.
Yet now i feel weird reading them in the school cafeteria in college.
Maybe its because im supposed to be taking eeverything seriously

hotsuace, how old are you? I think there is a period everyone goes through at some point where they start worrying more thane ver about what people think, what they should be doing with their life and wanting to "grow up". I am thankfully over that for the most part now and you will too. If it makes you happy then do it! There is a really good quote by C.S.Lewis but I have seen it posted loads on this forum allready so no doubt you've allready seen it.

And most peoples hobbies are expensive, at least if they take it seriously and dedicate a lot of time to it. No one likes being told what they do for fun is stupid and a rip off.

ReturningPlayer wrote:hotsuace, how old are you? I think there is a period everyone goes through at some point where they start worrying more thane ver about what people think, what they should be doing with their life and wanting to "grow up". I am thankfully over that for the most part now and you will too. If it makes you happy then do it! There is a really good quote by C.S.Lewis but I have seen it posted loads on this forum allready so no doubt you've allready seen it.

And most peoples hobbies are expensive, at least if they take it seriously and dedicate a lot of time to it. No one likes being told what they do for fun is stupid and a rip off.

Im 19. when i did that i was in high school. Here is the thing. I dont care about other things. I was going to get an MLP messenger bag for class but they run out. I normally dont care.

Well I have no idea then.

However warhammer is viewed as "super-geeky" even by other people with what are considered geeky hobbies like PC gaming, for no good reason of course. Maybe you are subcounsciously aware of that?

Tbh I don't know what I'm on about and this is all pop-psychology crap lol.

meh. its super geeky. I admit that. but I have fun with it. and that's really the point.

Whats hard for people to accept is the indignance of some gamers to shove acceptance down peoples throats (same can be said for a number of things.

I don't shove acceptnance down anyones throat. I play, i'm proud of my pieces, I enjoy the game, and I invite others to play with us. if they do they do if they don't they don't. no real sense in trying to prove anything one way or another.

its a game. like any other hobby, its all subjective.

I personally think people who spend money on cars and motorcycles for show and don't drive them spend thousands of dollars on crap that means exactly dick..... coming from a man who spends thousands of dollars on little plastic figurines. see? all relative.

no place to judge, no real reason to be ashamed OR overly aggressive about it.

now, get out there and roll some dice people.

I used to play Magic the Gathering exclusively as my non-digital hobby then moved on to Warhammer because the crowd was pretty much all the Magic players that weren't hardcore mouthbreathers and a bunch of normal dudes with families, etc. My gf knows I play and enjoys looking at the paint jobs, but she's also a nerd, so it's not like she can really give me crap for it, lol.

If you think about it it's not as nerdy as video games.

You actually socialize.
You invest in something tangible and artistic.
You actually create something.
And you actually THINK as you play it.

yamgrenade wrote:If you think about it it's not as nerdy as video games.

You actually socialize.
You invest in something tangible and artistic.
You actually create something.
And you actually THINK as you play it.

^ I agree 100%
Since i started war gaming and modelling i cant stand playing MMORPG's. i used to waste hours of my time playing them and getting nothing out of it......now i create peices of art to display in games of epic strategy. Video games are a waste of time, i still play a select few but they arnt nearly as rewarding as finishing an epic model.

Why the need to diminish video games exactly ? I've seen that pop up a few times in this thread and I can't seem to infer anything good from it.

yamgrenade wrote:You actually socialize.
And you actually THINK as you play it.

That's the same way I feel toward TV when playing video games. As for creativity, the Minecraft crowd might have something to say...

And lonedrow's post confirms my fears. I really want to be caustic and insert a satirical line here, but I'll just say there are much less petty ways to argue in favour of modelling.

@OP, if you're ashamed there is a problem and you might want to solve it, not be defensive about it. People have mentioned a few reasons that can make you feel uncomfortable about it, and there's nothing wrong with some of them. I personally had a serious period of hesitation when I entered a GW shop for the first time in years and asked myself if I wanted to be associated with the people I saw there. I decided I didn't, and I still don't. Doesn't mean I'm not getting back at 40k, it has plenty of merit of its own and I know I could explain why it's awesome and interesting if asked.
However, if you feel you're playing a kid's game and that makes you feel awkward... Well, just find the quote that's been brought up twice in this thread and read it until your eyes hurt.

Then find me a "kid" that has the income to actually afford playing the game. There are spoiled children, but they're not the primary target.

Erm....erm......I'm not

Im not ashamed of my hobby, just because i won't run around talking to random people about 40k, if the topic arouse i would talk about it.

Saying that this is a 'social' hobby is a bit much for me. I play a game twice a month at most and most of my time doing 'hobby' is spent alone at my desk painting in my room whilst the other students talk and watch telly together

Hyd wrote:

@OP, if you're ashamed there is a problem and you might want to solve it, not be defensive about it. People have mentioned a few reasons that can make you feel uncomfortable about it, and there's nothing wrong with some of them. I personally had a serious period of hesitation when I entered a GW shop for the first time in years and asked myself if I wanted to be associated with the people I saw there. I decided I didn't, and I still don't. Doesn't mean I'm not getting back at 40k, it has plenty of merit of its own and I know I could explain why it's awesome and interesting if asked.
However, if you feel you're playing a kid's game and that makes you feel awkward... Well, just find the quote that's been brought up twice in this thread and read it until your eyes hurt.

Then find me a "kid" that has the income to actually afford playing the game. There are spoiled children, but they're not the primary target.

Well first up, this thread has really hit a chord with some people, positively or negatively, but it sure has got people talking.

In response to the above. Recently my gaming group disbanded. For no real reason everyone has opted to drift apart. At first I was a little dismayed by the occurance, but now to be honest I'm kinda relieved. On one level, the games of warfare were getting repetitve and meaningless, which culminates in boring, add to that the petty politics that seem to scrape beneath the surface of the hobby. On the other level, finding a new group jusst seemed impossible, unless I was willing to return to GW....now all of this has very little to do with being ashamed of the hobby, but maybe indicates to me that in order to weather the storm of abuse that seems to trail wargaming, you have to be passionate about it.....recent events have shown me that I'm not.

Sure, wargaming can be fun, so can scrabble or solitare.....difference with those games is you can pick them up and put them down as you please....wargaming is, by it's nature, more demanding than that....hence it's designation of being a hobby.

I still love miniature painting, hell thats what got me wargaming in the first place, and I've recently taken the plunge and joined a RPG group.....are any of these things more or less "geeky" than wargaming, I would imagine not but I know I have a passion for art expression (miniature painting) and RPGs are more like a night out playing poker with, I have to add, a more even split between male and females.....make of that what you will. So standing proud and admitting I'm involved with those pastimes works well for me, I guess in the same way this hobby works well for ya'll

However, feel free to continue the debate knowing full well the OP is now in a better place and is now leaving the stage

Good night and God Bless

i've been collecting orks since i was 12 and a half and its my 18th birthday soon. I have roughly a thirty thousand point ork horde with only a couple unpainted even though i only play with about 3500 points.

To be frank?

I don't give a damn. I'm a geek. So what? Point being? Some of the local GW players here are the very same 'sports stars' that the local press and chav population idolise so very much - to the point where one of the local private school brats decided to walk by and taunt the store about being geeks that he had half the local top league rugby team catch up to him and ask him if he wanted to say that to their faces. (It was hilarious).

People come from all walks of life and to be honest people have that many different hobbies it shouldn't matter. What you see before you isn't what's there all the time. You can happily put your geek hat to one side and get on with life at other times.

I don't think gamer's help themselves with this, but society is slowly changing and maybe more indifferent to it in the future.

Just think about on this.

I'm 43 years old and quite happy to have an Xbox evening with mates as an example. There is no way that my dad would of thought of doing the equivalent thing when he was 43, nor would his dad. The closest you got would of been model railway collectors and they certainly wouldn't of behaved like 20 year old's

My generation has realised that as we get older we don't have to act our age. We have the free time and money to enjoy our hobbies.

From a brutal and shortsighted stand point I have to say that I look at a big chunk of gamer's and RPGer's and think "you really do need to get a life... it's NOT real, it's just a game, pull yourself together, you're giving gaming a bad name."

However having been around gaming for a fair amount of years, that sometimes this is the only social life that people who have socialising problems get, and if that helps them to enjoy life who am I to judge?

I look at bronies and think the same thing...

As for the rest of us? We should shower, wash/cut our hair, take off the band t-shirts that are much too small and show some pride 'n' quit our slouching