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Tabletop Gaming.

There are just some things that you get from it that you cannot put a pricetag on.

The e74 fault on my xbox was the catalyst in the return i made to tabletop games after a long time off, i do not play videogames right now but will maybe buy a new xbox when gta 5 comes out, that is kinda tradtion for me to purchase a new console when a gta comes out.

FarseerAndyMan wrote:
Hello all,

Food for thought and discussion.

After purchasing the PS3 game "Force Unleashed : 2" and watching my son beat it in about 5 hrs of gameplay, I asked myself ---

$47 for 5 hrs of videogame play?

I payed about $45 for my StormTalon. I converted it for about 3 hrs. It took me about 2 and a half hrs to paint it. I played a 4 hr game with it last weekend. 3 + 2 + 4 = 9.

And I play at home about once a week and down at the FLGS on Sundays. Two games a week = 8 hrs. 50 ( about ) weekends a year. 50 X 8 = 400.

Now granted, im not zooming arouind the table with my StormTalon for 4 continuous hrs of the game but you get the gist..

In your opinion, Overall which has more GAMEPLAY VALUE--- Electronic gaming or Talbetop gaming?

In this specific example, the problem isn't video versus table top games... The problem is that you bought a completely sh!t game. You bought star wars garbage thrown up into marketing to sell to kids and babies.

 Soo'Vah'Cha wrote:
I have computer games I bought 5-6 years ago...never play them anymore

I have minitures I bought 10 or more years ago..I still break them out and use them.

I build, paint, scratchbuild, etc all the time, and it fills a need to be creative, that no electronic game has ever come close to.

so no comparison..(other that total war games, I play those like crazy )

And I own Nintendo, Commodore and Atari games from before 40k existed, and I still occasionally play those.



From my two responses, the answer is that there is no answer. The value you get out of something is 100% up to you. Not one person here can give you a correct answer on which has more value because neither do, and they are both for entertainment.

Plenty of kids get into the 40k hobby, and get out when they get into their late teens, and plenty of kids buy a game, play it once, and ignore it afterwards.

In the end, the value is up to you, and no one else.

I think you need to factor in storage and transport costs into tabletop minis. That would make it way more expensive than electronic gaming.

From my opinion I get more enjoyment short term in electronic among whereas tabletop has much more long term enjoyment as it gives social too.

I hardly have to think about this one.

Tabletop gaming will always hold infinitely more value to me than electronic gaming. When I game electronically, I'm just there by myself playing with what honestly could amount to an AI with fluctuating skill levels. It's always just a really cold experience. Back in the day, when multiplayer meant 4 player goldeneye, or two player mario cart, I liked it. Your friend was by your side, smack talk was common, and if the other guy kept spamming hadoukens, well he earned himself a smack, or in the very least a prod in the ribs, just long enough to give you the advantage and win before hadoukens and shoryukens became a thing of reality and the true battle between began in the living room.

Nowadays though, e-gaming is just...cold to me. Nobody ever wants to sit around a tv and split screen, it's all over the net where all you get is someones voice through a microphone. Nobody sees that amazing shot you pulled off, nobody is there to talk trash that actually cuts.

Tabletop gaming is the last bastion of hope I've got. It's the only way I can socialize while I game. Until I get a mame cabinet made it's my only option for legitimate gaming fun.

 WaaaaghLord wrote:
But if you have a LAN party with friends, you don't get to play, or meet, new people, which was the point I was making?

All of the LAN parties that I've been to have been with friends, and I don't think there's been one yet where I haven't met someone new.

FarseerAndyMan wrote:
Hello all,

Food for thought and discussion.

After purchasing the PS3 game "Force Unleashed : 2" and watching my son beat it in about 5 hrs of gameplay, I asked myself ---

$47 for 5 hrs of videogame play?

I payed about $45 for my StormTalon. I converted it for about 3 hrs. It took me about 2 and a half hrs to paint it. I played a 4 hr game with it last weekend. 3 + 2 + 4 = 9.

Hah, mine is more like : Sifting through mountain of metal and plastic still in the box +1 hours, +3 hours spent trying to explain to my wife why more packages keep showing up despite said mountain, +2 hours looking for good deals and acquiring more stuff, +2 hours planning on a project I'll get to some day....

And I play at home about once a week and down at the FLGS on Sundays. Two games a week = 8 hrs. 50 ( about ) weekends a year. 50 X 8 = 400.

Now granted, im not zooming arouind the table with my StormTalon for 4 continuous hrs of the game but you get the gist..

In your opinion, Overall which has more GAMEPLAY VALUE--- Electronic gaming or Talbetop gaming?

It really depends. The time spent converting/painting technically isn't game play (though it is part of the hobby). Some games offer vastly more replay than others. I also next to never buy a one off story type game at release. If you wait a few months they are vastly cheaper.

 WaaaaghLord wrote:

 Testify wrote:

 Cruentus wrote:

I've been to several LAN parties, and there was zero social aspect. Everyone sat around their PC screen, clicking away at the RTS game for hours, nary a peep out of anyone. After a couple of those, I was done with PC gaming altogether.

Bro that sucks. Have a LAN part with some friends, get a crate of beer in or some weed. You were clearly playing with the wrong people.

But if you have a LAN party with friends, you don't get to play, or meet, new people, which was the point I was making?

Those were my friends

Neither has more value than the other, that is just elitist talk.

You can get a kid getting many many hours of fun playing with a cardboard box. As a kid I had wooden blocks to play with, and I used them for hours whenever I visited my grandparents, cost maybe R10.

The value of fun is not the time you spend on it, but the amount of enjoyment on it, video games can still be replayed just like warhammer can.

Video games can also be played by yourself, I can only play warhammer once a week when I go to my club.

So I say, neither has more value than the either, and why should we have to choose. I like poth pecan nut pie and steaks.

At the moment DOW2 has more value to me than 40k

It varies greatly for me, I bought Counterstrike back in 2001 or so when it was retail and on sale for $10. I played it a lot for several years and I also played 1.6 within the last year. A small group of friends playing made it fun for all of that tine.

I bought Battlefield and Battlefield 2 and played many, many hundreds of hours each. I played a ton of Natural Selection, and a couple hundred hours of Natural Selection 2. Both were part of an online gaming community.

I bought a few games for $50 that I only played for a few hours, and most of my console games (Xbox/Wii/Playstation) only get a few to a dozen hours each. No one to play with, got bored.

Role playing games are a good investment as well, when played with friends for years I had a ton of enjoyment. Having a 'referee' was an advantage over 40k because I enjoy my time with 40k but hate the rules arguments that aren't there in computer games or tabletop role playing games.

So for time invested playing games, computer and RPGs win out because of the time spent sharing fun with friends. For solo activity painting and modeling win out over single player video games, because I see results from painting and modeling that aren't there in a single player video game.

 lord_bobbington wrote:
Neither has more value than the other, that is just elitist talk.

/thread.

The OP was never interested in having an actual debate anyway. Clearly his mind was already made up, he was clearly biased since he counted painting and assembly time of his models as part of "GAMEPLAY VALUE", and he came to a forum full of tabletop gamers to basically ask them which is better...he just wanted reaffirmation that he was in the right all along and knew where to go to get it.

 snooggums wrote:
No one to play with, got bored.

Which also applies to tabletop gaming. 40k is not a single-player activity, it's designed to be played with at least one other person. Most console games are kinda the same way, they have some value as a single-player game but most of the time the real fun and draw is in playing with other people. Yeah, 40k has a painting and modeling aspect, but the OP specifically asked which has a better GAMEPLAY VALUE, so I don't know why people keep bringing up the hobby side when clearly we're only meant to be judging the two based on the game.

Tough one.

Unlike most of the responses I've read here I very much enjoy crafting and creating digital content to share with others when it comes to video gaming, I really love creating levels, game modes, weapons and skins to share with friends.

I get as much pleasure from creating content I can share with a gaming community as I do from playing a game and it's always fun to get positive feedback!

I find that tabletop gaming is a more 'solitary' hobby by comparison but I enjoy them all equally, why chose one over the other when you can enjoy both?

Miniature wargaming has the added value of collection and painting, not just agming. I mean, for me at least half the fun (if not more) is collecting minis and painting them.

That said, there are some computer games I got a lot of value out of. The prime example for the recent years is the Mass Effect series which I've played twice, beginning to end (all three games in a row) twice in the past year, each playthrough being at least 20-30 hours per game (i.e. 60-90 hours for the whole series). Got ME 1 and 2 for cheap on STEAM on the Christmas sale last year; liked them so much that I pre-ordered ME3.

Depends on the (tabletop) game IMHO, i am now busy with Borderlands 2 and Far cry 3 and those games give me hours and hours of game play. Storyline based games you usually play one time and then your are finished. I also played lots of Battle fleet gothic, Necromunda and 40K

To me they're entirely different types of value for money. A video game is like a book or a movie - I buy it, sink time into it until I'm finished or bored. I think the most I've done was in Guild Wars, nearly 2000 hours over 5 years, and I'm sure I got nearly as much out of Counter Strike.

But now I'm done with Guild Wars, Counter Strike, and countless singleplayer games. I won't go back, though I will trade them in (when it's a console game) to get another game. I've also cut down on video games after adding up the staggering amount I spent on them over a 5 year period. Right now I'm playing Guild Wars 2, which is scratching the video game itch well.

Tabletop armies are different. They're a project. An ongoing project, that I will lose interest in, then get interested in again weeks, months or even years later. They're an outlet for creativity, something where I can put a painted army down and be happy that I painted it.

Tabletop games and video games scratch different itches. However, trying to figure out which one is the 'best' is pretty pointless, because everyone gets different things out of each. Someone who doesn't paint their armies won't get nearly as much out of the tabletop gaming hobby as someone who does, while someone who doesn't like multiplayer games will get a lot less out of video games.

Face to Face gaming is always better than staring at a Naked Lady Giver on line.

 Cruentus wrote:

 insaniak wrote:

 WaaaaghLord wrote:
There's a social element to tabletop gaming that you just don't get through your xBox/PS3/Wii/PC which I really enjoy.

Never been to a LAN party, then?

I've been to several LAN parties, and there was zero social aspect. Everyone sat around their PC screen, clicking away at the RTS game for hours, nary a peep out of anyone. After a couple of those, I was done with PC gaming altogether.

Tabletop miniatures has stuck with me longer than PC gaming, and has expanded from GW to historicals in several eras. When I last bought a PC game a couple years ago, I never actually opened it. I'll take the tabletop, which doesn't become obsolete or unable to be played on the newer OSs (speaking of PC, not console - consoles were only good for our group for the fighting games, everything else was PC).

It's definately apples and watermelons. I've got a couple of friends who I met through roleplaying back in high school who come around and game with my wife and I every week or two (more often during holiday times like now) and we've played a whole lot of different games, though due to space issues, it's largely been playing games like World of Warcraft, Titan Quest, LotRO on PC, though we've also run through Borderlands split-screen on 2 Side-by-side X-boxes, and played a bunch of boardgames. With the new place with more space, I'm planning on getting 40k, FoW and other minis games running (Necromunda!) as well as RPGing. At the moment, we're doing Torchlight II and Borderlands 2, LAN-style.

We usually get together around 5pm after work, get a meal, do a little bit of quick shopping for supplies, then back and game until the wee hours. With good friends, they're all just games - doesn't matter if it's PC, 360, PS3, Board or Miniatures. For the OP - More value comes down to how much time and quality time you're going to spend on either/or. Also you got ripped off on FU2 at that price... Me? I wouldn't give up either kind of gaming...


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 WaaaaghLord wrote:

But if you have a LAN party with friends, you don't get to play, or meet, new people, which was the point I was making?

I don't see a problem with playing TTGs with friends over going to play in a club or store, either. I'm not really one to lug all of my crap down to a game store. I prefer the relaxed locale of my house, with my fridge, my music, my cat, my wife, my mates, my TV for background noise...

 Sidstyler wrote:

 lord_bobbington wrote:
Neither has more value than the other, that is just elitist talk.

/thread.

The OP was never interested in having an actual debate anyway. Clearly his mind was already made up, he was clearly biased since he counted painting and assembly time of his models as part of "GAMEPLAY VALUE", and he came to a forum full of tabletop gamers to basically ask them which is better...he just wanted reaffirmation that he was in the right all along and knew where to go to get it.

 snooggums wrote:
No one to play with, got bored.

Which also applies to tabletop gaming. 40k is not a single-player activity, it's designed to be played with at least one other person. Most console games are kinda the same way, they have some value as a single-player game but most of the time the real fun and draw is in playing with other people. Yeah, 40k has a painting and modeling aspect, but the OP specifically asked which has a better GAMEPLAY VALUE, so I don't know why people keep bringing up the hobby side when clearly we're only meant to be judging the two based on the game.

I don't think preferring one type of entertainment over another is elitist. Different people are going to prefer on type over another and some might like both the same. Just because I find more value in tabletop games doesn't mean I look down on someone who has a different opinion. Now if I did that would be elitist.

Also for some people the hobby side adds to the game play value. No need to hammer us over the head for the specific wording of the post when the OP clearly said he didn't state his question in the best terms. Sorry the thread is not over some of us are enjoying discussing and reading other people's opinions on the matter.

I tend to only buy good value games that I know I will enjoy. BlOps 7:the pwning of noobzville and the like don't interest me as I don't really have the motivation to replay them. Baldurs gate Enhanced edition or Deus Ex human revolutions or the like I have lots of time for and will happily buy on the day of release as I know they will provide good value and replayability.
The least 'value' game I bought in this respect was probably space marine, but I'm a fanboi so exception allowed =p

I do think TT gaming is more value in the long run as its social, creative, artisitc and fun whereas computergames are solitary, focused, and sometimes montonous!

We wrote:


I don't think preferring one type of entertainment over another is elitist. Different people are going to prefer on type over another and some might like both the same. Just because I find more value in tabletop games doesn't mean I look down on someone who has a different opinion. Now if I did that would be elitist.

Also for some people the hobby side adds to the game play value. No need to hammer us over the head for the specific wording of the post when the OP clearly said he didn't state his question in the best terms. Sorry the thread is not over some of us are enjoying discussing and reading other people's opinions on the matter.

Actually it is, the OP was deliberately saying that one form of entertainment has more value than the other because he spent more time on it than the other. That's not saying I have more fun with tabletop games over video games. That's saying, no matter how much fun I have, I spent more of my time for how much money I have spent, therefore my form entertainemt is superior.

If you prefer one form over the other it doesn't matter how much value it has, as I pointed out in my post. I play a haemonculus coven army, its not competitive, but it has more fun to me than a necron flyer spam that would win more battles, but the question the OP is asking is which army wins you more battles for how much money you spent on it.

So yes, the "question" is elitist, not that he even asks a question, he just says it.

We wrote:
I don't think preferring one type of entertainment over another is elitist. Different people are going to prefer on type over another and some might like both the same. Just because I find more value in tabletop games doesn't mean I look down on someone who has a different opinion. Now if I did that would be elitist.

I don't think so, either. I expect most people here to personally find more value in tabletop gaming than other types of games, but don't pretend that there aren't people trying to go one step beyond and insinuating that tabletop gaming is objectively a better value than electronic gaming, since that's pretty much exactly what the OP was doing.

Hey Sid,

I was just providing fuel to burn the fires of debate, in the form of the money / hr breakdown.

I like video gaming too.

I just wanted to see if I was the only guy who thought that way.

No need to get up on a soapbox, the fact that you posted anything at all shows that you took an interest in this thread.

Granted, Dakka is a site for TT gamers, but that doesnt mean people cant have different interests.

Just making conversation, not saying one is BETTER than the other. There were some really cool games when I was a kid-- Remember Excitebike? that game was SWEET!!

Firstly, whoever paid $47 for Force Unleashed 2 got ripped off. That game is over 2 years old, you could walk into a Gamestop and get it for $18-$20.

Secondly, there's too many moving parts in the analogy to make a 1/1 comparison. I spent $5 on a game this weekend (FTL: Faster Than Light, if anyone cares about it) and have already gotten 12 hours of play out of it, and with the sheer amount of playstyles and the difficulty of the game, I'll get at least another 50 out of it. Meanwhile I've spent about $700 on my 40K army and I'd be surprised if I've spent more than 30 hours total playing games with it, and maybe 20 hours painting/modeling.

It all really comes down to a personal judgement.