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I tried, I really tried to see a game of 40K at a store. It was Black Knight Games in Hamilton, Ontario. You gamers there on Aug 1s, should be ashamed of yourselves. Come on, shower and use deoderant or anit perspent. Shower before showing up and USE SOAP.

I know I will not be coming to the store to play any games, it was hurendous. Like come on, I thought this was a joke, an internet joke, but the entire back store was B.O!

So how come 40K gamers don't shower? Like wow, I just lost lots of games now because I can't bear it.

So please people shower, with soap and use deoderant/anit perspant before you game. That was shamefull.

So what do you guys and gals do when someone really stinks when about to play a 40K game? What is the polite way of handling a situation where you can't be in the same room because the smell is so bad?

This isnt a joke, I really dont smell it TBH.

I've experienced a similar problem is some GW/FLGS, but generally, I've found a lot of wargamers to be pretty socially normal human beings. Then again, this may stem from me only dealing with normal, hygienic people, but I admit there are still a visible portion of wargamers who hold steadfastly onto their old, pre-pubescent hygiene routine.

Just start bringing cheap sticks of deodorant to tournies/events. Refuse to play your opponent until he puts some on. Even give it to him for free, the whole stick. You might have to give a demo, so be prepared.

This drove me out of the local gw.
Its small, so it takes one armpit guy to drive me out of the store.

I'm a 40k guy, and I shower EVERY day-sometimes two or three times, depending on what I'm doing that day!! I can't stand the stink. However, in my area it's the Magic kids who smell the worst. I had a friend walk in on a Magic tourney when I worked at the store and he practically fell over from the stink. Yes, it was that bad. He made a comment, and one of the guys bitched to the boss. The guy who bitched does actually shower, but his friends don't. Actually, while the store I go to DOES get humid from body heat, the Warhammer players really don't generate a bad smell. Scent of people, like at an indoor stadium concert, yes. Smell of unwashed hippies? No.

I know I personally Shower and dress rather well even for just some wargaming

The majority of people in my lgs also are really clean, but I agree with you... as Majority is not All

sigh

Alot of the people who play in flgs are normal everyday people.
the unwashed gamer image is an exageration.... but in europe anyway flgs are always rather small, so it only takes one "questionable hygiene" guy to make the air unbreathable.

And when you step in and the stink hits, you're not gonna sniff everyones armpits to figure who showers or not,...

But again, we are normal people ! .

Tournaments at my FLGS are held in the back room.

Everyone there is clean and fresh when they arrive (barring occasional stinky outsiders) but 8-9 hours in a windowless, enclosed space WILL generate a certain aura, especially on a hot day, or when a lot of people attend.

I have smelled the Great Unwashed phenomenon elsewhere though, and a little mild overheating is NOTHING on that :(

Ascalam wrote:Tournaments at my FLGS are held in the back room.

Everyone there is clean and fresh when they arrive (barring occasional stinky outsiders) but 8-9 hours in a windowless, enclosed space WILL generate a certain aura, especially on a hot day, or when a lot of people attend.

I have smelled the Great Unwashed phenomenon elsewhere though, and a little mild overheating is NOTHING on that :(

Agreed. There is a great difference in smell between a couple of people sweating on a hot day ( which is only human lads ), and the smell of a Great Unwashed One, who carries with him the smell of many days and layers of perspiration.

The first can be cure by opening a window, stepping out for fresh air or a quick spray of deodrent. The Great Unwashed One would need a good shower and a pound of soap.

I take a good shower everyday, brush my teeth, the usual clean hygiene stuff. So I expect others to do the same, you know cause were all human beings. But if there is that smell game around call em out. They'll be out of there in no time.

The size of the store and the amount of ventilation matters a lot.

Luckily my flgs has this, and no one really seems to stink.

Ma55ter_fett wrote:The size of the store and the amount of ventilation matters a lot.

Luckily my flgs has this, and no one really seems to stink.

I honestly think it's ridiculous not to have a decent ventilation system in all GW stores.
The one in frankfurt is pretty big, but it's like an oven right now, its actually cooler outside the bloody store !

My new store in Strasbourg is tiny and also lacks a ventilation system.

I might not shower every day, but I certainly do if I'm about to go down to the store or a mate's place for a game. Common courtesy and all.

As a follower of Nurgle I turned my bathtub into a sess pool. I swim in it daily and double on days I play warhammer 40k. I use dead skunks as my deodorant. I am the Great Unclean One and you will fear me.

The sayings of the GUO.

Edit: Non Me! I shower before I go to my FLGS. Its only common hygiene.

ObliviousBlueCaboose wrote:As a follower of Nurgle I turned my bathtub into a sess pool. I swim in it daily and double on days I play warhammer 40k. I use dead skunks as my deodorant. I am the Great Unclean One and you will fear me.

The sayings of the GUO.

That cracked me up

Well my FLGS is actually meant to be an apartment/house so ventilation is rather good, albeit space is rather limited. I have to say I would rather play 40k with a GUO than play airsoft with a GUO in my squad (hell a days hard work i can tolerate and completely understand for smell, if its several days BEFORE the event since you last took a shower, needless to say I find myself doing suicide actions just to get away from them) .

I'm rather lazy, but I also refuse to go play wargames without clean clothes / freshly showered.

This basically forces me to chose between doing laundry or painting at home instead of going out to play.

Often, I choose to stay home and paint :(

This is not an exageration in my area. There are some stank people that show up at the store. I carry AXE BODY SPRAY in my army bag and will spray myself, but accidently have the can facing the wrong way to get the smell on the culprit. Also after a long day of gaming at a tournament I will even hit myself up with it just in case...don't wanna be that guy..

The card players are the worst! But yes people please shower!

Davor wrote:So how come 40K gamers don't shower? Like wow, I just lost lots of games now because I can't bear it.

Blanket-statements like this generally make you look silly and come off as rude.

I'm a good looking, well-dressed, well groomed individual and a 40k gamer. Your move.

Well every store does that one smelly guy.... I just wish some one would let him know as I'm to polite.

The last 'ard Boys 2nd round were held the same day my FLGS was hosting a Video Game convention. After a couple of hours in the middle of summer, with a crappy AC and all the GUOs the place Reeked. I mean everyone smelled due to the heat, but the GUO really stood out.

Like Byte said, its the card players. The 40K players in our store are clean and "normal" but those card kids smell HORRID.

I agree, luckly my FLGS is the size of two or maybe three gaming stores, (its the largest one in Arkansas supposedly.) So since there is plenty of room to spread out it doesnt smell that bad. Except for the bathroom on saturdays. Its like some people can't aim to save their lives. And thats with an employee cleaning it 2-3 times a day.

At my FLGS, It's normally the Back Room you avoid at all costs.

The people up front(unless there's a Big Magic/yu-gi-oh/"other game where you play with your new toy right after you buy it instead of running home and studying the new rulebook like your in college again and tomorrow's the big test" release. Then the wargamers are out on the streets) generally smell like they didn't nap during that part in health in 5th grade when the teacher told everyone about deodorant.

O yes, and it is worth noting that yesterday I really did have to bring it up to the manager because they were having a Yu-Gi-Oh tourney and it really friggin smelled like someone in there was worshiping Nurgle. I wasn't going to say anything about it until I actually overheard some kids in that tourney complain about it.

I have no sense of smell so I'm not driven away by it let alone notice it.

I am, however, self conscious about my own hygiene and always wonder if I smell bad. The first things I do when I get up are take my meds, brush my teeth, shower, and change into a clean set of clothing.

I'm too nervous about my possible stench to not try to bathe and use deodorant.

Fido198674 wrote:Like Byte said, its the card players. The 40K players in our store are clean and "normal" but those card kids smell HORRID.

Its like that here, i only see one unclean one who always wears a shirt one size to small that is white at 40k night.
But it gets worse on friday night magic where you can fit alot more in a confined space.

As a personal note, I've been to Black Night games in Hamilton before, not for 40k but for Magic the Gathering, and I found that it probably had the most unpleasant player base in the area. I know that the players in the area also tend to be somewhat aggressive and don't have the best conduct (people caught cheating multiple times have not been banned). If you have a car I know that Conspiracy Comics in Burlington has generally respectable individuals, or at least it did whenever I went there, although I think they have fewer weekly games with a greater focus on tournaments. Alternatively, there is Bayshore Hobbies on King West (its near McMaster where Westdale starts to merge into downtown). I haven't played there but the staff were quite friendly and when I was looking at models they mentioned that they had regular games there, so it might be worth your time to check it out.

And also for the record, I've generally found that the most respectable people at any games store for any hobby tend to be the late-teens/early twenties university students who aren't completely committed to gaming (ie, the ones who tend to have a life outside of the game, so to speak), followed closely by the older, educated hobbyists who generally show up the shirt and tie they were wearing that day. They also tend to be a touch more competitive (not necessarily extremely competitive, WAAC guys, but they generally enjoy the most when both they and their opponents are playing at their best, and if something is giving them repeated trouble, instead of whining about it being OP or trying to get it banned, they adapt to counter it). What type of game they actually play is irrelevant, and I've noticed a roughly equal distribution of well-kept individuals in both tabletop games and CCGs.

Also, as a note to people badmouthing card game players as being poorly kept, to to a MtG PTQ or other competitive event, then look at the players who make it into the top 16. I'm willing to bet that at least 12 of them are well dressed, and that at least 7 of the top 8 will look respectable. I can't speak for other games, and I definitely can't speak for lower levels of competition (while my local FNM is fairly competitive, people treat it as PTQ practice, but FNM's I've gone to at other stores have covered the entire spectrum of player attitudes and types), but my personal experience is that card players, particularly the ones that are actually good, and not just a shark in the kiddie pool, act and keep themselves in a presentable manner.

I game with a Doctor, a lawyer's husband, a person who does the IT/Software for a hospital, and a few other shirt and tie types. And all of us, would point out someone who was rank. Not to be rude, if there was a little smell, we would ignore it. But if someone was looking like Pigpen from Peanuts..yea we would say something. And if the store didnt like it, we would point out how much more we spend than stinky.