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Im just asking about Warhammer 40k, even though its pretty similar to all other types of mini wargames, but what makes it so god damn addictive?

Ive been playing it since i was about 9 (shudder to think what i was like back then) and 9 years later i still cant seem to put it down for good.
I have started and sold a ton of models and after finally sticking with one army for more then a year i still find myself loving the game.

Do you think its just because of the sense of enjoyment people get out of it, or do you think they put drugs in the miniatures?
What are your thoughts on it guys?

The universe and game has great concepts with bad execution, so I give enough of a damn to try fixing them and seeing what works and what doesn't.

I think what Freud would say is that it all stems from your impulsive desire as an infant to collect your own poop.

 jasper76 wrote:
I think what Freud would say is that it all stems from your impulsive desire as an infant to collect your own poop.

There's a reason why Freud's ideas are only considered a bedrock for modern psychology to be built on, rather than a basis to be based off of.

Its the Air Borne drugs they put in the packages that make it so addictive.

I prefer the 40K and WHFB miniatures over most of the other miniatures.

 Kain wrote:

 jasper76 wrote:
I think what Freud would say is that it all stems from your impulsive desire as an infant to collect your own poop.

There's a reason why Freud's ideas are only considered a bedrock for modern psychology to be built on, rather than a basis to be based off of.

Agreed. IMO, any Psychology discipline that doen't start with the word "Evolutionary" is a joke destined for the trash heap of bad ideas. Rant over.

 jasper76 wrote:

 Kain wrote:

 jasper76 wrote:
I think what Freud would say is that it all stems from your impulsive desire as an infant to collect your own poop.

There's a reason why Freud's ideas are only considered a bedrock for modern psychology to be built on, rather than a basis to be based off of.

Agreed. IMO, any Psychology discipline that doen't start with the word "Evolutionary" is a joke destined for the trash heap of bad ideas. Rant over.

Evolutionary Psychology is much less relevant than the people who misuse it think it is. The majority (but not totality) of what makes everyone who they are personality wise comes mostly from nurture; not BIO-TRUTHS.

 Kain wrote:

 jasper76 wrote:

 Kain wrote:

 jasper76 wrote:
I think what Freud would say is that it all stems from your impulsive desire as an infant to collect your own poop.

There's a reason why Freud's ideas are only considered a bedrock for modern psychology to be built on, rather than a basis to be based off of.

Agreed. IMO, any Psychology discipline that doen't start with the word "Evolutionary" is a joke destined for the trash heap of bad ideas. Rant over.

Evolutionary Psychology is much less relevant than the people who misuse it think it is. The majority (but not totality) of what makes everyone who they are personality wise comes mostly from nurture; not BIO-TRUTHS.

Yeah, I don't disagree with this. However, any field of psychological study that does not recognize that we are all hard-wired for life in the Savannah is at a crushing disadvantage to one that does.

Because it's like heroin.

Wonderful the first time, and the second, and then you're addicted, and it turns into your own personal hell. And you can't escape because you just feel awful without it. So you attach yourself to a small group of likeminded people to get through the days, waiting for your next fix, hating it and loving it together. There is no way out, this is your life.




Don't do drugs, kids.

 jasper76 wrote:

 Kain wrote:

 jasper76 wrote:

 Kain wrote:

 jasper76 wrote:
I think what Freud would say is that it all stems from your impulsive desire as an infant to collect your own poop.

There's a reason why Freud's ideas are only considered a bedrock for modern psychology to be built on, rather than a basis to be based off of.

Agreed. IMO, any Psychology discipline that doen't start with the word "Evolutionary" is a joke destined for the trash heap of bad ideas. Rant over.

Evolutionary Psychology is much less relevant than the people who misuse it think it is. The majority (but not totality) of what makes everyone who they are personality wise comes mostly from nurture; not BIO-TRUTHS.

Yeah, I don't disagree with this. However, any field of psychological study that does not recognize that we are all hard-wired for life in the Savannah is at a crushing disadvantage to one that does.

It's my knee-jerk reaction to Evo Psych as people tend to misuse it to justify racism, classism, and especially sexism. Which me being a Social Justice warrior has lead to many long, drawn out arguments.

 Kain wrote:
It's my knee-jerk reaction to Evo Psych as people tend to misuse it to justify racism, classism, and especially sexism. Which me being a Social Justice warrior has lead to many long, drawn out arguments.

Yeah, I can see how it could be misused for racist and sexist claims and so forth. In fact, it seems to me to prove quite the opposite, as one of the most interesting facts about human evolution is our mutual ancestry from a seemingly very very small group of ancient humans.

It's certainly not the online community.

For me, the miniatures and background. I never play the game, and don't really care that much about playing it anyway.

The models are nice, and it takes so long to find an opponent and enough time to play a game that it's impossible to play so many games that you get tired of it. So basically, unless you are some type of insanely rich jobless person with unlimited time, it's pretty difficult to play the game to a point where you get tired of it.

This is why I can stick with video games for too long, it's so easy that I play too much and get bored quickly. With 40k I have to wait at least a week or 2 between games at the best of times.

Because 40k allows me... To crush my enemies, see them driven before me, and to hear the lamentations of their women!

 rabidguineapig wrote:
This is why I can stick with video games for too long, it's so easy that I play too much and get bored quickly. With 40k I have to wait at least a week or 2 between games at the best of times.

Me too...I remember when video games were ::gasp:: hard.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Zarynterk wrote:
Because 40k allows me... To crush my enemies, see them driven before me, and to hear the lamentations of their women!

This is good

There is a reason people call it plastic crack.

Basically, everytime you play it is always different. It's not like a game where you can learn to beat the AI. Your opponent may bring a new list which floors you, or the dice gods might decided that today is the day of the 1 (leadership tests do not adhere to celebrations of the day of the 1, they celebrate the day of the 6 intead.)

I can think about the game outside of the game. In a video game, my dudes can only exist within the confines of the script, and, as such, I am living through another person's idea. But in 40k, the story is malleable. Very few events are set in stone, and even those few sit on a shifting foundation. My army is my army; it has my story, my troops, my colors, and my leadership.

Speaking of video games, anyone played the Dawn of War (mainly Soulstorm) games or to a lesser degree DoW II games?

 tko75 wrote:
Speaking of video games, anyone played the Dawn of War (mainly Soulstorm) games or to a lesser degree DoW II games?

I own boxed sets of all the relic games, and made a habit of getting all the Warhammer games.

I mostly play Titanium Wars, the Codex Mod, and Ultimate Apocalypse as far as DoW 1 goes. With at the very least the Tyranid mod installed of course.

Yeah UA with tyranid mod is so much fun, online and on the survival mode

dakka dakka

Well, it's a universe with story-making able to rival with LotR, Star Wars and other big names in fantasy literature. I think there are very few universes telling a story spanning 40,000 years and, of those, ones when stuff that happened 10,000 years before still heavily affects what happens in the present time. THe Imperium, so close yet so far from us in our time, the technology so advanced it looks like magic and the fear/little understanding of it. Creatures from outer space that sometimes help the Imperium, sometimes strikes at it. Creatures from outer realms of reality, whispering promises and dreams, but delivering neither. Psionics and the Warp. The gothic feeling. The wide range of factions (more than 20 nowadays) and the escalability of the game (a 500p feels very different from a 2000p one, even with the clunky rules).

40k has a lot of games in one; every game you play is different from another (unless you go all WAAC - all will be the same then). And that's the main selling point, I think. It's hard to get tired of many games instead of playing the same one again and again. The fluff hammers the last nail in or wallets. The game becomes an emotional thing - and to get out of an emotional situation...

 tko75 wrote:
Speaking of video games, anyone played the Dawn of War (mainly Soulstorm) games or to a lesser degree DoW II games?

I did. Mainly DoW I, My PC couldn't handle DoW II back then.

My father in law bought a boxed set for one of my kids about 5 years ago. Then I picked up the first Horus Heresy book and was promptly suckered in.

From that point forward it has been something to do with my kids. This has led to a game table taking over my garage and a collection of models large enough to field several Apoc level armies. The only ones we don't have are SoB and Orks. We had Orks for awhile, but no one played them so they were gifted to a neighbor.

The background is full of interesting things and I like that new books are released from BL pretty regularly. I'm not too concerned that the timeline hasn't moved forward.

The models are absolutely ridiculously awesome. That there are rules to USE actual MODELS and fight your friends is sdtraight up cooler than Antarctica in winter.

I am no less competitive than anyone else. Far from it. But I REALLY dont play this game just for an arena to compete in. I need more than that.

As an RPG played since 1984, I love role playing. And I basically get to "role play" an army going at it in this game using some of the most beautiful models and I get to see some of the most amazing conversions (I am terrible at painting and conversions but appreciate vboth greatly).

So when Editions change: big F'ing deal. we are going to have RULES to play with these AWESOME SAUCE toys and I just can't get enough honestly. Its SO FUN to think about.

Me thinks Jancoran is an undercover agent of GW here to spread wild propaganda and spin deceivingly intricate webs of lies in order to gain our affection...

Never will this work I tell you, NEVER!

The breadth of the hobby is what does it for me. Collecting, assembling, kit bashing, painting, learning new techniques, planning armies, wallowing in the fluff, reading the large number of novels, playing the PC games, hating GW whilst loving (most of) their models, and discussing it all online.

 jasper76 wrote:
Me too...I remember when video games were ::gasp:: hard.

I too remember the olden days of this morning!

It's got things my mind can enjoy tinkering with as far as customizing a list. At least as long I stay away from a WAAC meta the game can be as fun as choosing which unique chess pieces you want to play chess with and then playing that chess game with others. If I want to play with 5 more pawns, and an extra knight and just give up both bishops , one rook, and the queen I can do that.

And then the uncertainty of dice, which adds the same curiousity that keeps people playing games of chance.

Once you have an expensive set of models you feel you are too invested in the hobby to just walk away.

I love list tinkering. I have won with at least two lists for every non-fw army since 6th started, both before and after any codex updates.

The games are hit and miss. I love the games that end with 3 guys on the table, or 1 squad fleeing from Calgar with the relic while rhinos try to block his path.

I like seeing dice rolled.

For me, one of the pillars of being a nerd is labyrinthine continuity. I love stories and 40k has them by the sectors-full. Mostly dark and gritty stories, but you can find awesome and funny stories as well. I'm talking about the kind of setting that you can get lost in. The kind of continuity with tons of options for you to develop whatever characters you want (I love me some RPG's). The kind of fluff that at times contradicts itself and can be debated to almost no end with friends (or strangers in your local stores on internet forums). 40k fluff used to frustrate me for all it's plot-holes, until I came to the conclusion that everybody is right, at different times (I was right, then they retconed it and now you are right). That you can make the setting into whatever you want. The only justification you need for any given situation that you want to write (or play out on the tabletop) is whatever great (to hilariously and awesomely bad) excuse you want for the given situation.

And the custom modeling. Seeing crazy looking custom-armies, or hilarious modifications or even just awesome personalization are part of what makes 40k not just fun stories and books but a fun hobby. It's so fun to field a newly customized and painted model. It's so frustrating when it inevitably dies first turn on it's debut (and it always happens), but I laugh it off because it's so fun to make other people's fresh, newly-painted model that they are so proud of, die first turn on it's debut. In line with the Role Playing aspects of it, I also love seeing crazy stuff happen on the tabletop, then trying to describe it or define it by the fluff. For instance: a lone Guard survived a brutal DE assault, then manages to get a single wound (by rolling a 6 no-less) on a Haemonculus, only to see her Gnarlskin make that (rare) 6+ save. The general consensus was the Guardsmen bayoneted her in the neck, and the blade just stuck there and refused to budge.

Edit: Oh! And the Community! Just about any advice you need to make your 40k painting and gaming better can be found at local stores, youtube or in forums. I follow a few Youtube 40k Players almost religiously for their insights into my enemies and how I can play the game better.

In Short, I second this opinion:

 Yonan wrote:
The breadth of the hobby is what does it for me.

Okay, and this opinion too.

hating GW whilst loving (most of) their models