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I'm going to offer you some different advice.

Keep it secret. That's it. Minimize as much as possible the contact between the normals and your hobby.

40k and tabletop wargaming are looked down on by the majority of people. The majority of your elders, your classmates, and the opposite sex will mark you as "odd" or "childish" for your hobby. Your father cannot compute your interest, he cannot relate at all. This will be a source of friction between you. Consider it from his point of view: very expensive "waste" of money, playing with "dolls", associating with weird people.

The harsh truth is that, while it might be nice if we could all be ourselves, life is not sunshine and rainbows. People are incredibly judgemental. Learning how to navigate this is a very useful skill. Be true to yourself, but be smart about it.

 AesSedai wrote:
I'm going to offer you some different advice.

Keep it secret. That's it. Minimize as much as possible the contact between the normals and your hobby.

40k and tabletop wargaming are looked down on by the majority of people. The majority of your elders, your classmates, and the opposite sex will mark you as "odd" or "childish" for your hobby. Your father cannot compute your interest, he cannot relate at all. This will be a source of friction between you. Consider it from his point of view: very expensive "waste" of money, playing with "dolls", associating with weird people.

The harsh truth is that, while it might be nice if we could all be ourselves, life is not sunshine and rainbows. People are incredibly judgemental. Learning how to navigate this is a very useful skill. Be true to yourself, but be smart about it.

I would be very careful in following the above advice, as it can lead to a lot more problems in your life than it solves. If you cannot be proud of yourself for who you are, you will repress emotions that should not be repressed, and those emotions will bleed out in less healthy ways. One thing that maybe we didn't state well enough is that, when you're true to yourself, there are going to be the haters. There will be people that will mock you, that will hate on you. Chances are though that they're not hating on you because you play 40k, but because they enjoy hating on things. This means that no matter what you do, there will be people that will hate on you for doing it. If that's the case, and you honestly can't escape it, then you might as well enjoy the things you want! At least then you can enjoy yourself while those people throw around the hate, and in all honesty, you'll be the better and happier person in the end for it. It eventually becomes comical how much others throw around the hate, because it becomes so transparent that they do this due to lacking other stuff in their own lives.

So, will some people look down on it? Sure. But if you're happy with it, then the people who look down on it won't matter. People may be incredibly judgemental, but that doesn't mean that their judgements are correct. A child is very judgemental, but most people consider children to simply not understand, and hence their snap judgements are often wrong.

Warhammer 40k outmatches CS:GO tenfold.

Unlike CS:GO, 40k actually requires effort and a degree of real skill (actually assembling and painting models, rather than pressing a button and applying a paint job to a digital weapon.)

Furthermore, actually wanting to go out and do things is a million times better than sitting in front of a computer all day, you'll be better off in the long run.

 Cothonian wrote:
Unlike CS:GO, 40k actually requires effort and a degree of real skill (actually assembling and painting models, rather than pressing a button and applying a paint job to a digital weapon.)

I would have to disagree - there is a lot of skill and practice involved in becoming a professional gamer, and CS:GO is well known for being both a big eSport game, and one that tests your reflexes and ability to process different information at fast rates. If you're just playing it for a pastime, sure, but people overlook the skill required in a lot of a videogames a lot these days, both on a casual and competitive level.

Still, having a game of 40k with your mates down at the local club is certainly more socially rewarding, and painting and collecting is an indescribable joy; a feeling you won't find in similar form in any videogame.

G.A

I always thought playing 40k set me apart from people, made me a bit of an odd ball. Now, I never cared much, I was captain of the wrestling team in high school and a bit of a ladies man if I do say so myself, but always with this dark secret.

By the time I got to college, I realized the hobby is varied in its players, no one fits a certain mold. There's a PhD student I play with and another guy who cancels because he goes out and parties all the time. And then when I went to a tournament for the first time, ohhhh man, it was awesome. Then, last night I was talking to my professor after class and somehow 40k got brought up and it turns out he played too!

Not sure if it helps, but the hobby is varied, I wouldn't worry too much about what people thing about you for playing.