I know I'm the new blog on the block, and I'm probably not in a position to be pontificating here, but I have been thinking about the question posed in this post's title for some time.
I'm brand new to 40K, so it's not so much what I get out of it, but what I expect to get out of it. I'm certainly not in the normal 40K demographic (being on the other side of 40), and though I was (and still am) a fan of Battletech, I never got into that for anything but the fluff. With 40K, though, I really have a desire to play the game for the sake of the game. I think that's my expectation: I know I'm not going to win much in the beginning, but I'll learn new things, meet a few new people, and collect a nice army.
Am I in the minority? How many of you play the game for the game's sake? How many of you play to win, and only win? Or are there other reasons you play?
Please, by all means, comment away on your reasons. I'll be interested to see if I'm in the minority or not.
When I am playing a game of 40k I play to win. At first I thought that that was going to be the entirety of my response, but now that I am thinking about it I could play to win with any game... but every time I think about investing in a different game I keep on getting distracted by the possibility of a new 40k army instead. Something about the fluff, sheer badassery/grim darkness gets to me... and yes, probably a bit of affection for the rules set even though I know that often they are a complete piece of dreck.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure if that was what you were going for with your reasons, but that's mine. And dangit, now I want to do a post like this...
Max -
ReplyDeleteThat's exactly what I was looking for. Hey, you were honest about playing to win, but then when you thought it over you realized it was more than just the thrill of the win.
Thanks for commenting, and I hope you'll be a regular reader.
Brad
Let's see, when I play, some of me plays to win (if you didn't want to win there'd be no point in the game, because every game has a winner and a loser or sometimes a tie.) and some of me just plays to have fun. I enjoy playing. It takes me away form the real world for awhile. I also enjoy building models and painting them, although my will to paint is very lacking as of late. I played a bunch of other games too, long ago but have sold off all but the 40k. I just really love 40k, playing it, reading it and building it.
ReplyDeleteI used to play to win at everything, not just 40k, not just in tournaments, and this developed into a terribly competitive mindset generally, almost to the point of becoming unsociable. When my Chaos codex got nerfed with a new release I found it quite difficult to compete at the same level and stopped playing.
ReplyDeleteI came back two years later, having got married and moved house so my priorities are different. I hardly game at all at present, but am really enjoying all the other sides to the hobby I was blind to previously.
Once I do get back into gaming regularly I know my army lists will be fluff-driven and not the pinnacle of power-gaming they used to be.
Interesting to see that winning still plays a part in most people's experience.
ReplyDeleteI, too, am married, have an 11 year old son, so my priorities are pretty different from the younger 40K player.
I think the old adage of "with age comes wisdom" plays a part in everyone's gaming experience, whether or not 40K is your hobby of choice.
Thanks for the replies.