Okay everyone. In this post, we look at how has COVID-19 affected your gaming. I will share how it affected me and I hope for audience interaction in this article. Please leave comments below.
Specifically in this article, I discuss the different aspects of our hobby and how “gamers” could be categorized as different types of hobbyists. I will then talk about how COVID-19 affected my gaming.
With that out of the way, let’s look at how I the hobby can be viewed as several sub-hobbies.
Wargaming as Many Hobbies in One
When you get involved in miniature gaming, you find yourself participating in more than just one hobby. There is painting, building, collecting, reading, socializing, and, of course, playing the games. To me, these are all separate hobbies. Perhaps you feel that is subject for debate. If so, please leave a comment below.
I remember one large company who for years claimed that Wargaming was not a hobby, but instead a lifestyle. Perhaps that is true, but later they rebranded themselves as “the hobby.” They are not the hobby. Plenty of little guys make up this hobby and part of my mission is helping to bring a spotlight to those smaller businesses by acting as a voice through Must Contain Minis.
I remember a discussion with someone from one of those smaller companies. Lee, from Crucible Crush, told me that in his view, there are three types of miniature gamers. Those who collect, those who paint, and those who play the games.
I think there is some truth to that statement. I like to think of myself as one of those who plays the games. Honestly though, I spend most of my time collecting and thinking about the games. I collect rulesets, miniatures and terrain from all sorts of manufacturers.
That makes me a collector at heart.
My friends Dave Lamers and Drew Claessens are painters through and through. Dave is great at painting large batches of figures quickly while Drew is fantastic at getting in on the details and painting the miniatures to a showcase level.
Meanwhile, Barnaby Ore of the Hamilton Tabletop Gaming Society is all about the socializing aspect of the hobby. Of course, there are certainly a large number of gamers out there focused on playing too.
What we all have in common (all three groups) is our love for miniatures and miniature gaming. This love draws us together. At the same time, we all come to the hobby from a different angle. I think Lee is right on this one. Let’s analyze my angle on the hobby for a while.
How do you match up?
My Hobby Focuses
So, what aspects of the hobby capture my attention? Let me rank them in order. 1 being most liked and 6 being least liked. While I say “least liked,” I still enjoy all aspects of the hobby. Even painting.
Tell me if you match up to me. Maybe you come at it from a different angle. If so, which.
Now, to my list.
- Checking out new products and collecting miniatures
- Building miniatures
- Socializing and sharing my love of miniatures (hence Must Contain Minis and my voice on various platforms informing you about various games and miniatures out there)
- Reading rule sets
- Playing the games
- Painting
On top of that, I have a second hobby of content creation and miniature photography. That is a lot of aspects into this miniature gaming hobby of mine.
In my opinion, each one of the items listed above could be classified as a separate hobby. Looking at my hobby preferences and Lee’s categories, I believe I fall into the “collecting” category of miniatures shoppers.
Before doing this exercise, and especially before COVID-19, if anyone asked which of Lee’s categories I fall into, I would have claimed “one of those that play the games.”
With the changes I made during COVID, I became more clear in my thinking that I am a collector instead of a player.
How has COVID-19 affected my gaming?
Back to the question at hand. How has COVID-19 affected your gaming?
For me, it completely shut down my “playing the game” aspect of the hobby. I haven’t played a game since at least March, if not even longer. That said, I have been able to build a number of miniatures and kicked my content creation for the web into high gear.
My collecting never stopped. Even though I have not been out to a gaming convention (where I like to sell off my old collections), I continue to buy. I buy from online stores, like Cardboard Dungeon Games, and Brick and Mortar stores, like Forbes Hobbies. I also take in products for review for this website too. That means a lot of collecting, which I love.
It also means a lot of material to create content about. Which is good because I am writing more than ever and creating YouTube videos too.
I got in some painting since COVID-19, but my painting has been seriously disrupted as my painting station moves from room to room to accommodate working from home. I would like to change this and hopefully over the next few months, I will be able to get that paint station set up in a more permanent location again.
Because I am so busy with work and content creation, my reading has not been as prevalent as I would like either. That will change again. There is nothing I like more than checking out a bunch of different rule sets – other than maybe checking out a bunch of different lines of miniatures.
Summing it up, I find myself collecting more and creating more miniature gaming related Internet content since COVID-19 hit. My miniature building is probably on par to where it would have been before COVID while my completion levels for painting and rule reading is down.
Sadly, my gaming has been non-existent since COVID-19 struck. That said, I still love the hobby and want to support all of the related businesses that I can.
How has COVID-19 affected your gaming?
Back to you. How has COVID-19 affected your hobby-ing? Are your focuses different now? Please share in the comments below.
Wrapping it up…
Thank you for joining me in this discussion about miniature gaming. In this article, we talked about how the miniature gaming hobby can be considered as a number of separate hobbies, talked about categories of gamers, and talked about how COVID-19 has changed the hobby for myself.
I also pose the question on how COVID-19 has affected you and your pastime with miniatures. Please leave comments below. I am really interested in hearing from you on this article.
Until next time, Happy Gaming Everyone!!!
I would imagine that my gaming life has been affected much the same as everyone else’s. The one convention I attend was cancelled and it has sidelined an ECW campaign that a friend and I have been playing. Outside of the campaign I usually get a game in every coupe if months and, of course, that has not happened.
I hear you and feel for you. Fortunately playing the games is not the only part of our great hobby.
You need a home table bro. We have hosted 10 games, a pig roast and tourney, and developed two new players
I do need a home table for sure! Still waiting on the space for it. Have plans, but disrupted by COVID. I will get it eventually, just not there yet.
For me, it is playing the game and the story it unfolds as I play. I have posted a number of AARs with pics of my solo miniature games adding fluff text to make it interesting for the readers and in my mind’s eye. Solo stories are fine, but they are some much better when active (opponents) participants are involved. I have been fortunate to have one gaming buddy who has been isolating like me and has been able to come over every so often to add the active component to these tales of miniature wonder.