Artist, Collector or Gamer: What\'s Your Reason...

[MPJ]

I\'d have to say I\'m a Collector first and foremost. I do tend to love owning minis for the sake of the mini. I\'d like to think of myself as an artist but I just don\'t, not because of my skill level but rather because painting is more of a relation thing. I use gamer as an excuse all the time but fact is I rarely if ever play games with my minis.

So why do YOU buy minis? :drunk:

 

[Amazon warrior]

Curses! I can\'t choose more than one! Fact is, apart from number four, all of those apply to me to some degree. The aquisition of minis pleases me, I like to kid myself that some of my painting is artistic and I like to use my minis for gaming when the opportunity arises. No wonder I have a rapidly expanding collection- I have three reasons to say \"yes\" to a new mini! :beer:

 

[wiccanpony]

I\'m all four, but I voted the last one because yes I\'m depraved lollollol:twisted::drool: but other wise I\'m normal

 

[War Griffon]

I chose collector but I guess in truth I am more a collector/artist but certainly not a gamer in the true sense any more.

As for being depraved, what do we call sane these days???

 

[Gilvan Blight]

Wow that was harder then I thought. I immediately thought gamer, as I bought all of my minis with the plans to game with them. The reality though is that I very very seldom use them for gaming, plus the last 8 or so I painted I don\'t have any plans of using in a game any time soon.

Initially I tend to buy minis that are just cool looking, so that falls under collector. I often buy minis that are cool looking with the plan to play whatever game has such cool looking minis. But then I paint them for artistic reasons since I don\'t actually ever end up using them to game.

Due to this I went with Other. I guess you really should have an all of the above section.

In general though I am definately more of a collector and then a gamer. I own an insane number of games, but I don\'t actually get time to play them very often. And the ones I do get to play don\'t usually involve painted minis (though sometimes they do).

 

[supervike]

Yup, I have to go with all of the above.

I\'ve bought minis for all those reasons....

 

[mud duck]

Im going for number 4. Mostly that it is all 4 reasons in varing degress.
1. There is that OCDish \"New/cool/I\'ve got money in my pocket/Oh that would work for a conversion/ or plain It must be mine!\"
2.I\'m a gamer and the group that I play with are fairly quick to change games on me. I swear that one has a second job just to buy gaming stuff.
3. Paint is fun. Convertion is funner. I think that I enjoy cutting and pasting a little to much......
4. Some of the scupts are just so nice that wellll.....\"It Must Be MINE!!\" Although in some cases it will be years before I look at it again, let alone try to paint it.

I think that the whole question can come down to one answer \"We are Geek! Hear us ROAR!\" :bouncy:

 

[Amazon warrior]

Rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrraaaaaaaaawr!!!

:drool::drunk:

 

[Neil H]

I voted collector as that is where most of the money goes!

However I do paint a bit and like skirmish games.

Neil

 

[Undave]

I\'m going to keep buying minis with the intention of one day putting them all into a huge Scrooge McDuck style Mini Bin and going for a swim in it.

I\'ll dive in to it and after a bit of screaming at the pain of landing on so many jagged bits of metal and plastic I\'ll emerge with hundreds of those little plastic goblins that came with the first Warhammer box stuck in every inch of exposed skin

 

[No Such Agency]

It was a toss-up between Collector and Artist, but I went with the first because I own so many minis that I bought \"because it\'s so cool!\" without actually having an artistic vision in mind for how it would be painted.

 

[Hinton]

Went with Artist as I buy minis just to paint them. I don\'t buy minis just to collect them and I don\'t know anyone in my area that plays mini games.

 

[Queenoftheunifrogs]

id say artist...im an artist by trade anyway although i am something of a collector too. i buy models because i like them, im not really into the gaming side.

 

[pez5767]

ACK! I posted gamer and I\'m the only one!? I have to say that I honestly fall somewhere on all four, but I just can\'t seem to fork out the cash if the model isn\'t for a game I might play... someday.

That being said, it is important to note that I NEVER play without fully painting all my models. Nevertheless, lately I\'ve felt like my mini\'s were more art for the sake of being art.

So many models, so little time.

 

[treide]

Collector first, painter close second. They do look better painted, after all. I have never played a game using miniatures, unless Monopoly counts.

 

[miniDrake]

I was always a bit of a strange one, love painting miniatures,reading rule books,game fluff but the playing side never appealed to me that much.
So would have to say Artist, I paint miniatures and sell them on in the hope they end up doing what they are made for to play in epic battles across fields of death.

Though my skill is middle of the road I give a little bit of soul into each and every miniature in the hope people that do spend cold hard cash on them get some enjoyment from what my brush has done to a little bit of metal or plastic.

 

[Friar]

I went with collector as I seldom see minis as an art but as a craft, I know it\'s a grey area between art n craft but personally I don\'t see much artistic expression in a mini. There are are fair amount of folk who sculpt that I would consider artists, but by and large alot of the war games minis specially along the large scale manufactures that I would consider the sculptors as more a crafter. This has no impact on the talent of the individual, an artist isn\'t automatically more gifted then a crafter nor vice versa.

I would have like to see the choices differ a bit...
Collector: person who buys minis already painted to enjoy the miniature and the painters approach to bringing it to life.

Hobbyist: buys minis to paint for their own personal enjoyment or as the occasional gift for others.

Professional: Vast makority of mini painting is for minis that are commisions or for sale.

Gamer: Likes to play miniature war games.

Sculptor: Primarily sculps greens either for one time custom minis or production.

All of the above.

but thats just me lol, very interesting poll made me stop and consider the choices.

 

[mattrock]

I went artist, but I agree that I\'d be none of the above. I first started buying minis for two reasons:

1. the games looked like fun and it was aesthetically interesting to see the armies scattered across miniature battlefields.

2. I saw how they were painted and, being the arrogant twit that I sometimes am, I just knew I could do it better. But knowing and proving it to yourself are two different things. Then I found this site. And now I have a never ending infinity of people who are better than me to inspire to me to want to bury them with my mad skillzors.


I\'m very competitive.

j/k. but they do inspire me to want to be better.

I\'ve yet to play a miniature war game (though I\'ve been working on a Brett and an Eldar army for nearly a year and a half now. -- I struggle with ADD and can\'t seem to paint two minis that look substantially alike consecutively. ) But that was my original intention. I\'ve sense delved far more deeply into the art of the whole thing. And lately I\'ve considered dropping some c-notes on minis from artists I find to be amazing and inspiring.

 

[Fur Ball]

I started as a gamer back in the 70’s but then turned into a collector/artist in the 80’s but as life got tough and I gave away or sold most of my collection. Now it’s a way to reduce the stress. To spend hours on a figure helps calm the demons of the day. But you know I’m going back to being a gamer just to put a smile on my face.

 

[Shapoopie]

I guess i\'m with you on gamer pez!