Why toy soldiers instead of Video Games?

[airhead]

I got into this discussion at GW Atlanta.

It seems that lots of the people here are into IT in one end or another. Does that have anything to do with why we paint and play with toy soldiers (not game specific - but substantial minis) as opposed to playing video games?

Our thoughts ranged in the area of we deal with the virtual world all day at work: Spreadsheets, databases, etc. or talking to someone on a phone to fix these blasted boxes. By the time you get home, you have no desire to go back into the virtual world even for fun (WoW, etc.), but instead want something solid that you can see, feel and manipulate.

Your thoughts?

 

[johnboyjjb]

I didn\'t think they were mutually exclusive. In fact, I think most of the people here play a fair amount of video games. I know I play more video games then painting.

 

[vincegamer]

Dunno. I\'m comparatively computer illiterate and I spend my free time either playing video games (almost finished x-wing) or paint minis.

 

[Modderrhu]

I\'ve been programming computers for 23 years. I don\'t play computer or video games. Haven\'t done so for maybe 8 or 9 years or so. Mainly because after one midnight session, I felt that I had accomplished absolutely nothing. Nothing of any value came out of the time wasted on the game.

So, I\'d rather paint a soldier and have something I can stick on my shelf, or elsewhere. And playing Necromunda means I\'ve actually had a good time with the mates. One of us makes a lasagna, someone else makes the chocolate mousse. The whisky comes too. We then proceeded to argue about the rules, and a good time gets had by all.

 

[Crackpot]

I can\'t say that there are more painters into IT than other jobs. I know many \"non-IT\" workers who are painting.
Additional I AM a software developer for about 10 years know and I enjoy PC games nontheless.
BUT I really enjoy painting minis because you get a \"tangible\" result, something you can touch, show, look at... Something you DON\'T get in video games and just as little in an IT-job.

 

[lono]

Toy soldiers and computer games have been of equal interest to me for as long as I can remember. The same is true of most folks I know. GW people I know love computer games and spend loads of time doing them.

During my time working as a computer game journalist/cover disc creator/game site creator I was very suprised that the same is true the other way around too. A lot of computer game people love toy soldiers, and particularly RP games. Loads of the computer game bigwigs in particular were huge D&D players and stuff like that.

 

[matty1001]

I do both, though I am stuck on Gears of War at the moment :flame:

 

[Sand Rat]

Well, I paint and play video games at the same time sometimes - does that count?

 

[lono]

Originally posted by matty1001
I do both, though I am stuck on Gears of War at the moment :flame:

j00 suxor noob! Ph34r my l33t sk1llz!!!

 

[darklord]

i do both and for different reasons. a video game is more escapism wheras painting is about creating something from (pretty much) nothing. as someone else mentioned you get something at the end with a mini, something to show a relult rather than a list of credits that disappear once the power is off

 

[uberdark]

i used to play video games. ALL THE TIME!!

In fact name the home system and i had it. i even owned a neo geo and virtual boy. it was a major part of my life. but over the years i would always sell one for another system. and my friends and i would have lan parties all the time. after playing the same thing over and over all the way from wolfenstein 3d to halo 2 i grew tired of it and doing the same things with my friends. i hate to say it but i pretty much dumped my friends cause all they ever wanted to do was play halo 2 and now gears of war. i wanted to do other things like actually talk. crazy thought isnt it. then i got into writing again and eventually miniatures. now i talk with you guys and my newer friends when we get together to paint. we dont just bash each others ego by pistol whipping someone from behind. its about friends and not being so darn competitive over time. i havent played a game in 6 months and i dont miss it.

guess i had a lot to say. *shrugs* hope that explains it.

 

[lizcam]

I work on computers all day but I do play Sims a lot. I paint because I have a drive to do something with my hands. Always have had. I\'ve always taken things apart and made something else out of them. Color drives me and sooths me. Painting minis kind of fills all these needs.

 

[GreenOne]

Like Uber Ive been raised in video games, used to play a lot, now I get rushes that last up to a week. With time Ive started looking upon video games from another perspective, and saw how repetitive and uninspired the market became. Apart from a few games that get my attention I don\'t bother with them anymore.

The main defference with crafting is the way I feel after, for instance, I completed a campaing with the saxons in total war yesterday, and I don\'t feel any better about myself. After a few hours of gaming I feel empty, mentally tired and useless.
After a long session of painting I am happy and I feel like I did something useful, moved toward a greater objective and I feel self-satisfaction, in pair with the feeling after a hard days work. Tough it\'s still pretty trivial, painted minis, I feel it brings infinitely more to the world than playing a video game.
There is also a therapeutic aspect to painting and crafting in general, and in fiddling with the small and minutious things.

 

[generulpoleaxe]

i always got bored of computer games after a while, whilst with miniatures i am always moving on to new challenges, even if i go back and paint the same model.

besides, i spend less on miniatures now than i used to on games.lol

 

[jester of death]

gaming is pretty much my life, in just about all non physical forms. video games were great and i loved to play with my friends, but gamedevelopers kinda hit a bit of a wall with me and i lost interest in normal video game gaming.now me and my friends try to do wierd stuff that your not meant to do with the games. though i do love the xbox game flatout and flatout 2. great game where you actually come out of your car in a crash.

now on to painting. i love painting more than gaming. i come from an artistic background and painting is my chosen medium, i dont think i could be a tattoo artist like my dad. the joy i get from finishing a miniature and having all my friends tell me how great it is is awsome. then of course i come on here and find that im only just above average as a painter.

with gaming it doesnt take long to get your skills to a decent level, but with painting there is always a different way to do the same thing and all you can do is try each way.

anyhoo enough of my ramblings. i paint and i play video games, thats about it.


JoD

 

[matty1001]

Originally posted by lono

Originally posted by matty1001
I do both, though I am stuck on Gears of War at the moment :flame:

j00 suxor noob! Ph34r my l33t sk1llz!!!

Insane setting is really insane lol
Bloody things with crossbow grenade things, one explosion = death. And the genestealer type things, bloody annoying.

Anyhoo...painted mini\'s have better resellability than video games.

 

[Swordwind]

Originally posted by steelcult
Well, I paint and play video games at the same time sometimes - does that count?

What he said. The loading times on Red Orchestra are so long on the big map that I may as well do a little bit whilst I\'m waiting.

 

[Mosch]

Orginal gepostet von uberdark
In fact name the home system and i had it.

Satellaview. IQue. Wondermega/X\'eye. Teradrive. Gameaxe (well, it\'s a handheld, so this might not count).

Now don\'t dare tell me you had those, I\'d really have to kneel to your geekness in that case


As for the actual topic.... I program a lot and I get good results. I creat eprograms that do a hug laod of work for you, but in the end I have not created anything tangible. What I create does not exist in any way you can actually comprehend - it\'s just a series of instructions that handles data, another intangible, abstract idea. What I do is totally entropic, especially because of the rate of technical advancement - though my ideas may still exist, they are broken down, changed and improved. Look at the Sentinel - it\'s a great idea to improve searches, it is important and a basic idea that everybody can easily learn but it does not exist outside of the context of how I use it. My creations exist as much as a three exists, or an addition or any other kind of math.

Please my philosophical excursion, but it illustrates a point: Consumer electronics are laughable in comparison to a pewter miniature. I could draw a Space Marine, make a 3d model on the PC and colour it in, make it perfect in terms of colour composition, blending, all this stuff. It does not exist. Playing video games means you essentially create nothing - the time you play is \"the void\", entertainment purely.

There is nothing wrong with it, of course. I still program stuff, I still play a lot of video games. I play guitar, similar principle. But when a miniature is done, it is done, is exists, it is an actual item, part of reality. It will break down sooner or later, but for a long time to come it will exist and it will exist because of me.

By the way, this is not drunk rambling, I\'ve been completely rewriting the adventure for our RPG tomorrow and I probably should go to sleep so that tomorrow I can again have a clear distinction between things

 

[darthfoley]

I think in too many cases, we play video games TOO much. I know in my case and in several others, WoW pretty much destroyed our painting lives for the last couple years.

 

[Evil Dave]

Heh, heh... young whippersnappers.
I was painting mini\'s when Pac Man was in the arcades.
I\'ve pretty much lost interest in painting (long story) but retain my interests in video games.