Games Day

On Saturday I attended Games Day Chicago. I was there working one of the two Adeptus Windy City club tables. Since the team tournament is so popular at Adepticon every year, our organizers decided to have a team tournament table to give people a taste of what that's like. It was my job to bring the Space Wolves army I used at Adepticon this year for use on the table along with an Imperial Guard army. The other side was a coalition of emperor's Children and Black Legion.

A few weeks back, I had to e-mail my army list to one of the other guys running the table. He printed out my list and laminated it for use on the table.

I got there and set my army out and the guy who printed my list, Jeff, asks me, "Where is your third Rhino?" I told him the list only has two rhinos because that's all I own. He insisted that the list has three rhinos so I looked it over. Sure enough, the list does have three rhinos on it. The points work out and everything. Luckily, he had a spare rhino, so I just had to explain to everyone who played the table that this Black Legion rhino is in fact a Space Wolves rhino. What's really the kicker is that I played the Adepticon team Tournament this year being a rhino short. Ah, oh well.

Anyway, Games Day was fun, but not as much fun as Adepticon. I think Games day is aimed more at beginning players rather than older guys like me. There were too many kids running around screaming. Actually, they weren't all kids, but they were screaming. Watch this video.

For some reason, I didn't think much about it Saturday, but this video really got me thinking about how different it must be to get into the hobby these days. When I first got into Games Workshop and 40K, there was no US games day. There were no Games Workshop stores. Miniatures were really hard to get and they were all lead.

Still, my interest didn't wane. I tried as much as a could to scrap together some miniatures, and eventually things got easier. I stopped gaming for a while in High School, and when I came back to it, getting stuff was a bit easier because there were a lot more stores.

And of course, there was now a Games Day happening in the US and eventually Chicago. I've been to the Chicago Games day four times now (I missed 2005). It seems like every year, the kids get younger and the screaming gets louder. It just freaks me out to think gaming has gone from sitting alone in your mom's basement reading books and painting miniatures to this multi-media extravaganza where game company employees wear costumes and whip the crowd into a frenzy. At one point the MC lead the crowd in prayers to the Emperor.

I think it's very important to get new kids in to the hobby, but I'm a little suspicious to the longevity of the kids they're attracting now. They're presenting gaming like it's this exciting high-energy activity that it's not. When these kids get into the tournament scene, will they be expecting people to be screaming at them from across the table. Will they be more concerned with how well they can Waaaaaaagghh than how well they can paint?

Gaming involves a lot of quiet time. I think that's one of the aspects of gaming that is the most beneficial. I find it super relaxing to slowly and patiently paint a miniature or read a book based on the 40k universe.

To all you new kids, welcome with open arms to the hobby; I just hope you stick around after the screaming stops.