Pimpcron: 40k Casual Players Are Hipsters
Pimpcron shoots a volley across your bow.
Well, if it isn’t tens of thousands of my favorite people. If you have read more than one of my articles, you would know that I am one of the least competitive players. I’m also not really a “Fluff” person either. I think the fluff is neat, but don’t commit it to memory. I am more centered on tactics and non-competitive list building. But even I notice that it is a very slippery slope for a Casual player like myself to turn into a hipster.How is that you say? Well grab your Mocha Frappuccino, your horn rimmed glasses, and go read this in a coffee shop because you’re probably at risk of becoming a hipster.
Shouldn’t he be tying someone to a train track somewhere yelling, “Nyaaaaaa!”
Casual Players See it Different
Us casual players see the game it in an entirely different way then competitive players. I just had a conversation with a friend at the store about an army. My half of the conversation was “Wow these models are beautiful. These models have so much style, they make me want to play them.” His half of the conversation was, “Yeah they are really powerful. Yes, they have very good rules.” My friend James is a casual player like myself, and had a similar conversation with one of our other friends when I Deepkin came out. My friend James said, “Deepkin have such awesome models, I am going to start this army.” Our mutual friend replied, “I’m not sure if I will start the army, until they release the rules for them. If they’re good I might play them.”
Now, I get it. The rules are important and you probably don’t want to play a total garbage army. This is an expensive hobby and the models are not cheap. But having said that, you will only play models that are competitive? That is very opposite of my personal thinking. I want my army to look and feel cool, with neat back story and neat models. And yes, of course I would like my armies rules to at least be average. But I played Tyranids all through 6th and 7th edition. So I think that says a lot about how much I care if an army is competitive.
This is a picture of how Tyranids felt in 6th and 7th editions.
But Here is The Problem
There is a social thing that happens (I forget what it’s called) when a person is submerged in a different culture. Often times, the person that is an outsider will find that their accent and mannerisms either change to fit the community they are now in, or sometimes their accent and mannerisms become more extremely different. It’s like we unconsciously entrench ourselves in our native ways when confronted with the threat of another culture stripping us of our own. There are many examples of this. It also works with religion, politics, etc. People will often go along with something they don’t personally believe just because the side they support thinks that way. They over-look those things simply because not-siding with their team means they are technically siding against their team.
So when Casuals get around Competitives, it is very easy to start taking the game less and less seriously from this weird thing that we do mentally. While a Competitive starts yammering to you about Net Lists and the new hotness, you start galvanizing yourself against that subconsciously.
Example in Motion
Competitive: “Yeah this new unit is really good, they [do X] when within 6 inches of this other unit.”
Casual: “I’m not really interested in that. I like the models regardless.”
Comp: “Sure, but I heard about this [neat thing] you can do with them. It’s really nasty.”
Cas: “I’m so casual that I don’t care if they have rules or not, I’d play them without rules.”
Comp: “They have some really neat weapon options too.”
Cas: “Weapon options? Who cares about that. I’d play them even without models. Just cut out squares of paper and write the names on them. That’s how casual I am.”
Comp: “And this army gets its own terrain! It gives them [X buff].”
Cas: “Pssssh. Who needs terrain? Or even a board? I don’t use any of that. I just sit alone and imagine the game being played in my head. Ya know, being casual and all.”
Comp: “Yeah, I like to think of lists and strategize too.”
Cas: “I’m so casual I don’t even play. Casual over here.”
Comp: “I get it, sometimes just being in the game store is enough to have a fun time.”
Cas: [walks out of store]
In our distaste for competitive play, don’t let it make you into a Casual 40k Hipster. There is no real pride to be had in not taking the game super seriously or refraining from competitive list building.
But then again …
Competitives: screw those guys. 🙂
[sighs] I specifically asked for 2% milk in this! I’m taking my tip back out of the jar.
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