The Vanishing Art of Having Fun

In the grim darkness of the far future, we have become lost in the grim darkness.

I still love this hobby. I enjoy playing 40k, and I enjoy everything else about the hobby. Whether I’m assembling models, painting them, or discussing tactics and army builds with other players, I absolutely love this game. However, there was a time when playing Warhammer 40,000 was so much more than it is now. Some might claim this was due to the newness of the game, or the relatively young age of seventeen at which I started playing. However, I think it is much more than this.

In those early days, my friends and I had no concept of the online 40k community. We simply built lists from models we already owned and played. Often these models were just the sets we found most visually appealing; we bought what we considered “cool”, and we went from there. Over time we grew into our own strategies and a few of us started playing tournaments. I remember being very successful playing tournaments for several years. Through all of this, I never lost that passion for the game.

I’ve only remembered in recent weeks that feeling. It crept up on me like nostalgia itself, sweet and bitter at the same time. When I stopped to consider what had changed, I realized there was a very different mentality driving most games of 40k anymore.

Winning and losing have become a purpose for playing unto themselves.

Now obviously, when we play any competitive game system or sport, the vast majority of us are seeking to win. But what I’m talking about is different. In recent years the online 40k community has become more pervasive, amongst our group and amongst 40k players everywhere. I stepped away for the tournament scene in late 2011 and have only recently considered going back, because I was having more and more negative experiences with the people I played against. I’ve come to realize there is a significant corrupting influence that comes from the internet gaming community.

This isn’t to say there is no value in being a part of online communities. In fact I think the internet is a great place to meet new players and bounce creative ideas off one another. However, there is another element that seems prevalent in most internet websites, whatever their intended subject matter may be. This group is concerned only with getting their way, no matter the cost to others. It may be the simple troll, looking for gratification from the perceived misery they cause others. But on the same spectrum are those 40k players who have become known as WAAC players.

WAAC, short for “Win At All Costs”, is a usually derogative term directed at those commentators on a website that have a view of the game perceived by the reader as too competitive, or perhaps unconcerned for the enjoyment of other players. We all have a subjective line that can be crossed by others, and they will almost always be unaware they have crossed the line. At the end of the day, these lines are always subjective. No one can clearly state, by drawing a factual line in the sand, where someone crosses that slippery slope into the domain of the WAAC gamer.

Before the widespread use of internet communities for 40k (at least in my area), players never seemed so concerned with “broken” armies. The only people I remember being branded as gaming pariahs were those who intentionally broke the rules for their own gain. Now, however, it can be anyone, at any time, for any reason.

So how do we fix this problem? First, I would say that each and every one of us needs to spend less time worrying about what other players are doing and saying about the game, and more time with our nose in our own rulebooks and fiction novels. We should be building forces around our own strategies and desires for the game, and not taking units “because the internet says we should”.

But it goes even deeper than that. We absolutely MUST stop playing the game with nothing but victory in mind. Nothing is worse than seeing a close-fought game draw to its conclusion, only to hear the losing player complain and act as if the tension and challenge of making the game so close were no reward in and of themselves.

At the end of the day, it is illogical to focus only on the win or the loss. We do not play this game for money of any significant value; even most tournaments are for bragging rights and a trophy-turned-dust collector, or maybe some prize support to get a shiny new kit. One player will win, and one player will lose. Simply put, you have to have a deeper investment in the game than a win or lose mentality to truly benefit from the experience.

How do we do that? Again, build your own forces, and don’t do what internet talking heads say you must. Trust me, I’ve won my fair share of tournaments without ever playing an “internet list”. Focus on painting and modeling your minis; there is so much enjoyment in this step that we turn into work, seeing it as a deadline for the next tournament. When you do play a game, stay positive and keep it fun, whether you are winning or losing. There is no point in dragging an opponent down time and again, because you will more than likely drive them away from playing casual games with you.

My group is starting a campaign tomorrow, in an attempt to shake up the status quo. Unexpected turns of event in the campaign are to be expected, in addition to unbalanced games where one side will have more points than the other. The primary goal is being shifted towards fun tactics, outsmarting each others, and just having fun throwing dice at a table. Think about what you and your group could be doing to make the game more fun.

Ultimately, we should all focus on the enjoyment of both players. Life is already full of conflict, and at the end of the day we are just playing a stupid game with expensive toys.