I’ve been back to the tabletop wargaming hobby for a few years now, and I am struck by how some gaming communities have done very well and are sustained by an enormous amount of enthusiasm and energy, and how some gaming communities have fizzled out, their players dispersing to other communities or dropping out of the hobby altogether. After watching Guerilla Miniatures Gaming’s YouTube video (link) on organizing the gaming community, I wanted to share my observations on the types of gamers that I think make for a great gaming community. I also talk about how these gamers are essential for making new game launches work, something which I talked about in my previous blog post here
The Four Types of Essential Wargamers
The Expert
“I’m not sure if my Default Good Guys can use their Ability of Uberness in response to your Insane Death Worshippers’ crazed charge…”
“I’m not sure either, let’s ask Jim…”
Jim is the ultra-knowledgeable Game Geek God that everyone knows. He has read all the rules and rules errata for the game as many times as the rest of the community combined. He knows the obscure lore for the game, and when the rules got changed and how the game changed because of that. If you have a rules question or forgot just what your troops can do, Jim knows. It’s faster to ask Jim than to read the rulebook yourself or Google it on the most obscure reddit thread.
Jim is the Expert and he/she brings Knowledge and Certainty to the game. This is an essential for the community and the game, as it ensures that there is always an authority figure who can rule on ambiguous situations, and who can speak confidently and engage other Game Geeks.
Jim is also important when new games (or new rules for existing games) are launched. The Expert is able to guide players in their first few games, and gives new players an accurate impression of how the game is played.
The Competitor
“I have a game tomorrow against Diane… 10million and Pi points…”
“Good luck! Last week she created this sick list and tabled me… I’m definitely gonna copy it”
Diane is one of the few top seeded players in any community, and is a monster in her favorite game. She’s always the player to beat, and you often wonder in amazement at her grasp of army building, in game tactics and her ability to predict your strategy. Diane doesn’t care very much if her army is painted or not, but her Default Grey Legion are the masters of the battle field. Win or lose, you’ll always walk away learning something new about the game when you play against Diane.
Diane is the Competitor, and she brings Challenge and Depth to the game. Unlike the Expert, who is a master of the rules, the Competitor is a master of both the meta game (building army lists) and in game tactics (such as positioning her troops just out of move/charge range). In a community, Diane shows how the game is complex and challenging which, from a behavioural perspective, makes it more worth the time investment. She also creates the adrenaline rush for gamers when she attends community tournaments, and nudges gamers in the community to study strategy and tactics more.
If a new game is launched, the Competitor is the gamer that lends it credibility and prevents it from being consigned to the Domain of Casual Games. Get the Competitor started on the game, and the rest of the community will start lining up for a shot at her yet-to-be-claimed throne.
The Community Organizer
“Hi everyone, Cheng here! Who’s up for the new Space Fiction Soldier campaign? I’m running it every Thursday evening for the next 3 months. Also, we’re running the new BattleShout game on Friday evenings for anyone who’s interested in knowing what the game is like“
Cheng (have to use an obligatory Asian name to prevent the post from being too Anglo-Saxon) is the fountain of gaming enthusiasm that everyone wished they had. He’s constantly at the gaming club or store, running events for the community or showing new players the ropes. He’s not always the most knowledgeable player or the most formidable (we’ll leave that to the Expert and the Competitor), but he is the person that most gamers are comfortable with (even if his enthusiasm is sometimes way too much to handle).
Cheng is the Organizer, and he brings Energy and Cohesion to the gaming community. Organizers are like the glue that holds the community together throughout the year, and makes new members feel welcome so that the community can grow. Organizers also often take it on themselves to do all the backroom administrative work that gamers don’t like to deal with, such as making sure that gaming space is available, that alternative opponents are available when someone has to call in sick on a pre-arranged game. Where Experts get their satisfaction from knowing the game inside out and Competitors get their high from winning, Organizers feel most satisfied when gamers are having fun and playing their favourite game.
When new games are launched, Organizers are the ones who first drum up the enthusiasm for the game, helping the game club or store build hype and excitement.
The Artist Hobbyist
“Check out the paint job on Ming’s latest WarBeast of Imbalanced Power, how does she do that?”
“I don’t know, but she should enter it into the next Silver Dragon painting competition”
Ming is the wargamer who’s not really that into the game, but she loves painting miniatures, converting them and generally turning everything she touches into a work of art. When gamers play against Ming, they spend the first 15 minutes admiring the painted soldiers lining up against them, and many wish that they had half the talent she has to bring their vision for their army to life.
More unique to miniatures wargaming than other tabletop gaming communities, Ming is a Hobbyist who enjoys the assembling/painting part of the wargaming hobby more than the actual game itself. It doesn’t matter if the game has tactical depth and challenge or not; what matters to the Hobbyist is that the miniatures look good and they can invest the time into making each piece a presentable masterpiece.
Hobbyists bring Passion and Beauty to the game, and miniatures wargaming wouldn’t feel as engaging or involving if there aren’t any Hobbyists to showcase their work. Arguably, without the hobbyist, miniature wargames would just end up being board games, where units are represented by boring tokens and paper cutouts. Many wargamers have the hope that “one day”, they will have an amazing painted army winning the next tournament. That day may never come, but the Hobbyist gives them hope and a goal to work towards.
When a new game is launched, the Hobbyist is the one who paints up the miniatures quickly and brings immediate impact to the launch. Bare grey plastic is rather unappealing; the Hobbyist’s passion for rendering the Grey into a multi-color fantasy world immediately creates visual appeal and draws in gamers.
Conclusion
So these are my thoughts on the essential roles and archetypes in the tabletop wargaming community, and I deliberately excluded the general members of the community who may be, in their own way, a mini version of these archetypes. Which ones do you identify with, and what archetypes do you think are missing from this post? I’ll be glad for your inputs!
