Wargaming and Fashions
For a while, I have been considering how fashion and
social groups have re-modelled the hobby over the years.
Now, I really got involved in the hobby proper around
1980/81; at the start of a decade which was creatively unsurpassed in the 20th
century.
The music (although at the time I ignored much of it)
the fashions (ditto) and indeed the gaming hobby was more varied than at any
other time. The Cold War was winding down, the drab colours of the 70s
were fading to black, to be replaced by vibrant hues. Hair was big, the Baby
Boomers had bred and their offspring embraced life, big time.We had Heavy
Rockers, Prog' Rockers, Punks, Skinheads, Glams, Goths, Townies, Urban
Vagabonds, New Romantics, Mods and probably a few more youth sub cultures that
in the befuddled LateSummer Season of life have slipped my mind.
Whatever your taste in clothes, cause of adult
deafness or outlook on life; there was something for you.
Apropos of nothing, I was listening to a documentary
the other day, on the topic of organised football violence and repeatedly,
there were references to the evolution of fashion on the terraces and more
importantly how the 'casual' look came to be the defining style for the
hooligans, with football colours and a previous penchant for shaved heads and
big boots being cast aside in the 80s in favour of large price tag apparel.
It's quite bemusing (for me at least) that you would dress yourself in smart
clothes to kick the living shit out of someone, but that is beside the point.
Anyway, once again, that got me thinking about the
evolution of specific games or miniatures and how they were taken up by or
aimed at a given social group.When I was a lad, it didn't matter. You may have
not spoken to someone at school who was not part of your peer group, but down
at the games club or local game store, the rivalries went out of the window as
more important things such as the latest game or figures were discussed,
purchased and collectively simpered over. Then it was back to school, and the
faux hatred would continue as before until the next trip to 'holy
ground'.
I believe that it's fair to say that the first truly
noticeable divisions, appeared around 1986 when Games Workshop began to really
roll out it's Warhammer ranges. It takes very little effort to see that they
designed each race with an image that would in general terms appeal to a given
group. A prime example of course being the Wood Elves with their tight, striped
clothes, outrageously coiffed manes and warpaint. These were targeted at the
rock orientated gamers, Dark Elves and Undead were really the domain of the
Punks and Goths, and so on and so forth.
In the 90s when I was at the helm of a game store, you
really saw a polarisation of the gaming fraternity. You increasingly saw groups
of gamers who all looked the same. Many of these were the younger siblings of
my own generation and they identified themselves by fashion and carried that
over into the types of games they played as a result.
It was increasingly rare to find groups as varied as
they were in the 80s (unless they were established in those heady years). The
gaming industry began to take notice and tried too hard to tailor their lines
for specific cultural demographic groups.
It was all quite depressing. The last place where
the unconventional was acceptable without struggle was beginning to fall
apart. If you doubt me, then ask around, look at catalogues from the time
and then go to a decent contemporary games store, and look at the themes and
memes on display.
Gaming itself is now something of a fashion victim
something which has it's roots in the 90s as I stated
previously. Roleplaying was the first casualty, but
traditional Wargaming now suffers from having an 'industry' in the same
way that RPG's and fantasy developed in the early 90s.
I was listening to a
conversation at a convention recently between traders, who were saying that
Wargames Illustrated is only pushing the products of a very few companies which
make up the bulk of it's advertising revenue (or indeed their own products,
given that the mag is now owned by Battle Front).
There has been a
dumbing down of rules and research and a piling on of eye candy which in the
long term will lead to problems. Equally, terrain is becoming cookie cutter in
it's look and quality. This year will see a lot of awful WW1 releases, WW2
releases and will lead up to 2015 where we will see a rash of re-hashed
Waterloo stuff.
A couple of weeks ago
on the very anniversary of D-Day we saw one company send out a mail encouraging
you to re-fight Normandy. This piece of grubbing, crass, commercialism has
ensured that company will lose my business permanently - a not insignificant
annual sum - because they were unable for one day to show a little tactful
respect, instead indulging in their GW roots flogging a horse to the 'nth'
degree.
The fashion for gaming
is is becoming bright, simple and cheap; kind of a commercial Kylie Minogue or
Janine Melnitz whereas it used to be about care and attention, more akin to
Joni Mitchell or Dana Barrett , if I may.
It's akin to the
difference between a night with a high class madam and a 2 minute knee trembler
with crack whore. Or so I am informed...
The new generation
coming into the hobby are largely lazy and have no drive to research the
topics, relying instead on often questionable source books. Equally several
'historical' rule sets bear absolutely NO resemblance to the period they are
purporting to portray.
FOW Vietnam is a prime
example. The concept of toe to toe massed battles is absolute bollocks with
about two exceptions, both of which were exactly that. If it bears no
resemblance at all by design, then it is in fact a fantasy game in the true
sense. It's not a 'what if' it's pure fiction.
There is also trend
towards writing 20 pages of text and then adding 60 pages of stuffing and
charging a premium for it, which to me is pointless. A few diagrams, and one or
two QUALITY bits of eye candy should be enough. The most elegant game systems
are often the most succinct.
In terms of sci-fi and
fantasy gaming, the post Cold War era has seen generally dark and morbid; some
may say depressing, games. Strewth; if I wanted morbid and depressing I'd go
back into the Civil Service and get paid for experiencing it.
There were faults with
the games of the Golden Age, but time has shown that they can still command
strong followings, including a new generation of players who have an eye for
quality. Whilst everything is pushed at gamers in the style of GW, you will
have stifled creativity and reduced motivation to fully explore a period. And
what is worse many shops are becoming the whores for the industry pimps.
How long will it be
before we see a return to a more 'inclusive' hobby, where the game comes before
the demographic? How long before we see companies being innovative rather than
imitative? Oh how I
yearn for the 'good old
days'. Alas, alas...
Or perhaps we will
begin to see rival 'firms' of geeks, nerds and gamers 'having at' each other at
conventions, anoraks and cargo pants torn and bloody, dice in the gutter,
bayonets broken from the loser's latest 'must have' Napoleonic
miniatures.
Of course the
government will be obliged to step in, with 'banning orders' from all
conventions in the country coupled with stiff sentences of 'repeated weekend
trips to garden centres with the wife and kids' being handed down by the
courts, before things return to normal.
TTFN