"When Someone Calls Wargaming "Useless"" Topic

For the next time someone calls your hobby pointless, etc., I suggest directing their attention to the hobby of "penspining" (and no, that does not involve making John the OFM emulating a Maytag on spin cycle):

YouTube link

On the other hand, the penspinning competition did get coverage on CNN…

Wyatt

They're out what, $0.59? A hobby you can pursue while sitting at the desk looking busy is a good thing.

- Bob

I don't know, you could pay upwards of $1 USD for a decent pen, without considering yourself decadent.

Another hobby that seems to repel girls…

I am more into leekspinning myself:

YouTube link

Aren't all hobbbies "useless"?

Another hobby that seems to repel girls…

Here I thought my wife married me specifically for my "man dolls" as she calls them…

All those years wasted on basketball and football to look after your body and health when you could have done this.

Gosh, It makes anvil shooting look boring, not.

"Another hobby that seems to repel girls…"

Hobbies don't seem to be a girl thing, in the main.

The pens do not even write. It should be called metal rod spinning. They practice 4-5 hours a day? Maybe we do not have so much to worry about from China after all, if the youth are doing this.

Hobbies useless? Collecting gold coins and rare stamps seems to have a positive outcome :)

"Hobbies don't seem to be a girl thing, in the main."

Obviously written by someone who has never visited Michaels or Hobby Lobby….

Aren't all hobbbies "useless"?

Right, isn't this the point? If you make money at it's not a hobby, it's a business, and the IRA needs to be made aware of it….

-Will

Buy a cheap pen and when next someone calls wargaming "useless", stab them in the eye. This will get you on CNN and the "attracting girls thing" won't matter anymore while in prison. For those more given over to the Welsh approach to life, if anyone looks like they might even possibly be thinking about perhaps calling your hobby "useless" shove a leek down their throat and then stab them in the eye with the pen saying "How do you like that boyo, and maybe next time you won't lampoon my hobby!"
Did I say that out loud, oops!

Bah; these kids today---when I was a kid we didn't have pens; just ink and quills and you got extra points for spinning with the quills still on the porcupine!

Aren't all hobbbies "useless"?

Right, isn't this the point? If you make money at it's not a hobby, it's a business, and the IRA needs to be made aware of it….

-Will

DANG – if the IRA needs to be made aware of it – I'm outta the hobby business – period! No sense in messing with the IRA – they use car bombs to get their point across!

they use car bombs to get their point across!

Doesn't the IRS, too?

Practicing to move up to the baton twirling team?

Or try Citabria spinning, it's more expensive than gaming and expels lunch. YouTube link

Really, if you're going to reference a Finnish folk song, the least you can do is provide a Fin to sing it: YouTube link
The leek spinning is an artifct of an anime though and has nothing whatever to do with the song.

Okay, that does it…I can now say that my hobby is "good for my mind, body and health," and that "the most important thing is that I am working towards my dream!!" Especially when my wife starts nagging at me about all of my figures that are unpainted…"I am working towards my dream!"

I also found it funny that the kids were getting their pens not in China or Hong Kong but rather "Made in Taiwan"!!

"Hobbies don't seem to be a girl thing, in the main."

I dunno, they knit, crochet and stuff.

If I could get them to knit some terrain…

I just ask them how useful or worthwhile is watching sports on TV. At least I have something to show when I'm done painting.

that does not involve making John the OFM emulating a Maytag on spin cycle):

Huh?

We'll just insert a quarter and see.. *kerchunk*

"Hobbies don't seem to be a girl thing, in the main."

I dunno, they knit, crochet and stuff.

Indeed. And the industry surrounding those girly hobbies must be about a hundred times bigger than the wargaming business.

Now if someone said my job is pointless, I'd agree with them…

I don't understand how anyone could possibly consider having thousands and thousands of unpainted lead and pewter minatures in boxes on shelves, under the bead, in closets, attic, garage, kitchen table, coffe table, desk drawers, file cabinets, and places long forgotten useless or pointless.

Nor do I understand how how anyone could possibly consider having hundreds of rules never played and reference books half read in boxes on shelves, under the bead, in closets, attic, garage, kitchen table, coffe table, desk drawers, file cabinets, and places long forgotten useless or pointless.

Finally, I don't understand how anyone could possibly consider having several hundred board games still unpunched in boxes on shelves, under the bead, in closets, attic, garage, kitchen table, coffe table, desk drawers, file cabinets, and places long forgotten useless or pointless.

Besides, isn't questioning the pointlessness of a passtime sort of…well…pointless? I mean, as far as I can tell humans have a highly developed need to collect and horde to ensure survival in times of famine. It's so highly developed, in fact, that it has led to global wars (both hot and cold). On a small scale, though, it explains why humans collect "pointless" things like pogs, bottle caps, oil cans, trading cards, etc. That gamers make USE of their collections simply demonstrates that gamers are a little further along the evolutionary path than most.

P.S.

The pen thing is cool. It's right up there on the cool scale with cup stacking….

"And the industry surrounding those girly hobbies must be about a hundred times bigger than the wargaming business."

You obviously all know different girls to me. Isn't knitting a bit….twentieth century?

My youngest daughter collected stamps for a while, and my wife likes to collect shoes and handbags, but I'm not sure I'd characterise that as a hobby.

DANG – if the IRA needs to be made aware of it – I'm outta the hobby business – period! No sense in messing with the IRA – they use car bombs to get their point across!

Pssh, IRA, IRS, just a difference of degrees! You don't want to mess with either man! :P

<note to self: triple-check next post….>

-Will

Martin Rapier wrote:

[…] You obviously all know different girls to me. Isn't knitting a bit…twentieth century?

Does "shopping" count? I think collecting Hello Kitty paraphernalia is a bigger hobby than wargaming. kittyhell.com

- Bob

If you really want to make your mind boggle, check out the scrapbooking section of any craft store.

"Useless" to whom? Me? Says who?

I like playing with my pen too.

All of my hobbies keep me out of trouble. That should be good enough reason for anyone for me keeping them….

on a more serious note, my personal opinion is that hobbies perform an important function. Whether it's skrimshaw, scrapbooking, or strategy I think the function of a hobby is to involve enough concentration that the mind is distracted from other real-world issues.

We have always been taught that walking away from an apparently unsolvable problem can clear the mind and allow it to re-order itself. This provide clarity and a fresh view upon returning.

Hobbies do this for me. I suspect it true for others as well. When I'm deep into painting or playing there is no room in my cranium for anything else.

The software industry has done studies over the years that indicate that the harder someone has to think at work, the harder they need to play. In fact, providing recreation at work for mentally challenging professionals increases productivity. I don't think that it's too much of a stretch to say that anyone who is mentally stressed needs corresponding release.

Therefore, given the high stress of work, the economy, family, the society, etc., I would postulate that, not only are hobbies useful, they are an absolute necessity.

I'm looking for the video where the kid uncaps his weighted pen and puts it through the forehead of the guy that laughs at him. Call THIS useless! *thunk*

- Bob

I divorced the last person who called wargaming useless…

"Does "shopping" count? "

I think it must do. She spends a lot more on her 'hobby' than I do on mine. She prefers my wargaming to some of my other activities – when I was proudly showing off the new '58 pattern Browning HP webbing holster I'd pick up for a song, I could see her eyes glazing over.

What is about webbing that people don't find exciting?

Martin Rapier wrote:

You obviously all know different girls to me. Isn't knitting a bit….twentieth century?

Nope. It has really taken off in the 21st century.

"Indeed, after slipping off the radar screen for decades, knitting is in a full-blown resurgence. Sales of knitting yarns, needles and pattern publications surged past $1-billion in 2005, up from $450-million in 1995.
link

Ravelry, the TMP equivalent for knitters, has 632,725 members and has only been running for three years. TMP has been going for what? and has 24,588 registered members.

My wife's a knitter and spinner and I must say it makes my life quite a bit easier. She puts up with my piles and piles of unpainted lead and I put up with her piles and piles of unused wool.

Her friends think it's incredible that I don't think it completely over the top that she has seven different spinning wheels. "You don't really need another wheel do you?" is a question that makes about as much sense to her as "You don't really need another army, do you?" makes to me.

Scrapbooking, quilting and card-making are other girly hobbies that are much, much, bigger than wargaming.

Hobbies don't seem to be a girl thing, in the main.

Really now, and how would you be explaining scrap-booking then?

I see I missed XRaysVision's post my first time through.

Aren't all hobbbies "useless"?

At least Clogging might be. If you've never dated a Clogger, it can't be explained.

I am one of those who would try to ignore them. Eveery one has there hobbies that others do not understand why. It would be useless to try to convert someone who has those feelings.
On the other hand, if someone badgers me about the hobby like some people tended to do back in the 1970s about being in the army, then i would have to try to show their lack of understanding on the activity.