"How many times have you left the hobby?" Topic

We have all been there, burned out of gaming for a dozen reasons. Perhaps you started a new phase of your life, just bored, lost all your players and you have put wargaming away.

For me I have done it twice. Once stationed overseas for a year and once after all my fellow players moved away and I had no one to play with and the motivation to paint stuff for games I would never play.

Both times were roughly 6 months each.

Once, I was away for about 15 years or so.

Just once. I gave it up in university and picked it up again 20-ish years later.

Never!!

Once gave up in my mid twenties but picked it up again about 8 years later once my career was on track.

I've had breaks for a month or so since then but no longer. I very rarely read history books now. I just dip into my books if I'm looking for specific information.

Never, but I switch between boargames, miniatures, and RPGs on a frequent basis.

0 times

Never, although there have certainly been a number of dry times where I didn't game for a year or more… but I was still painting, planning, reading/writing rules, etc.

A couple of times largely because of work or when the children were born.

In the last year, I have come close though for a very different reason. I hate to say this, but I have paid for services, miniatures, and terrain that were never sent or the entity seemed to disappear. This is a small community of gamers and I do find that my enthusiasm is deflated as orders I've placed never arrive.

It has happened seven times this past year and I have concerns on two others at the moment.

Erik

None. I do take an ocassional break, but it's measured in terms of days and weeks, rather than months and years.

I'm a bit like Dynaman, though. If I've had my fill of one game, setting, scale or genre, I move onto another for a while.

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Warren B.
minisculpture.co.uk

Never.

I've had periods of no painting, maybe almost a year around twenty years ago, but have been pretty steady since. On the other hand after a ACL injury one year and surgery the next I had nothing to do but paint.

1

Never left.

33 years and still plugging. Opportunities became less frequent when deployed, but never gave up on the hobby (reading, writing, playing where possible).

Once. Got married.
Not married any more.

Once. I took up girls. Eventually I shared my guilty secret with one. She was understanding.

Me: "Babe, there's something I have to tell you……."
Girl: "Hmmmm, well, it will keep you out of the pub, I suppose."

I've been with her for 25 years, so she understands WHY I need the biggest room in the house for my hobby.

I've come close to being out, but never completely.

Had a heart attack in 2000 and didn't game for a year afterwards. I still hung around the FLGS and chewed the fat with the inmates but I didn't touch a miniature until almost exactly a year later. The odd thing is, I have no idea why I did this.

LT

I have scaled back participation a couple of times, but never left in 40 years,

Once, for a about a decade.

Shawn.

Never.

Never. My participation slowed down during certain parts of my life, but never left it. I doubt I'll ever be at the near constant gaming life like I was in college (darn classes interfered with my gaming schedule!).

Both kids have now graduated from college, and my own gaming participation rate is picking back up again.

Mike

Never left it, just can't afford it sometimes.

Once – 15+ years.

Major sabbatical for roughly 15 years coinciding with kids and ministry obligations.

I havn't left the hobby

Never.
44 years straight.

I have never left the hobby, I have had long dry spells where I couldn't find an acceptable group to game with however.

Back in 1999, when I was 37 (ahhh, those were indeed the days), I sold all my stuff and ran away from home to Europe. I bummed around the continent for a while, and then when I re-settled down after a couple of years I had to start again from scratch.
Now I am up to nearly a thousand 1/3000th scale ships, and am currently building my Napoleonic armies and WWI aircraft. It was heartbreaking selling my gaming stuff, but kinda fun to start again.

slowed down but never left.

There is no leaving. There are periods where the emphasis on what genre changes. There are periods of no gaming but then I am still thinking about the hobby. TMP is a great place for times of little gaming or painting ;-)

Never.

Only wargamed with existing contacts whilst I was at University (which was quite a while) but it had just got better (early 80s) whilst I was less publicly involved. The last 26 years of continual invlovement have just rushed by.

I didn't game from 94 to 97, but did paint a lot. Didn't paint from 98 to 00, but gamed a bunch, mostly RPGs.

Never.

Never left. Slowed down a bit, but always interested.

I may have gone for some long times without playing a game, but I've never really left the hobby. I don't think I ever will until the day I'm pushing up daisies.

several times, various reasons.

Never. 40 years and counting.

never

Put it in abeyance at university as I found other ways to have fun. On starting work after graduation I found the local club met very near my dugs and couldn't resist the temptation.

When I was in college, for about two years, '76-77. Been hard at it ever since.

I had a 10 year break. Not by choice, tho.