"Death of the Hobby: Predict the Year" Topic

the hobby is already dead

Is that an oblique reference to Zombie gaming?

I suppose that the hobby could be legislated out of exhistance by some political correctness swing of opinion. Or perhaps the world economy would tank so badly that there are no more funds to purchase supplies or time to play a frivolous game.

Perhaps we could game an end of the hobby game….

… nah, probably not enough interest

I think that wargames are several thousand years old already. Chess is a very old form of wargame.

I think that the way that we play wargames may change but there will always be some people who want to represent armies with physical models and fight battles with them.

Is that an oblique reference to Zombie gaming?

No. That would be "The hobby is already UNdead!"

As long as the world goes on, the hobby will.

My amateur wargaming is inspired by military history and warfare … and, for good or ill, there's no sign of that particular human activity ceasing any time soon.

Phil

I agree with Phil

Plus as the ability to create/model minis gets better and they get cheaper there will be more opportunity

As well, on-line and video only goes so far – No. 3 son is actually now gaming with minis having become disenchanted with video games

Given the eventural heat death of the Universe, "never" is not a possibility.
So I've gone with "or later."

And remember, as long as there is unpainted lead, there will be wargamers.

My guess is 2525.

Depends on how you define the "hobby." The question specified "miniature wargaming" and I take that to mean gaming with physical miniatures. One day we will have high-quality holographic game tables akin to what we see in Star Wars.

link

That will pretty much kill off gaming with miniatures.

Historical minis gaming seems healthier in Europe than the US, from my casual observation.

About 2170 or thereabouts, when the robot-lizard uprising gives us bigger things to worry about.

Serious talk though, we're doing better than we ever have before.

I don't think miniature wargaming will die any time soon.
Whilst I believe that the development of 3D printing will kill off the modeling part of the hobby when 3D colour printing becomes the norm, I think that the need to "not paint figures' will make wargaming more accessible.

The 12th of never!

I openly disagree with you all. Death of the hobby is closer than any of us can imagine.

It's been forecast for next February 30th.

Such prognostications are fundamentally fruitless. In 1970 no one would have predicted the death of board wargames. In 1980 anyone could have predicted the death of board wargames, at the hands of computer games. In 1990 everyone was surprised that the death of board wargames was the result of, not computer games, but collectible card games. In 2000, no one imagined board wargames ever coming back. By 2010, board wargames, thanks in no small part to the dramatic drop in production costs, are back, every bit as strong as ever. Go figure.

Yea, I suspect it will never die, at least, not before: that big comet strikes us, the supernova reaches the planet, we get caught in a gamma ray burst, or someone decides to nuke humanity.

When virtual reality kicks in around 2050 killing figures but not military gaming.

They've been doing this hand-wringing since I joined the hobby, and that was in 1974.

Miles O'Brian and Jullian Bashir plays with miniatures in the year 2400

And they "Wargame" in the holodeck

Television will be gone long before wargaming will.

My guess is 2525.

I see what you did there, 79th….

As soon as they perfect the holodeck…