STRATEGY WARGAMING
ARTICLE SW_003

ARE YOU A COMMUNICATIVE HOBBYIST WARGAMER ?

How does a hobbyist wargamer find out what his fellow hobbyists are like and what they do with wargames ? Is it possible ? Is it important ? Is it, even, desirable ?

Here is what Mr. James Dunnigan (of SPI fame) wrote some time ago:

"One of the earliest shocks we obtained from these [SPI] surveys was a casual inquiry about playing games solitaire. We ended up asking this question a number of times. Yet every time we asked whether people play the games with opponents or solitaire, we have consistently found that more than 50 percent of the games played are played solitaire........... One thing that has changed quite a bit is the time spent at any one time. In the 1970s, there were three or four sessions a month. Now there are a larger number of shorter sessions, indicative of the greater propensity to play solitaire or simply to study the games........... In the 1990s, the number of games played solitaire exceeds sixty percent........ This is only partially accounted for by the fact that there aren't many gamers around. Another important reason is that players prefer to study the games without the hindrance of another person."

Mr. Dunnigan comes to the "hobby" from the INDUSTRY side. As such, he has to be careful not to antagonise its perceived customer base. This is a delicate matter, indeed. The use of the term "hindrance" is quite revealing..... Well, these web pages belong to the "HOBBYIST" side of the equation. To this effect, the author of this on-line article does not have to be...... politically correct !

In my opinion, the issue here is much larger than whether hobbyist wargamers "play" their wargames in solitaire mode or not. The KEY question is the nature and degree of INTERACTION among hobbyist wargamers ! However, before we go THERE, let us talk about something a bit more prosaic.

Let us assume that some hobbyist wargamers are TOTALLY insulated from the "hobby" other than the fact that they may be buying new wargames from time to time. Yes, such assumed hobbyists would buy and "appreciate" wargames on their very own without ever seeking any information about them let alone engaging in any discussion about such matters or interactively playing with anyone else. Clearly, the INDUSTRY marketing types cannot ignore such hobbyists if they determine that they represent a significant slice of their customer pie. In fact, the wargames that are being designed and commercially released will have to somehow reflect the presumed preferences of such patently insular and uncommunicative hobbyists. HOWEVER, from the vantage point of hobbyist wargamers, such insular cousins of theirs may very well live on the dark side of the moon...... They will NEVER get to know anything about these insular hobbyists, let alone interact with them. From a communicative hobbyist wargamer's standpoint, such insular hobbyists are as good as yet undiscovered archaeological artifacts ! They just CANNOT matter to him, at least, in any direct and obvious way having to do with HIS wargame "appreciation" activities......

Would things be decidedly different if some other hobbyist wargamers were to be less insular but still uncommunicative, nonetheless ? More specifically, what about purchasers and "appreciators" of wargames who try to keep informed about their "hobby", mainly through reading (i.e., print, Internet) but steadfastly refuse to interact with others about such matters ? Again, the INDUSTRY will try to divine such hobbyists' preferences. More importantly, though, from a communicative hobbyist wargamer's standpoint, this newly postulated segment of uncommunicative hobbyist wargamers will be living on the dark side of the moon as well, the better informed status of such individuals notwithstanding ! By definition, the absence of any hobbyist wargamer interaction here cannot possibly impact upon a communicative hobbyist wargamer's wargame "appreciation" activities........

Earlier in this article series, I stated that these articles would be of peripheral interest to individuals wearing their INDUSTRY hats. It is now time to do some hacking WITHIN the ranks of hobbyist wargamers themselves. Namely, unless a hobbyist wargamer is communicative about his "hobby", this article series would be of peripheral interest to him as well... As a hobbyist wargamer, I have a luxury that the INDUSTRY just CANNOT afford. Namely, I am free to direct my thoughts at and to concern myself with only a segment of hobbyist wargamers, the communicative ones. Not seeking profits, it matters not an iota to me whether communicative hobbyist wargamers are in the minority.... Furthermore, I am not overly concerned whether uncommunicative hobbyist wargamers are uncomfortable with my writings. They live in the dark side of the moon, that's all ! As a bonus, I do not have to prematurely deal with the presumed psychological factors that may be at play behind hobbyist wargamers' insular ways. At this point, I will accept their existence as a fact of life. I do not, even, need to quantify things here. This is an INDUSTRY headache, not mine !

Because the ultimate focus of this article series is Strategy Wargaming, I took some pains to put the issue of hobbyist wargamer communicativeness on the table early on. One does not necessarily need to "play" wargames with others a lot in order to be communicative. BUT, an uncommunicative hobbyist wargamer's utility to ME is, essentially, ZERO !!!

The author, Panos Stoucas, is a long time all-human strategy wargaming enthusiast and is currently the "Facilitator" of the PG (DOS) PBEM RESEARCH CENTRE. He can be reached at pstoucas@istar.ca