In a promised second half to the Looking to Media for Inspiration post, today I examination the more general survey question, of What Inspires You the Most?
WSS' 2024 Great Wargaming Survey included two questions on gaming motivation and inspiration. One question asked about a
gamer’s primary source for inspiration.
The other question focused on media and its influence. The previous post linked to above addressed the second question. Today, I examine primary source of wargaming inspiration.
Primary Wargaming Inspiration
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Does this picture change if the Top 3 choices from each response are aggregated? No. Well, not much.
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| Figure 5 |
Does Figure 5 bring forward any age-related tendences with respect to inspiration?
Yes, it does.
As demonstrated in a number of past analyses, younger gamers tend toward fantasy and sci-fi gaming while older gamers gravitate toward historicals. For the younger cohorts, that result still holds in this survey question. These younger cohorts find inspiration in reading about fictional events more so than do the older cohorts. Interestingly, these same younger cohorts find inspiration in reading about historical events as well. Another interesting result of looking at the question by age group is that watching movies or TV shows offers consistently less wargaming inspiration as one advances in years.
Confirming the finding from primary inspiration analysis, manufacturers’ advertisements and well-presented kickstarters provide little inspiration for the masses regardless of age group. An interesting twist to manufacturers' efforts to connect with wargamers is that a manufacturers' website or newsletter offers a small but increasing inspiration as age increases.
Looking at the graphics above, do any of these results stand out to you? Do these results reflect your tendencies for wargaming inspiration? From which of these sources do you draw inspiration? Are there sources of inspiration not included in the current survey?
From where do I draw inspiration for wargaming? While inspiration for my wargaming projects and activities continues to evolve, my Top 3
today are:
- My gaming friends
- Getting in a game or painting
- Following others' gaming activities through their blogs
37 comments:
As a solo gamer the gaming friends option is not so important for me, so my top three would be- 1. Following others through their blogs. 2. Painting or getting in a game and 3. Reviews of miniatures or rules. Interesting post as always with these surveys and gives one plenty of food for thought.
As I said in my previous response, mostly my own imagination from print and pictures. A secondary influence would be other people's work with a desire to emulate. Unfortunately, it's rare you can achieve the same results, so it often becomes your version of someone else's work.
Neil
Thanks for your feedback, Donnie!
“Your own imagination” is a good choice to add.
By our age, Neil, I reckon many of us have developed our own style and emulation is on a back burner.
As I mentioned in my reply to your previous post about this Jon, my first is friends, UT I think the other big influence on me is looking at figure ranges on line, so I am a bit of an outlier!
It's odd that the under 20's are so strongly influenced by reading about historical events, given they don't seem to play many historical games 🤔
I'm like you Jonathan, my main inspiration comes from my gaming friends at the club and following other wargamers on their blogs. After that it would be seeing a game at a wargame show.
Keith, I wonder if your butterfly attribute leads you down the road of favoring figure browsing as inspiration.
The 20 and under group is a small one so influence can be distorted. On the other hand, perhaps, this youngest group bodes well for the future of historical wargaming?
Good to see that I am not alone! If I ever attended wargames shows, that option might register for me as well.
I can vaguely recall I answered that it was manufacturers' advertisements for me, followed by reviews. My Saturday group are fairly well ensconced in playing DBMM which is fine by me.
However my other Monday evening gaming friend and I are more exploratory in our gaming. He will concentrate on putting together new projects all of which I enjoy playing and is open to the ones I put together, but we mainly use what we have seen online as our sources of inspiration.
A “Manufactures website or newsletter” increases with age. More disposable income for gaming as we get older and the Oh! I like the look of those figures.
I get most ideas from....
1. Other blogs
2 . Games at shows
3. Wargame magazines
Agree about a show being included in the responses, I would have thought that there being an inspiring game presented and the urge to impulsive buy being satisfied by traders present at that show, has something of an inherent mutual relationship.
Thanks for your feedback, Lawrence! You have two weekly gaming groups? I rarely see any battle reports from these actions.
Oh Shiny! That is a hazard! I have reached the point where I can (mostly) resist such temptations.
Thanks, Ray!
I will request an amendment if that question continues.
Still the text inspires me the most. The friends doing it theme is not as strong a pull, but one does need opponents. Blogs with information on a new period, great resources.
Thanks for spelling out your preferences, Joe! Text, friends, and blogs….in that order?
Jonathan - the games show as inspiration would be an interesting question. If I look back at my (too many) ongoing projects my gaming friends features more highly than I thought and whilst many of the inspirations tempt ultimately (usually!) they don't "bite" unless it is a relatively small project. Always history, in one form or another.
Be a good one to look at if you are involved in marketing a wargames product. Your ads and website have limited effect. What seems to matter is getting the product out there for review, get bloggers talking about it, get word of mouth going.
Well it appears I am inspired by everything!
Not convinced on the lack of inspiration from Kickstarters. How else do you explain Quar's War? I think people might be embarrassed to admit it.
Thank you, Andrew, for weighing in with your thoughts. A Wargames show ought to be included as a choice next time.
Marketers should pay attention to these survey results, no doubt. I know that some do. Some ask follow up questions of the results. Is it a coincidence that Wargames Atlantic is shifting some production to UK after the buying habits’ post?
You are not alone!
I cannot explain or understand the Quar attraction. Figures are good but nothing beats history for me. The “oh, shiny” pull is irresistible for many. How else can piles of unpainted figures and unfinished projects be explained? Embarrassed? I wonder.
I think it's reading books,magazines and blogs and my family wargaming group, less influenced by what the club plays but I guess that could change? Adding blogs into the first bit of the answer probably muddies the water!
Best Iain
Thanks, Iain! A family wargaming group? Everyone should have one!
I honestly can't remeber what I might have put down Jon! But I reckon it would be friends, whether here or in the Blogosphere, first and foremost. Then I know I have been tempted into new periods purely on the basis of some lovely sculpts, such as the Pendraken AWI and LoA ranges.
totally makes sense that people are inspired by what their friends are playing, as friends are the people that we tend to play with. 😁
though it would be interesting to somehow rate the inspiration into actual painting. like, my buddy wants to do Wild West, and I might paint a few miniatures, but he does a couple of full warbands and terrain and learns the rules are teaches them to me. So I'm like partially inspired for the Wild West.
Friends first and foremost. I like that!
Impeccable deduction, Stew! Interesting thought on a possible question. That is, is inspiration actually a motivator for actual painting. We could put responses on a Likert scale.
A thought provoking question for me Jonathan.
Reading or movies are probably my biggest inspiration but it does not need to be recent. Somethings stew away in my brain for years. Like my desire for a French Foreign Legion army inspired by Beau Guest --- which I read maybe 30 years ago?
Other inspiration comes from existing projects. My VSF armies have expanded by the addition of a Chinese army but only because I already have other armies.
Also I wonder if people interpret the question differently. Inspire to purchase and paint armies, inspire to play games, inspire to expand collections? or inspire to create new collections. Are Games Workshop 40K players inspired by the new figures/rules or required to buy them 😁
Once again, thank you for the time to post these analyses.
They are both fortnightly, but the Saturday group is not keen on having the action stopped for photos to be taken. I should take more of our Monday night games though.
I would like to see your armies in action.
Thanks, Ben. Good point that inspiration could mean different things to different gamers. For me, inspiration could lead to all of the activities you list but starting a new period or expanding an existing one might be top of my list.
Playing with my nephew's and my Leicester husband has been the primary gaming group for me over the years, supplemented recently by the local club, it's also the basis of the family game we play, although others join in, mostly grand nephew's and the like with a background in warhammer or 40k, everyone should definitely have one!
Best Iain
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