- Creative and hobby aspects
- Fun and escapism
- Historical (or fictional background) interest
- Social connection and camaraderie
- Storytelling and narrative
- Strategic challenge and intellectual stimulation
- Training and education
Having given this topic some thought over the years, getting hard data through the survey might offer worthwhile insight into this question as applied to a broader population. While I hold a mental notion of my top reasons for wargaming, these top reasons can move around a bit over time, interest, and mood. Others may have similar thoughts on what drives them to wargame too.
What does the survey say? Well, let's find out.
Top Choice in Why We Wargame
The survey asked respondents to rank up to their three top choices. To begin the analysis, only the top choice is examined. In counts of reasons why we wargame (variable "WHY" in Figure 1), "Historical (or fictional background) interest" came in at the top spot by about 500 responses. The top choice was not close. The results are aggregated by percentage in the pie chart illustrated in Figure 2.
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| Figure 1 |
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| Figure 2 |
Top Three Choices in Why We Wargame
Since the survey asked for the top three choices, do the rankings change much when all three response choices are aggregated?
Figure 3 shows that the top two spots in the rankings remain the same as in Figure 1. "Creative and hobby aspects" reason closes the gap with "Historical (or fictional background) interest" making up a lot of ground and coming in at a very close second place in the rankings. "Social connection and camaraderie" and "Strategic challenge and intellectual stimulation" swap places in the rankings when the top three choices are included.
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| Figure 3 |
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| Figure 4 |
Interesting to see that "Fun and escapism" and "Storytelling and narrative" fall to near the bottom of the rankings. Almost no one lists "Training and education" as a top choice.
Why do fun and storytelling sink to the bottom among the collection of reasons why we wargame? These survey results suggest that we do not game simply for fun and narrative building! Perhaps adding a "Competition" choice might be telling?
I plan to return to this question and analysis again for a deeper dive into these data. In past analyses, preferences tend to shift and become more nuanced as other qualifying attributes are brought into the computations. Adding stratifications by primary interest, age groupings, and a few other attributes might provide a clearer and, perhaps, another interesting perspective.
If you completed the 2025 GWS (or even if you did not!), what are your top reasons for wargaming and why? Have these top reasons for wargaming changed over time? I wonder if your choices and rankings could be predicted if other qualifying attributes mentioned above are brought into the equation?
I drifted into "proper" wargaming (as oppose to playing with toy soldiers as a child) around 15 via military modelling. I discovered there was a use all those toy tanks could be put to apart from gathering dust on a shelf!
ReplyDeleteI had borrowed Charles Grant"s "the Ancient Wargame" for a Roman obsessed friend. He wasn't interested, but while waiting outside the library waiting for it to open, I started reading and was hooked! I took it out for myself and that, as they say was that....
A mixture of interest in history and creativity and a certain amount of narrative. Not really interested in winning or losing, unless it's due to rules bending and/or unhistorical tactics.
Neil
Good personal wargaming history lesson, Neil! I reckon your journey may be familiar to many of our age group especially for those brought up in the UK. So, does winning and losing enter into the calculus when faced with "gamey" game play?
DeleteJonathan, I have no tolerance of those who want to win, whatever the means. I'm choosy about who I play; if they are that type, I'd either not play or throw the game immediately.
DeleteI sat through such games in the past - beat a complete ass through cheesy tactics and terrain, simply because he was such an ass.
In one supposedly friendly campaign game I was opposed by nonsense rules exploitation and swore off ancients for years. These days wouldn't put up with it but would expect an adult conversation.
Neil
OK! You make your point! You do not suffer fools. I appreciate that attitude and completely understand. We have no time for such nonsense.
DeleteI can’t remember what I actually wrote, but I think I likely felt a bit pigeon holed into picking something that seemed right.
ReplyDeleteIf given the freedom just to write my own response, I likely would have said something like ‘I don’t know why, I just seem possessed with an inbuilt desire to want to do it and it brings so much pleasure’. Is it normal to think about it 25 hours a day? :-)
Well, it seems normal for some of us...
DeletePerhaps adding "Other" with the ability to comment might be useful but it sure complicates the analysis. "I don't know" could be a valid response.
From my memory I went for historical interest, then strategic challenge and then social interaction. My initial wargaming buddies were already friends when we drifted in to wargaming.
ReplyDeleteExcellent ranking and excellent memory too! Thank you!
DeleteI really don't like these "top 3" type questions on the surveys; for me it would have been all of the above (with education being the only low rating, but even that not an insignificant item). I wonder if this might be better done by rating the importance of each aspect on a 1-5 or 1- 10 scale?
ReplyDeleteThanks for your feedback, Peter. The survey has tried the ranking each choice on a 1-5 scale and many complained that it was confusing, took too long to complete, not enough nuance, and was too difficult to rate. You can never please everyone all of the time.
DeleteLike others, I can't honestly remember, but the 'Why?' top 3 chime with me for sure. 'Fun' I would see a default for any hobby, as otherwise, frankly why would you do it? Storytelling and the narrative I find are natrually entwined within the game or the campaign, certainly from the perspective of a mainly solo gamer.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Steve! Good to see your perspective from a mostly solo gamer.
DeleteI am a bit like Norm and Peter. I would pick everything bar the strategic challenge and the training options, and it would be hard to rank the remainder I think....as you say Jon, the reasons move around a bit.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Keith!
DeleteI'm probably one of the few who ticked "story telling and narrative". Its not something that I would have considered until I started blogging and solo gaming as opposed to only playing with a friend or a group of friends and later on, posting battle reports on my old web page last century and eventually, sporadic multi-player battle reports on my blog,
ReplyDeleteIt was when Covid hit that I got into solo gaming and battle reports on my blog became an important social connection for me. However, writing backgrounds, illustrated battle reports & story lines etc., became an enjoyable part of the hobby regardless of whether anyone else read them or not. Who would have thought it?
Ross, I do not believe you are alone at all in enjoying the storytelling and narrative creating aspect of wargaming. If this was true, would we see so much effort put into creating so many interesting battle reports? I think not!
DeleteMy three choices on this one were not popular at all. But then, I typically am out on an island on my own in most things, so I wasn't too surprised! LOL
ReplyDeleteFun, Storytelling and Creativity were my votes. I think all three are more important than any of the other options listed.
Why game if it's not "fun" primarily? I'm not about to spend my precious spare time engaging in a hobby I have to force myself to do.
For me, the narrative will win out in any tabletop opportunity. I want a story that tells the experience of the little men I intend to push around for the next 2+ hours. Otherwise why not just use Character-lacking card chits or pieces of paper?
Lastly, Creativity is one of the biggest draws to this hobby for me. I like to paint, (I used to like drawing) and I like to see my collections of miniatures I put together for a project be as individual and unique as I can so they'll stand apart from any other I come across, but also offer points of interest for any who might take time to take note of details I might put into them. A point of pride I guess.
Always enjoy your posts on the annual survey Jon, thanks as always for taking time out of your day to share your analysis on each aspect!
Dai, as many have said before, wargaming is a broad church! The hobby welcomes and accepts all. Fun, storytelling, and creativity are foundational aspects of the hobby for many. I wager you are not alone by a long shot. Creativity including painting, terrain construction, rules and scenario design, etc. are big parts of the hobby for many, me included.
DeleteYou are not stranded alone out on a deserted island at all!
I appreciate your encouragement with these analyses. To me, the results are interesting and often fascinating. Not everyone agrees but that is OK.
I can't remember my choices. However, I can understand why fun is near the bottom. As wargamers participating in a survey about wargaming and assuming that we are active in the hobby, then must surely already be having "fun" or we wouldn't game or do the survey. Therefore, maybe fun is just a given and so ignored as the partipants think carefully about what makes wargaming fun.
ReplyDeleteThat was fun!
Perhaps fun is a given? Really, I find "fun" and enjoyment in all of the facets of the hobby. Well, except for painting limbers and teams, perhaps.
DeleteInteresting thoughts - personally, I think you could ask the question another way - would you wargame without a group or an opponent ? Those, like me, who game whether there are friends around or not, demonstrate (IMHO) that I have made friends because of wargaming, but have not wargamed because of friends (other than choice of period etc.). Others, as noted in the comments section drifted into wargaming with a group of friends - would they still be wargamers if their friends had not been I wonder ?
ReplyDeleteThanks
Martin
Thanks
Martin.
You pose an interesting question, Martin. Many gamers game without a group or opponent. Some of those gamers can be found here in the comment section. This is a topic to dive into and explore in another analysis. Do these choices correlate to some of the other survey questions and personal attributes? For your specific question, seeing the correlation between "Why We Wargame" and group size might provide some clues. I know that many choose solo gaming either by choice or situation.
DeleteThanks for your comment!
As with Norm I can't remember my responses and suspect that this is one of those questions where my answers would be different on any given day.
ReplyDeleteI think you are spot on though Jonathan, in that competition would probably rank highly in all my responses if it was available as a response, which is why I have never warmed as much to solo gaming as I do playing against a human opponent. Each player has their different style which adds another layer to gaming.
As Martin says I have never joined a wargaming group with the intent to make friends, but I have made many great friends through wargaming. Interestingly though I don't socialise much outside of gaming with the members of my current wargaming groups, but that is probably because we all have groups of other friends outside of gaming for other social activities. Nevertheless, I still count them as friends.