For the Love of the Game

            People buy GW products for a myriad of reasons.  Some buy them to paint, some buy them to kit-bash and convert, some buy them to play, and others buy them to do a combination of all 3.  The reasons a person plays the game can be just as diverse.  People play for fun, to be a part of the stories they read, to compete, to win, to win at all costs (yes that’s different from playing to win), as a social interaction, to make friends and numerous other reasons. 
The different game systems put out by GW have their own culture as well, which is only fitting given the different personalities both of those games have.  The problem(s) with in any given gaming group/region stem from the differing reasons to play.  For instance, the reason you buy GW products is not likely to get anyone’s nose out of joint; but the same cannot be said for the reasons you play.

            Is it enough to simply play For the Love of the Game?  If this question were posted on the web somewhere you would probably get lots of “yes” comments, but you would probably get a lot of disagreement on what constitutes “Love of the Game”.  Arguments will be varied and numerous but bear in mind, why you love the game may be different from the other guy/gal sitting across the table. 

            I play 40k to win.  I am a competitive person and I take solace in being one of the top dogs in 40k at my local store, and I play to keep it that way.  I treat draws as a loss when I assess my play and how to change it; I treat a loss as if the world has crumbled and I usually trash the list I played and start over from scratch.  This is not to say I never draw or lose, or that I am a poor sport, these reactions to game results are just that, reactions.  They occur after the game and never around anyone else, being a gracious loser or winner is always of paramount importance.  That being said winning is what makes 40k fun for me, the competition, strategy, tactics, list building, trying to be the best.  I understand though that this is not what makes 40k fun for everyone else, and I will often not play my tournament lists in a league, campaign, or casual gaming environment.  Most people like to win but it’s not always their number one reason for playing 40k, and I understand that. For some though winning at all costs is the only viable option.

            Winning makes 40k fun even if it isn’t your primary motivation, but take a look at the win at all costs (WAAC) player, or the uber power gamer.  This is the guy who always brings the harshest, most powerful list whether he is playing at Ard Boyz or playing a guy who’s played 0 games before.  Now this alone doesn’t mean he is a WAAC player, it’s the more morally ambiguous things he does that turn him into this type of player.  When you play a WAAC player his units will always seem to have just the right wargear for a given situation.  He always seems to remember that Melta bomb when the 3 powerfist attacks fail to destroy your Rhino.  But more importantly WAAC players always seem to have a reputation of knowing the game better than anyone else and being exceptionally good sports so when they do something completely incorrect no one, or very few people, will call them on it.  Some examples I have witnessed as a spectator or participant in a game are: Ork Boyz taking 6+ armor saves from bolters which are clearly AP5.  Eldar jetbikes firing and assaulting after turbo boosting.  Tau devilfish moving flat out into terrain, rolling a 1 to be immobilized, but not being destroyed because they have “landing gear”, which is not what Tau landing gear do.  WAAC players, most people will agree, don’t really play “For the Love of the Game” they play for the love of feeling dominant, which is very different.

             Luckily WAAC players are the exception not the rule and a cornucopia of different “Lovers of the Game” exist for 40k. So far there is the play to win crowd, and the WAAC crowd (who aren’t really lovers of the game).  Some people play to be a part of the story, they love the books, the back story, the Emperor, the Space Marines, the Chaos Gods, the Eldar, etc.  They want to play the races they love and paint them to match the stories they have read, and while winning is good, these people genuinely enjoy a good game simply for being good (generally this means both armies are fully/nicely painted).  There are the people who play because they like painting miniatures, and the 40k miniatures really are some of the best looking around.  They want to play games with beautiful minis, terrain, and “cinematic” moments.  Then there are players who only play to have fun, they have friends who play, they enjoy gaming in general, but the hobby/fluff aspect isn’t really there thing.  They put some paint down on the models but they’ll never finish an army, for them just playing and having a good time is why they love the game. 

There are multiple other gaming personalities, including several subsets.  An example would be the player who plays to win but can’t seem to win a game to save his life, everyone knows this guy, at least one exists in every store/region.  There is also the guy who loves to play in order to own every new (good) army that comes out, he loves change; and embraces new rule sets and codices with vigor, shedding old armies into the vastness of ebay, bartertown, and the bits bin almost as fast as he builds them. 

            The important thing to remember when you sit down to a game of 40k whether it be at the monthly RTT, Ard Boyz, a league game, or a pickup game, nearly everyone plays “For the Love of the Game” but not everyone loves the game for the same reasons.

-Overwatch