It is always funny when mainstream media decides to take a swipe at the wargaming community.
Today one journalist/historian (in the loosest sense) Tim Stanley has taken it upon himself to use Warhammer as satirical trope to illustrate the pretty ludicrous attempts by the Prime Minister of England to ban/regulate porn.
Here is a sample of the article.
Some people are addicted to hardcore pornography, some to crack, some to molesting fish. Then there are those who collect thousands upon thousands of miniature orcs. And they need help, too.
For the uninitiated, Warhammer is a table-top battle game played with miniature figurines that comes in two forms: Warhammer fantasy and Warhammer sci-fi (it’s all the same crap, but the latter has guns). Armies of different creatures that bear more than a passing resemblance to those featured in Tolkien (orcs, goblins, knights, dwarves) fight to the death on the roll of a dice. Some people collect for the sake of winning battles, others (like muggins ‘ere) just for the sake of painting the models. The whole experience is pitched at teenage boys, but some of them never quite grow up and you’ll find men with dank pony tails still collecting well into their thirties. Emphasis upon “boys” and “men” – this underworld is no place for a lady.
The sport has some undeniable thrills and art to it, otherwise people wouldn’t become addicted. And here’s my own personal testimony. I started on the path to Warhammer addiction in secondary school via the choose-your-own-adventure Fighting Fantasy books (“If you say hello to the dwarf, turn to page 8. If you kick him, turn to page 10”). Killing trolls in book form was fun enough, but something inside of me demanded more. One day I walked into a classroom at lunchtime and found a bunch of boys beating the living daylights out of each other with lizardmen. I was intrigued, and a shady kid called Barney told me that for just 10 quid I could have my own squadron of sweaty axe men. I started small – a few skirmishes in the changing rooms, an armed confrontation in the library – and soon worked my way up to a massive army of faux-French knights called Bretonnians. I got the painting bug and by age 15 I was getting through 10, maybe 20 archers a week. We’re talking two coats and a bucketful of superglue. Most evenings I was as high as a kite…
Here is the link if you wish to finish the article…
Now while I commend Mr. Stanley on trying to find humor; I couldn’t help being reminded how rightwingers (sometimes better with policy) are just never funny– except for believing that whole lowering taxes raises revenue thing. Still, as with everything, I applaud the attempt because if nothing else boy the article started a shit storm with people having no clue it being pure fantasy. I really, really suggest you go and read them many are pretty priceless!
Here are some of my favorites!
Don’t be absurd, games like Warhammer and their associated figurines play a vital social role, they let the rest of us identify the sort of people who play games like Warhammer easily – so we can avoid them!
Wow. Do people really see this as a genuine attempt to get Warhammer banned. Really? But there is a serious point here. Middle aged men should not have pony tails.
Yup, humor is subjective and right here are a bunch of people dictating to another bunch of people who because they’re irritated rather than amused by the article that they don’t ‘get it’.Yes, it might seem strange, but we do ‘get it’. It’s just that some folks don’t find the idea of branding a slice of the population social retards hilarious, even if you do end it with a winking smiley face. Thus, the assertion that ‘We should ban football because it encourages a thuggish, violent lifestyle and promotes racism’ is equally hilarious. Oops … forgot my winky face to convey that we should all take it with the humour in which it was intended! 😉
I think it’s a pretty stock “har dee har, look at me, I’m part of a subculture but I can’t bear to think of myself as nerdy, so I make jokes at the expense of said subculture using stereotypes popular among those outside it to cover up my own insecurities” pile of dung myself, and the writer comes off as a bit of a sad sack, particularly if that “I threw away my Warhammer so I’d get laid in college, arf arf” bit has a basis in reality. This writer, and perhaps some others, always seem to blame everyone else for not “getting” their jokes, it never seems to occur to them that they’re just not that funny at all.
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Rumor Has It is rated: mongering for spreading pseudo truthieness through leaks and rumors about Warhammer 40k