Crickets, can be heard in once packed gaming halls in my area. Perhaps that is a slight over statement. Let’s stick with what I have seen. These could be wrong, but the impression is that things have gone quiet. What do I mean by that.. Well..
The online community doesn’t seem as active as it once was, but that is a relative statement and could be just from my perspective. What I have also seen is that since 6th edition more and more people I know online and offline have either moved on to another gaming system, or have picked up a second system in addition to 40k. I have friends that are actively looking and to be honest I have been looking at other games off and on as well. Is that the natural tendency of gamers to jump from system to system?
Locally the 40k crowd isn’t near as active, and I know several people that simply have walked away since the new edition. Is this because of the economy? Has everyone in my circles had real life issues crop up at the same time? While possible odds are strictly against that since my gaming friends are so diverse. The age range, and even location range is vastly wide of the people I talk to and game with. Sure there are those vastly invested into the system and community that are going strong as ever. You will have your Paul Murphy, Mike Brandt, or Thomas Reidy type personalities that are in for the long haul as the game shifts in one direction or another. These are people who are more interested in the experience of playing with people, and challenges of operating within the system regardless of the system. It’s socially what they do and they have solid play circles I would imagine.
Personally while I don’t despise 6th, I find it interesting but will admit just like other editions it has some draw backs. 5thedition was streamlined for fast play, while 6th edition seems like it takes twice as long to play as they added so many extra things to the game. Placing terrain, random objective results, random terrain results. Warlord trait rolls, power rolls, etc etc… The game is more random and takes longer which makes it harder to play in a formalized competitive environment. Also Allies adds a interesting twist on the balance of different armies. I didn't walk away because I didn't like the new rules though, I got hit with the real life bat, and it has slowed my actually gaming time to a crawl. I won’t bore you with the details of my hectic life, but free time is scarce at the moment, and when I do get it, it’s rare I can spend it out gaming or that it lines up with when an event is even going on locally. Add in the fact my once large circle of gaming buddies has dwindled down as people all have walked away for whatever reason, and now my support group to even talk about the game has been slowing failing saving throws. I have been more focused on the hobby then the game as late as a result of all the above…. But the purpose of this rant is because again as I look around it appears so many are losing interesting..
I understand there are more GT’s than ever, and the hard core crowd appears to be going strong. It’s just everyone that wasn’t hard core has made me feel like they are more and more looking for something else to do as a club than kill some space marines… (A shame those MEQ’s need to be killed by someone)
Am I off base? Did the entire planet get busy at once? More importantly
How has 6thedition impacted your gaming circles?