What are we doing?
If hoarding plastic waste (in the form of little warriors) doesn't worry you at the Year of Our Lord 2023, maybe you should read this short (and last) entry for this year.
I wasn't planning on posting anything new before New Year's Eve, but I've been a little indisposed after a double vaccination yesterday and spent all the evening listening to stuff on YouTube. At some point, this random channel I've never listened to before jumped into my queue.
The video is called "Is GW KILLING Other Miniature Games??", as Views God demands. And it looked like the usual talk about smaller games and companies, until they dropped what felt like a bomb...
At the end of the day people care more about a game... This is how the world is: People cares if the games are alive or dead. And it's alive if there's stuff coming out.
No. This isn't how the world is. Look at Mordheim. It's more alive than ever. Or Blood Bowl: A game that survived for decades thanks to the fans. Or WH Quest...
This is exactly what I've talked about lately if you're paying attention: The consumer mentality and the FOMO push us to expect more releases, and to hoard more and more plastic waste. Yes, I've said waste. Because What's the difference between 10 Kg of plastic sprues on your closet and 10 Kg of plastic bags and cans in a landfill? I'll tell you: You're attached to that trash even if you're never going to build or paint it. Why on earth are we buying WD magazines, paying for WH+ or reading WarComm every day when that's just expensive advertising? Because we're hooked. We're addicted to this shit.
Not just to buying models, but to buying stuff in general. And when te companies are not pushing new products on the shelves every week, we start to think "their games are dead".
With this post I just want you to take 2 minutes and reflect on your buying habits, and think if there's really a need to be a patron of a dozen of digital sculptors just to get cheaper STLs you're not probably printing this year (or the next).
Maybe you can mitigate this doing some of this:
- Buy less plastic or resin models.
- Buy second hand models and strip badly painted models from people that don't need them anymore.
- Ask your internet friends before scrolling eBay late at night impulse buying that lead model you always wanted that will fly 3000 Km just to get to your door
- Commission indie sculptors and artists for the models and illustrations you like.
- Help people making stuff for free.
- Maybe don't buy plastic or resin for some time and save some money for good books or just turning the heat on.
Yeah, what a killjoy, right?
Bon cap d'any i feliç any nou!