OnTableTop – Home of Beasts of War

Reply To: Are we not snagging normies anymore?

February 22, 2021 at 7:03 am #1614512

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Were “normies” ever in this hobby? I guess your definition isn’t mine. Before the epidemic, I regularly went to Meetups, and the most commonly played games by the non-gamers were Eurogames. Absolutely no one brought their own army, warband, or whathaveyou, although it wasn’t hard to find a few scrappers for a dungoncrawl or Arkham Horror.

That said, sites like OTT are doing as well a job as they can to support the hobby during the epidemic, even if there’s less actual playing. GW was said to have an excellent business model — if your buddy isn’t available to play a game with you, you can still stay at home painting your models. With the internet, we can still communicate about the hobby, and keep it alive and well. With the epidemic being nearly a year old, I’d think that anyone who wants to play virtually already knows how to do so (an RPG friend of mine was doing this even before the epidemic).

Boardgames sales increased during the pandemic, as families sought entertainment. Wargames aren’t exactly oriented towards families, but I wouldn’t be surprised if Dads are getting their kids into wargaming (and their family into painting?) more now than before the epidemic? Maybe a few Dads here who are in the hobby can chime how OTT can help them get their kids into gaming?