Ugh. You know how they say that art imitates life? I often wonder if my gaming doesn't imitate my life.
I'm kind of stuck lately with gaming.
I generally tend to think of my gaming habit as falling under two different schools; miniature tabletop wargaming and online computer games. Lately both of them seem to feel like they don't have any focus lately.
With my online gaming I can't seem to sit still enough to focus on any one thing (Whether it's Planetside2, World of Tanks, Guild Wars 2 or Eve Online) long enough to reap any rewards or to see any real progression in anything. And seeing progress is a HUGE motivating factor for me when it comes to gaming. I like to see how I've built something up. I also tend to get bored rather quickly and truthfully it's something that I really quite dislike in myself. I see other people (and gamers) being able to focus on all sorts of stuff and reap huge rewards because of it and it always bothers me that getting over that apparent inertia is always such an arduous task.
With tabletop it's simply intimidation. Now that I've realized just how much painting I have ahead of me I guess it's getting started that is the tough part, which I find so ironic! The only way to lessen that apparent burden is by just getting stuck in and getting to the task at hand. But my Heavy Gear GP Squad has sat on my painting table for days lately and I seem to have the hardest time actually painting them even though I really love the paint scheme and enjoy painting them.
The other thing is I am a bit disenchanted by my lack of any wins in ANY game system lately. Admittedly I'm playing with some folks who are known for being quite good players. But after months of getting my ass handed to me time after time it's really difficult to see why I'm bothering at all. I feel bad saying that, but it's kind of true. Sometimes I find myself wishing that our gaming group was a little more balanced in terms of skill levels (I'd consider myself on the low end now) so that folks were having more even games. But I seem to be hearing that folks are more often than not having very one sided games where someone is getting whacked pretty hard on one side or another and that can't be good for the long term.
Anyhow, I think there is really nothing to it but to choose a path and plough forward until I do see some progress. For my painting, I want to see some good progress on my Heavy Gear and what with the slow grow league and tournament coming up that should be sufficient motivation. With my online stuff I think I should likely just pick a game and stick with it.
I say go for your miniatures and have at them. Don't bother considering the rest of them. Focus on one miniature at a time, and work to have it in a reasonable fashion. Not perfection, just reasonable.
ReplyDeleteOne scheme that I'm copying over onto a lot of my miniatures is green... I can handle the colors well with what I have, and they come out not so bad. Then I ding them up with some metallic paints.
After you've done that, you can experiment, and take a couple prototypes out for a little test run on different paint schemes and trials. When you start feeling weary, though, that's when it's best just to step back, breathe, enjoy time with everyone you love, and then jump back in when you've had time to do that and time to yourself. Peace.