Does WH40k have the best fans/community?

[Krelious]

I think its very clear that despite whatever problems, I'm sure GW and its fans are both in love with the setting to such a degree that I have not seen such depth of discussion and fan made media from any other setting that even comes close, sure people like their star trek or star wars or whatever but I think that with 40k it has kind of become transcendent in the way people poke fun at the setting/narrative while still having a depth of seriousness, I think part of what helps this is that 40k largely exists in tabletop and written format allowing people to use their creativity and imagination to fill in the blanks, aided with youtube and a smattering of videogames you have a kind of combination effort of corporation and community building the vision of what 40k looks like,  we have no official movies or tv series (mostly) so it allowed people to engage their creativity to build the setting in whatever way they saw fit and put it on the internet.   Think conceptually,  the siege of terra for example, everyone knows what happened but I think each person has their own creative imagination building an image of what the characters look like, what the sounds are, what the palace looks like etc, this isn't star wars where everyone knows what Darth Vader or the Millennium Falcon looks or sounds like so the true beauty of the 40k fandom is when someone puts something out there we get to see an honest and original interpretation of something that is ethereal in nature. For the moment I think 40k is one of the few settings where things are agreed upon, they are discussed openly while they also cant be nailed down as of yet. Some people think Dorn has muttonchops moustache combo and I love it.

 

Maybe I'm biased towards what I've focused on the internet and I do love  other settings but I think 40k has something special going for it and its the fact that I think its a setting that is massively popular while allowing for everyone to kind of chip in to building it.  If anything I'm writing this as a sort of love letter to 40k and its community. For me it all started off when a friend gave me Nightbringer and introduced me to Dawn of War.  Every day I see that book on my shelf. 

 

 

 

[Ubiquitous1984]

I obviously don't know if 40k has the 'best' fans, and I can only speak from my own perspective.  I'm not into the 'hobby' side of things and I only follow the books and the lore.  It certainly has the most generous and helpful community that I have been a part of in my 25+ years of hanging around various online communities.  I have been helped out by so many people to source books for really reasonable prices, or who have given me advice or taught me things about the lore.  I never come across any toxicity, and the communities I am a part of are full of just really sound people who I enjoy interacting with (like the good people on this sub-forum).

 

 

[Wormwoods]

I've found the wider community to be WILDY variable. We have some really solid, inviting, helpful folks into this silly little hobby, and also some of the most rancid buggers you're likely to find online or in a game store. 

 

I think it comes out pretty even in the wash. Could be better, could be worse, pick your sub-communities and forums carefully and you'll have a good time. 

[cheywood]

There’s a lot of great people and terrible people who enjoy 40k, just like every other hobby in existence. I don’t think it’s possible or worthwhile to label a ‘best fandom’ because individual experience within any fandom can be wildly variable and there’s no centrality of approach. 40k is especially unique as it has a mix of lore focused communities and game/model focused communities.
 

When it comes to online communities I can hop on /tg right now and see the characteristic vileness people associate with the internet, unfiltered and unedited. Yet here on the B&C most discussions are civil and fact based, if not outright friendly. The community is pleasant enough that some authors feel comfortable posting here occasionally. Huge difference and one that could vastly alter how you see the fandom.
 

Reddit’s probably the most representative of the 40k fandom, being the most popular and accessible forum for discussing the lore and hobby. And I generally feel good about the community’s usage of the platform. It’s a convivial place, with lots of people answering lore/painting questions in an affable manner. I’d definitely recommend browsing around to anyone interested in 40k. But you still get your fair share of teenagers who don’t know how to talk to others, people who ardently cling to inaccurate beliefs about the setting, and those who clearly take the whole thing too seriously. Overall I think it’s very positive, but I don’t know if it’s significantly different from other SF subreddits like Star Wars or Trek. 
 

I’m not as familiar with it, I haven’t been to any tournaments and I’ve only stepped foot inside a couple stores, but it seems like the community is a mixed bag out in the real world too. Lots of newcomers talk about how stores can feel cliquey or unwelcoming to them, making it hard to get into the game. Of course you also have the general complaints about body odor and attitudes towards women that, fairly or unfairly, follow a lot of nerdy, male dominated hobbies. And, my personal least favorite, the occasional idiot who thinks 40k is the perfect fantasy land for their bigotry and fetishization of certain abhorrent regimes. At the same time it seems like lots of people have fantastic times and make life long friends at tournaments as well, and I’m sure there’s a lot of great people working as FLGS managers. 
 

Edited July 24, 2023 by cheywood

[DarkChaplain]

I've seen too many idiots online to believe this thesis. Considering that the fanbase also includes certain Youtube personalities who mobilize their toxic followers for some sort of culture war, and the memelords on Twitter, I fail to see major differences to other popculture fandoms on the whole.

[Scribe]

4 hours ago, DarkChaplain said:

I fail to see major differences to other popculture fandoms on the whole.

 

I dont know.

 

When I think back on things like the Dorn Heresy project, or many of the amazing blogs/plogs here, or the depth of discussion, or the youtube vids, or the actual legit artistry of some miniature painting, I think "the hobby" does stand at least a little bit apart from most any other community I have taken part in, simply due to the vast range of way's in which people can take part in it.

[Roomsky]

I think both sides of this discussion have a point. My kneejerk was "no, it's not" because the 40k fandom especially has a reputation for its fashies. But when I actually thought about it, and my experience in forums and fandoms of other big franchises like Star Wars/Trek, 40k really doesn't seem to have a higher proprotion of :cuss:s than similar settings. Hell, Star Wars needs to have like, 3+ subreddits to discuss the lore because of how divided and keyboard-militant Star Wars fans are. The 40k fandom's not perfect and has its outliers like any big setting, but I think the 40k fans generally range from equal to other fandoms to significantly better!

 

And I mean, they turned Arch's subreddit into a discussion about 40k architecture. There is yet hope for humanity.

[wecanhaveallthree]

The section of it that agree with me are excellent, wonderful, incredible. The section of it that disagree with me are awful, horrifying, terrible. 

[Scribe]

4 minutes ago, wecanhaveallthree said:

The section of it that agree with me are excellent, wonderful, incredible. The section of it that disagree with me are awful, horrifying, terrible. 

 

See maybe thats the thing. The number of people here, in this community, that I loathe, is actually quite small.

 

I cannot say the same for other communities, therefore this one wins.

[System Sound]

As with most internet fandoms, there's a very small, but very loud minority that like to throw :cuss: at everyone around them... Knobheads like Arch and Gamza, for example.