why do people have to motivate themselves to hobby?

[terminator ultra]

maybe I'm missing something?

[Firedrake Cordova]

There's probably a myriad of reasons, but a few I can think of:

• real-world issues (stress, work problems, health problems) inhibiting their ability to enjoy "hobby time"
• "biting off more than you can chew" - not realising the scope of a project until it's too late, or having too many projects on the go
• not being able to complete models to your desired standard
• discovering that your chosen paint scheme is more difficult/time consuming/annoying to paint than you realised (or the test model indicated)
• GW tinkered with the game balance and one or more units are ineffective, or your army is no longer legal

 

++EDIT: Thinking about it, "analysis paralysis" should probably be on the list ...

Edited March 4, 2024 by Firedrake Cordova

[andes]

I'll add:

• Sunk-cost Fallacy. So much money invested in plastic that it can be difficult to set it aside, even when it's clearly time to box it all up and move on to something else for a while
• Not setting boundaries or rules for oneself, such as "I'll never play with unpainted models."
• Being bored of 40k but not having another consuming interest to take its place

These three have affected me at some point or another.

[Marshal Rohr]

The human bodies ability to have meaningful fun is entirely dependent on other things going on in its life. Some parts of the hobby are also incredibly tedious. You can ruin a model with bad basing, or too much primer, or missing a mistake before sealing it. 

Edited March 4, 2024 by Marshal Rohr

[MARK0SIAN]

I’d second what Marshal Rohr says about not all aspects of the hobby being enjoyable. I have grown to really dislike the actual building of models. Kit bashing stuff is fun but clipping, cleaning and gluing regular dudes or vehicles I just find boring. So if my project or part of it is at the stage where I need to build things I have to motivate myself to do it so I can get onto the bit I do enjoy like painting and playing. 

[gaurdian31]

Heck even just having low to no energy some days saps all motivation to do a project that you may otherwise enjoy. I know I have those kinds of days.

[Inquisitor_Lensoven]

What do you mean by ‘hobby’?

 

a lot of people don’t like the process of building and painting but love the actual game. This means to play in tournaments they have to have a painted army which is something they find more tedious than fun

[Emperor Ming]

My hobby motivation has died in the past few years

 

If anyone can find it

 

Let me know

[The Yncarne]

it is a hobby. not a job. not an obsession. balance in all things is healthy.

[MegaVolt87]

For me, lack of motivation at the moment.

 

Also the fact that GW's last paint range changes have stuffed my IW painting considerably. So I have a portion of models that just won't match unless I strip them. If you are a slow painter, you should not be using GW paints I believe. I'm moving to only Vallejo paints for another project, the first few tanks and dreads have been encouraging results wise. I also have my eye on a few select army painter ones as well. Not to mention, a good many of past GW product spreads have been done by eavy metal/ FW team using non GW paints anyway. The teams moving to 100 percent GW colours is a recent thing. Even then, I believe the team still sneaks in non GW paints anyway. 

Edited March 5, 2024 by MegaVolt87

[Interrogator Stobz]

Yep; all the changes, from the range changes to the availability of minis, to their rules changing and the points constantly changing, to the paints changing, all conspire to reduce staying power in a hobby that for mere mortals takes ages.

 

I used to abide by the saying Discipline first, Motivation follows. 

But now, GW products get a Meh, I think I'll do something else instead. 

Sad really, as I was trying to hide inside the sunk cost fallacy to finish up some projects, but I knew I was doing it, so now even Discipline isn't enough. 

Edited March 5, 2024 by Interrogator Stobz
Sp.

[Scribe]

Because adulting, for as long as I have, sucks.

[MegaVolt87]

9 minutes ago, Interrogator Stobz said:

Yep; all the changes, from the range changes to the availability of minis, to their rules changing and theipoints constantly changing, to the paints changing, all conspire to reduce staying power in a hobby that for mere mortals takes ages.

 

I used to abide by the saying Discipline first, Motivation follows. 

But now, GW products get a Meh, I think I'll do something else instead. 

Sad really, as I was trying to hide inside the sunk cost fallacy to finish up some projects, but I knew I was doing it, so now even Discipline isn't enough. 

 

Most definitely. My discipline has morphed a lot. Sure, there are releases, but its things I don't want/need or I don't want to wait anymore. I bought the FW sicaran arcus x2, but am fine waiting on the eventual Omega varient in plastic. I might be tempted for another OG sicaran as the plastic has good potential for a warlord in the armoured ROW for HH, apart from that nothing is really a priority for the foreseeable future. The hobby budget is in surplus as a result which is crazy. 

[TheArtilleryman]

9 hours ago, Emperor Ming said:

My hobby motivation has died in the past few years

 

If anyone can find it

 

Let me know

Have you tried looking down the back of the sofa? Things usually end up there

[TheArtilleryman]

Joking aside, I am assuming @terminator ultra is suggesting that because it’s a hobby and they enjoy it, that they don’t suffer from lack of motivation. 

 

Thing is, there are lots of things in life that are enjoyable but require effort. I know I will enjoy having a clean house that smells nice and is tidy, with candles burning etc. But in a family of five it’s a massive amount of hard work to get there. I really enjoy cooking and know I will get immense enjoyment from eating my Sunday dinner with roast pork, crackling and all the trimmings, but can I be bothered to start cooking it? Frequently not. 
 

I echo what others say about other things getting in the way. I almost always want to hobby, but sometimes the effort involved makes me choose to do other things. Like shoving in a pizza instead of doing the full roast, sometimes it’s just easier to play a PC game instead of painting. Or I’m tired after work, or I’ve got to get past a load of RL jobs before I can sit down, and by the time I do I’m totally knackered and Warhammer needs too much concentration to do well.

 

Games are even harder get to because they need two people motivated enough, plus a spare two or three hours, and a big space. This is a bit easier at the moment because my garage is clear and we can leave a game set up to return to later. However, even with this space, and when my house contains my son as a built-in opponent, this is still hard to make happen.

 

I would say I go through periods where I do nothing at all with the hobby. I also go through times where I have huge hobby surges, like before Christmas when I managed to paint about 1800 points of Astra Militarum. This past year, since engaging fully with B and C, my motivation has leapt and I’ve achieved so much more than I have for years. I think having other people around you interested in the hobby definitely helps. 
 

I think the biggest single answer to this question is “real life.” At the end of the day, it’s a hobby and will always come second to wife, kids, pets, maintaining a house and car, unexpected events and so forth.
 

Although it’s faster to say, I don’t actually see it as motivation to hobby; more a constant challenge to create the conditions in your life that make physical and mental space for the hobby that you want to do.

 

 

Edited March 5, 2024 by TheArtilleryman
I can’t stand having incorrect punctuation and grammar, so I edit everything about 12 times; sorry!

[Domhnall]

As others have mentioned, life tends to get in the way. I always want to hobby, I even enjoy clipping and building models (because sometimes that's all I have time for), and the 'doing' part of the hobby is great and I enjoy it. But a lot of the time I just don't have time to finish one mini, so do I want to just do a base coat then possibly not get back to it for 3 weeks? 
Getting the water/brushes/paint out can take time and effort (it's not much, but it's an obstacle a lot of people have). 

For me, it's not the motivation to hobby that's the problem, it's the motivation to prepare to hobby and overthinking what I'm going to hobby that's the problem. Especially when there are other things that are quicker to get started eg. Playstation, that when I'm knackered after a day is soo much "easier" (insert Bilbo 'after all why not, Why shouldn't I?' meme).

 

Then there are times where I'll overthink it, decide to do something else, instead sit on my phone for 2 hours then think what a waste that was, I could have finished that mini!!! 

 

Edit: also, I feel it's important to remember that hobby 'fun' is a long term goal, in that doing the hobby is enjoyable, but finishing something is where the real enjoyment is. Playstation fun is now, I'll get some sense of achievement tonight, not next week when I finish that squad (or in 20 odd years in the case of a couple of my models!).

Edited March 5, 2024 by Domhnall

[grailkeeper]

A hobby is supposed to be enjoyable. If it's not, stop.

[AutumnEffect]

For me it's different parts of the hobby I have to motivate myself for.

For example, I love my White Scars.
I love playing them. I love putting them together, I love converting them, I love reading about them.

I do not enjoy painting them.
White is tedious. White is unforgiving. It isn't a pleasant experience.

It's something I have to motivate myself to do.

[TheArtilleryman]

17 minutes ago, AutumnEffect said:

For me it's different parts of the hobby I have to motivate myself for.

For example, I love my White Scars.
I love playing them. I love putting them together, I love converting them, I love reading about them.

I do not enjoy painting them.
White is tedious. White is unforgiving. It isn't a pleasant experience.

It's something I have to motivate myself to do.

Was gonna answer @grailkeeperbut you basically did it.

 

Off-topic but I think batch-paint drybrushing is your best friend in this case. Start with black undercoat, then get a big brush and drybrush dark grey on every model. Then drybrush light grey, drybrush white, then paint in the non-white details. It won’t be the neatest but it will be fast and will remove a significant amount of the pain from painting the white.

Edited March 5, 2024 by TheArtilleryman

[AutumnEffect]

3 minutes ago, TheArtilleryman said:

Off-topic but I think drybrushing is your best friend in this case. Start with black undercoat, then get a big brush and drybrush dark grey, drybrush light grey, drybrush white, then paint in the details. It won’t be the neatest but it will be fast and will remove a significant amount of the pain from painting the white.

I appreciate it, I've got quite a bit of them already done though and I want everything to match up so I think I'm committed, lol.

[TheArtilleryman]

1 minute ago, AutumnEffect said:

I appreciate it, I've got quite a bit of them already done though and I want everything to match up so I think I'm committed, lol.

They look awesome! It might be hard work but it’s worth it, that’s for sure!

Edited March 5, 2024 by TheArtilleryman

[Bouargh]

15 hours ago, Emperor Ming said:

My hobby motivation has died in the past few years

 

If anyone can find it

 

Let me know

 

In the washing machine, with all the lost socks.

 

But back, on the topic. For me, motivation (or loss of it) may be bound to too much repetitiveness. Tried to paint this regiment of 40 spearmen? Fed up with painting all these same-looking buildings for your Scenery?
Using "challenges" through the forums there is of great help to maintain some momentum. It used to be, in fact, the very reason of registering myself on B&C forums...

 

 

 

Edited March 5, 2024 by Bouargh

[jaxom]

To follow up on what @gaurdian31 said, it's similar to my own experience. I need to have a certain amount of mental energy to maintain focus when I paint, because while I enjoy painting I don't find it restful. So it's not so much getting motivated, but having energy.

[Agramar_The_Luna_Wolf]

Not much points to add. In my case, motivation comes and goes depending of the people I have contact with. A healthy community and/or a stable hobby group boost me and hobby a lot. I more creative, more interested in learning and share things. But in the same way, the opposite, or just the lack of it empties my "hobby pool" of energy. And I must say nowadays some groups really sucks. Not this, thanks of god.  This community helps me a lot to continue, but sadly is not the common.

[NovemberIX]

The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. Sometimes my hands hurt from clipping stuff, or holding a paint brush for too long, my eyes strain from trying to pick out the details, my back hurts from sitting in a chair that's not quite comfortable. That's not even getting into stuff like your main army being slowly phased out, corporate shenanigans that make you lose trust, and models and kits you love being sent to "legends", or just straight up forgotten (eg Land Raider Ares, Razorback Rikarius, Titanhammer formation, Siege Dreadnought). I still love my army, and my completed models, it's just a point of getting "there", so maybe sometimes instead of finally working on my AdMech army, I play Mechanicus instead, or I spend a few minutes staring at my Ares and think, "ya know, I wish Chapter Approved 2017 was still useful". I want to be motivated, but sometimes, that's easier said than done.