The Culture: The Crown Is Yours, If You Want To Win To Get It

We really do want you to win.

The call of BrOSR to attend to higher concepts and rules that may seem unattainable is something deeply Christian. Not to settle for something lesser but to strive, even if one falls short, for perfection. That is why it is the right way. https://t.co/Ven453AdM8

— VoC (@_VoC__) December 9, 2024

But we know that winners don't have it handed to them. They have to take it, seize it, conquer it. Like Conan, winners are those that become king by their own hand.

Or, in a Christian frame, are chosen not for their might or their ferocity, but for their steadfast faith and obediance to His Word as they go about doing His Will.

To those opposed, those two look a lot alike, and are hated and feared all the same.

This is not something that a commercial enterprise can provide; you cannot swipe your card and Consume Product your way to winning, so there is no Paying To Win.

As BDubs has said when on NerdCognito's podcast and again with Dunder Moose, the solution is to bring back brotherhood among hobbyists. This is the social function of the Clubhouse, and it is telling that the hostile reaction to this return of a lost institution comes from folks who either are threatned because they sense a hit to their business prospects or they fear being filtered out because they refuse to Git Gud.

Nevermind that they could just refocus their efforts on providing the mentorship needed to develop talent, or on provision and maintenance of the physical plant needed for a Clubhouse to operate in a local area, or otherwise be good brothers and stewards. No, there must be gain! No, there must be accomodation! This is how you get such pitiable wretches as Games Journalists unable to pass tutorials.

Behold the infamous display of Dean Takahashi, Games Journalist and Total Loser, Refusing To Git Gud

And yes, I am saying that commercialization incentivizes people to Loserdom, to being as bad as Games Journalists, by demanding that things be changed to let them "win".

The Bros won't let you win, but neither will they let you languish in the suck if you let them help you get better. That is the brotherhood that this hobby has long been lacking, and YouTube videos/streams/podcasts are not sufficient for that purpose anymore than reading a manual is. You need to be mentored, and you need to mentor in turn. This is a wargaming hobby, so it needs to feel like being in the dojo as much as it does the war college or the study.

The value of providing the receipts--the Actual Play reports in particular--is to show those observing from the sidelines that (a) the Bros know what's what, (b) they can and do help each other to improve and win, (c) Conventional Play is holding you back- especially the Cargo Cult that benefits from keeping it as the norm. The Bros prove by doing that the real hobby is not what the Cargo Cult of Conventional Play claims it to be.

Hard to argue with results, but the derelicts from the Soup Aisle try anyway.

If you're willing to be a Bro, the Bros will help you master the game you've got and teach you how to win. You will even learn things that you didn't expect along the way.

Brothers helping brothers. Iron sharpening iron. That's the hobby that the Bros brought back from the Memory Hole.

If you think you're ready and able, seek admission to the Clubhouse.