Poll of the Day > Why are all hobbies so gear obsessed?

(+) Yeah! (+)

I guess people identify with their hobbies and want to give themselves luxury or use it as a measure of how much they care...maybe. Idk.

Are you thinking of any hobby in particular?

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name a hobby that doesn't require any gear? Not sure I'm getting your point

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Lokarin posted...

name a hobby that doesn't require any gear? Not sure I'm getting your point

Hiking doesn't require gear per se.

You can get it, but you can do it without it too. On top of someone may just have hiking boots as their everyday shoes.

I'm not even sure what's meant by this topic.

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Zeus posted...

I'm not even sure what's meant by this topic.

I think what the TC meant is the more one gets into a particular hobby, the more one might want to get various gadgets, gizmos, and other fancy toys related to said hobby. For some folks, they seem to define their interest by how much they spend for that hobby.

As someone who is into fishing, hiking, camping, gaming, and use to be into Warhammer 40k and Magic the Gathering. I kinda get what the TC means by this. Over the years I have kinda splurge when it comes to outdoor/camping gear. But I have kinda spread out my spending and/or spent a lot on the good stuff that I know will last for years.

But I still draw the line at some point. $200 in fishing rod, reel, and accessories is the most I need. Some folks I know though have spent $1000+ for deep sea fishing rod & reel and they would have several such rod and reels. The same folks would go on two to three deep sea fishing trips a year that would cost $5-7k grand. I do not think my camping gear totals anywhere near that amount.

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You should be using really good gear for deep sea fishing.
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Revelation34 posted...

You should be using really good gear for deep sea fishing.

I agree. It is just hobby I do not think I want to ease myself into. The occasional 3/4 day fishing trip with my company using rental gear is enough fun for me.

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Capitalism. If you think people would buy it and you have the means to make and sell it, why the he'll wouldnt you?

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Because technology has taken over our lives.

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InfestedAdam posted...

As someone who is into fishing, hiking, camping, gaming, and use to be into Warhammer 40k and Magic the Gathering. I kinda get what the TC means by this. Over the years I have kinda splurge when it comes to outdoor/camping gear. But I have kinda spread out my spending and/or spent a lot on the good stuff that I know will last for years.

There are some activities where you can't avoid spending money. However, "gear" would be a weird term for cards or game pieces.

If "gear" just means "equipment," then it's pretty common sense why somebody would get better equipment since it'd help them enjoy that activity more. However, this title is talking about all hobbies and countless hobbies don't require equipment or gear at all. If somebody sings as a hobby, all they need is their voice and *maybe* some recording equipment. If somebody writes for a hobby, they just need a pen & paper or a computer --- things they'd own anyway. Countless hobbies are either zero cost or use things you already paid for anyway.


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InfestedAdam posted...

I think what the TC meant is the more one gets into a particular hobby, the more one might want to get various gadgets, gizmos, and other fancy toys related to said hobby. For some folks, they seem to define their interest by how much they spend for that hobby.

As someone who is into fishing, hiking, camping, gaming, and use to be into Warhammer 40k and Magic the Gathering. I kinda get what the TC means by this. Over the years I have kinda splurge when it comes to outdoor/camping gear. But I have kinda spread out my spending and/or spent a lot on the good stuff that I know will last for years.

But I still draw the line at some point. $200 in fishing rod, reel, and accessories is the most I need. Some folks I know though have spent $1000+ for deep sea fishing rod & reel and they would have several such rod and reels. The same folks would go on two to three deep sea fishing trips a year that would cost $5-7k grand. I do not think my camping gear totals anywhere near that amount.

Yeah...a lot of forums tend to be dominated by beginner discussion and gear acquisition discussion. Even a cheap hobby will get made pretty expensive, but the people who dont buy a lot of gear just seem casually into the hobby. Like the natural progression is to just go into acquiring a lot of things.

I was thinking about guitar, scuba, hiking, gaming, piano, board games, fashion, cooking, geocaching, tools for basic home repair. Theres way to do all these things cheaply and some like piano are cheaper than others.

I play guitar ("play" might be too ambitious of a word; I make some noises that sometimes isn't terrible.)

Guitar playing does have a need for gear and it is not the cheapest hobby to start but, it doesn't need to be expensive.
It is quite possible to play an acoustic guitar and have a great time for under $200. You can get an acceptable electric guitar, coupled with a decent bedroom amp for about the same price but, it's probably a bit better to allocate around $250 to $300. There are even cheaper options but, if you don't want to quit early, it is recommended to not go for the absolute lowest priced instruments as they often don't play well and can deter a beginner from sticking through the early tough learning.

However, if you go to guitar forums and look at youtube videos; you'd easily think that the guitar and amp type I mentioned will only carry you through week one and you'll need to get thousands of dollars of extra gear before long, otherwise you'll never play well, or find happiness... ever.

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If you had a hobby, you'd understand the appeal of a product that enhances it.
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Kyuubi4269 posted...

a product that enhances it.

Do these products really enhance the experience?

SpeedDemon20 posted...

Are you thinking of any hobby in particular?

If he means being a musician it's true for sure. Over the years I've collected a ton of things and most I don't even use anymore (but I'd never get rid of them).

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blu posted...

Do these products really enhance the experience?

Play a guitar through a 10 watt Crate amp and then a Marshall stack and you'll see.

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Because without tool use or some other man-made construct, our range of leisure activities is pretty limited. Humans use tools to solve all our other problems, like fuck we're not going to use them to solve the problem of boredom. The second you put one stone on top of another stone, and see if you can hit it with a third stone from however many paces, you've defined an activity by a piece of what I'll broadly accept as "gear".

The second you start working those stones so they fit against each other without rolling away, you have a primitive luxury item. Some into this stone throwing hobby are going to see what you've got and want one of their own. Some purists will argue that setting up the stones just right so they don't roll off before you can start throwing is part of the appeal, and now you have your first community drama over some change to the hobby. This can lead to community consensus, or it can lead to variations like those found in Bowling.

It's not hard to see how we got from arguing over three stones to arguing about what bike to use, configurations of computer parts for gaming, or whether or not someone should paint their own Warhammer figures - all the while spending loads of money.

Zeus posted...

If somebody writes for a hobby, they just need a pen & paper

Oh geez, the amount of people I know who've gone through a variety of pens and different types of paper to find the right pen and the ideal paper to match said pen's particulars... .

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Black_Crusher posted...

Play a guitar through a 10 watt Crate amp and then a Marshall stack and you'll see.

The cheap crates that sell used for $10 suck, super fuzzy and unclear.

But if youre looking for an indoor bar, garage, or living room amp you have many options for $100 ($50 if used) that sound great. I mean Trivium have used a Vypyr for studio and live...not sure what theyre using now.

But where would you benefit from (even be able to play) a $2000-$6000 Marshall stack unless you were a filling large stadiums or gigging in a mid-sized outdoor stadium without a PA system?

Kungfu Kenobi posted...

Because without tool use or some other man-made construct, our range of leisure activities is pretty limited. Humans use tools to solve all our other problems, like fuck we're not going to use them to solve the problem of boredom. The second you put one stone on top of another stone, and see if you can hit it with a third stone from however many paces, you've defined an activity by a piece of what I'll broadly accept as "gear".

The second you start working those stones so they fit against each other without rolling away, you have a primitive luxury item. Some into this stone throwing hobby are going to see what you've got and want one of their own. Some purists will argue that setting up the stones just right so they don't roll off before you can start throwing is part of the appeal, and now you have your first community drama over some change to the hobby. This can lead to community consensus, or it can lead to variations like those found in Bowling.

It's not hard to see how we got from arguing over three stones to arguing about what bike to use, configurations of computer parts for gaming, or whether or not someone should paint their own Warhammer figures - all the while spending loads of money.

That paints a good picture.

Zeus posted...

However, "gear" would be a weird term for cards or game pieces.

Fair point. There was a time I was looking into the better card sleeves or considering an airbrush to paint my Gundam models when I was really into that. "Gear" does sound weird to describe these.

Zeus posted...

this title is talking about all hobbies and countless hobbies don't require equipment or gear at all.

Touche. Knowing me though, if I ever get back into writing a journal, I would look into getting a high quality pen and proper paper/journal. I am just weird like that. Sometimes I am critical of how the ink flow and how stiff the paper is.

blu posted...

Like the natural progression is to just go into acquiring a lot of things.

That was me when I was into Warhammer 40k and Magic the Gathering. When swinging by the hobby shops, I felt compared to buy something before I leave. With Warhammer 40k, I really enjoyed the fluff/lore so would often buy a new codex to support the store. With Magic the Gathering, I would buy a few booster packs just to see what I get.

Kungfu Kenobi posted...

Because without tool use or some other man-made construct, our range of leisure activities is pretty limited. Humans use tools to solve all our other problems, like f*** we're not going to use them to solve the problem of boredom. The second you put one stone on top of another stone, and see if you can hit it with a third stone from however many paces, you've defined an activity by a piece of what I'll broadly accept as "gear".

The second you start working those stones so they fit against each other without rolling away, you have a primitive luxury item. Some into this stone throwing hobby are going to see what you've got and want one of their own. Some purists will argue that setting up the stones just right so they don't roll off before you can start throwing is part of the appeal, and now you have your first community drama over some change to the hobby. This can lead to community consensus, or it can lead to variations like those found in Bowling.

It's not hard to see how we got from arguing over three stones to arguing about what bike to use, configurations of computer parts for gaming, or whether or not someone should paint their own Warhammer figures - all the while spending loads of money.

That was an enjoyable read. Thank you for sharing that.

Kungfu Kenobi posted...

Oh geez, the amount of people I know who've gone through a variety of pens and different types of paper to find the right pen and the ideal paper to match said pen's particulars... .

Hah. As somehow who would be picking about pen and paper, I will agree it is bizarre. I have been buying the same brand of engineering paper since college. It feels weird to use anything else now.

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I guess I dont understand collecting either anymore.

Like I had both gear acquisition syndrome (GAS) and enjoyed collecting (curating) when a teen, but idk they just seem to foreign to me now i dont even know my motivations back then.

Maybe having a more advanced internet where everything is available for a price and having more money than I know how to spend strongly curbs the desire for collecting and GAS.

Maybe Im just going through some things, idk

blu posted...

Do these products really enhance the experience?

Sometimes. There are certainly countless examples of stuff that's far overpriced for how much it improves the experience, but there are also countless examples of things that do significantly improve the experience. To use your example of cooking, you certainly can get away with dollar store knives, but getting yourself something decent is really very nice (I say as the $500 Wusthof knife set I had to purchase for school is currently trapped inside a locker I'm not allowed to access and I'm stuck using the significantly lower-cost ones I've got for home use, but I'm not bitter). That doesn't mean you need a $600 chef's knife, by any means, particularly where knives are much more of a personal preference thing than a "this is more expensive so it's better" thing, but you will have to spend a bit of money to get something well-balanced that holds an edge well.

Really, that's where the forum discussions come in. People talk about what they've bought to improve their experience and how well that worked (albeit often tainted by a bit of sunk cost fallacy/buyer's remorse that may lead to overstating the usefulness of the products), and people who are looking to get deeper into the hobby draw on that experience to advise them on what to buy moving forward.

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The main one that comes to mind are these amateur road cyclists all thinking they're Lance Armstrong and dressing up in tight Lycra.

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I have a $40 chefs knife, $10 pairing knife, and get them sharpened about once a year...I should learn to sharpen myself. But I imagine school is pretty intensive and youll be need to learn a wider range of skills.

How was cooking school? That sounds fun to go through.

Vyse_skies posted...

The main one that comes to mind are these amateur road cyclists all thinking they're Lance Armstrong and dressing up in tight Lycra.

I wouldn't go all out with the tights and shoes but at the very least I would get those padded bottoms shorts. Maybe I just have the wrong seat but after few hours of cycling, my arse would be sore.

adjl posted...

There are certainly countless examples of stuff that's far overpriced for how much it improves the experience

Hah. That is how one Scout leader describes the more expensive gear. One might be paying twice the amount but maybe getting 10% increase in performance (i.e. weight, durability, etc.).

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ChaosAzeroth posted...

Hiking doesn't require gear per se.

You can get it, but you can do it without it too. On top of someone may just have hiking boots as their everyday shoes.

Agreed. All I have is hiking boots and a backpack. I tend to not bother with the backpack though. I really should invest in a hiking stick or two at some point though but it's not a requirement.

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wwinterj25 posted...

I really should invest in a hiking stick or two at some point though but it's not a requirement.

I would say those are most helpful when you are on uneven terrain and/or backpacking with a heavy load. When hiking downhill with a 30+ LBS backpack, the trekking poles help slow me down enough to reduce the stress on my knees. They also can function well as tent/dining fly poles.

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guitar gear (pedals, amps, etc) is a lot of fun to play with but too many people mask their shitty playing behind a million pedals. if it doesnt sound good clean, you probably arent playing it very well. I always try to make whatever Im playing sound good on my electric guitar before I plug it into my amps.

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blu posted...

Do these products really enhance the experience?

Clearly a product that allows you do an activity better will generally enhance the experience. The only real exceptions is when not doing it more efficiently is seen as adding to the experience. You bring up home repairs as an example. If you're going to re-do a shower yourself, you can either rely on a product like WEDI -- which is very easy to use, pre-configured, and expensive -- or you could do a mud job, which is a lot cheaper but a fuckton more work. If you're good at that kind of stuff and want to show off your prowess -- ie, not be seen as a novice -- you're actually going to just do the mud job. (A third option is a product like Schleuder, which is less expensive than an all-in-one like WEDI but less work than a mud job.)

InfestedAdam posted...

Touche. Knowing me though, if I ever get back into writing a journal, I would look into getting a high quality pen and proper paper/journal. I am just weird like that. Sometimes I am critical of how the ink flow and how stiff the paper is.

There's certainly something to be said for high quality pens. A fountain pen turns the act of writing itself -- ie, the setting of pen to paper -- into an experience and even shopping for a fountain pen is something of an experience.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M68e7C2yO2g

That said, a fountain pen is associated with a very different *type* of writing. At that point you're more going at it for the calligraphy than say, storytelling. And that's kinda the only time when hobby paper isn't fuckall.

blu posted...

I guess I dont understand collecting either anymore.

Like I had both gear acquisition syndrome (GAS) and enjoyed collecting (curating) when a teen, but idk they just seem to foreign to me now i dont even know my motivations back then.

Maybe having a more advanced internet where everything is available for a price and having more money than I know how to spend strongly curbs the desire for collecting and GAS.

Maybe Im just going through some things, idk

Uhhhh... are you confusing hobbies in general with collecting as a hobby?

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Im not. I dont understand collecting either.

wwinterj25 posted...

Agreed. All I have is hiking boots and a backpack. I tend to not bother with the backpack though. I really should invest in a hiking stick or two at some point though but it's not a requirement.

With the right luck on a hike you may find a good one tbh.

I used to hike before my body went to complete crap and we found some nice ones.

blu posted...

How was cooking school? That sounds fun to go through.

It was a baking/pastry program, so it didn't have much on the culinary side of things, but it was generally a pretty good time. The theory classes didn't go quite as in-depth on the underlying science as I would have liked (but that's me with a science degree in a community college course targeted at people with nothing past high school, so that's understandable), and the practicals focused a bit too much on certain products (way too many mousses and genoise), but I enjoyed myself and the co-op term landed me a job at a lovely little bakery.

blu posted...

I should learn to sharpen myself.

You can get knife sharpeners fairly cheaply (like <$30) that do a reasonable job of it without having to learn much of anything in terms of whetstones or whatnot. I don't know how good they are long-term, so you'd want to do more research before using them on a knife you want to last, but I've definitely seen some favourable results from them without much time, effort, or expertise needed at all. Might be worth looking into.

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InfestedAdam posted...

I would say those are most helpful when you are on uneven terrain and/or backpacking with a heavy load. When hiking downhill with a 30+ LBS backpack, the trekking poles help slow me down enough to reduce the stress on my knees. They also can function well as tent/dining fly poles.

That will certainly help but I have a odd fear of crossing stepping stones. The rivers I cross are not very deep but my brain tells me otherwise. I believe having a hiking stick or even finding a long twig would help in that situation as that would help reasure my mind my balance is fine.

ChaosAzeroth posted...

With the right luck on a hike you may find a good one tbh.

I used to hike before my body went to complete crap and we found some nice ones.

I love hiking/long walks and have plenty of countryside, woods and reservoirs within walking distance. I also have city life in the other direction and although I like urban walks I much prefer the countryside. I find that a lot of fellow walkers/hikers are also very polite. I guess it's some kind of unwritten rule that walkers/hikers show each other respect no matter their age.

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blu posted...

I guess people identify with their hobbies and want to give themselves luxury or use it as a measure of how much they care...maybe. Idk.

Totes agree, especially with c&b torture.
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ChaosAzeroth posted...

Hiking doesn't require gear per se.

You can get it, but you can do it without it too. On top of someone may just have hiking boots as their everyday shoes.

lol yeah lets just walk naked into the forest. nevermind the various types of weather, insects, wild life, poison, adverse weather effects, food, etc necessary to achieve a solid hike

teddy241 posted...

lol yeah lets just walk naked into the forest. nevermind the various types of weather, insects, wild life, poison, adverse weather effects, food, etc necessary to achieve a solid hike

Having cloths on doesn't effect anyone ability to hike. Insects, wild life and weather is all part of the course because you know, nature. Food and water is recommended but not a must depending the trip and if you've eaten beforehand. What is more laughable is you saying these are "necessary" when they are not. You're coming across as someone who doesn't do much hiking if at all.

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teddy241 posted...

lol yeah lets just walk naked into the forest. nevermind the various types of weather, insects, wild life, poison, adverse weather effects, food, etc necessary to achieve a solid hike

That's not hiking gear unless you're telling me you go around naked usually. Clothes you're already wearing/own doesn't count as hiking gear...

Also I used to go on a ton of hikes without taking food. I also don't think carrying a snack for getting hungry at some point is gear...

wwinterj25 posted...

Having cloths on doesn't effect anyone ability to hike. Insects, wild life and weather is all part of the course because you know, nature. Food and water is recommended but not a must depending the trip and if you've eaten beforehand. What is more laughable is you saying these are "necessary" when they are not. You're coming across as someone who doesn't do much hiking if at all.

Zeus posted...

I'm not even sure what's meant by this topic.

We'll just let them have this one Zeus. they needed the karma probably. :P

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wwinterj25 posted...

I have a odd fear of crossing stepping stones. The rivers I cross are not very deep but my brain tells me otherwise. I believe having a hiking stick or even finding a long twig would help in that situation as that would help reassure my mind my balance is fine.

Trekking poles or any sort of hiking/walking stick will definitely help to stabilize/balance yourself when crossing streams.

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teddy241 posted...

lol yeah lets just walk naked into the forest. nevermind the various types of weather, insects, wild life, poison, adverse weather effects, food, etc necessary to achieve a solid hike

Generally speaking, "gear" in the context of a recreational activity refers to equipment obtained specifically for that activity, beyond what one would normally own for everyday purposes. You can very easily go for a decent hike with nothing but a water bottle, some sunscreen, and your everyday clothing/shoes. If you want to get into more serious hikes, then yeah, you might want some extra equipment, but even then you don't need much. I know a guy who literally writes hiking guides for a living who does nearly all his hikes in sandals, and that includes some pretty rugged terrain. It's only once you get into multi-day hikes and really rugged routes that you need to start seriously considering equipment.

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adjl posted...

I know a guy who literally writes hiking guides for a living who does nearly all his hikes in sandals

Friend of mine does that because he does not like the feeling of wearing typical shoes/boots when hiking. Granted the trails we have hiked are relatively even and free of loose rocks/gravel. He has/had the habit when going downhill, to jog down until it evens out and then start walking again because he is wearing sandals I think. This bothered me a bit as it does create a dirt cloud so he opted to just hike at the back and then jog down after the rest of us are at the bottom.

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