There are Windows users every bit as obsessive as some Mac and Linux users. They’re the ones who won’t hear about how Vista perhaps wasn’t worth the upgrade from XP or how Windows 98SE was, at best, a marginal improvement on a well-maintained Windows 95 system from the same era, and will just about throw down the gauntlet and arrange a duel when someone mentions how they always run as an Administrator and it’s MS’s fault how damn unstable Windows is. However, they’re largely ignored because they’re such a small fraction of the total number of Windows users.
It’s very hard for me to pick out a single hobby or fandom to pick on here. For the sake of my own sense of fair play, I’ll only mention ones I have more than passing knowledge of:
There are obsessive arcade game fans who build entire video arcades in their basement, full of vintage hardware (either completely original or reconstructed by putting components in standard cabinets) and designed to look like the arcades of yore.
(Owning a single cabinet, probably a commodity JAMMA rig with only a few specialized components, or dedicating a desktop machine to running MAME and plugging in a couple joysticks, is not obsessive behavior, nor is it especially expensive or time-consuming.)
There are retrocomputing buffs who keep computers from the early- and mid-1960s in operable condition, which involves painstakingly repairing components that were cheap at the time and are now well past their envisioned service life. (Tape mechanisms made of plastic that is now chemically degraded to the point of damaging tapes, card readers that eat cards, etc.) These people often have to do special voodoo to get the correct electrical power for these monsters: Even a small computer from that era was designed for a corporate machine room or a factory, not a private residence.
Board games. I know of a guy whose car is packed with board games; the boot, the dashboard, under the seats and so on. His house is packed full too.
Roleplaying gamers, especially those of D&D. First, you need the Player’s Manual (and the Player’s Manual 2), the Dungeon Master’s Guide, (then DMG 2), with the Monster’s Manual minimal to play and that’s about USD 90. Not to mention the campaign settings, items and what-not. Then there are the miniatures, power cards (new in D&D 4E!), DM screen, official character sheets, initiative cards and the all-mighty battle-mats.
Next, you can join RPGA and be ranked for your DMing skills and have an an-going persistent world! Meanwhile you read errata on the website, fight off rule lawyers and tout the virtues of your chosen rule-sets on forums.
One thread up when I found this one is “Ever been caught masturbating?”
And 10% trying to find a computer game for their system! ZING
I keed, I keed. I’ve met astronomers who built observatories on ranchland that they bought in the Arizona desert. I asked one how much his rig (built with corrugated tin walls complete with a rotating dome for the bigass reflecting telescope) cost, and he answered with “You don’t really want to know, trust me.”
Also, Photographers can get crazy too, obsessing about which brand is better, the features their given camera body has, primes vs zoom lenses, the bokeh of any particular lens, small format vs. medium format vs. large format photography, SLRs vs. Rangefinders, or even starting their own film factories to keep a particular style of film available.
You want to talk about expensive? A used Leica M6 Rangefinder camera costs $1500, without a lens or a flash. I like to joke that “Leica” is German for “You will never be able to afford this camera.”
Has anybody mentioned guitar-players and their obsessive pursuit of “tone”? It has been a while since I was heavily into playing guitar, but I remember some crazies would obsess over some ridiculous stuff. Amps, tubes, pickups, strings, that sort of thing makes sense. But rumor has it that Eric Johnson demands a certain type of battery in his stomp boxes due to their effect on his “tone”. Some people have to have just the right cables and connectors and they pay out the ass for them too. I guess this overlaps with audiophiles to an extent.
A definition: Golf is a game where people chase a little ball because can’t chase anything else.
I believe every golfer alive can remember and describe every hole they ever played in their lives. And, unfortunately, they often do.
I played a few rounds with a friend years ago, and can see it is challenging, but way too tame a sport for me. I participate in a lot of vigourous activities, but I don’t monopolize every conversation describing them.
What hobbies tend to have the most obsessive enthusiasts?
Serial killing.
:eek:
Isn’t golf just debigulated pool? Are there golf courses with topless caddies? Ones with people bringing you drinks? Any courses with great sound systems?
George H.W. Bush once said that Bob Hope teased him about enjoying hiking, mountain climbing, swimming, etc. He then pointed out that Bob Hope too enjoyed these activities, but he collectively called them “Golf”
