Let people enjoy the hobby how they want.

I'm talking about the elitist attitudes I see regularly in this sub. There is a LOT of negativity from people who perceive others as "only collecting and never playing" or "having too many games" or "being wasteful". Most COMC posts that are some fancy home-made artisan recessed shelf full of out of print games get thousands of upvotes, but the COMCs where someone just finally got a cube shelf gets less than 2 dozen votes and very little discussion about the actual games themselves. Time and time again I see comments like "I'll never understand what gets to people to accumulate so many games in so little time" or "compulsive buying is a problem that's glorified in this hobby". So many people will stand on their soap box and shame others because they perceive their collection to be inferior, and I am so tired of it.

Most common reasons I hear are:

A. "It's wasteful or a frivolous use of resources"... People are allowed to spend their money on what they want. It's their money, they can spend it however they want.

B. "It shows lack of appreciation for the hobby"... Sure, some enjoy the collection aspect just as much as the game-play aspect. Sure, they aren't exploring the mechanics and themes of every game, and that's okay.

C. "Compulsive buying is glorified and incentivized and it's just pure over-consumption and consumerism"... Often we see this behavior from people new to the hobby. They are excited, they are exploring new games, they are overjoyed to have a new community to engage with. Over time that smooths out and slows and curating usually happens as they learn what they like. Let them make the journey. Lamenting consumerism is about as hypocritical as it can be, I am sure we could find examples of the same in everyone's lives, it's not worth nitpicking.

TL;DR: Shaming others for collecting too many board games and not playing them all is not productive or helpful. Everyone has different interests, preferences, and approaches to the hobby, and there is no one "right" way to enjoy board games. Instead, we should respect others' choices and preferences and focus on fostering a welcoming and inclusive community that encourages people to explore and enjoy the hobby in their own way.

Rant over