I can really only speak for myself, and for several friends who helped get me into the game, back in '03. They were more into painting, than playing, if just because it was easier to schedule painting. When we played, it was often 1500-3000 points, and armies like IG, and Tyranids, didn't have quite the low model count "melta-vets with chimeras" thing running; some armies were massive, even at the lower points threshold, and we might've spent most of a day, in the basement of our dorms, playing. Now, I see even the "quantity is a quality all its own" armies, like Guard, try to play smaller forces, like bare bones HQ, and the aforementioned melta-vets troops, partly for ease of prep, partly for ease of transport, and probably mostly just as a way to not go broke. Still, back then, even if the four of us were more into painting, than playing (and I'll admit, I was mostly just helping one of them paint, where my own skill wouldn't hurt, as I wasn't investing in anything, yet; he already had SIX armies, and I helped paint some Nids, some tanks, and Marneus Calgar), none of us would have done so if there wasn't a game, something motivating us to paint them, and use them, beneath it.
Now, I don't actively play at all. My friends moved away, got older, have families. I did some of that. Since I got into it at college, I never fully invested in a standing army, and only occasionally order stuff to paint, when it catches my attention. Where I am now, I don't know anyone else who actively plays, so no big, standing armies, waiting to take the table.
Also, between stuff I've heard, concerning GW not doing research on what their fans want, and the starting price of some of their stuff, or the cold negligence they display toward some of their other properties (I'm thinking SoB, but you can probably think of others), I'm inclined to agree that they see their game as more a collector's hobby; they aren't as expensive as World Series tickets, but I don't know too many other games where you pay hundreds of dollars for (individual) pieces, only to play very rarely. I'll grant that it might not be 80%-20%, though, as these models are a bit to niche for "army/military" collectors, and if you weren't ever going to play the game, you probably weren't going to drop $75 on a model you need to assemble, and paint, that doesn't really look like anything else. A Land Raider is a nice model, but its base detail isn't that high, and it looks only like a Land Raider, so you must want a Land Raider.
I do wish GW made a wider array of stuff. I wish that they weren't so Astartes-focused, and that they didn't have several largely abandoned factions, with little to no dilogue about what they're actively doing. I also wish they weren't SO expensive, but that's sort of been their thing, for a long time. As is, I think they are right, and more people in the hobby are collectors, rather than players, as you can customize your models, kit-bash some great conversions, and maybe make a nice, small squad of things, but that won't make an army to field. For my part, I've done a few HQs, ordered some other Guard stuff, and then don't sit down, and paint
, but I never consider getting a whole Guard, Eldar, or Space Marine army; I personally like it more for the painting, and I think they believe that, too. I might put it more at 70%-30%.
Lastly, I feel this way sort of on account of this site. This was one of the more active ones, when I joined, and seems predominantly devoted to play, but a lot of its activity has fallen off, this year, as people have either left the game, gotten busy with life, or what have you. Compare that to, say, DakkaDakka, who seem predominantly focused on modelling, and where a thread I post can disappear off the first page (unanswered
) in the same day, and it seems, at least to this very limited range of research, that more people at least want to talk about modelling their minis, more than plan battle strategies for the armies those minis comprise. Okay, I'm done. Have a good one, all.