Until your GFS develops its own GAS...
Just building my own shed to house my 3d printer and injection mould studio so I can perfect these headphones so Jimmy Hendrix sounds great
Let me tell you about me Gear Fabrication Syndrome
51–60 of 177 posts
Re: Let me tell you about me Gear Fabrication Syndrome
#52Earlier quoted context omitted.
> one should just embrace it and say “my hobby is collecting guitar gear, and my niche is things that Jimi Hendrix used or things that make sounds like he did” GAS is a form of delusion. You are asking people to “just” self-recognize and somehow self-fix their deeply rooted psychological problems.
I think I'm saying that collecting stuff isn't a deeply rooted psychological problem.
True, but the problem is not the collecting. It's that people want to 'succeed' at some hobby, and are blaming the lack of gear for not achieving some particular goal or level of success (however they define it).
To re-imagine the situation, they would have to give up the original goal of the hobby.
Re: Let me tell you about me Gear Fabrication Syndrome
#53It’s all fun and games until you start applying this to commercial software projects.
It’s interesting how open source kind of short-circuits a lot of this; you can’t “acquire” it all because you already have it all. You can acquire experience in a lot of tools, but that’s actually acquiring practical knowledge, not just acquisition of things as things.
I feel like one equivalent of problematic hoarding in software is adding feature after feature by stacking complex dependencies until nobody can maintain it without tripping over the jenga piles.
Re: Let me tell you about me Gear Fabrication Syndrome
#54Earlier quoted context omitted.
I like this take. Nobody thinks of stamp collecting as a problematic hobby. Collecting and curating is fun in its own right. Though I do think there can be another aspect at play; I often find myself collecting things that I think "might be useful". Eg: I have a ton of empty yogurt containers, for use in hypothetical future art projects. I do use them sometimes, but at this point I have plenty. I still feel the urge…
I am a bit disturbed by collecting hobbies to be honest. When there is some novelty, archival or scientific value to a collection, that is different and fascinating, it's the purely consumerist collecting that gives me the heebie-jeebies. It's purely acquisitive and about the buying and getting and just seems quite sad and empty. Those afflicted become slaves to the companies pumping out items purely for this class o…
I wouldn't go so far as saying it give me "heebie-jeebies," but I also don't see the point in collecting mass market consumer items that are not and have never been rare. Probably the closest I come to ever wanting to do so is that I have a real appreciation for old computer systems. Once, I even got it in my head that I could theoretically own and run a working PDP-11. Fortunately/unfortunately, I've never had the space to properly store, much less display a collection of obsolete home computers, and I don't even want to think about the power and space requirements to actually operate a working PDP-11
So, yeah, I truly do not understand collecting Beanie Babies, Funko Pops, or fountain pens. But, I do collect coins. I find them interesting on multiple levels. I can't think of too many other hobbies that give one a good excuse to study history, economics, art, metallurgy, and more. So many things that happen involving humans and human societies also involve money and commerce. Going back to the rarity aspect, I own quite a few coins that are anywhere from quite scarce to truly rare. It also really helps that they don't take up a ton of space, either.
I don't see anything particularly maladaptive about it, except that it's a hobby that can take up arbitrarily much time and money. But, that's actually one thing I like about it: I could definitely have fun collecting coins on less than a $100/month budget, even though I actually spend quite a bit more than that on it. The acquisition process is fun as well. I like going to coin shops and coin shows. Buying online or at auction is slightly less fun, but it gives me a greater opportunity to find what I'm really looking for. When dealing with things that are, as I said, fairly scarce, the hunt itself becomes part of the enjoyment.
Re: Let me tell you about me Gear Fabrication Syndrome
#55A 3D printing hobby is basically GAS/GFS-as-a-hobby. You buy the cheapest printer, then print better parts for it, then you buy a second printer to print faster and with more quality, then you go on an ebay spree and buy a VORON kit to make your own, then you build a "mostly-printed CNC", lathe, plotter, laser cutter, and then you run out of room in your garage and start looking for a bigger house.
It's a huge money drain, but fun even if it doesn't ultimately get you anywhere ;)
Re: Let me tell you about me Gear Fabrication Syndrome
#56> Gear Acquisition Syndrome (GAS). A person’s insatiable urge to buy equipment for their art or hobby, distracting them from actually practicing said art or hobby. > It’s driven in part by the belief that new gear will improve one’s art or performance, e.g. I don’t sound like Jimi Hendrix because I don’t have the same effects pedal he used. Bit tangent, but I think one should just embrace it and say “my hobby is coll…
> but I think one should just embrace it and say “my hobby is collecting guitar gear That's something I noticed with a lot of people in my circle and 3d printers. They don't 3d print for their hobby. Most of them have 3d printing or even 3d printers as their hobby.
For a long time I was baffled by the seemingly unnecessary gizmos that are popular 3d print subjects, because to me 3d printing was just a means to an end. Eventually I realized that the printing itself is a hobby for a lot of printer people.
Personally I like to use my printer to enable my other hobbies, but along the way I've picked up 3d design and printing as secondary hobbies.
Re: Let me tell you about me Gear Fabrication Syndrome
#57Earlier quoted context omitted.
I am a bit disturbed by collecting hobbies to be honest. When there is some novelty, archival or scientific value to a collection, that is different and fascinating, it's the purely consumerist collecting that gives me the heebie-jeebies. It's purely acquisitive and about the buying and getting and just seems quite sad and empty. Those afflicted become slaves to the companies pumping out items purely for this class o…
I was encouraged to collect things as a kid. I think it was even a badge in cub-scouts. I collected keyrings. I was given them from various places, spent pocket-money on them on holiday, that sort of stuff. I certainly didn't own any keys. I also collected model dinosaurs (usually acquired at museums) and Lego. The Lego I would put in its own category because it was endlessly fascinating and rebuild-able. I used it a…
I collected clothing tags as a kid for a few months because I saw a kid on TV for collecting something inane (I forget what). Used to do Philately for a while before that.
As an adult, I go by the motto of “Don’t save the candles”, which is to actually use the things you buy, even the expensive cutlery and the scented candles.
Re: Let me tell you about me Gear Fabrication Syndrome
#58So, you're not supposed to buy stuff for your hobby nor build stuff for your hobby? I think it depends on how you define "the hobby" - is it really just the part where you use your equipment? I find that too narrow. A good counter example could perhaps be table top wargaming, e.g. Warhammer and the likes. Surely, people who call that their hobby like to play the (various different) games. But a lot of people love bui…
> A good counter example could perhaps be table top wargaming, e.g. Warhammer and the likes. Surely, people who call that their hobby like to play the (various different) games. But a lot of people love building and painting their miniature armies just as much. And some people hate it. So what's the scoop? If you enjoy the building and painting of new minis more than actually playing the game they're made for, you're…
> there's definitely a kind of pseudo-hobby of buying things that all too often ends up as an addiction-like behaviour
For Warhammer, specifically, that's maybe why I've heard the term 'plastic crack' ... That is, buying large amounts of miniatures that never get painted.
(Always paint your bases!)
Re: Let me tell you about me Gear Fabrication Syndrome
#59I felt called out by the title since I spent all my hobby time in the last few weeks to fabricate brass gears for an orrery I’m working on. :) Luckily it is not about that kind of gear fabrication syndrome.
Re: Let me tell you about me Gear Fabrication Syndrome
#60Earlier quoted context omitted.
> one should just embrace it and say “my hobby is collecting guitar gear, and my niche is things that Jimi Hendrix used or things that make sounds like he did” GAS is a form of delusion. You are asking people to “just” self-recognize and somehow self-fix their deeply rooted psychological problems.
I think I'm saying that collecting stuff isn't a deeply rooted psychological problem.
GAS is not just collecting, it’s collecting under a specific delusion