What hobbies have the most and least overlap with the roadgeek community?

[english si]

The game is infinitely better when the rules are adhered to.  My wife's family is big on playing Monopoly during the holiday season.  They played with no auctions, no trades and the free parking jackpot.  I refused to play unless they followed the actual rules.

Monotony by its actual rules is more dull to play (the whole reason why people bring in trades is to give some choice to the game rather than just following what's ordered by dice and cards), but at least it doesn't last too long. The game with the near-universal added rules lasts until someone gives up.

The Landlord Game (what Monotony is based off) is better as at least then you could choose which direction you travel in a dice-determined distance so there was something to do beyond moving your piece and paying the relevant money.

Even this game aimed at a younger audience (under 8s, rather than the over 8s of Monotony) has more skill than Monotony because you have more than one counter which you can move the luck-determined distance and so you have some choice.

---

If you want a game of similar complexity* (Catan's a bit more complex), for the same audience, but a lot better, then Ticket to Ride is a good game to play.

*That said, Monotony is an autopilot game, so really we're talking apparent complexity.

[Rothman]

Two-person Ticket to Ride gets dull.  Multiperson is a lot more unpredictable and fun.

[freebrickproductions]

I kinda am a furry, admittedly. More in the brony community/MLP fandom though.

Just noticed your reply. I've seen you at least once at a convention. I even signed your shield. 

My mind was blown when I realized that it was you.

I will admit I apologise for not recognizing you either at the moment, I suck at remembering folks I don't/haven't regularly interacted with.

That being said, for me, the road trips to/from the cons are just as much fun as the cons themselves for me, at least when you ain't dealin' with a bit of "pcd", lol.

[webny99]

So much for the Monopoly haters.  The Monopoly strategists have taken over.

I should have mentioned that I haven't played it in a long time. Primary reason is that it's not much fun

You could have left it right there as far as I'm concerned .

[Max Rockatansky]

Fun is subjective.  A lot of the normals would look at this whole road hobby and think it is pretty lame.

[Roadgeekteen]

I swear trades are allowed in Monopoly? The official video games have trades.

[Hunty2022]

- Weather, specifically The Weather Channel. I think our rules set is based on one from a Weather Channel forum. Most roadgeeks seem to know what the WeatherStar 4000 is.

Every time I've been on a vacation to anywhere, especially when I was young, I would turn on the TV in the hotel room and just watch the Weather Channel.

I don't do it much anymore, but those storm chasing shows were what I slept to on those nights.

[Rothman]

For a while some years ago, it was a good bet that one of The Godfather movies would be running on AMC when I was in a hotel room.  Hasn't happened in a decade, though.

[hbelkins]

Fun is subjective.  A lot of the normals would look at this whole road hobby and think it is pretty lame.

Last year on my birthday, I went to check out the new Corridor Q (US 460) in Buchanan County, Va. The next day, my brother asked what I'd done for my birthday. I told him, and he said, "That doesn't sound like much fun."

[Max Rockatansky]

Fun is subjective.  A lot of the normals would look at this whole road hobby and think it is pretty lame.

Last year on my birthday, I went to check out the new Corridor Q (US 460) in Buchanan County, Va. The next day, my brother asked what I'd done for my birthday. I told him, and he said, "That doesn't sound like much fun."

A couple of my wife's friends look upon road stuff and other things I do alone (like hiking) as odd, boring or dangerous.  One actually expressed concern to my wife after she saw a one lane road photo I posted on my Facebook.  I recall it being something along the lines of "why is he out doing dangerous things alone?"

In general I don't really bring up the topic of roads really ever in day to day situations.  Occasionally I run into a driving enthusiast that I can chat with like one of the older managers I knew in Monterey.  He was actually a page follower on Facebook and didn't realize I was one of the admins.

[Roadgeekteen]

I think the sign geek stuff would be weird to nonroadgeeks, but the liking to travel to every state by road invokes romantic images to many Americans and would be cool even to non roadgeeks.

[Max Rockatansky]

The modern MUTCD stuff is generally something I find to be a bore. 

[JayhawkCO]

I think I've mostly determined that my interest in roads is due more to tracking my travels and being a completionist more than any of the "technical aspects" of roads.

[TheStranger]

The modern MUTCD stuff is generally something I find to be a bore. 

Coming from the era when button copy was everywhere nationally, the "Oh no, a California overhead sign is 500 years old!" types of comments I see on some roadgeek Facebook pages get very tiresome.

[Max Rockatansky]

The modern MUTCD stuff is generally something I find to be a bore. 

Coming from the era when button copy was everywhere nationally, the "Oh no, a California overhead sign is 500 years old!" types of comments I see on some roadgeek Facebook pages get very tiresome.

The standard argument against older signage here usually includes some sort of "safety" element.  While I'm not completely dismissing the safety element but it is usually blown way out of proportion to the scenario being complained over. 

In general I'm not a fan of invoking "safety" or "danger" in hobby groups when it comes to modern limited access or partial access controlled highway corridors.  Usually someone makes such a claim in the Facebook road world it is groan inducing levels of bad.  I wish that I could say that most of the usual suspects are being hyperbolic, but I know better than that. 

[Roadgeekteen]

I think I've mostly determined that my interest in roads is due more to tracking my travels and being a completionist more than any of the "technical aspects" of roads.

Same, my interest in roads is more about the travel part of roads, though I am interested in speed limits and control cities but I don't really care about the sign standards. I'm also more into state/county clinching than road clinching though I do keep an eye out on my road clinches.

[TheStranger]

I wish that I could say that most of the usual suspects are being hyperbolic, but I know better than that. 

What I think of when this gets brought up:

1. If a button copy sign has lighting, then it automatically is NOT "impossible to see." I know the difference - the 1970s South Airport Boulevard sign off northbound US 101 in San Bruno was finally removed a year ago for a retroreflective one and THAT was hard to see due to the lack of sign lighting.  That doesn't apply in all scenarios and locations at all.

2. Retroreflective is not inherently better due to its lack of durability (which does not always lead to quicker replacement cycles, even though those are necessary to make that type of signage the most functional)

3.  If the sign is visible and hasn't faded out, regardless of being button copy or retroreflective, then it's useful. 

This isn't me just wanting 1960s green-on-white 99 and 50 signs to pop up on older Interstates, it's more "if the sign is doing its job, why replace it for aesthetic reasons alone."

[Max Rockatansky]

I always thought "aesthetic" was an odd argument when it comes to getting rid of button copy gantries.  The modern vinyl stuff is so fucking ugly that it is bizarre to me how anyone can find anything aesthetically pleasing about it.  My thought is that these typically more a plea by those complaining for MUTCD uniformity rather than anything shorn aesthetic. 

[formulanone]

I always thought "aesthetic" was an odd argument when it comes to getting rid of button copy gantries.  The modern vinyl stuff is so fucking ugly that it is bizarre to me how anyone can find anything aesthetically pleasing about it.  My thought is that these typically more a plea by those complaining for MUTCD uniformity rather than anything shorn aesthetic. 

I feel there's supposed to be a little variation between how states do things; but suppose there's people who find comfort in absolute uniformity which makes travel a bit more pointless. The whole point of travel is to get something different out of what you'd normally see, even if it's trivially different signage practice or traffic light mast arm that's canted 5 degrees differently.

Then again, much of that sort of complaining comes from desk-chair roadgeeks who get obsessively tweaked about exit tab positioning, that a numeral that looked at them funny, found a faded shopping mall sign which needs reporting to authorities because it was in Arial, and have to go into exacting detail about how one of the restaurants on a blue sign made them sick.

At that point, I wonder why *this* was the hobby you chose to follow. But hey, it's a fairly open-ended hobby.

[SSOWorld]

Small overlap between Roadgeeks and HAM Radio.  At least three including me have call signs.

[Max Rockatansky]

I always thought "aesthetic" was an odd argument when it comes to getting rid of button copy gantries.  The modern vinyl stuff is so fucking ugly that it is bizarre to me how anyone can find anything aesthetically pleasing about it.  My thought is that these typically more a plea by those complaining for MUTCD uniformity rather than anything shorn aesthetic. 

I feel there's supposed to be a little variation between how states do things; but suppose there's people who find comfort in absolute uniformity which makes travel a bit more pointless. The whole point of travel is to get something different out of what you'd normally see, even if it's trivially different signage practice or traffic light mast arm that's canted 5 degrees differently.

Then again, much of that sort of complaining comes from desk-chair roadgeeks who get obsessively tweaked about exit tab positioning, that a numeral that looked at them funny, found a faded shopping mall sign which needs reporting to authorities because it was in Arial, and have to go into exacting detail about how one of the restaurants on a blue sign made them sick.

At that point, I wonder why *this* was the hobby you chose to follow. But hey, it's a fairly open-ended hobby.

I've found that most of those folks congregate on the "there is NO way that MUTCD compliant" Facebook groups.  Said group is plagued by safety nerds, NUMTOT and people obsessed with standardized compliance.  I don't get how they have 100k in membership, hated every minute of my brief time there.

[JoePCool14]

I kinda am a furry, admittedly. More in the brony community/MLP fandom though.

Just noticed your reply. I've seen you at least once at a convention. I even signed your shield. 

My mind was blown when I realized that it was you.

I will admit I apologise for not recognizing you either at the moment, I suck at remembering folks I don't/haven't regularly interacted with.

That being said, for me, the road trips to/from the cons are just as much fun as the cons themselves for me, at least when you ain't dealin' with a bit of "pcd", lol.

It's alright. I'm with you on that for the last part. Got to visit two new states just because we drove instead of flying and got to clinch lots of new mileage. FWIW, I'll be at HC again.

[freebrickproductions]

I kinda am a furry, admittedly. More in the brony community/MLP fandom though.

Just noticed your reply. I've seen you at least once at a convention. I even signed your shield. 

My mind was blown when I realized that it was you.

I will admit I apologise for not recognizing you either at the moment, I suck at remembering folks I don't/haven't regularly interacted with.

That being said, for me, the road trips to/from the cons are just as much fun as the cons themselves for me, at least when you ain't dealin' with a bit of "pcd", lol.

It's alright. I'm with you on that for the last part. Got to visit two new states just because we drove instead of flying and got to clinch lots of new mileage. FWIW, I'll be at HC again.

Unfortunately I won't be making it to HarmonyCon 2025, sadly, mainly due to college. In fact, I don't think I'll be making it to any cons next year.

[CoreySamson]

I suspect that my hobbies are not shared by many others in the road geek community. My main two interests are playing musical instruments (mostly piano and bass) and discussing/debating apologetics and Christian theology. Other than those two things, I dabble in a lot of interests (weather, cars, working out, and sports, among other things), but I don't obsess to the point of making them hobbies.

[Roadgeekteen]

I suspect that my hobbies are not shared by many others in the road geek community. My main two interests are playing musical instruments (mostly piano and bass) and discussing/debating apologetics and Christian theology. Other than those two things, I dabble in a lot of interests (weather, cars, working out, and sports, among other things), but I don't obsess to the point of making them hobbies.

Oh I can totally vibe with the Christian apologetics and theology stuff. Religious content isn't allowed on the forum so it wouldn't show, but I have interest in that stuff. Best to leave religious debates off of this forum though.