I think you need to specify what you mean by cult. The way I personally understand it, a cult includes a leader who exploits their members for free labor, oftentimes for sexual gratification, and removes them from their friends and families while subjecting them to psychological manipulation. I'm having a hard time thinking of a hobby that meets the criteria I'm more familiar with.
this post was submitted on 11 Jul 2025
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This. There are defined criteria as to what a real cult is, and once you have any familiarity with that, you realize that 99% of what people call "cultlike" is really just culture.
Any sort of hypebeast scam. Labubu, pop up clothing companies with no real design or quality, beanie babies, most crypto, specific vinyl collections. It's only worth something if you know some deep dark lore about it which requires effort to research and understand, then you're hooked. It's post capitalism cult energy.
Only most crypto?
Warhammer.
Religion IMHO is a hobby.
Gunpla, pop/labubu, liquid-cooing/overclocking, 3D printing, drones/RC
There is a bit of a threshold between an innocent hobby and a cult, but once crossed, it's.... yeah...
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Warhammer. The tabletop one with the figures, not the video games.
Vacations/travel for some people. Its clearly something where they have zero clue about their privilege and zero self awareness as they talk about it.
Parenting. Seriously, it becomes some people's only fucking identity and the way they talk about it feels like religious proselytizing mixed with a bit of used car salesperson energy.
Comic conventions. Some people make it uncomfortable how seriously they take it.
Wasting some time on Lemmy trying to leave shitty comments just looking to rile people up or something.
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I feel like it would be easier to list the hobbies that aren't, based on the answers so far.
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I second DnD and Warhammer, and i'll add Magic the Gathering to this list
Yeah, anything that has you speaking in game jargon in public should qualify.
One of my friends at a pizza place a few years ago: "I can't believe I didn't get to poison anyone last night."
Me: "Dude, context! We are in public!"
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