Like I told my friend, for some reason it's socially acceptable to pay thousad upon thousands of dollars to buy sports memorabilia that you never use and only keep on the shelf, but i't not ok to spend the same amount on star wars stuff.
It's socially ok to paint yourself in your teams favourite colours and wear their jersey and go around town shouting their chants, but it's not ok to dress up as an elf at a larp.
It's perfectly fine to invest hours upon hours and money in your fantasy football league, but it's totally not ok to do the same with a roleplaying game.

Society is ambiguous at best and plain hypocritical at worst.

Luckily, being a nerd has become more socially acceptable now than before.

Can I say that I play X-wing and I have a boat? It's a sailboat and it's not crazy expensive. Well, it was $3k for the boat and then it's $1k per year. I had never sailed before, until I hung out again with an old friend from High School. He had a boat and took the wife and I sailing. It was incredibly fun and mentally challenging. We took lessons and learned. My grandmother left me a small amount of money and I bought the boat. The only problem is that it's hard to have BOTH hobbies!

One thing about X-wing vs. boat or bike.....the other things have a lot of upkeep. They might have value in years, but that's if it's kept up well and you might have to pour money into it throughout that time. Boats are money holes as it's not so bad to get, but slip rent and upkeep can get you. X-wing doesn't need maintenance.

I'll also say that after the first couple of years, I haven't spent THAT much on the game. I've gotten at least one of everything that's come out, except the Houndstooth and Phantom. In the past year, I've only spent birthday cash, focus group money, and Xmas money on the game. It's not been that bad. It's also no where near as bad as Games Workshop games.

There is a funny story about minis, though. I played LOTRO (Lord of the Rings Online) with a group of old friends. One guy couldn't make it one night and we picked up a random person (an actual female). We chat on the voice chat for the game. At one point, I mentioned playing Warhammer and trying to sucker a friend into going. The young lady that joined us asked if it was Warhammer Online. I said no, but the mini game. She then goes into a tirade about how her ex-boyfriend played it all the time and how they were like dolls. I politely said they were more like models because you had to glue all the little heads and arms on and then paint them. She turns loud and angry and yells, "THEY ARE DOLLS!!! JUST LITTLE DOLLS!!!!" ......silence...until my friends just kind of laugh and we move on, recognizing a nutter. It was such a funny event afterwards though, that I'll tell me friends or wife that I'm going to go out to play with MY DOLLS, MY LITTLE DOLLS!!! Obviously, she had a boyfriend that cared more about the game than her and she's touchy, but it was hysterical!

I have reached a point in my life where I don't judge people by their hobbies (as long as they are legal, I do judge the guy whose hobby is stalking ex-girlfriends) because everyone has different interests. Some people love to hunt. My wife collects Precious Moments figurines (and has spent vastly more money on them then I ever have on X-Wing). I play X-Wing and coach baseball and basketball. I also like to fish. People look at me sideways when I say I don't like football and the only football I will watch are the games my sons play in. One of my best friends does model trains. Some people play MMOs. My dad plays golf.

To each their own.

BTW: Nobody "invests" in a boat. They are holes in the water into which you pour money.

"There's no money in boats." I learned that from Kelly's Heroes.

All I can really say is (and I registered just to post a reply here):

I have a motorcycle AND I enjoy X-Wing and Armada (among various other hobbies).

Both hobbies cost money but I just love both hobbies. Hobbies are there for me to enjoy myself.

Other people might enjoy dressing in Latex and getting whipped, would not be a hobby for me but who am I to judge what they like