For a lot of miniature-based wargame players, it's a serious point of etiquette to show up at a table with a fully painted and finished army. It may not be as formal as wearing white at Wimbledon, but it can be a big deal. Part of the appeal of the game for the players (and spectators) is a visually arresting/appropriate army and if you're not going to bring one, you might as well be bringing paper counters.
To each their own but this certainly sounded more like a casual game rather than one where it was understood that it was a requirement to paint their armies. But, I may be wrong.
I'd suggest that to a large number of miniatures gamers "casual game" means something different than it does to you here.
Yup. Every one of those historical wargamers I mentioned who I've ever met at a store was a more casual player than the tournament Warhammer crowd I usually played with. Easygoing and chill.
But fielding an attractive (and often historically accurate, in terms of uniform colors and markings) force was a core part of their hobby, so to them showing up for a casual game with unpainted units would be like a showing up to a fancy dinner with a stained t-shirt on, or to a casual hockey game with no skates. A big part of why they're THERE is how cool everything looks on the table, though they're often super casual about the game play and who wins or loses.
One of the appeals of RPGs is they generally are less expensive than other hobbies. But this is why people get upset when prices go up or books feel like a cash grab. Not everyone has the same amount of money to spend on casual activities. 50, 60 or 70 bucks for a book may seem small to some but it is a big consideration for others. I have occasionally had to charge 50 for a printed book and that is a tough call to make. Lately it has been harder to keep things affordable because costs overall are going up but I think most people don’t feel like they have more disposable income to match those rising costs
We want to be sensitive to folks who are genuinely feeling economically pinched. But...
1. It's still a discretionary hobby.
2. IME nearly every game can be bought cheaper (and some cases free!), whether that's by getting it in PDF for indie/OSR games, or discounted on Amazon for bigger publishers like WotC.
3. Half the complaints about price I've ever seen are clearly from people who haven't bothered to pull up an
inflation calculator.
The AD&D 1E DMG was $13 in 1979. $13 in November 1979 is the equivalent of $52.83 today.
When you include discounters like Amazon, D&D is cheaper today than it ever has been. And that's not even accounting for the
5E Basic rules being a free PDF, or various retroclone and OSR games (like
BFRPG or
The Nightmares Underneath) which are available for free download. Or the ability to access most of the rules just using D&D Beyond or an SRD. (and
some retroclones that way too)