ANST - Principality Fray

[Jodi McMaster]

As I have yet to have hit my first anniversary of playing in the SCA, I
am a bit hesitant to enter the fray.  However, much speculation has
appeared on the effect of the principality on newcomers, and being
pretty close to that end, I thought I'd offer the following
observations.  

 Part of the game appears to be attaining status without appearing to
want any--a very medieval goal (yes, modern, too, but definitely
medieval).  *Nota bona*  I said "part."  There are intrinsic rewards in
playing the game and in learning to play it well.

1) In the short time I've been around it, I've heard much gritching that
people are not being adequately recognized.  In a farflung kingdom, it
seems logical that there must be an effort to recognize people. If I'm
understanding the consequences of a principality, it would allow more
ease of recognition, and people who deserve recognition would be more
likely to get it in a smaller unit.

2) Principalities would appear to give more offices for people to attain
status and give people holding those offices a smaller area of
responsibility.

3) I, too, have already heard of pressure put on people who wish to
attain status to travel far and wide. It sounds like a principality
would reduce that pressure.  At this time, it seems a lot of people are
spending time and energy traveling not so much because they _want_ to,
but because they feel they _have_ to.

How does that effect newcomers?  

-Well, I can see where some energetic people will be put off by the idea
of years and years passing before they get any recognition--we are a
competitive, instant-gratification culture and there will be lots of
people who won't get involved if they don't think they'll get some
reward in less time. It may be that those are not people you want to
attract, but it is something to think about.

-The outlay for getting involved in the SCA has been boggling--the
additional expense of traveling is off-putting (expense both in terms of
time and dinero).  If newcomers have more of a perception that playing
the game is less of a burden of travelling, they would be more
encouraged to try it out.

An additional consideration is whether more time can be spent on helping
people find the SCA.  I had been interested in the SCA for a while, and
every lead I had to find information did not pan out.  I am only now in
because I happened to find out a friend of mine was a member--and I'd
known her over a year (she's not as active as she once was).  I'm not
advocating growth for the sake of growth, but I bet there are others
like me who would be thrilled to find it, find it fulfills a need
they've had for years, and helps them meet people with like interests
and philosophies, people they wished they'd known long before.  If the
addition of principalities disperses authority to grant awards and
relieves the pressure to travel great distances to "get recognition,"
maybe some time and effort can be expended outward to find the people
who are already Ansteorran and just don't know it yet.

AElfwyn
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