[Ansteorra] Participation vs. Recruitment

[Bree Flowers]

On Tuesday, January 24, 2012, Cionaodh O'Hosey <CionaodhOHosey at verizon.net>
wrote:
>
> On Jan 24, 2012, at 6:46 PM, Jeffrey Clark wrote:
>
>> But the SCA is not a sports team, it is an educational organization (or
so
>> the NPO filing allegedly states). This means that a local player who
>> researches period blacksmithing and never makes it to an event is
>> technically fulfilling the "mission" of the SCA than a fighter who goes
to
>> every event and wins every tournament but can't tell you the first thing
>> about Talhoffer or Fiore.
>
> Ok, so that is your vision of the SCA, a bunch of people who conduct
period activities with out ever getting together? That is a better
fulfillment of the SCA mission than being involved in a simulation of
period fighting at an organized event for the enjoyment and instruction of
all who attend? Interesting, obviously i don't agree.

You do all realize that this is just another facet of the same, tired, old
"defining The Dream" argument that gets kicked around every few months. How
you like to play and what activities contribute to that style of play are
going to heavily influence your feelings about who we should be trying to
recruit and how we should do so. And I think that all everyone else is
trying to get you to see is that there is no "one true way". I'm pretty
sure we can all agree on the "what not to do" (don't be rude about new
member's attire for example), but when it comes down to the best use of
your personal time with respect to recruiting and retention, well I guess
it's up to each individual.

I think a lot of us are trying to say that if your quality vs quantity
style of time management was adopted by everyone that it would eventually
result in fewer players at any level. There will always be burn-out among
kingdom level players, and if no one ever spends the time to encourage the
local/casual players there simply won't be a pool of people moving up to
replace them. You simply can't tell in the first week, or month, or year
whether someone is going to be in this for the long haul and get really
involved. But I can almost guarantee if we all ignore them to focus on
people who have already been hooked, that they will drift away before we
ever find out what they might have had to contribute. You don't have to
spend your time nurturing these fringe/fledgling members if that's not your
thing, just don't criticize those that do by insisting that your way is the
only way that has value.

~Eve