[Ansteorra] Participation vs. Recruitment (long)

[HerrDetlef]

Would be out of place for me to suggest that we have a diversity of ways in
which people can play SCA? I don't think I've ever seen anything in writing
that demands that all SCA'ers go to weekend events, or that all SCA'ers
attend weekday events in their local group. We really DO have a cafeteria
here; you take what you want and can afford, and you leave the rest.
Everybody--and I mean EVERYBODY--who plays SCA has the right to determine
his own SCA experience. None of this "you're not real SCA if you don't play
kingdom," "you're not real SCA if you're not a subscribing member," or
"you're not real SCA if you don't play local," please! I personally love
how open the SCA is to a variety of involvements. Yes, I find it a little
disturbing how much we focus on only one number (number of subscriptions in
a regional or local group) to measure activity. That's actually kind of
insane, and surely unrealistic. Could there be a way to combine
subscription numbers with local activity in measuring SCA involvement,
rather than take each one independently of the other? Relying on
subscription numbers and placing minimum requirements on local groups are
ways to encourage new and continuing subscriptions, but I still say we need
a more intrinsic method of encouraging people to subscribe...

Meanwhile, how do we encourage weekday SCA'ers to become weekend SCA'ers?
By pushing them to the margins? By denying the value of their involvement?
Absolutely not! We encourage them by giving them a positive look into the
life of the weekend SCA'er, and that's probably all we can do. We cannot
cajole weekday SCA'ers to become weekend SCA'ers. Nor can we bully them
into it. Everybody is free to play at the level that is right for that
person. We can sow the seeds, but we cannot make them germinate. Meanwhile,
our activities as weekend SCA'ers are being watched and noticed by weekday
SCA'ers. They will not be encouraged to play kingdom if we keep belittling
them for not playing kingdom. Playing kingdom takes several steps outside
of the weekday SCA'er's comfort zone. There's a lot of trust involved
there. Will making this change add to or diminish my experience? They're
not going to trust us as long as we keep talking down to them. We have a
lot to learn from the weekday SCA'er, too. They are the ones who are
learning the game that we play by going to fighter practices and guild
meetings. They are also the ones who are bringing in a fresh enthusiasm for
the game that we had when we first started playing. When weekend SCA'ers
begin to value the experience and input of weekday SCA'ers, those weekday
SCA'ers are going to be more disposed to responding in kind.

Wouldn't the world be a better place if there were easy answers to
conundrums like this one? Then again, easy answers would take away the
spontaneity and creativity that make life so amazing. Okay, that's a
different issue altogether. If you've read down this far, I'm sure you are
more than ready for me to stop.

Detlef von Marburg


On Thu, Jan 26, 2012 at 11:46 AM, Casey Weed <seoseaweed at gmail.com> wrote:

> Hosey, your argument hinges on absolute statements, some of which are
> unsupported and others of which are just patently false.
>
> " You are only supporting the MET when you go to the MET"...
>
> This is just ... (and you guys already have the rest)



-- 
Hwæt! We Gardena         in geardagum,
þeodcyninga,         þrym gefrunon,
hu ða æþelingas         ellen fremedon.
Oft Scyld Scefing         sceaþena þreatum,
monegum mægþum,         meodosetla ofteah,
egsode eorlas.         Syððan ærest wearð
feasceaft funden,         he þæs frofre gebad,
weox under wolcnum,         weorðmyndum þah,
oðþæt him æghwylc         þara ymbsittendra
ofer hronrade         hyran scolde,
gomban gyldan.         þæt wæs god cyning!