ES - A newcomer response to role playing

[Elaine Bonavita]

Thank you for sharing your thoughts on role-playing in the SCA and which I,
as a new member, am pleased to hear.

When I attended my first event I soon realized that not all society members
left the mundane world behind. Even the newly crowned King acted mundane at
times while holding court.  So here is my spin on what I expected to find
and what actually has drawn me to this medieval experience.

I expected...I hoped that the events I attended would be characteristic of
the Middle Ages and as such I would feel a part of that medieval culture. As
in each of the many cultures that co-exist in the mundane world, I expected
to find a society that characterizes the shared attitudes, values, goals,and
practices of a medieval social group.

When I was introduced to my first event, I recall having many questions and
being instructed in the SCA's culture. Because I both expected, and wanted,
to be exposed to a new cultural experience, I had hoped to minimize a common
mundane experience -- "culture shock" that occurs when people are exposed to
an alien culture without adequate preparation.  As you can see,  I expected
much more than what was my actual experience.  I view the SCA as a world
parallel to the mundane world, just like any other cultural group of people
who live away from their native land and still can enjoy coming together and
sharing traditions.

As to your thoughts on role-playing-- feedback,  I view it as simply
enjoying a cultural experience,  as many cultural groups  in our country
already do when people dress in the garb of their native land, sing
century-old songs and still enjoy their native customs from long ago.

As a new member of the SCA I will strive to assume a socially expected
behavior expressive and respective of a medieval culture that I truly
appreciate.  And this was what  I had hoped to find when I joined the SCA
and what I also appreciate from other society members at events.

Alayna -->seeking enlightenment to the true meaning of SCA....RSVP

----- Original Message -----
From: <willowjonbardc at juno.com>
To: <elfsea at ansteorra.org>
Sent: Sunday, August 06, 2000 8:28 PM
Subject: Re: ES - feed back needed does this make sense?


> I have been trying to express Jonathan's and mine opinion on role
> playing. I am not sure this hits the mark.  Please look this over and
> give feedback.
>
> Recently there has been a lot of talk implying that  role playing is not
> needed. I personally believe that everyone has a right to display their
> interest in the SCA in their own way but I would like to comment that a
> little bit of role playing is needed. Many people talk about the "good
> things" of the SCA "the dream". They talk about nobility, honor, courtesy
> and graciousness. They talked about how they are not always found in the
> "mundane" world. And they talk about our losing these things in our
> kingdoms. The ideals of the SCA come alive when we play the SCA game. Our
> titles and the courtesies we do are  perfect examples. They have no
> meaning in the regular world they only have meaning in the medieval
> construct we have created to experience the middle ages. When we become
> too real we become mundane and the values of the real world become
> paramount. If we want the ideals of the SCA to be important to the people
> in the SCA we need to do some role playing to make sure our make believe
> world seems real.
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