ES - Re: response to role playing

[Mordock von Rugen]

>From: Ori Pomerantz <ori at simple-tech.com>
>	The way that I view it is that Ansteorra is a West European, late
>period kingdom (it is a lot more like the kingdoms of Christendom than
>those of Islam). An important difference is that it is a tolerant kingdom
>where good people are accepted regardless of ethnicity, faith (or lack
>thereof ;-) ) or any such criterion.

[snip]

This is not far from the way I see it myself.  However, I think it is very 
important to bear in mind a couple of things, even while accepting that 
*some* kind of common ground is required:

By adopting this sort of standard, we endanger the historical recreation 
aspects of our society by moving into the realm of fantasy.  The two must be 
very carefully balanced.  A case in point is the continuing argument about 
just what we're doing on the battlefield - simulating war conditions, or 
simulating a grand melee of late period.  The answer to that question 
determines a great many things, like whether archers and siege engines 
should be present, whether killing (not striking) from behind should be 
acceptible, whether calls for single combat should be honored, and so on.

In adopting a standard, we need to do our best to make it one that is 
acceptible to the greatest number of participants.  Given the mix of 
preferred personae, I can just about guarantee that Ansteorra would not want 
to adopt a standard modelled after my persona.  I don't expect Ansteorra to 
do so.  However, I *would* prefer a "common ground" that doesn't "bend" my 
persona too much - else what's the point?  In this circumstance, I'd be 
better off abandoning that persona and adopting one that fit the Ansteorra 
subset of the Society generally defined period and purpose - or finding a 
game that better modelled the period in which I'm interested.

Finally, as the mix of participants changes over time, we need to be willing 
to adapt so that our standard continues to fit the largest proportion of 
participants possible.  We have to have some give and take.

Well, that's my bit of soapbox stumping for now.  Next in line?

Dux
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