SC - Decline in members signing up for feast.... Opinions?

[Phil & Susan Troy]

maddie teller-kook wrote:
> 
> Just wanted to get an idea of what is happening elsewhere.  In Bryn
> Gwlad, we have noticed about 50% of the people coming into an event
> signing up for feast (at least this last feast we had).  And we are
> noticing a trend for people not to eat feast. Is this happening
> elsewhere?  We are about to put out a 'feast' survey to see if we can
> get any answers to this.  I will post the results here. Just wanted to
> know if any of you have seen this happening.  And if so, what reasons
> have people given.  Just curious.

I've seen this happen occasionally, and it does seem pretty frequent,
especially at the large kingdom events. It could be a sign that your group is
getting large enough, or too large, for a feast for all your members to be
easily managed with the resources at hand (I'm not saying this is the case,
just throwing out ideas here). Some of the larger events in the East have
stopped doing feasts as a result. Of course they could be managed perfectly
well if it was important enough to enough people, but apparently it isn't at
the moment. Other possibilities include the cost, which is almost always
reasonable, but which still isn't always comparable to the prices of meals at
home or even on the road. As the mother of a family of five that I know is
fond of saying, "Well, five times eight is forty, and you can get an awful lot
of diner food for $40."

Other possibilities might be that people don't appreciate the level of quality
(unlikely, but again, just throwing out ideas here) or the atmosphere of
forcibly educating a captive audience (again, unlikely but remotely possible).

One thing I have noticed is that as events get larger and perhaps more
socially stressful (let's say sometimes they are less than relaxed), there is
sometimes a tendency for large groups of friends who have gotten together at
an event to take the party on the road, which will often include a dinner
stop. As I said above, you can get an awful lot of diner food for $X, plus you
can say what you want, more or less, without fear of upsetting your friends,
and you can get out of that whaleboned bodice, or whatever it may be. This
scenario might also be viewed by some as being more kid-friendly.

Let me make it clear that none of this is meant as a criticism of anyone, or
the way feasts are run in my kingdom or yours, or anyone else's. I'm just
making some observations and guessing at the possible causes. There are
certainly more answers than the above, and very probably better ones, too. I
hope this helps, though: one never knows, do one?

Adamantius
Østgardr, East  
- -- 
Phil & Susan Troy

troy at asan.com
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