Sweden's National Gaming Week

[Ron Edwards]

Hi there,

I have learned some very interesting things about role-playing in Sweden.

1) Apparently, a given gaming group may register with the national government to get *money* to finance their hobby activities. Uh-huh, you heard me. Swedish Forge members may be saying, "Duh!" but the Americans are probably staring in astonishment.

2) There are quite a lot of such registered groups, and although they have high turnover, this is mainly due to rearrangement of members rather than people leaving the hobby; in fact, the overall net effect per year indicates an increasing number of people.

3) Anecdotally, quite a few young people in Sweden augment their English via role-playing. They're used to English texts in a variety entertainment and information media.

4) In "week 44," which this year is Oct 28 through Nov 3, National Gaming Week takes place, which is specifically dedicated to attracting non-gamers to the hobby. Many game companies donate copies to player groups via the government organization as part of this effort.

5) I'm donating ten copies of Sorcerer to them this year, to be distributed as they see fit to various gaming groups. The contact person wanted to know more about the game before simply accepting them, which I take as a good sign.

Contact info:
Jon Nilsson (Sverok board member)
jon.nilsson.422@student.lu.se

The mailing address of the organization is:
Sverok
Sandbäcksgatan 2
582 25 Linköping

(write "National Gaming Week" on the envelope somewhere)

I really don't know much more about this than what I've posted, so consider me in fact-finding mode still. What would people like me to ask them?

Best,
Ron

[contracycle]

Hmm, a bit late but there is one thing I want to know: is this due to European legislation or domestic Swedish legislation?  There may well be a provision in Euro stuff about supporting the arts which could be claimable in the UK and other European states.

[Valamir]

I really don't know much more about this than what I've posted, so consider me in fact-finding mode still. What would people like me to ask them?

Is there any way to get feed back from the organizers as to who actually recieved the copies you sent and how you might get it touch with them directly?

[Mytholder]

Hmm, a bit late but there is one thing I want to know: is this due to European legislation or domestic Swedish legislation?  There may well be a provision in Euro stuff about supporting the arts which could be claimable in the UK and other European states.

I think it's a domestic thing. I've been hearing stuff about the government-sponsored Swedish gaming scene for years, and they've only been in the EU since '95.

That said, I heard a rumour of a gaming group in Galway, Ireland managing to get funding from the arts council...I'll ask around.