Off-the-cuff Forge cultural analysis

[Paganini]

- Goth kids, punk rockers, classic rockers, and some hip-hop kids.

And a professional classical violinist!

(Although maybe I'm not one of the top 40... hmm.)

[Clinton R. Nixon]

And a professional classical violinist!

(Although maybe I'm not one of the top 40... hmm.)

Actually, you are, and I didn't know that. Looking at the list, you're one of the few I haven't had a lot of interaction with. So, hello - I'm Clinton, and I like to cook.

[Emily Care]

I'm Emily and I have too many hobbies to name.  I'm Pagan.  I do martial arts.  
That's what we need, a Forge personals! (joke--please, believe me, it's a joke!)

Instantly, I realized that we have no women there.

But Laurel is #41. I'm even (barely) in the top 60.

There are few of us, though. Offhand, I know of only 4 including myself.  

Part of my decision concerning my choice of handle here was that it be recognizably female.  Just a whim at the moment when I joined, but I've been glad of it since.

--Emily Care

make that 6 that I know of.

[Mike Holmes]

(still wondering how Mr. Nixon would classify him)

When Clinton says that he knows these people, it's because they've revealed facts about themselves. One can, of course, lie about such things, but given that we do occasionally meet each other, and that I think we have such a community here, I think that people just don't lie much. In fact, I think that it's only internet paranioa that keeps people here from acting completely as themselves.

By which I mean to say, is that really your name (sorry, it looks too much like an RPG name for me not to question)? Where are you from? Is Kester a male or female name? And are you so damn polite in person? I find your opening salutations to be an interesting, and sometimes humorous statement (it is a statement, isn't it?).

Clinton woudn't dare classify you yet. I haven't seen any information from you that was revealing enough to do so.

In the name of full disclosure (and because I like to talk about myself), My full name is Michael Christopher Holmes, and I live in Wauwatosa, WI (which is acttually a suburb of Milwaukee). I am a computer programmer/analyst/statistician/whatever-computer-thing-needs-doing for a company called eFunds (www.eFunds.com). I am a caucasian male of German, Sweedish, Scottish, Austrian, Check, and various other small percentages of other european, descent. And I look it, which is to say that I'm vaugely northern european in a heavyset, balding, yet hairy sort of way. I have been married to my wife Marjorie Silverness, for seven years, and I have one child, a boy named Alex, who attained the ripe old age of two last month. He is Sweedish, a fact that I deduce from his very blonde hair, his accent, and the coincidence of my wife's ancestry and my own.

IOW, I'm yer stereotypical White American Male, at least statistically.

What's the point? I'm hoping that I can get to know the backgrounds of more of the people here in order to better understand them (not that I've been bold; revealing as a member of the empowered majority is relatively easy, I suppose). The internet paranioa I refer to leads people to guard these sorts of details, I think, and that's not good. Perhaps if people were more forthcoming with their backgrounds, we could be more responsive to their particular needs.

For example, what the hell are you doing in Taiwan, Christoffer? I don't imagine that the whole Taiwan/Sweeden exchange program is all that large? Or am I mistaken about that?

And, Irmo, take this as a compliment. I thought that Irmo was just a silly screen name (I take it that it might actually be a part of your name?). Your English is good enough that I thought originally that you were an American. In fact, I kept wondering when the Texan Drawl would crawl into your text.

I think that it's a good thing that Ziriel was able to disclose here that she is a she, despite her problems with doing so elsewhere on the internet (by her own testimony). That's a good sign. But then I wonder why there aren't more women here. Are any of you posters with ambiguous names actually women? I hope so, but then it alarms me that you don't feel safe enough to come out with your gender. Emily, Maryanne, is The Forge a comfortable place for women?

To quote Pete Townsend: Who are you? Who, who? Who who? I really want to know.

Mike

(edited to say, oh, cool, look, it's already happening)

[Irmo]

And, Irmo, take this as a compliment. I thought that Irmo was just a silly screen name (I take it that it might actually be a part of your name?). Your English is good enough that I thought originally that you were an American. In fact, I kept wondering when the Texan Drawl would crawl into your text.

Actually, no, Irmo isn't part of my name, it's a name from Tolkien's works. Since I started using it as my username in Tolkien forums, I expanded it to use in most RPG-related forums I participate in, for simplicity's sake :) My real name is Oliver

[GreatWolf]

Well, I'm certainly willing to spill some beans about myself.

I'm Seth Ben-Ezra.  I'm 25 years old, married to Crystal, with three lovely children (Arianna (4), Isaac (3), and Samuel (1)).  I currently work at a Christian medical needs-sharing ministry in Marquette Heights (which is near Peoria, IL)  The website is here.  I do customer service work, IT work, and even some writing and editing.  I enjoy all sorts of gaming, including various roleplaying games (obviously), but also wargames, CCGs, and even the classic games.  One of my greatest joys is learning a new game of any kind.  Recently I've begun digging into classic Oriental games like go, shogi, or even xianqi (sp?), as well as pursuing a desire to learn bridge, spades, and maybe even pinochle.

Religiously I am a conservative Presbyterian.  Racially I'm a mutt.  My mother is Swedish.  My father is Hispanic and Jewish (with a bit of Turkish thrown in for fun).

Outside of gaming, I enjoy martial arts (particularly kenjutsu) and reading.  Fantasy and SF, to be sure, but I've begun to appreciate poetry and have been working on developing my tastes in that area.  I wish I could afford to be a wine snob, but I'll settle for being a tea snob.  I'm an unashamed Japanophile and my idea of a good time could include sitting in a Zen garden sipping tea and eating rice with chopsticks.

I like weird movies.  Like Blade Runner or Memento.

I love Jesus.

Of course, can you sum up a person in a few sentences?  Of course not.  However, perhaps you'll have a better idea of where I'm coming from when I next decided to pipe up on something.  (Must...cling...to...top...40...status.)  Which is good.  From the beginning, the Forge has encouraged posting under your real name.  This seems to be the next logical step:  getting to know each other a bit better.  Long-term, this will encourage the community that everyone seems to want to preserve and develop.

Seth Ben-Ezra
Great Wolf

[Clay]

Before we hop on the diversity bandwagon, let's keep in mind that the narrow focus of this community by definition makes us very non-diverse in some ways. You're not going to find religious fundamentalists who think that rpgs are evil. Given the euro-centric background of most rpgs, we're gonna come up real short on militant black muslims.  Pretty much assured that any participant can also read and write English. Fabrice describes himself as too English challenged to participate in our debates, yet when he writes I can't tell that his native tongue isn't English.  

In physics we called this an instrument function. Basically, because of the population that we're taking a measurement of, our population can't be representative of the world population.


As far as my own stats: Prior to coming to my current position, I was a senior programmer at a very nice high-tech start up. Currently I'm an FNG as a systems programmer, due primarily to a change in my development language (a change I actively sought). I'm a liberal Methodist, and I can't afford to be a wine snob, so I settle for being a wine sot. I have a lot of guns (although not nearly enough), and not enough time to shoot them.

[Le Joueur]

Hi.  My name's Fang and I'm a designoholic.

[Hi Fang.]

I was born (Irish, English, German, with a bit of Swedish, Welsh, Norwegian, and Cherokee) Allan Thomas Meyer in a small, rural, southern Minnesota town in the United States.  My stepfather, Steven Langford, adopted me when I was six (and that wiped out my college fund forevermore).  A year after marrying Dawn Marie Ebel, we changed our names (she was one of three Dawn Maries in her High School and I was tired of being named after a pair of Catholic Saints - makes me sound like a British orphan - and I'm not even a Christian); I'm Ajmir Einstein Fang Langford and she's Caroline Elaine Cynthia Langford.  And we (Fang and Caro) are Impswitch, makers of the Scattershot role-playing game system (now with a website for playtesters).

I've never been outside of the middle of this country and yet somehow grew up too cosmopolitan for my hometown; so I moved to the Twin Cities.  I've tested in the top 1.5% of the population even though I had poor study habits.  I also have Asperger's Syndrome (you'll have to look it up).  All of this led to 'outsider status' which in turn made acquiring and self-teaching Dungeons & Dragons quite simple (I even tried to design it, sight-unseen, until it was available, based on its reviews alone).

I am currently employed by one of the nation's largest non-profit health organizations as an executive assistant only minutes from the apartment my family of four (Tadhg - like the 'tig' in tiger - my six-year old son, also with Asperger's, and Tailltiu – rhymes with 'salty' – my perfect three-year old daughter; Irish names, what can you do) share.  I have attended both Mankato State University and the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis campus where I was majoring in art (illustration) and computer science.  While I was at 'the U,' I joined a trio of role-playing game clubs sponsored by the University, one of which apparently was originally named TSR and had a pre-publishing E. Gary Gygax as a member.

We live on the poverty line with one income, so what you see here is the lion's share of my free time.  My wife and I met through campus gaming and share this avocation.  She was trained as a fine artist (two years at the Minneapolis College of Art & Design) and we both work on our own comic book (when time permits).

So yeah, I'm 'just another white guy' (which is the only reason being 'poor as church mice' isn't terribly frustrating, but a deliberate choice).

Fang Langford (in the interest in demographic exposure)

[Jared A. Sorensen]

I'm "Jared A. Sorensen," born Thundarr Gunsmith Darkblayde. I'm currently halfway through serving  a 5-7 year sentence for explosives trafficking (fireworks, but whatever...) in Waltham, Massachusetts. I'm the yard bitch, in case you were wondering.

I'm a divorced dad formely married to Juergen Mayer. I'm from Meztizo ancestry and am the proud papa of four psychotic little bastards (literally!) named Oscar, Anthony, Hugo and Emily (yes, named after the awards). I'm currently confined to a wheelchair after a "basketball accident."

I like taking the piss out of people on the Net.

[Mike Holmes]

I've met Jared personally. What can I say. All true...

Mike

[Mike Holmes]

Actually, no, Irmo isn't part of my name, it's a name from Tolkien's works.

Damnit, now they're going to take away my Tolkien Fanclub card for not recognizing that. Does it make me culturally insensitive that I thought that Irmo might be an actual German of Scandanavian name? Hey, give me some credit, lots of Tolkien's elvish names sound intentionally like Scandanavian names.

Mike

[xiombarg]

I've met Jared personally. What can I say. All true...

Well, then, as of now I'm basing a character on Jared. I'm thinking a d20 Modern character.

[Kester Pelagius]

Greetings Mike,

Long time no chat.  You make some very interesting points.  Alas, in order to properly address them, I have had to do a virtual line-by-line response.  Apologies.

(still wondering how Mr. Nixon would classify him)

When Clinton says that he knows these people, it's because they've revealed facts about themselves. One can, of course, lie about such things, but given that we do occasionally meet each other, and that I think we have such a community here, I think that people just don't lie much. In fact, I think that it's only internet paranioa that keeps people here from acting completely as themselves.

By which I mean to say, is that really your name (sorry, it looks too much like an RPG name for me not to question)?

Yes, in a manner of speaking.

Where are you from?

I was born in Offut AFB, Omaha NE; during the height of the cold war.  Father was a 6 (or was it 7?) striper.  Mother hailed from Greece, originally.  Grew up primarily in Arkansas until I was about 7, when the family moved to the state shaped like a giant... peninsula.  *smirk*

Is Kester a male or female name?

Depending on the book of names you look it up in Kester is the Scottish/Celtic equivalent of Christopher (my name).

Male.  So far as I know.  (I'm guessing Kestria might be a fair female conersion.  Doubt it though.)

And are you so damn polite in person? I find your opening salutations to be an interesting, and sometimes humorous statement (it is a statement, isn't it?).

I try to be (polite) when possible.

Mostly I'm just boring, I think.  If that helps any?

Clinton woudn't dare classify you yet. I haven't seen any information from you that was revealing enough to do so.

Well, the fact I put in "Earth, Mutter's Spiral" as my point of origin should instantly identify me as a fan of Dr. Who, if nothing else.  *wink*

In the name of full disclosure (and because I like to talk about myself), My full name is Michael Christopher Holmes, and I live in Wauwatosa, WI (which is acttually a suburb of Milwaukee). I am a computer programmer/analyst/statistician/whatever-computer-thing-needs-doing for a company called eFunds (www.eFunds.com). I am a caucasian male of German, Sweedish, Scottish, Austrian, Check, and various other small percentages of other european, descent. And I look it, which is to say that I'm vaugely northern european in a heavyset, balding, yet hairy sort of way. I have been married to my wife Marjorie Silverness, for seven years, and I have one child, a boy named Alex, who attained the ripe old age of two last month. He is Sweedish, a fact that I deduce from his very blonde hair, his accent, and the coincidence of my wife's ancestry and my own.

Congrats!  (On getting married and having a healthy child.  Yes, a bit late, but as I only just found out...)

Ok, I guess fair's only fair.

At the moment I am listening to a MP3 of Black Sabbath, which most would find odd if they were aware that I am Greek Orthodox.  Then again for the longest time the members of my gaming group had no clue either, and the one wiccan lady, when she found out, was flabbergasted.

Never really understood why.  Guess it was because I was GM and created a magic rich world?

Sadly not married, thus have no offspring.  Presently you could say I am doing the "writer" thing.  Which means I am looking for better job all the time.  *snicker*

Perhaps if people were more forthcoming with their backgrounds, we could be more responsive to their particular needs.

And avoid misunderstandings.

Of course once you start to identify yourself people have a tendancy, however unconsciously, to form labels to pigeon-hole you into who *they* think you are.  Which, too often, isn't who, or what, you are in person at all.  For instance what sort of visual did you get when I mentioned Greek Orthodox?

For those who might have read my other posts, did that astound and confuse you, if did you not care in the slightest?

(Always interested in hearing peoples responses.  I blame that sociology course I took many a long year ago.  *laughs*)

To quote Pete Townsend: Who are you? Who, who? Who who? I really want to know.

As you see me, I am that I am.


Kind Regards,

Kester Pelagius


P.S.  Almost forgot Pelagius is the nearest Greek word equivalent to my last name.  Anyone want to have a bit of fun and try to guess what it may be?  No fair for those who already know to answer.  (Not that I could stop you.  Have at it!)

[Mike Holmes]

Kester,

Air Force? That could be seven stripes then, I think. The Army only does six (the Air Force is always trying to proove their superiority by having nice mess halls, and putting extra stripes on their uniforms).

I was raised Roman Catholic, and I have a large Ozzy collection. I see no problems with that. I should come clean on the whole religion thing. I actually like the religion I was raised in (I hate the whole "recovering Catholic" thing, it was all a positive experience for me). I'm just a bit philosophical about it, and can't legitmately claim to be a practicing member. That all said, I've never been given a hard time about my gaming from anybody associated with the Church, and, in fact, I think that Catholicism is almost responsible for fantasy in some ways.

BTW, answering questions is not line-by-line in any but the most useless and technical senses, IMO. Certainly not to be frowned on, I think. The only time this would not be true is if the question were obviously rhetorical (and even then it's on the asker if it gets answered).

Dr. Who fan? Who isn't (wait, don't answer that; flamewar waiting to happen)?

For instance what sort of visual did you get when I mentioned Greek Orthodox?

I envisioned the Greek Orthodox church on 92nd street. It's a Frank Lloyd Wright, and pretty sweet. My brother and I dubbed it the flying saucer when we were kids. (http://www.bc.edu/bc_org/avp/cas/fnart/fa267/flw/orthodox02.jpg)
Milwaukee's a pretty mixed european demographic. I also pictured spoonfuls of wine and Icons, and, yes, the Patriarch, but not you as any of these things.

Mike

[Paganini]

Actually, you are, and I didn't know that. Looking at the list, you're one of the few I haven't had a lot of interaction with. So, hello - I'm Clinton, and I like to cook.

Oooh, ooh, this is an awesome thread. This is a great idea. <rubbing hands>

Hi Clinton! Nice to meet you. I finally bought Donjon the other day. It rocks. As expected. :)

(I was worried about how big this was going to be. Then I saw Fang's. :)

OK, in real life, I'm Nathan E. Banks (E. is for Ewell, after an ancestor), much like Mike in descent (mainly British and European). I'm 22, still live at home (I.e., with my parents) in centeral Illinois (which is smack in the middle of the USA, surrounded by cows and corn, for you foreign types). I'm a professional musician, holding a contract with the Illinois Symphony Orchestra (who don't pay anywhere near as much as they should). I also teach private lessons at a local music store. Oh yeah, my instrument is the violin. Sorry Mike, no jam sessions. :)

I too am into the martial arts, specificaly Tai Chi Chuan. I used to like Chess a lot, but I've since discovered the superiorness of Go. I have a really good computer (that that eats up way to many of my $$) that I know a lot about (although likely not as much as Mike) on which I play games like Unreal Tournament 2003 and Total Annihilation. Obviously, I like RPGs, and have for as long as I can remember. Unfortunately, due to the rural-ness of my location, there's no one around for me to play with, so I mainly play online. Also, I like playing online because I'm a better writer than I am actor (writing is one of my hobbies, and goes well with game design). Recently (pretty much coinciding exactly with the release of Universalis) I stopped designing games. I like to read, mostly sci-fi and fantasy, but other stuff also, way too many authors to mention. I like movies of the slick hi-tech variety (Matrix, Alien, Abyss, etc.), but I also like fantasy movies (The 13th Warrior) and historical movies (Braveheart) and literary movies (Mel Gibson as Hamlet was cool).

Oh yeah, in case you haven't been following the religion in gaming threads, I'm a christian.

There's a huge map of Middle Earth on the wall over my computer, a chess table (curently buried under a backgammon board) at the end of my bed, a large green desert plant (african milk tree) nearby, a large stereo, two desks, and lots of paper in my bedroom (about an even split between indie-rpgs and sheet music). Most of the rest of my room consists of books alternating with knick knacks (I have a collection of interesting bottles, including a snazzy leather-covered rum bottle, a marble sun-dial, some pewter fantasy minatures, and other nifty shiny things.) There's a Klingon Language poster over the head of my bed.