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The Forge and cultural bias (split from 'Forge as community'

Started by Irmo, December 05, 2002, 12:57:33 AM

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Irmo

Quote from: Mike HolmesAnd I think we meet or exceed that 10% goal nicely. The agreement to use specific language does not preclude it's growth. The language here has evolved, and continues to do so. You may disagree with that assessment (I'm guessing you do), but I don't disagree with what you've said in the last post at all. That said, this is simply an admonition, again, to be more open-mided. It turns out that it's not specific language you are against, but rigidly maintaining it against all reason. We all agree with that. It's just a matter of perspective as to how much open-mindedness there is here.

It wasn't meant to represent a goal, and "meeting" it isn't the point. You can meet 100% compliance with a language by making sure no one who doesn't use it posts.


QuoteIn the absence of empirical data, I will use my own ancdotal evidence in the effort to continue to make a point. Nothing invalid about that.

That said, I did nothing there that prevented anyone from posting their anecdotal evidence, which would presumably be accepted as just as vaild. If someone has a different experience they can post it. Further, if you read closely, you'll see that my point in that thread is mostly that, as this data is anecdotal, that the discussion of it is, in fact, probably pointless. IOW, I'm supporting the idea that you are promulgating here. I'm surprised that you read through it if you found it so self-serving. Nobody is under any obligation to read what I post (not to get too passive agressive, myself).

The point is that someone else's experience IS empirical data. It is just as much a data point as your experience, and as long as your assessment of a situation can't explain both, it's obviously inadequate for broader application.


QuoteAn American friend of mine who lived abroad for years in Germany, and incidentally corroborates this anecdotal evidence, was always fascinated at how Germans actually stopped an the "Don't Walk" signs on street corners. Similarly this sense of...community responsibility?...leads RPG play to be very co-operative.

well, comparing to Dallas, I'd say in general the compliance with code is higher, but that's because if they behaved like many people I see here in Dallas, their license would be gone quicker than they can say "Oops". I usually joke around this time of year that people here tend to take those red, yellow and green lights hanging over the streets as part of the christmas decoration and ignore them. In Germany, that's a pretty good way to get an expensive photo for the family album, courtesy of the automatic camera on the other side of the crossroads. And since cities are very eager to fill their empty treasury, you should keep an eye on your car if you park where it's not allowed....if you turn around, you can be sure it will have been towed in the meantime. I'm not sure if this pertains to roleplaying directly or not. Many germans have an inclination to join clubs and organizations to do things together, or have a "Stammtisch" at a local pub where the usual crowd gathers at the usual table at the usual time... But then, regarding cooperative play, one of the favorite games on the "channelparties" of the RPG IRC channel was Junta, and occasionally, we had an Ars Magica "live" (no costumes) tribunal, with as much backstabbing as you can think of -in all friendship, of course. Not having a lot experience with US players, I can't comment too much on the differences. Most US players I saw were members of the armed forces stationed in Germany (There was this one con in some US barracks, with a bunch of tank simulators at one end of the hall -of limits for us, though ;) ) and as such, their play might have been influenced by their military background.