LARP Nazi’s.
When different means better. Well that is a provocative title isn’t it? Good, because this is an important subject. No it isn’t just about LARP (Live Action Role-Playing) verses table top gaming. It’s about the context of people making my X (while similar) to Y is better than Y so you should support X more. But since I’m a table top RPG fan I’m going to talk about a subject relating to that to illustrate my points. Besides this is where the set of thoughts came from.
I’m a member of my universities gaming society (club). We play things like Dungeons & Dragons and supposedly wargames like Warhammer. All in all, it’s a bit dysfunctional. Now a number of the members of the society also play in LARP games. Dress up, run round the woods/local night club while acting out a scenario. In the first paragraph I stated that I like table top games. So I sit around a table rolling dice and act out a scenario verbally with the other players. Many of the members of the society have taken the view that LARPing is better then table top gaming. Not actually that they enjoy that activity more. No, that would be a valid viewpoint. But a this activity is superior to the activity that you enjoy and everyone must do it while thinking this.
Can you see a problem with thinking that? It isn’t just an opinion anymore. It’s a full on axiomatic belief now. It’s akin in even more provocative terms of saying that I’m a Christian and because you’re a Muslim I am better then you and you should convert. Not thoughts that are conducive to being a ‘nice person’™.
Instead, especially when talking about something as trivial and ultimately pointless as a pastime. Would it not be better to take the different but equally interesting? Does that not allow one as an individual to get the most from both activities? Or allow the most communication between two different ideological positions. So when confronted with an X is similar to Y but X is better then Y situation in a qualitative terms. Should it not be the more productive to transform such a statement into: X is similar to Y so X and Y have similar qualitative value for a person until demonstrated.
I’ve been entirely incoherent here. But hopefully said something worthwhile.
Now I wish I had more wine.
On Spoilers.
Warning may contains spoilers. I like spoilers. I admit it. In fandom I think spoilers are the best way of differentiating the shite from the good stuff. This might be because I am a strange beast that prefers characterization and good dialog over plot. The only thing that you can spoil is plot. So for me if the prior knowledge of plot points spoils a product then the product must be inherently bad.
My reasoning for this stands along the lines that anyone can write plot. Plot really is a list of events. A list of bullet pointed events is not a substitute for an entertaining story. Especially if knowing any single point out of context can ruin the overall story. Yes, I still thing it highly rude to tell people what happens in a book or a film without their consent for a couple of months after the product has been initially released. But if someone is really bothered by who Luke’s father really is they’d have found out as soon as possible. Yes, that previous example is a bit out of date. But does knowing that fact spoil ones enjoyment of ‘The Empire Strikes Back’? Or do you enjoy a film because it is well made, well written and well acted?
Not that I advocate knowing what happens for everything. Don’t get me wrong there are still films, books and TV shows that it is better to watch in a state of ignorance. But does knowing what happens to Starbuck in season three of ‘Battlestar Galactica’ or who the final five Cylons are destroy the other things done well? Does it make it impossible to rewatch? Does watching something with prior knowledge create a different viewing experience? I mean people who’ve read the books movies are made from often still go see the movie.
What am I really saying? Mostly that spoilers are irrelevant. That to get hung up on them is childish. That maybe it is time for fandom at large to go beyond bullet point driven stories and towards a state where we stop worrying about the events and mythos of our fandom of choice but towards the inter-character relationships that they form.
I’m doing my hobo thing at the moment. I’m sitting on the floor of the computer games laboratory (yes there is such a thing) at my university. Using a friends laptop and not playing games. Since, because I don’t do any games related module I don’t technically have access to this lab. Thus canne login and have resorted to sitting here on the floor blogging.
And because of the crappy wireless not able to get onto IRC. Which annoys me. There are a few things I always want access to when using a computer. Mine or one that belongs to anyone else.
- IRC.
- A SSH client.
- A decent text editor.
- Firefox.
I should have grabbed my laptop yesterday.
Extra comment: My flatmate Geordie takes Call of Duty 4 way way too seriously. Anyone saying, “Sniper behind you!” Or “One down!” Basically just announing his status to the rest of the room needs to get outside more.
So I am new writing project. Daily, and the diary or at least the recorded babbling of an ex-doomsday cult member. Ex because all the other members are dead because they committed suicide when the end didn’t come. This guy though is a bit hardcore. Since he survived the cocktail of drugs and now he’s at his parents house plotting Armageddon.
This is either the stuff of comedy or tragic drama. I’ve set my self up to examine different methods of ending the world. Which is great and cool. Because this guy is at his base level a rational man. And he’d certainly do an analysis of the most effective and religiously viable way to commit mass indiscriminate murder.
There are even some questions of what happened the former leader of the cult that need to be answered at some point. So it isn’t like I’m going to run out of material. Maybe just will power.
Although I do need to find our ‘hero’ a name. And probably flesh out the cult/religion some more. I’m leaning towards a form of monastic pantheism. Because it is a change from the typical aggressive monotheism I’ve typically read about in reports of various cults/new religious groups.
I also need to sort a website out if this thing lasts longer then a week.
In a Bad Signal post by the author Warren Ellis dated 22nd of July 2002 he talks about TV being 22 minutes long for the American half hour format. Then about how most hour long TV shows (which are actually ~40 minutes in length) are just these programs with padding.
This reminds me nicely of an idea I’d had about five years ago. After watching Monty Python’s Holy Grail then soon after visiting the remains of a hill fort in Leicestershire (the county of the UK where I’m from). That it’d be quite nice to have on TV a short form fantasy serial (okay science fiction would also be good). Fantasy because the budget can in theory be lower. Also because it gives an excuse to have more violence on TV.
It reminds me almost of the one-off short horror things that Five used to produce and show. They were utter shite but still slightly entertaining.
22 minutes that’s 22 pages.
I think it’s time that I brushed up on my screenplay writing skills.
