Recruitment vs high standards

[msmemory_archive]

This is a half-developed notion. I have this theory percolating around my brain that the SCA's recent higher standards in many areas are in fact a barrier to recruiting new members.

Thinking back, when I joined the SCA, it was very much a do-it-yourself group. Nobody minded if you made a polyester velour tunic, or made a surcoat out of brocade curtains from a yard sale. We all politely ignored the pickle bucket armor, webbing folding chairs, and nylon tents, instead collectively imagining ourselves lords and ladies in samite and fur, living in bright pavilions, sitting on thrones. College students, young adults, and the poor could feel welcome, for their fantasy was just as good as anyone else's.

These days, all the trappings are available to anyone with enough money. You want turnshoes, sheepskin bedding, snowy linen robes, shiny armour? Just plunk down enough dollars and Poof! instant status. That random 19-year-old scholarship student, who would have been a shabby but respected herald in 1982? Well, now he's just shabby.

We've recreated class differences, and based them on modern incomes. No wonder we aren't bringing in or retaining the peripheral, young, or poor members who historically have been the SCA's lifeblood.

ETA: I'm not claiming innocence here either: I am at least as guilty as most of spending my "look! no kids!" income on finery while that early garb molders in the attic.

Comments

[citrine-moon.livejournal.com]

I'm wondering if it is also era, as you and Tibor mentioned earlier.

One of the thoughts that I have had lately was on the use of iPods or MP3 players. I was surprised to see how many people were wearing them in the stores. Seeing them being used walking down the street or on the T is one thing, but when I saw them being used in stores, I thought,"What has our society come to that these people are tuning other people out?" It seems younger people don't know how to do many things, including socialize. This is the Age of MMORPGs, IMs and SecondLife. A lot of these people don't know how to interact with other people face to face. I have a friend from high school who recently moved back into the area. I have been trying to get her out to an event to meet more people and the bulk of our communication is via IM. Kind of frustrating actually, because I would like to sit down and have a glass of wine and chat with her.

Your question makes me think about Johann and his bus. :-)

[cvirtue.livejournal.com]

I tune lots of people out, in stores, but I don't need electronics to do it.

As for "era," I think it is a lot broader than that -- as someone mentioned upthread, it isn't the late Sixties anymore. The get-back-to-a-golden-age of simplicity is not around in the youth (or older) culture anymore. Not the main one, at any rate.

There's an interesting Phil and Dixie cartoon from the early Eighties, about people losing the DIY spirit with D&D figurines, getting snobbish about solid gold ones with ruby eyes and so on. Sadly, they haven't yet gotten to it in the reruns yet ( http://www.studiofoglio.com/cgi/growf.cgi?date=20070923 ). But it's interesting that it's somewhat similar to our concerns here.

[marysdress.livejournal.com]

It's interesting - there's still lots of teenage boys who do D&D and seem to be drawn into it now via things like Runescape. I know very few teenage boys without a Runescape account. Admittedly that is exactly what you're saying - it's virtual. On the other hand, they seem to be spinning off into paper and pen to make their own games too.

[gyzki.livejournal.com]

Your question makes me think about Johann and his bus. :-)

May I ask in a totally non-challenging way why it makes you think, and what it makes you think, about Johan's busline experiment? I ask mostly out of curiosity, because I'm interested in comparing my direct memories of past events with how they've passed into oral traditional memory, and also to tease out how it relates to the original question.

And as a tangent off a tangent, not really addressing the original question at all, when I go out with my iPod on, I'm not tuning other people out, I'm adding a soundtrack to my walk or my chores. Yes, there is the risk I might not notice someone hailing me, but I don't think it happens much; certainly my intention is positive (to add something to my experience) not negative (to take something out). Just me.