msmemory_archive (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
msmemory_archive) wrote2007-09-28 03:44 pm
msmemory_archive) wrote2007-09-28 03:44 pm
Recruitment vs high standards
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.
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.
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First and foremost, there was *magic* in the air. Granted, I was a college freshman and not yet truly acquainted with the real world, but the utter removal from the world that I knew was in and of itself enchanting. Yes, I was a D&D kid throughout high school (Cynthia's reference to Phil and Dixie just caused me to sniff with nostalgia) and approached the SCA with that mindset. But there was this whole world that, while not existing in history in any proper sense, was a "could have been". Yes, I could put on armor and pick up a stick; in fact, the first demo I saw had me picking up a stick and whacking Nikolai upside the head.
It's not that we were different people, it wasn't play-acting. We got to be us doing different things. We could be polite to each other, for example, without getting run over. We could serve another (or be served!) without running afoul of modern sensibilities on slavery or demeaning behavior. For a shy kid with few social skills, having a group of people with similar interests who were actively trying to build community meant that there was somewhere to *belong*. There was an intensity of purpose.
There were NO barriers to entry, except perhaps getting a ride somewhere. An overly-large T-shirt, belted around the middle, was all that was necessary: an *attempt* at period garb. There were, of course, always people who were willing to help, to coach, as soon as someone wanted to step up and do more. Want better clothing? Talk to this person. Feast gear? We're all going down to Pier One (remember that?) for wooden bowls and candlesticks. Some people sold their old garb to the newbies, at relatively low prices. The standards were in what you DID, not in what you wore or carried.
The lack of barriers, of course, carries with it some problems. Most of us were a little odd, but there were some that were just plain weird. I'm sure you know the types - sitting and talking to them make one feel a little... uncomfortable. And of course there are the elf ears and fangs. But there were people like that in period too, and there was still that magic.
But now? Well, I'm older now. Married, kids, house, and 3-4 separate jobs rather than schoolwork or minimum-wage fry cook. I am far more acquainted with real life than I think I ever really wanted to be (no regrets on wife, kids, house, mind you). I've been to few events in the past 10 years or so. Some of that is life intruding, and some isn't. The last few events I attended just didn't have that same magic. There were people forcibly playacting - something I always found a bit hokey - or it was the same people I see outside in funny clothing. It's the *same* world. There's no sense of "other". In contrast to what I saw before, where people blossomed differently in different soil, what I saw was some (few) people living out sad fantasies. It wasn't real. No, it was TOO real. The same behaviors, the same pettiness, the same competition... It was the same world I had left at the door - and who needs to take the time and trouble to *get* to the event if we just happen to be doing a few different activities.
Court? No thanks - I just had a four-hour meeting at work. Music? Well, I'd love to, but building the proper lute is a little beyond my spare time right now (though some day...). Brewing? This summer I brewed an average of twice a month, and with methods not too far from period (until we get to sanitation, and kegging). Fighting? I've still got nerve damage from previous forays into armor. Fencing? Maybe... though it seems like it's more about process than end-results (for all of above). Kathryn mentioned those "goofy" plays, and filk. Much of that *isn't* period - but it still had that magic.
(to be continued - sorry)
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I still remember my first event, in November of 1983. Dark hall, candle-lit, some skits from a play that was definitely NOT period, but dealt with period matters (I still can't see that movie without thinking of those actors and not the ones on the screen). I had just been to the "Beast Feast" about two weeks before, and got to meet a whole group of people I'd never seen before but who were willing to talk to the newbies. And then there was this big guy who helped me out as I was using a flimsy plastic fork and knife to try to carve a bit of lamp from the carcass for myself - my first impression of him was of this large arm and truly gigantic knife coming from behind me to slice off a slab and put it on my plate. And at this event, here he was at the other side of the room with a white belt and some sort of coronet. Apparently he was seen eating with his hands; someone else shouted out "Use the fork, Duke!".
My favorite event? It would have to be one of the Poulet Gauche events. There was that atmosphere, that *magic*, that had attracted me in the first place. And yet again anyone could go - no barriers. If the SCA is the "best parts" of the middle ages, then events such as that are the "best parts" of the SCA.
(Yes, I should have gone to Crossroads. I plead extreme busy-ness: this Friday I start to come down from the month-long holiday season. On the other hand, I get to sit back and laugh and most everyone else goes crazy in December. :-) ).
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I always am... :-)
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I'd be curious to see a graph which is probably impossible to source: a chart of D&D participants over time, and the same thing for SCA. Would they track? Is D&D on the downslide, too? (I played only once, but it's clear to me that the populations are similar.)