(no subject)

Thoughts...

Events like those that occurred yesterday generate a frenzied state of media hype

I agree with sherbetsaucers that things just as bad happen every day, that people die every day, and that many of these thing could be prevented. I don't know if I agree that this makes people evil. It just makes them people. We sit in our lives, comfortable anmd unaware, because we don't need to be aware. It's a habit, and in some ways a survival mechanism. Try to hold the knowledge of all the bad things that happen in this world in your head all the time and youll go nuts. People are selfish and weak.

Adversity brings out strength in people because they are forced to repond, to provide an emotional response, and as a society a sense of strength shared by all helps everyone untie and cope. But this only happens when stuff happens on our doorstep, when people are directly confronted by traumatic events and are left with no othr choice to respond.

So perhaps a lesson is this: Remember what it feels like. Remember that this is not the first or the last time you will feel this. Remember that suffer somewhere in the world every day. Hold onto that strength and use it not just for your own good but for others too.

Or just let the media hype drown it all out and let the feeling be swept away. Go home, watch TV, let it pass. It's easy.

I'd like to think i can take something from these thoughts and make my life a little more meaningful. Ask me in a week, a month, a year, and we'll see.

White Wolf - doing a grand job of pissing us all off, again.

So, White Wolf want all groups running their games and charging money to sign up to the Camarilla. Those running the event and every player must be a member, or... else?

Let's keep this in perspective. WW say it will only apply to those groups charging and making a profit - ie those profitting from WW's intellectual property. Ok, that seems fair, in an arsey corporate scumfuck way. But not entirely unreasonable... of course, it directly threatens at least two large WW LARP groups (UK Masquerade and One World By Night) and that looks like bullying in no small way, in a manner that many would deem unsuitable for the free and creative hobby of roleplaying.

Beyond that, my concern is this: At what point does it become 'for profit'? Most games charge a small amount to cover costs, and create a small float to cover losses. Does that constitute 'for profits'? How about if games stop charging but asking for willing donations to cover costs - will that be sufficient to claim non-profit status? How will WW view this? It's easy to assume that WW (that evil, monolithic institution that it's become) are being total arseholes about this (possibly because, well, they sure as hell look like total arseholes and have done for years), but I think we should wait and see whether they mean to take this to the ridiculous extreme of attempting to own every independent game out there that asks for a bit of cash to cover costs.

Much as I'd like to spit more bile and spite in their eye, let's see how far they take this... of course, even as it stand it looks like an attempt to slap down the large independent organisations with bullying lawyers.

Pass the chess set...