Occasionally, the baby has to go too.

[thebitterguy]

Figuring things out, then. Today's quiet at the old workstead, so I'm doing some reading (Iron Heroes, which is interesting) and some writing (you're reading it, chuckles) and musing.

Have gone over the one-word meme. Leave it to the writers to cause trouble. It sure is an ego-boo, though.

Weekend is looking busy. I'm attempting to get game up and running, but now there's something in the afternoon I want to do as well, so I'm trying to get the game shifted.

Since Christmas is a bit of a wash, have started planning events for March break. Will probably be visiting Quebec, so I will once again be attempting to convince Cynra to go to the Ice Hotel. Afterwards, we'll stop by oldfriend Tony's and visit the_adzo and bridgefiend, and then visit Ottawa on the way back.

That's purely hypothetical, mind you. We might just end up shovelling the drive and getting on each other's nerves. Good old Desert Island Twitch!

During the great Star Wars Trivia Rout of 2005 (I defeated three opponents at once! Three! Not individually, but as one ur opponenet. Yeah), Chris pointed out to me a book they had entitled "TV and Movie In Jokes". A great deal of it appeared to have been gleaned from Usenet postings (or at least be the workings of someone who was a Usenet inhabitant). It was interesting, but the best bits were the chapter on Allan Smithee and the TV section on the X-Files.

Allan Smithee was mostly old news, since that's a story that's been broken a dozen times. When I was in high school, my friend Carter told me all about the Smithee secret. There was also a documentary about "him" on the Movie Network a few years ago. Apparently the DGA has come up with a new pseudonym since it's no longer much of a secret.

While most things in the book were fairly brief, it's kinda disturbing the amount of detail the X-Files episodes had. "Jose Chung's "From Outer Space"" had three pages of notes on it. It verified nottheterritory's Man in Black tale (Johnny Cash was offered the role that went to Alex Trebek), which would have been neat, but not as neat as the Trebek. In fact, I think I'll watch that episode again tonight.

The mailing list for Car-pga is impoding as we speak. I may just go ahead and unsubscribe from it now, as the list has proven to be only mildly interesting.

I was a bit dissapointed by the direction the group was taking. To be honest, in this day and age, table top RPGs have really lost and perceptible danger factor. I don't recall anyone trying to ban them lately, or even noticing them. They have, much like Charleton Heston's hard hitting SF movies (snicker), lost any social relevancy and become cheesy pop cultural punchlines. D&D Player is longhand symbol for geek. An organization that seems to comprise mostly a guy in texas using library internet connections to track when "the media" says nasty things about the hobby isn't terribly useful.

At this point, console and computer games are the whipping boys for those with more time than common sense (Jack Thompson, I'm looking at you). If you compare the amount of ink Grand Theft Auto has gotten in the past few years to how much has been spilled on Dungeons and Dragons, youl'l quickly realize nobody gives a shit about roleplaying games. Pat Pulling is dead, folks, and her crusade preceeded her. This is both good, and bad.

In fact, the role I thought the organization SHOULD take was a more direct advocacy one; instead of scanning newspapers, try selling the hobby to people who aren't involved. I actually suggested that CAR-PGA set up booths at the Word on the Street festivals with the industry to show people what's out there. I figured GoO's A Game of Thrones game and Decipher's LotR game (to name just some) were perfect for those events; even generic games like d6 might have been appropriate (I'm NOT going to try to sell Hero to the uninitiated). The suggestion was not greeted with any amount of enthusiasm, which is a shame, as that's the kind of advocacy the industry needs.

Anyway, yeah. I'm pretty much finished with the organization. If I ever do find my tape of the Geraldo RPG stories from Entertainment tonight, I'll ship it off to them (or just get it digitized and set it free to the Intarwebs).

Comments

[pyat.livejournal.com]

Charleton Heston's hard hitting SF movies (snicker)

Are you making fun of Soylent Green? Are you? Huh? Eddie G. died so that Saturday Night Live sketch might... uh.... live!

Are you having a Christmas party this year? I believe we're having a New Year's one, and you folks are invited.

[pyat.livejournal.com]

The suggestion was not greeted with any amount of enthusiasm, which is a shame, as that's the kind of advocacy the industry needs.

I expect we're all pretty much marching towards Wargameville, in our own fashion. Ah well.

[thebitterguy]

This, I fear, is true. But we shall strive against the dying of the light. Dammit.

[perich.livejournal.com]

The suggestion was not greeted with any amount of enthusiasm, which is a shame, as that's the kind of advocacy the industry needs.

See, I'm not sure any hobby needs "advocacy." I tend to limit that kind of outreach to charities and public-interest lobbies. Do Beanie Babies need advocacy? Or collectible coins?

Gaming is an industry (kind of). Companies sell products; consumers buy them. If people want the industry to grow, they need to produce and market a product that people want to buy. I suppose advocacy could fall under "marketing," but it's not quite the same.

[thebitterguy]

The organization exists, and is dedicated to advancing the hobby.

I thought it would be better to advance it by actually exposing people to it, rather than writing hysterical letters everytime a news story mentions that a juvenile delinquent had a Players Handbook in their bedroom.

[perich.livejournal.com]

Oh, well, yes. Productivity trumps hand-wringing every time.