[Artemisia] Event Thoughts

[Spencer Maschek]

Agreed. Best time I have had was at Uprising this last year with the 
unplanned happenings in the Shelter.
Vlad
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Bruce Padget" <bapadget at yahoo.com>
To: <artemisia at lists.gallowglass.org>
Sent: Wednesday, December 08, 2004 11:11 AM
Subject: [Artemisia] Event Thoughts


> For a little over a year, I've been talking to folks -
> dozens of them - about the so-called "magic" moments
> at events.  You know, the moments that keep you coming
> back despite the crap.  By no means a scientific
> survey, but the answers showed me sufficiently
> consistent patterns to draw some conclusions.
>
> The vast majority said that their magic times happened
> well after dark.  A minority said they had had such
> times very early in the morning.  A smaller minority
> said they had such times in the afternoon, when they
> hit the tired-but-not-yet-exhausted phase of fighting.
>
> The vast majority (at least 95%) said that magic times
> *only* occured in unplanned, unscheduled happenings at
> events. No one said that magic happens only or chiefly
> during planned happenings.
>
> All agreed that there is no predicting when magic will
> happen.
>
> My conclusions:
>
> First, magic is random.  My dad taught me a lot about
> probability.  (He is fairly knowledgable in advanced
> physics, but most of his probability lessons seemed to
> involve cards and chips :D)  He said the main thing to
> know about probability is that, no matter how small
> the probability of occurence x, given enough trials,
> occurence x becomes a virtual certainty.  (Hence the
> maxim in astrophysics that anything not forbidden is
> mandatory. :D)
>
> In event terms, this means the more events there are,
> and the more you go to, the more likely there is to be
> magic.
>
> Second, magic tends to happen at the start and end of
> the day.  I've noted a trend -- not entirely imposed
> by site owners -- of Artemisian events starting later
> in the day and ending earlier.  By limiting the
> chances for magic in this way, events seem more like
> chores, and the cycle becomes self-reinforcing.
>
> Third, embrace chaos.  At my favorite events, the
> event steward doesn't see his job as planning an
> event.  Instead, his job is arrange time and space for
> an event to happen.  As one clear example, if you get
> a dozen fighters in the same general area, do you
> *really* think they won't think of anything to do if
> you don't plan melees and tourneys for them?
>
> I've heard a little talk of a malaise in Artemisia.
> Three solutions that strike me as pretty clear -- more
> events, longer events, less structured events.
>
> Regards,
> Niccolo
> Abbastanza Buon Non E Abbastanza Buono
> bapadget at yahoo.com
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