[SCA] no need for a name

[juldea]

Dear SCA friends who have been overly annoying about insisting that I have a name and persona,

I have express personal permission from the Baron to not have either.

MUAH. :P

Love,
me.

Comments

[juldea.livejournal.com]

Nod, the persona part isn't the fun part to me. :)

[rufinia.livejournal.com]

There is a different between name and persona. Really. Some people go all out (Morwenna, Jehan, Luke) some people aspire to that point (me), some people are looking for a place to start (Anna) and some people have a name and declared that their persona is entirely with the the SCA without a real historical aspect (You don't know the person I'm thinking of, but she's been in for 30+ years).

[juldea.livejournal.com]

Ah, well, I don't feel the need to use a name different from the one I have... *shrug*

[metahacker.livejournal.com]

Then don't (he says). I'm *sure* you can document your name if anyone is really annoying about it.

But making an attempt at a persona -- even if it's just a pat "oh, I'm a Xth century Y" -- is in some groups as required as wearing garb. So, you might want to make up a cover story, as it's a large part of some people's view of the game.

[juldea.livejournal.com]

Yes, but that is still bottling me into something I don't want. I want to be able to have Xth century Y garb while doing dances from Ath century B and working on a project from Kth century J. And show up at the next event being something completely different. I understand that the idea of the Society makes this possible in some sense, that my Xth century Y is living on this island where she's introduced to so many fashions and forms of entertainment, but... it still seems like people want to be able to categorize me, and those are constraints I don't want.

I'm a girl named Julia wearing this and doing this. Why isn't that enough?

[siderea]

I'm a girl named Julia wearing this and doing this. Why isn't that enough?

Bluntly, because we are all playing a game, and you're insisting on sitting on the field not joining in, in a particularly conspicuous way.

I presume part of why you're doing it is to establish and keep an emotional distance from the Society. There are, I think, better ways of doing that.

[juldea.livejournal.com]

Hrm.

Well, yes, partially. But the way you put it sounds like some kind of avoidant behavior, when really the way I feel about it is that my interest in the Society is purely social. (Of course, I don't object to the stray education that comes my way, but I'm not a history nut. History has always been my least favorite subject.) For example: I like making garb purely when I'm making it along with a friend. I have some simple hemming and such to do to finish one of my outfits, and since I pretty much have to do it at home alone it's been untouched for a while. Whereas I'm a sewing demon with other people around helping and talking. :)

This is kind of getting off-base... the point I'm trying to make is that I'm keeping emotional distance from the Society because I realize that at its core it's not something I'm THAT interested in. I do it purely because a lot of other people I get along with do it, so it's a great chance to interact with them in a new and different way (so that we don't have to just go to a restaurant and sit and talk every time we see each other!)

I don't want to get sucked into the pressure of having and keeping a persona and all of the bureaucracy of the Society when I don't anticipate it being that big of a part of my life.

Games have spectators who occasionally join in for a pick-up game. I don't need to have a uniform and play for a team, or know and follow all of the rules, as long as I don't blatantly violate those that others can't ignore, right?