[MR] raising and lowering expectations

[Jonathan Blackbow]

One way around this problem without causing anybody any undue stress:

Designate one area of the site as "period" and designate another area as
"modern", much as you might designate one area of a site as "late partiers"
and another site as "quiet after ten PM".  That way, everybody gets what
they want, and the only people that have to put out any extra effort are the
people that want to visit friends in the "period" camp.

Chimbai, one thing you may not be reading correctly (not sure, haven't
looked at the event flier) is that events tend to have the period pavilions
around the tourney field, to increase the spiff factor.  I doubt that
anybody would ever actually forbid modern pavilions from an event site
altogether, however.

Regards,

Jonathan Blackbow
----- Original Message -----
From: "Kenneth G. Samson - Delmarva Arts"

: If you'll forgive the indulgence of a newcomer who has attended just one
: event so far, I'll weigh in.
:
: I was a little disturbed when I saw the 'encampment' and saw that everyone
: had little pop-up tents in bright colors. When I was packing for the
event,
: I brought a bunch of blankets and slept on the ground without a tent,
: because somehow I had expected to find most everyone else doing the same,
or
: at least sleeping in period tents.

[snip]
:
: I also saw a number of people in blue jeans and plain sneakers, etc.,
while
: others were dressed top to bottom in garb, all of which would swing me
back
: and forth from present to past. Part of me was saying to myself -'well,
this
: is going to be too easy. All I have to do is slap a few things together,
: since nobody cares.'  and the other part was saying 'But, I much prefer to
: feel as if it were for REAL!'
:
: There are still ways to get around the period tenting. There are still
: square tents made of watertight canvas, which can be modified with some
: period frilly touches to make them more realistic. Sure, you'll have to
work
: a little harder to erect it, since it will not 'pop-up' and erect itself,
: but it'll make the campground retain an encampment flavor.
:



: Perhaps the restrictions have grown slack because newcomers take their
lead
: from the members, and over time, the attempt to recreate the period
becomes
: less intense in favor of a mundane camping experience with some period
: clothes thrown in.
:
: Yours in favor of raising expectations,
: Ken Samson, as yet still mundanely named.
: