[MR] census conclusions

[Vels inn Viggladi]

[segments of multiple posts]

"At the present the lack of a healthy economy is our biggest problem. 

The younger generation is gravitating to larp and other such groups I 

believe it is largely due to the high cost of SCA participation."



Economy is part of why people may be less active, but the age question is very
different.

"Younger" people, who have traditionally been the recruiting focus
for the SCA aren't typically our new members. When I started, and probably most
of you, the majority of new members were 18-24: the college crowd. People would
take breaks or slow down participation while they started families in their
mid-20's, then return around the age of 30 when their children were a little
older.

The College Crowd aren't our typical new people anymore. Some
kingdoms attract younger than others, but for the most part new members are
late 20's through early 40's. LARP groups aren't doing a whole lot better, but
some. They at least still draw people from gaming shops and Ren Faires. Even
there, the pickings are slim as the gaming has moved online. While fantasy
online gaming has taken the place of tabletop and dice gaming, the demographic
who plays those games has broadened (it's Geek Chic). So, there is a wider
potential pool out there, but they are isolated due to the limited real world
contact any member may actually have. Having a greater access to nominally
"cheaper" entertainment of this sort is really secondary to the
issue. It's also apparent that our college exposure has dwindled significantly. Without college aged people being involved in the SCA, fewer college aged people will be exposed to the SCA. 


The other main group in that "Young People" age
range that traditionally were easy draws are military. With the current Op
Tempo, there is no way grab those people and hook them in.For those of us who remember what it was to be in college or the military and be part of the local SCA group, it is a significantly different dynamic than  is experienced elsewhere. We do not have the people in the dorms and barracks that there were a decade ago to be the conduit to the SCA.
 

The people who are being drawn in are, by age, more my
contemporaries and a few years older (I'm 33 with almost 15 years in). These
are the people who have some stability in income and are looking to do
something new. Many I've talked to had heard of the SCA some years ago, but
never got around to getting involved. Now that they have the time and
resources, they want to give it a shot. But these folks aren't really being
courted, they are just trickling in on their own or happen to have a friend
somewhere who can make the contact. 

So, our actually most fertile field isn't the demographic
that we are used to attracting. And for them, the monetary costs are not a huge
issue. Finding them is. 

This then cuts two ways on the
"Award/Acknowledgement" element as well. It's not the upwards sports
mentality, it is that these new folks we do attract are older and more
established in their mundane lives. They've paid some dues and have developed
some respect in their professional and modern lives. They aren't kids with a
blank slate, they're canalized and (differently) experienced already. "Starting
over from scratch" is a difficult situation to accept under those
conditions. When people with some life experience behind them do not feel they
have been properly recognized, they get more disjointed about it than
20-somethings.





"Yet in reading the mailing lists I see much 

complaining of "we don't have enough volunteers in service!"  and have 

witnessed some very harsh words trying to guilt people into 

volunteering." 

 

Odd fact pulled from the Census data: Service Awards are
actually the most common award presented (to respondents). 

 

 

"kids today are raised a

bit differently than when i was a kid. 
they rarely play outside.  they

rarely are pushed into competition [...]" (emphasis mine)

 

Which makes an interesting hook for getting into the
conversation about the differences between Emprise and Enterprise within the context of our chosen
period of study. By most angles, this should be a boon to attracting young
people. Most of those in the Gen Y and Millenium broods has been indoctrinated
that being a good member of the group, rather than striving to be the leader,
is most important. Therefore, we should be able to draw both those who want to
defy that indoctrination as well as those who live by it. But, it is damned
hard to get to them (see above).

 

 

Vels