(no subject)

[themidnightgirl]

During this afternoons changeling game, my character was wounded and was 'out of action' for a bit. This gave me the chance just to watch what was going on...

And I realised something. 95% of all the games we as Cam UK run, are really good. And from time in to time out, that's what it's really all about.

It's very easy to get bogged down in the politics, the arguments over rules, the mundanity of day to day camness...and lose that fact. We run _games_ and, for the most part, the games are _good_. Not perfect...nothing ever is. And not every game is enjoyable for every player - that's life. But for the majority...yes...the games are good.

The politics are endemic to a society of our size.
The rules are a necessary evil. Why? Because of our size, because we allow travel, we have to have consistency. From inconsistency comes unfairness, and continued unfairness will lead to the games NOT being good, not being enjoyed. At the simplest level, it's not right for game X to be giving out 3xp a game and game Y give out 1. So we decide on a standard. It's only fair. This is true for everything, and the bigger the society gets, the more games that are run, the more procedures and rules are required.

When Richard Branson first founded Virgin, he ran it himself. He didn't need HR and Legal and all those other groovy departments. The bigger it got, the more the 'bureaucracy' was required. Middle managers were required, then team leaders.

There's an analogy there, and it's a good one.

Comments

[crocodilewings.livejournal.com]

Sometimes people need reminding that the bureaucracy serves the games and not the other way round. Sometimes people have to ask themselves whether the level of bureaucracy is palateable for the individual, and whether that individual finds the games worth the OOC hassle.

It really is wonderful when you can forget entirely about worry over your actions as an officer, or arguments over really minor rules points, and just lose yourself in the play.

It'd just be nice if it happened a little more.

And I really wish I could've made Reading this weekend. Spanners has been in mothballs for the past two months and my Vamp has an empire to build. Dumb time constraints.

Issue

[borusa.livejournal.com]

I really take issue with the "bureacracy is palatable to the individual"

The question is whether or not the bureaucracy is palatable to the _society_".

There is, actually, very little OOC hassle for members that they don't make themselves. If player X wants to pitch up to a game, really, they can.

Much of the hassle exists for officers, particularly ST's. And, to be honest, that's how it should be. I've noticed many independant and new-to-the-cam ST's getting a culture shock "you mean I have to ask before I use Garou as antagonists?"....Cam STing is very different to Independant STing....

Having to ask / Bureacracy

[sorormystica.livejournal.com]

I am glad to see someone else saying something positive about the bureacracy... especially right now when I'm intensely disliking the fact that I'm a CC. I've found that bureacracy helps ensure a level of fairness for everyone. As much as it can hinder gameflow sometimes, overall it saves A LOT of delays due to conflict (among other things).

TTFN,
Autumn Gray
CC TPN, Pierce County, WA, USA
Camarilla Shared LiveJournal moderator (www.livejournal.com/community/camarilla) (http://www.livejournal.com/community/camarilla)

Re: Having to ask / Bureacracy

[aardnebby.livejournal.com]

I have to agree. The more I look away from the rules I dislike (and you know which ones I mean :) ) and towards how the society works the more I understand. Not agree, but see the necesity. Well, no doubt its something I will encounter a lot more... Thanks to everyone involved in that for trusting me.

Steve Lloyd, RC.

Re: Having to ask / Bureacracy

[crocodilewings.livejournal.com]

Maybe I should try and stop thinking of the paperchase aspect as a necessary evil and start thinking of it as something that should be made fun.

Maybe I'll include little cartoons in my ST reports. :-)

Y'know, a change in perspective might be just what's needed.

Re: Having to ask / Bureacracy

[aardnebby.livejournal.com]

Good idea, foreward the good ones to me? And for my next trick, I shall devise a fiendishly cunning plan to get myself and as many other cam officers as I can into something vaguely resembling a normal sleep pattern... only to have it ruined by pixie stix and the next 'ling national. *sigh*

Re: Having to ask / Bureacracy

[crocodilewings.livejournal.com]

Currently trying to gey myself into a vaguely human sleep pattern, using the old technique of staying awake until I collapse, and hopefully collapsing at a time that'll allow me to wake up in the morning.

must drink caffeine. It's my mission for the day. Failing that, any diuretic fluid will do.

Re: Having to ask / Bureacracy

[sorormystica.livejournal.com]

OMIGOD, I have to find an early domain report that was sent in at one point very early in Camarilla history by a former DC who is a friend of mine... I have it somewhere, when I find it I'll post it up on the Cam LJ. Anyway it talked about how they'd been drinking at events and figured as long as they hid the beer and guns whenever the cops got called they were fine. They were doing it to find out if anyone was actually reading their reports.

Ironically, they didn't ever get a reply on that month's report from what I heard...

Re: Having to ask / Bureacracy

[ex-grimjim.livejournal.com]

The company metaphore doesn't quite work.
As anyone who has worked in an office will tell you, all the paperwork gets in the way of anyone doing any real work.
You even end up with people emplyed just because of the weight of paperwork.
Strip it down to the bare minimum so it doesn't interfere. Bureaucracy for its own sake and to give people something to do to validate their officership is NOT good.