My last post was about Manticon, a convention based around the series of books staring Honor Harrington. Yesterday I actually attended a meeting for the fan club that runs it. I've decided to post my initial observations.
The first thing that surprised me is how seriously everyone takes it. Life is better than ever, I have no doubt of that, but I do think our modern lives are lacking a community that most of us enjoyed until very recently. These people have formed their own group of likeminded individuals, and want to see it grow.
What kind of individuals are they? Practical people. Many are former or current military. It surprised me how many have skills they are happy to bring to the table. They are capable of accomplishing a lot. They are currently working on building the group, but I can see us accomplishing much more. I understand there was a successful Toys for Tots drive last Decemberween.
They are organized into departments, then ships, and fleets and navies. I just joined the engineering department of my ship at the meeting. My ship is the one focused on gaming, and the gaming culture in our area. The engineering department is the group working on the Artemis Bridge Simulator, which is pretty cool. And they even meet in my neighborhood.
When I got involved I didn't realize it, but they are actually becoming more and more involved with the group that organizes Convergence. They put the bridge simulator up there where hundreds of people get to try it. Hours spent building it even count towards volunteer hours for Convergence.
No comments:
Post a Comment