Sunday 29 July 2012

Sunday Sermon: The Olympic Spirit

    
       

Yes, even my bloody Blog is going to be infected with a touch of the Olympics. Right now here in the UK you can't bloody take a breath without somebody trying to sell you a product based off of the fact they've sponsored the Olympics. Coke being the official 'drink' of the Olympics and McDonalds being the official 'restaurant' of the Olympics does bring a wry smile to my face. I have to be honest I was more than a little bit cynical about the Olympics and the rampant commercialism that seemed to come along with the biggest show on earth... perhaps it's P&G announcing every 10 fecking second on my TV that they're proud sponsors of moms that finally did it for me. Do they not know what the word sponsor means? I mean if the person you are supposedly 'sponsoring' is having to pay you for your products that's not sponsorship! They've been doing my head in for months now, and that's the last thing my head needs right now. So I sat down to watch the opening ceremony, wandering what new and wonderful ways my nation would find of embarrassing itself...


And yeah OK Danny Boyle's 'extravaganza' didn't make that much sense to even us Brits, and at times I found it utterly bewildering and yes, cringe-worthy, but you know what... there was one part of it that made me sit up and take notice. No it wasn't James Bond with the Queen... I found that rather odd. Nor was it Sir Paul singing Hey Jude, no, after all the fireworks, the shamelessly socialist overtones, 50 foot Voldermort's and glowing beds (WTF was all that about?) came the athletes pledge or oath. If you didn't stop up to watch it, and I can't blame you if you didn't, it's reproduced below:

"In the name of all the competitors I promise that we shall take part in these Olympic Games, respecting and abiding by the rules which govern them, committing ourselves to a sport without doping and without drugs, in the true spirit of sportsmanship, for the glory of sport and the honor of our teams."

I do wander just how many of the athletes who will take part in the Olympics this summer will honestly live up to those ideals embodied in that oath. They are quite pure and noble ambitions, and in my experience very little of humanity is pure and noble.

But I like that those are the standards to which, we will hold our competitors. Realistically that for me was the only part of the Olympic opening ceremony that caught my attention. There is something noble about the individual athlete trying to do their best, to go faster, further or to be stronger or more accurate, to try and push the boundaries of what the human body is capable of. Pierre de Coubertin said this of the games:

“The most important thing in the Olympic Games is not winning but taking part; the essential thing in life is not conquering but fighting well.”

Now, it sounds to me a bit like loser talk to me, but he had a point. Jesse Owens once said something like the 'only victory worth anything is the victory over yourself', I can't quite remember the exact quote, and I don't really have the time to find it as I've already been sat in front of the computer writing this out for too long... however, Jesse was a smart cookie and one hell of a  competitor and if he believed that, then you know what the rest of us should sit up and take notes. He believed it was about getting better and personal achievement, about always trying your best and pushing yourself, and I admire that mentality.

So where am I heading with all this? Well I've often heard gamers talk of the implied contract between us when we play our games. I've often spoken about it with my friends, most of us are relatively competitive, but for us it's party about the journey you have with a game, your own personal improvement. Well what would a gamers oath look like? What ideals would we hold ourselves to? What things are important to us as a community? What is important to you? I've been thinking about this a lot lately and the Olympics, and that oath just brought it sharper into focus. I've said on countless occasions that our hobby takes at least two to tango, and I believe therefore it is an almost collaborative event when a game takes place. Even if we are both aiming to wipe the floor with our opponents. There are ways of doing it and maybe sometimes some of us forget that at times, we forget we're both meant to have fun and that yes there is a competitive element, and I wouldn't want it any other way, but there should also be a bit of fair play. We should also acknowledge that there are other ways of playing, narrative games, campaigns and that these are just as valid as the straight up pitched battle. So if you were writing a wargamers oath what would it look like? I'm going to put my version up next Sunday, but I'll be interested to see what you guys come up with in the meantime. Peace out!

31 comments:

  1. I think I'd nab Newbolt for mine: "Play up! play up! and play the game!"

    My favourite bit of Olympic sponsorship has been McDonald's. Apparently, if one buys a large meal, they will give you a special Coca Cola glass. In some way this is supporting the efforts of some highly trained, physically fit athletes. I laughed quite a bit at that!

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    1. It's arguably the best bit of the Olympics for me. Watching multinational conglomerates try to link their products in some really tenuous way to the Olympics. I love it.

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  2. dont forget the free wristband too ! im wondering if it makes you run quicker ?

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    1. Now that depends if you make the wrist band out of 'red' because red ones go faster... even though red paint is actually normally heavier than most other paint colours because it requires more pigment to get a consistent coverage. Am I over thinking this now?

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  3. "I will learn the rules, according to what the rulebook says, not what I *think* the rulebook says."

    "I will help the guy learning to play by offering balanced suggestions, not just suggestions that help me to win."

    "I will pay attention to my personal hygiene. Deodorant, soap and the shower are my friends."

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    1. Some good ideas in there. Some I'd thought of, others I hadn't. You'll see my results this Sunday.

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  4. I will respect my opponent as a person and as a competitor and remember that this is entertainment for two and play as such.

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    1. Yep, words to that effect found their way into my gamers oath too.

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  5. My mother tongue isn't English, but I think it should sound like that:

    "I promise that I shall take part in the game doing my best, respecting my opponent and following the rules which govern it, committing myself to a game without cheating, in the true spirit of sportsmanship, for the pleasure and enjoyment of myself and my opponent."

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    1. Yep that's a pretty good first stab actually. My first go at it read pretty similar to yours actually.

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  6. The one above says it all, I would just add,

    I will not play with unpainted minis on a makeshift terrain.

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    1. Yeah, I agree I think Rob89 did a pretty good job actually. I too though would like to see something about unpainted miniatures, although right now I'd fall foul of that with a lot of games that I'm playing, as I would the makeshift terrain.

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  7. This one is complex. There needs to be a line about treating your opponants Space Barbies as you would like yours to be treated or something to higher effect to prevent the shoebox-army kid trashing stuff, something about RAW/RAI arguements to be left at home (unless trolling GW staffers), a bit about belts is highly recommended by a friend of mine as the sight of hall full of "hairy man crack" isn't exactly his cup of tea.... heck, there's a lot to this hobby that is hard to codify succintly.

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    1. "I will not touch another man's dice or models without his express permission"?

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    2. That works, but you still have to work out the belt issue then. It's going to be something massive like the Appostle's Creed or something...

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    3. Yep it is a fairly hefty tome Arquinsiel. But hopefully it's one that be worthwhile in the end.

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  9. Crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and hear the lamentation of their women (?)

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    1. That's not quite the spirit I was going for, but musical Conan gets you 'cool points'.

      If you don't know what we're talking about follow this link:

      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OBGOQ7SsJrw

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  10. Zen Pencils just took on that Jesse Owens quote here: http://zenpencils.com/comic/68-jesse-owens-the-inevitable-battle/

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    1. Thanks for the link. I quite like Zen Pencils.

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  11. I solemnly swear that I will play in such a manner that, whether I win or lose, my opponents will look forward to our next encounter.

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    1. That's not a bad sentiment actually. I might pinch some of that.

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  12. "I promise to play this game in accordance with the spirit in which it was designed and created, in recognition of the close bonds of friendship which bind us as gamers to this table [and in doing so showing the greatest respect to the Fallen of this battle which we now recreate*]"

    *Additional oath for historical wargamers!

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    1. Hmm. I had a discussion about this months and months and months ago with some FoW players. They were concerned about a young lad at the club who didn't seem to grasp the importance or gravity of re-enacting battles from WWII and was getting a bit too over the top with his "theatrics" shall we say. Thing is no one had tackled him on it, when they did he was mortified that people thought he was being disrespectful to the memory of fallen soldiers everywhere. So perhaps there also needs to be something about open and honest communications too.

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  13. @Arquinciel
    How about: I will not touch another man's dice or models without his express permission ,except if he exposes his hairy man crack ,in which case I will drop them in there one by one until he pulls up his pants.

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    1. I don't know about that one. Seems a tad extreme to me. Besides with some of the cracks I've seen it'd take a 3000 point skaven army to fill them.

      *shudders at the memory*

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  14. "The goal of the game is to win, the point of the game is to have fun. If one of us doesn't have fun, we both lose. I will remember this and strive my best to make the game as pleasant and entertaining as possible for all involved. Both as regards to the game and my person and conduct."

    Add stipends as needed locally about hygiene (Soap shall be my ally), sportsmanship (Those across the table are not my enemies, they are my fellows. I shall be considerate to those I play with.), respect (I will ask permission before I touch. Be not an Asshat), etc...

    That should cover most bases. ;-)

    It's pretty close to what I try to hold myself to with regards to gaming. The way I see it, you do this for your enjoyment, so you also assume the responsibility to make the game enjoyable to those you game with.

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    1. I think most gamers hold themselves to some sort of internal code of ethics, and I think groups of gamers generally tend to hammer out behaviour issues between themselves, whether openly or tacitly. I think I'm working up a pretty good one though now having read through it again this morning.

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  15. Knight of Infinite Resignation14 August 2012 at 09:00

    No updates for a long time... Is everybody alright? Have you just given up blogging or has something bad happened?

    Hope you are OK.

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    1. I'm guessing the cat is well and truly out of the bag now, I've not been feeling 100% this past month. I've had other things I really, really need to deal with so I've not felt able to sit down and give the Blog the attention it deserves. So rather than throwing up any old crap just to fill the dead air I took a bit of a break and tried to rest up a bit. Also with some of the flak I received off of some people for the Misogyny Sunday Sermon I felt like taking a break might have been a wise thing to do, so coupled with feeling a bit under the weather I felt it wise to just step away.

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