Arontius of Bygelswade

.....Last weekend when we were at our Sunday morning Starbucks ritual with Brighid the Amused we had a conversation about her observations of being someone new in the branch and trying to integrate herself with the people there. We were talking about what happens after the initial excitement of camping or eventing with a group in the SCA. If that person or group hasn't found some friends, or something that excites them personally, after a while they tend to drift away.

.....When I first started playing in the SCA, I was lucky in the regard that I had friends who were already established players, chiefly Richard of Sussex. He drug me and a few others to June Faire each year and a few other local events. After a while and a lot of persuasion and work on his part he put me into the 'system' by having me work at the Gate as a Constable for several June Faires in a row. After a while I finally picked up the bug and started doing a handful of other things. But without that initial push and enthusiasm directed at me? I might have gone in another direction with any one of a handful of other groups and activities with whom I played at the time.

.....Later, I joined a formal household with some other friends and as a group we could do a lot more than we could do as individuals, and it was a lot more fun. Our encampment started taking over events. Being with this group encouraged me to take that next leap into the 'inner workings' of the SCA, namely with branch offices and autocratting larger events. I autocratted my first June Faire as part of this household and they were there as part of my back-up team. They took on a large number of duties for that June Faire and it turned out to be a very successful event.

.....That household eventually imploded due to internal strife and a few other things. But even now I wouldn't trade the bad things that happened for all the positives the household brought into my life.

.....A few years back our Chatelaine Eileen brain-stormed and ran a group she called the 'New Dragons'. Mostly it consisted of an e-mail list where people new to the SCA could ask questions and learn about events and activities in which they could take part. It was also a place they could organize encampments of relatively new people who could camp together and have something in common. It was a good way to get people involved and keep them interested. It some ways it stood as a 'Starter Household' that new people automatically joined until they felt comfortable walking and doing on their own.

.....Currently we don't have anything set up along these lines. It takes a lot of time, effort and energy to maintain this function and we haven't had the ready resource of volunteers to perform this. Lately those people new to the branch who have become more active were those who came with 'ready-made households' (like the Roving Irishmen) or those who found some sort of household niche, complete with friends, right out of the starting gates. Established households have more or less taken over the role of integrating new people into the branch. Some of those households being formally recognized family groups, or loose associations of friends.

.....A while back I mentioned a conversation I listened into with Earl Sir Cire who was talking about the early days of the SCA and the role of households. At one time the SCA as an activity had wanted to integrate the concept of a 'household' into the formal structure of the SCA. It had the benefit of being able to have some jurisdiction over how households played and the ability to police them as necessary, especially as households as an entity tend to create 'cults of personality'. But it was a two way street as the households also gained Society-wide recognition that could travel with them such as rankings do individuals now.

.....I'm wondering if we could combine a bunch of these ideas in the direction of pairing people new to the branch with groups of friends, or established households, for a certain number of events. We could ask for groups to volunteer and have a ready list. When a new person comes along we could 'assign' them to this household group who would agree to 'shepherd' the new person or people. It would give them a group with whom to camp. A group to show them how an event works and how to get involved.

.....Would a reward be needed though? If a group volunteers to do this for a new person for a number of events, or a certain timeframe, how do you reward them for this service? It is a valuable service and at the very least the group should be recognized for the extra efforts on helping new people. I'm sure some groups would be happy to enlarge their membership, with the potential of gaining 'permanent' members. Some groups might just do it for the fun of showing new people how much fun they have (especially since 'fun' can sometimes grows exponentially with the number of people who become a part of it). But I would want to think of some sort of system that formally rewards a group who takes on this responsibility and I'm just not sure what that reward system would be.

.....Not that I'm formally proposing anything with this missive. I'm mainly just thinking out loud (or 'in journal') so that I don't forget the thought in case something further pops into my head.

.....TBT might have thought of some more ideas since last weekend as well.

.....Hmmm, A.