Categories
gaming geeky stuff

Looking for female and male gamers of all kinds! (Research Project)

A friend of mine is doing a research project and is looking for female gamers and male gamers who have played in mixed gender groups that she can survey. We’re talking gamers of all kinds – tabletop, board games, CCGs, MMOs, all manner of RP.

If you are interested in helping out, please answer the following questions and e-mail them to Ivona Elenton AT ivona.elenton at gmail dot com . You can make your answers as long or as short as you want.

Please have your answers to Ivona by 10/10/13! Thank you!

ETA: (From Ivona) “Though question 5 is only directed toward 2 genders, I’m absolutely interested in the experiences of queer and gendervariant people as well.”

QUESTIONS FOR FEMALE GAMERS

1. How long have you been gaming?

2. List the games that you enjoy or have enjoyed playing (table top or on line rpgs, computer/videogames, MMOS, board games LARPS or others)

3. Tell the story of how you started, what or who drew you into gaming? How were your first gaming sessions? Etc. etc.

4. Do you enjoy playing with others or alone the most?

4b. If you have a clear preference, could you please motivate why you prefer one over the other.

4c. If you do not have a clear preference, could you mention some strong points with either or both ways of gaming

5. If you play or have played in groups, do you have any preference on gender balance in a gaming group? (somewhat equal in gender ratios, mostly females, mostly males) Please motivate why you have a preference, if this is the case.

6. Have you ever experienced, in any gaming setting, being treated differently as a gamer because of your gender. Please tell the full story if the answer is yes.

7. Do you think there is a general difference in style or culture between female gamers and male gamers? (if yes, please elaborate)

8. What about the games themselves, have you ever experienced that games or game developers cater to a specific gender? (if yes, please elaborate)

9. Recent studies have shown that about half of all gamers are female, and yet some male gamer groups have expressed surprise at these statistics. Why do you think this comes as a surprise to many? Could female gamers be less visible in various settings, and if so, how come?

10. Would you please share your favorite gaming anecdote here, if you have one.

QUESTIONS FOR MALE GAMERS WHO HAVE PLAYED IN MIXED GENDER GROUPS

1. How long have you been gaming?

2. List the games that you enjoy or have enjoyed playing (table top or on line rpgs, computer/videogames, MMOS, board games LARPS or others)

3. Tell the story of how you started, what or who drew you into gaming? How were your first gaming sessions? Etc. etc.

4. Do you enjoy playing with others or alone the most?

4b. If you have a clear preference, could you please motivate why you prefer one over the other.

4c. If you do not have a clear preference, could you mention some strong points with either or both ways of gaming

5. If you play or have played in groups, do you have any preference on gender balance in a gaming group? (somewhat equal in gender ratios, mostly females, mostly males) Please motivate why you have a preference, if this is the case.

6. When did you first game in a gender mixed environment? Please elaborate on this experience as much as you want.

7. Do you think there is a general difference in style or culture between female gamers and male gamers? (if yes, please elaborate)

8. What about the games themselves, have you ever experienced that games or game developers cater to a specific gender? (if yes, please elaborate)

9. Recent studies have shown that about half of all gamers are female, and yet some male gamer groups have expressed surprise at these statistics. Why do you think this comes as a surprise to many? Could female gamers be less visible in various settings, and if so, how come?

10. Would you please share your favorite gaming anecdote here, if you have one.

Just for fun, once I get my answers to these questions finished, I think I’ll post them here on this blog. I’ve been a gamer for years and years and I love talking about it.

Categories
writing

Writing Update #2: New stuff for you to read!

On with the show!

  1. First off, Blood in Elk Creek is out! Buy it from the vendor of your choice! You can’t go wrong with snark and zombies in the Black Hills.bloodinelkcreek-500
  2. Another story of mine is out, this one free to read: Stranger, from Silver Blade
  3. Karen over at Unfiltered Speech in a Politically Correct World had me as a guest at her blog for an interview, so that was fun. You can read it here.
  4. I had a torrid love affair with the Iron Throne at Worldcon. And had a lot of fun working the SFWA and Broad Universe tables.
  5. I upgraded my SFWA membership from associate to active, since I now have the three pro sales to do it! I’ve also joined Codex because holy shit guys they were everywhere at Worldcon kind of like a nerdy, nerdy cult, and they brought me the good news.

  6. I was on the Skiffy and Fanty podcast when they were doing walk ins at Worldcon. Episode 1 here. I actually dropped in on each one of those episodes because I love podcasting and never get to do it. Huge thanks to Shaun and Jen for being so generous and letting me play!

#SFWApro

Categories
movie

Still in Love With the Sword Button

I saw Pacific Rim for the fourth time today. Shut up, I don’t have a problem. It’s still just my favorite movie of this year. It’s a love letter to my twelve or sixteen or even twenty-two-year-old self.

And the sword button is still my favorite moment in that movie, among a lot of really wonderful moments that fill me with marzipan-flavored glee.

I noticed that people keep ending up at my other Pacific Rim entries with google searches of things like, “why don’t they use the sword button earlier” and variations thereof. And of course, there is the fun question of how the heck did Raleigh not know about the sword button because even if the sword was something Mako added in during the refurbishment, he was quite literally in her head at that point. (The Punchline is Machismo has the best explanation ever, by the way.) Honestly, you could do a lot of arguing about why the pilots even speak out loud to each other at all while in the Jaegers, and I’m sure we could come up with some good excuses like okay Raleigh is the right hemisphere but maybe he’s got other things on his mind and and and…

But this is the thing about the sword button. This is why the movie is so precious to me as someone who grew up watching anime, sentai shows, and kaiju movies. The sword button has nothing to do with narrative logic and everything to do with the emotional language of the movie and its purposeful use of sentai show tropes. The sword didn’t come out until that moment quite literally because that was when it was most dramatic. Think of how many shounen anime (eg: Bleach, DBZ, Rurouni Kenshin) where there are battles that stretch over episode after episode (or issue after issue in manga) in which the hero and villain take turns being almost defeated and then suddenly oh wait did I forget to mention I have an even cooler power/weapon?

See also: Eleventh Hour Superpower, Heroic Second Wind, and Die or Fly. In this case, the eleventh hour power is I have a motherfucking sword button. Pacific Rim is at its heart a movie about teamwork and tropes. Sometimes it challenges the tropes, such as making Raleigh the most emotionally intelligent and open character in the film, and have Mako as the main character and not in a romance. But there are just as many tropes that the movie gleefully plays to the hilt because they are what defines its aesthetic.

The coolest weapon never shows up until the heroes are at the brink of total defeat. All is lost! They’re being dragged up into space by the most ridiculous kaiju ever invented! Raleigh thinks it’s hopeless! And then the biggest badass who has ever lived says no, we can still win this, we have a sword.

That is why the sword button was used then.

Categories
steampunk writing

You should go buy Blood in Elk Creek now. No, really.

It’s out! It’s out!

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The deadline for this novella ate my life for a week. You see, when it was time to turn it in, it was about 20K words long… and nowhere near finished. I had to go into writing overdrive and did nothing but eat and sleep and breathe Blood in Elk Creek when I wasn’t at my job. I literally just sat on the couch and frantically typed.

And I’m really, really happy with how it turned out. I hope that you like it!

Blood in Elk Creek: 

Once called the Great Plains, the Dead Plains are a place in which no sane citizen of the Duchies dares set foot. The Infected roam the lands in starving packs and rare is the man who returns alive from an expedition. But when one of the regiments of the Grand Duchy of Denver disappears into those wilds under false pretenses, Colonel Geoffrey Douglas dares the Dead Plains to investigate. And Captain Marta Ramos, infamous pirate and thorn in his side, is not far behind.

Foul events are afoot in the Black Hills: Lakota hunting camps leveled, and the Infected move as an army in purposeful, terrifying ways. Captain Ramos and Colonel Douglas must form an uneasy truce and venture deep into the hostile terrain of the Black Hills to discover what has prompted this invasion and how to stop it.

If the Infected don’t kill them first.

And have an excerpt:

Marta looked upstream, but the view was occluded by rocks and more pine trees. There was a loud splash, followed a moment later by another surge of clouded water.

She levered herself to her feet, then drew her machete. The heavy blade felt strange and clumsy in her left hand. Feeling a bit drunk on adrenalin, she made her way around the rock with exaggerated care.

The stream took a sharp turn on the other side of the rocks, widening. Two corpses were laid neatly out in the shallow water. A coyote stood over one, worrying at its arm—the source of the splashes and the gouts of old, coagulated blood.

Blood.

Hand still clutching the machete, Marta bent over and retched, forcibly ejecting all of the water she’d just drunk from her stomach. She wiped her mouth with a handful of grass and looked up to find the coyote now staring at her, a profoundly unimpressed look on its face and a forearm and hand dangling from its jaws.

Marta’s stomach cramped again. Stop that, she mentally commanded herself. It was a reaction entirely in her mind, nothing but fear.

Tail at a cocky angle, the coyote trotted off with its prize, though the animal did give her a wide berth.

Marta approached the bodies with more trepidation than she had ever felt when faced with any number of corpses. Neither of the corpses had heads; each simply had a stump blackened with blood and rot. She recognized the look of the cuts, knew them before she’d even pulled her goggles properly on and snapped in one of the surviving magnifying lenses.

They’d each had their head removed with two or three strikes from a machete. She’d had to make similar cuts herself before, more times than she cared to consider. Each corpse wore the tattered remains of leather clothing, just trousers and no shirts, feet yet covered with moccasins. A few decorations partially obscured with muck and blood were made from colored porcupine quills; this was not the clothing of those who resided in the duchies.

All of these small details, building readily into a disturbing picture in Marta’s mind, felt curiously beside the point. Her left hand shook as she raised it to her goggles again, flipping through the loupes until she found those of treated calcite. The delicate lenses had cracked and crazed into a thousand tiny rhombic shapes, but even through that she saw the telltale glow that oozed from the bodies, that swirled through the water that touched them and confirmed her worst terror.

The corpses and stream, the stream she’d so greedily drunk from, were alive with Infection. Bright flecks showed on her left hand, which she’d used to scoop water to her mouth. A horrible sort of laugh squeezed from her throat.

She’d survived the most impressive aeroplane crash of her career just long enough to kill herself.

Order now! 

#SFWAPro

Categories
worldcon

[Worldcon] Long in the Tooth?

Re: What Chuck Wendig said

I actually had that conversation on several occasions throughout Worldcon, in person and on Twitter. The population of Worldcon does seem generally a bit long in the tooth. And this is coming from me, Miss 32-year-old McAuthorpants, who has not been close to the cutting edge of Kids These Days for something like ten years. I felt incredibly young compared to the general age of the con. (I wonder if this is a statistic that is tracked in any way.)

(And for the love of all that is holy, this is not a slam against older people. Some of my best friends are older people. The point is, if you want to keep what you love rolling along, young and invigorated, you kind of need some people in it who are young and vigorous both.)

The first Worldcon I ever attended was Denvention 3, because it was in Denver. I was also an undergrad at that point, and despite the fact that my then-boyfriend was working full time for decent pay and I had a ridiculously well-paid summer job, the cost of the convention almost made me pass out from stress. Worldcons are shockingly expensive when you’re a student. I can’t imagine I would have been able to cough up the money to attend when I’d been a teenager unless I’d been able to literally talk my parents out of that kind of money if Worldcon had even been in my neighborhood at the time. (Now, considering my parents are both nerds and my mom is huge into reading, I might have been able to do so, but it’s not like I can travel into the past and find out.)

So yeah, then on top of the scary You Want Me To Pay How Much To Go To A Convention You Realize SDCC and AX Are Both Like One Half This Price cost of membership, there’s really a question of just how welcome the genres that tend to cater to that demographic are—I’m talking YA specifically. Now, I actually feel encouraged that at the WSFS Business Meeting, we at least got a committee going on the idea of the YA Hugo. But I also don’t blame other people for feeling discouraged either since the level of resistance to the very idea can’t feel so great. Sure, YA books have been nominated for Hugos before—but looking at the list, I’d also argue that generally happens when the YA book is written by an author who normally focuses on adult novels, so kind of pulls their fan base in to it. Not a comforting thought for those who write YA as the rule rather than the exception.

Then you consider the other committee that was formed, regarding the Worldcon membership issues that were up for a vote. One angle of that was the fact that the cost of participating in Worldcon is really prohibitive for anyone under a certain age or under a certain level of income. Seeing those issues coming up for votes (before they were sent to committee), particularly since they purported to address problems that had not yet occurred, came across as a little hostile toward *hypothetical* efforts to bring in fresh blood.

I remember my first SF/F convention—a Mile Hi Con sometime when I was in my early twenties. I felt pretty awkward and out of place at times because I was new to it, and felt very young compared to everyone else. And that one, I attended with a friend and we cosplayed as anime characters, which got us some very strange looks. (This was like ten years ago, please remember.) I honestly didn’t feel like I belonged there, like I wasn’t quite the right kind of nerd, and very little of the programming had any relevance to me at the time because those weren’t the books I was reading. I didn’t go back for years, and then I went because I was friends with gamers at the convention, and then because I began to write seriously. (It also helped that I’d lost interest in anime fandom completely at that point and needed somewhere else to get my nerd on.)

Feeling welcome at a convention is a major factor in getting someone to come back, year after year after year. And this is true whether we’re talking about young people or any other group that may be underrepresented. It’s easy to point out that, say, people can suggest new programming, but keep in mind a lot of young attendees will have no idea what they can and cannot do; they just come and fumble their way through and hoped they have a good time. Hell, I wasn’t a young attendee last year at Worldcon and I had no idea I could or should go to the WSFS meetings until Mur told me, for example.

A convention is an investment of time and money, and if you don’t have a good time and don’t find things that interest you, you’ll go elsewhere. Worldcon is a *huge* investment of money particularly. You have to feel like you’re getting something pretty special out of it to want to spend that much on a convention on top of travel and hotel expenses. If there isn’t programming of interest, people will go where they can find it. And from the Twitter chatter, I’m getting the impression that YA writers (our at least the ones talking to me) feel that Worldcon isn’t worth it, which then leads to the question of if their fans would think it was worth it.

I did meet some younger people there, though I’m total shit at judging ages and I can’t really come up with much beyond a nebulous sort of “appreciably younger than me” as a guess. And they were all writers—and being a writer in Scifi or Fantasy is a darn good reason to go to Worldcon no matter what age you are. I’m just wondering how many fans of, say, age 25 or below we had in attendance, and how they felt with the experience. If you’re out there, I’d love to hear from you.

Personally, I want more people of all ages because first, I love Worldcon, and second, I want more people to potentially buy my darn books. Get ’em young and keep ’em reading, right? Thoughts?

Categories
clothing worldcon

[Worldcon] Photos and wrap-up

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This was also my most dapper Worldcon ever.

This Worldcon was really different for me than last one. Last one, remember how I attended approximately a brazillion panels and took notes in all of them and posted them later? Yeah, this year not so much. I made it to a couple of panels–and nearly all of the WSFS business meeting–and took a few notes that I will eventually post. I also got to have a quick reading in the Broad Universe Rapid Fire Reading–thank you to everyone who came!

 

This year I was mostly focused on… sitting behind tables. I did that a lot. But the tables enabled me to meet a lot of very interesting people. And also let me actually talk about my books without feeling like an awkward jerk. Because hey, if someone actually comes up to your table, they actually want to know a little about what you do.

Though I’ll admit, a lot of my sitting behind a table was done with a glass of scotch or whiskey in hand because I was the fearsome DOOR DRAGON guarding the SFWA suite. It felt like my own personal party, because people hung out in the hall with me all night and my minions kept bringing me drinks. I loved it.

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So at five glasses of scotch, I turn into a drunken salaryman.

Definitely looking forward to my next convention–Fencon! And there, I’ll hopefully be on some panels as well.

Oh, and? I got to be very good friends with the Iron Throne.

Thursday
Thursday
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Friday
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Saturday
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Sunday

Categories
worldcon

[Worldcon] YA Hugo and Worldcon Membership committees

Hey guys, I made the last half an hour of the WSFS Sunday business meeting. There was some site selection stuff for bids 2016+, if you’re interested in that check my Twitter right now before I get all tweet happy and run the tweets I did about that off the page. I wasn’t intending to do anything further, but the committees have been announced for the YA Hugo and Membership issues we referred to committee yesterday.

The names were listed on powerpoint slides. Per Donald Eastlake, these ought to be going up online on the LoneStarCon 3 website in relatively short order. You can also ask for a copy of the slides by e-mailing Donald at bm@lonestarcon3.org.

However, for your viewing pleasure, the names of those on the committees, as typed by me. My apologies for any misspellings caused by fumbling during my frantic typing.

YA Hugo study committee: Dave McCarty as Chair

Members: Jodie Baker, Adam Beaton, Warren Buff, Johnny Carruthers, Martin Easterbrook, Chris Garcia, Helen Gbala, Patrick Nielsen Hayden, Tim Illingworth, Farah Mendlesohn, Sue “Twilight” Mohn, Helen Montgomery, Cheryl Morgan, Kate Secore, Kevin Standlee, Adam Tesh, Peter De Weedt, Tehani Wessely, Clark Wierda, Lew Wolkoff

[Looks like my volunteerism was quite unnecessary, I can’t say I’m sorry. Honestly I was kind of scared out of my mind, though part of me insists it would have been super interesting and an opportunity for learning, etc.]

WSFS Membership Types and Rates Committee: Colin Harris as Chair

Members: Eemeli Aro, Adam Beaton, Gary Blog, Ken Bloom, Warren Buff, Donald Eastlake, Martin Easterbrook, Janice Gelb, Kevin Hewitt, Tim Illingworth, Kevin Maroney, Patrick Nielsen Hayden, Mary Kay Kare, Priscilla Olson, Mark Olson, Howard Rosenblatt, Kevin Standlee, Ian Stockdale, Adam Tesh, Leslie Turek

And a couple other committee notes, just in case you’re interested because why not I wrote it down anyway. I just recorded the chairs for these, though.

Mark Protection Committee members listed on slide, and when their terms end.

Nitpicking and Flyspecking – Kevin Standlee as chair

HEROW – Perrianne Lurie as chair

FOLLE committee – continues unchanged

WSFS business meeting was adjourned at 1132.

ALSO! Worldcon 2015 will be in Spokane! (Apparently it will be known as “Sasquan.” Well okay then.) Kevin Standlee tweeted the GOH list. They beat out Helsinki by 35 votes. I don’t know anything more about it, since I missed that part of the meeting because I was at the Broad Universe RFR. I went second and kicked all the ass, thanks for asking.

Have a fun rest of Worldcon everyone!

Categories
worldcon

[Worldcon] A couple quick WSFS notes

Guys at Worldcon, there is one more WSFS business meeting left for the weekend. Which is (oh god technically today, being Sunday) at 10:00 AM. This one is largely to do with site selection, but I’m guessing there’s a bit more business going on as well, perhaps?

Anyway, the reason I bring this up is that I’m not going to be able to be at the first hour of the meeting, because I am taking part in the Broad Universe rapid-fire reading which is also at 10:00. So if you’re not interested in the WSFS business meeting, you should totally come support us broads. Our dulcet tones and awesome stories cure hangovers, I swear.

But the other point is I WILL NOT BE LIVEBLOGGING THE SUNDAY WSFS MEETING. Or at least not the first hour. I’m planning to head over there after the RFR is done, and if anything interesting is still going on I’ll pick up with the liveblog there, but Donald’s been keeping things ticking right along so for all I know it’ll all be over with.

If you’re interested in more detailed information about what’s been going on, you should go to Kevin Standlee’s livejournal. Since he knows what he’s talking about (unlike me) he has much more coherent write-ups of the business than what you’ll find on my minute by minute attempt to keep track of what the hell was happening. He also has links to the various videos of the meeting, uploaded onto youtube.

For a roundup of other related issues, there’s a good set of links at File 770. I want to specifically mention Jo Rhett’s criticism since it came up in a conversation I had today withShaun Duke and Jen Zink of the Skiffy and Fanty show. From where I was sitting, staring at the backs of everyone’s heads and typing furiously in a futile attempt to keep up with the rapid fire of what was happening at the meeting, I… did not observe this at all. And apparently neither did the woman mentioned. I actually felt like Donald did a pretty good job of answering questions as they were brought up; I just found the meeting pretty overwhelming in generally because it was conducted at a very rapid clip (there was a lot of business) and it was also kind of like watching a D&D game when you have only a passing acquaintance with the rules. But obviously YMMV, we don’t all hear with the same ears.

Yet again, I would like to renew my call for volunteers to participate in the committees that have been formed to research various issues, most importantly the YA Hugo and the Worldcon memberships. I cannot give you definitive answers on who is and is not qualified to be on various committees, but guys, the only way to have a chance of effecting the course of these issues is to be involved. Contact info for the chair here. I’m not sure if at this point it’s too late to volunteer, but the worst you can get is a no, hey?

And also remember this, guys, for future Worldcons. If you are in favor of a particular issue, even if you are not financially (etc) able to attend Worldcon you can still roll up your sleeves and try to make a difference. The biggest determining factor for anything is who can actually be bothered to show up to the WSFS business meetings. Considering the number of people at Worldcon, there is a relatively small percentage that actually goes to the meeting (a bit over 100 people were there yesterday, for example, in a convention over well over 1000 people) and from what I hear this year it was even unusually well attended. You have the chance to make a huge difference just by lobbying your fellow fans who are attending Worldcon and will therefore be WSFS members, and most importantly convincing them to attend the meeting to support your cause.  (And not just once, but two Worldcons in a row since any amendment passed in Worldcon must be ratified at the next before it can take effect.)

I know particularly the YA Hugo issue gets a lot of people frustrated, because it feels like an uphill slog and people are passionate about it. But just with how I saw the news being spread this year I think we could all do a much better job of raising awareness and making compelling arguments. It’s actually a very, very positive step that a committee has been formed on the matter, and there’s now basically another year ahead where support for such a measure could actually be organized for next Worldcon.

I’m planning to attend the WSFS meetings from now on whenever I’m at Worldcon because they are important, vital even, when it comes to shaping the future of the convention and this part of the fandom. I’m hoping that next time around it’ll be a little less dizzying as far as the rules go.

Categories
worldcon

[Worldcon] Main WSFS Business Meeting Liveblog

PLEASE NOTE: My profound apologies in advance to anyone whose name I missed or misspelled. If you stumble across this blog and would like me to correct it, please just comment!

People are still filing in and dealing with the sign up sheet, so it’ll be a few more minutes before we get started. I’ll update this post as things happen. If you’re not sure what will be on the agenda today, you can get an idea from yesterday’s liveblog.

Also as a reminder: If you are someone who is interested in the YA Hugo issue, VOLUNTEER TO BE ON THE COMMITTEE. To do this, you need to speak to Donald Eastlake, the chair, before close of business on the Sunday meeting. Just stop by one of the meetings, he’ll be at the front.

And now I will eat my apple while I wait for things to get started…

1009: Meeting is called to order. Donald covers the procedure about speaking, etc.

1012: Kevin Standlee has uploaded the raw video from yesterday. Asking for donations to cover the high speed internet for the upload.

1014: Going over what we’ll be voting on today, quick review of the committees, noted the newly created committee yesterday.

1016: No objections to agenda as stated.

1016: First item: Worldcon Publications constitutional amendment. Five minute debate time. But I think we’re debating the amendment to the motion first.

1017: Lisa Hayes, author of amendment: The idea is to remove the financial burden of the paper publications by telling Worldcons to just charge people who want paper pubs instead of paying for it themselves.

1017: Colin Harris: Publications are not defined in the constitution, not everyone gets sent everything. The practice of publication distribution isn’t very consistent. Thinks it’s best to not put specific details, since it’s not defined in the constitution that Worldcon even has to be five days or in the summer, for example. Wants to just simplify the language even more so that committees can operate on common sense.

1020: Lisa Hayes doesn’t feel that her original language was not overcomplicated.

1021: ???: It’s nuts to try to figure out how much something costs up front.

1022: Amendment passes with simplified language.

1023: Back to the original motion, which is now out of debate time. Moved and seconded to extend the debate time by five minutes. Less than 2/3 in favor, debate time not extended.

1023: Motion is passed.

1024: Now on to No Representation Without Taxation amendment.

1024: Priscilla Olson says that this amendment was not intended to keep poor or young people from voting, but we’re all in this together. Notes that the original name “No Cheap Voting” was unfortunate. [Personally, I don’t think this new name is any better.]

1026: Against, Christopher J Garcia: as a broke American, feels this disallows a minimum of participation. A voting only membership would be the most basic way to spread participation in the Hugos and WSFS as a whole.

1027: Dave McCarty (sp? sorry!) This would dissociate the Hugos from WSFS and the Worldcon if a voting only membership was created. This is heinous to him.

1027: Against, Warren Buff: Agrees in principle that we should keep the membership rights together. Feels the next amendment would do a better job of it. In favor of the next amendment, against this one.

1028: Glen (????): If you can have a Hugo only membership, you can have a site selection only membership. And thinks this is distorting and weird.

1029: Against, Perry (???): This sends the wrong message to fandom at large. Says this is exclusionary and gives the idea that we don’t want them to participate. Does not want to unbundle rights, but is against setting a minimum price.

1031: Rick Kovalick: “I don’t trust Worldcon.” Something to do with the best dramatic presentation category.

1031: Against, Stephen (didn’t catch last name): Why are people trying to circumscribe innovation? This will lock the price in, which is bad. Worldcon should be inclusive.

1033: Mike (???) moves to refer this to committee, since membership is ill-defined in the constitution. Motion is seconded.

1034: Kevin Standlee: Moves to amend the motion to commit by referring the Keep Us Together motion to committee as well. Seconded.

1036: Okay so first we have a motion to commit both items at the same time, then we have to vote on the motion to commit for real. This is complicated shit.

1037: Motion to commit both together passes. Motion to send both to committee passes. Donald Eastlake will now take volunteers and appoint the committee. IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN THIS ISSUE, TALK TO DONALD ASAP AND VOLUNTEER.

1039: Now time for the WSFS Accountability Act of 2013. Starting off complicated by proposing to clarify the text. The new text is… not something I’m going to type out for you. But it’s a lot shorter, I’ll tell you that.

1041: New text read a second time by Donald.

1042: Dave McCarty suggests a change to the changed language. Wants to change “person submitting” to “persons certifying and submitting.” No objection to changing that language. No objection to the new language for the amendment.

1043: Issue is called to vote without debate. No objection. Motion passes.

1043: Expansion of Best Fan Artist category.

1044: Joshua Kronengold speaks for: fans work in all sorts of media, he wants to clarify this will be for all media, not just for visual artists and cartoonists. Also wants to clarify the public display of qualifying art must be non-commercial like with fanzines.

1045: Ben Yalow against: Supports the non-commercial in, since that’s a good clarification. But does not like opening it in to performance media. Most performance media is already covered by dramatic presentation. Moves to strike all changes but the “non-professional”. Seconded.

1046: Not all performance art is covered by dramatic presentation, such as musicians. Agrees that things shouldn’t be qualified for more than one category, feels that this would narrow things too much.

1047: Colin Harris for amendment to the motion: we do have ways to recognize things like music, such as best related work. Doesn’t feel we should be shuffling animation and filks into what has always been a visual art category.

1048: Seth Breitbart: This is for an artist, not for a specific work of art.

1049: Kevin Standlee asks to have the modified language read. Asks for unanimous consent for… something, and nope.

1051: Rich (???) feels that other types of art are adequately covered and costuming for example is more a craft than an art (at which point a low murmur sweeps over the crowd because THEM’S FIGHTIN’ WORDS).

1052: Debate time has run out. Motion to extend debate by five minutes is passed.

1053: Colin Harris again, asking unanimous consent to change his amendment language again to add back in that conventions are okay for display so that there’s no ambiguity. Unanimous consent is not given.

1054: Move to suspend rules to allow this amendment without unanimous consent.

1055: The added language passes. And now back to the original amendment to the amendment. Yes it really is getting this convoluted.

1055: Donald reads the new language…

1056: Chris Garcia likes this for retaining the word cartoonist. He feels removing the word would strike a blow against the long history of cartoonists in fandom.

1056: (???) The addition of ‘any medium’ does include cartoonists.

1057: Priscilla (???) Most of us are not qualified to discern between art and crafts, dramatic and not. Thinks opening up this category really starts blurring the lines about what we want to do.

1058: New language for the amendment passes.

1058: Move to extend debate time is seconded but does not pass.

1058: The amendment with the modified language passes. This means that fan artist is still basically defined as a visual category, but the constitution is clarified to note that display of the art is non-professional.

1059: Moving on to candidate elections.

1100: Mark Protection Committee election: no objection, the members are elected for three year terms.

1102: Next, the amendments proposed by the committees.

1103: Two-Thirds Is Good Enough, Part 1. Kevin S in favor, pointing out that everywhere else in the constitution, a supermajority is 2/3 and not 3/4. Consistency.

1104: (???) “A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds.” Doesn’t think it’s necessary.

1104: (???) Extensions should be hard to get; should require more than a simple majority. But does not think they should be that much harder to get. Extensions have provided good candidates in the past and will continue to do so.

1105: Merkel (???)

1105: Kate Seacourt: Do we really need to be ANY MORE SURE OF OURSELVES to extend eligibility than we are to amend the constitution that gave us the power to do this in the first place?

1106: (????) We only have one shot at the extension vote, we should get it right.

1107: Howard Rosenblat (????) Agrees with Ben Yalow’s analysis. 2/3 super majority is the standard. 3/4 sends a message, that’s not one we want to send.

1107: Debate is up. Motion passes.

1108: 2/3 is enough part two, move to call to question. And this one passes as well. [This was pretty darn funny, actually. You can’t call to question until someone speaks, so someone said, “I refer you to the points previously made” then it got called to question again. Okay maybe you had to be there.]

1109: We Don’t Need Another HEROW. Basically the HEROW gets passed every year, can’t we just make it permanent? There are currently 3 extended eligibility clauses in the constitution. Anything not originally in English already gets an extension. The critical mass of active nominators remains US members, and that’s likely to continue for a long time. So let’s just permanently extend for the works first published outside the US. Notes several advantages. He exhausts the time in favor.

1114: Mark Merkelson against: argues that markets are converging, for example because of the rising popularity of ebooks. The day will come when this is not necessary. Thinks we should keep it every year and hope for the day we won’t need it.

1116: (???) against: Something not published in the US is not significantly disadvantaged.

1117: A question about the language I am confused sorry.

1118: Ben Yalow against: It used to be hard to get overseas books. A good British author will have his books immediately known in the US. The markets have converged.

1119: Debate exhausted, motion to extend debate fails.

1120: Vote is called. Have to do this one as a serpentine. 49 in favor. 32 against. The motion carries and will appear next year for ratification.

1122: Financial reports.

1123: Ben Yalow proposes new business, removing the parts of the constitution that restrict the regions for the elected members of the Mark Protection committee.

1124: Ben Yalow for: The zone system was originally to move the Worldcon around. We got rid of that in everything but the Mark Protection Committee. No reason to keep it.

1125: Kate Seacourt against (???) Given what the committee does, and since trademark rules vary, it might be valuable to retain people who can speak to local issues when they come up

1126: Mark Merkelson–I kind of missed his points. >.> Sorry.

1127: Kevin S against: Feels there is still some value to having regional diversity, questions if people would be so happy if all nine elected members came from California.

1128: Andrew (???) Feels that the geographical movement of the Worldcons and with members elected at each Worldcon means ensures regional diversity.

1130: Motion to refer this to a committee. Motion fails.

1132: And then the new amendment passes.

1134: Meeting is adjourned.

ETA1: Corrected name spelling of “Collin” to “Colin.”

ETA2: More name corrections thanks to the lovely commenters. :)

Categories
worldcon

[Worldcon] WSFS Preliminary Meeting: Motions, motions everywhere.

1011: Meeting called to order, committee is introduced, ground rules noted.

1014: Going over the agenda for the preliminary business meeting. There are no constitutional amendments up for ratification this year.

1016: No objections to following agenda as stated.

1017: The YA Hugo has been withdrawn. Unanimous consent asked to withdraw that motion. Objection–the YA Hugo motion will remain.

1019: 4.1.1 (Worldcon Publications) Added to main meeting agenda I didn’t catch the debate time [This has to do with if publications will be paper, electronic, etc.]

1022: 4.1.2 (No Representation Without Taxation) debate time considered, set at 10 minutes, added to main meeting [This is the motion that will disallows Hugo voting rights being sold at a cheaper rate than supporting memberships.]

1023: 4.1.3 (Keep Us Together)  debate time considered, set at 6 minutes, added to main meeting [No memberships can be offered that don’t include all the key WSFS rights: Hugo voting, site selection voting, submission of business to the WSFS meeting, receiving publications.]

1023: 4.1.4 (Best Dramatic Presentation, very short form) Objection to consideration raised; 2/3 majority, motion will not be considered. [This would have added a category for films <15 minutes long, splitting that length from the Short Form category)

1024: 4.1.5 (Deleting Best Fanzine, Best Fan Writer, and Best Fan Artist from WSFS Constitution) Objection to consideration raised; HUGE majority votes to not consider motion.

1025: 4.1.6 (WSFS Accountability Act of 2013) debate time at five minutes, added to main meeting. [Adds more requirements/clarifications to financial reports.]

1026: 4.1.7 (YA Hugo) Objection to consideration has been raised on YA Hugo, the motion will not be considered. BOO I AM DISAPPOINTED BY THIS.

1028: 4.1.8 (Expand Best Fan Artist to Include All Types of Fannish Art, Not Just Static and Visual) added to agenda (I didn’t catch the debate time)

So if you think any of those remaining issues are important and you’re at Worldcon, you should really show up to the main business meeting at 10:00 tomorrow (Saturday).

…continuing on to some more amendments, these ones proposed by the committee. Theses ones we vote to adopt (if I’m understanding this right).

1048: We have now moved on to debating motions and amendments proposed by the committees.

1054: Motion to continue extending eligibility for non-American works by an extra year so that non-American works have a fair shake. Debate occurs. The point is raised that no matter where the Worldcon is held, the majority of people eligible to nominate for Hugos will end up being American. The point is raised (WELL RAISED SIR) “The rest of the world is not just one place. It’s a lot of places.”

1059: 99 votes in the serpentine for extending this extra eligibility for another year. There are five votes against. Motion is adopted, extended eligibility is in place for Loncon 3.

Okay since I’m doing this as a liveblog apparently just keep checking back I’ll post more if it’s interesting.

1105: Now we’re talking about extending eligibility for retroactive Hugos and god this is starting to get confusing. For the retros, we pretend to be the 1939 Worldcon and works eligible are those published in 1938. Extending eligibility means non-US works published pre-1938 would be eligible for this. <3/4 in favor (A LOT LESS, only a minority voted for this) this motion fails. I voted against because… yeah. It really did not make any sense to me.

1110: Motion to change the the vote for specific works getting eligibility extension from a 3/4 to a 2/3 majority. This is a constitutional amendment so it will go to the meeting tomorrow with 4 minutes of debate.

1112: Motion to change the blanket eligibility exemption from 3/4 to 2/3 majority.

1114: Motion to consider these two matters together… fails.

1115: Four minutes debate time set for the second 3/4 to 2/3 majority change, it’s added to the agenda for tomorrow.

1116: New motion: to make the eligibility extension for non-US works permanent instead of something voted on every year. Objection to consideration is raised, does not pass. We will consider this motion. This is a minority report proposal–the majority of the committee did not agree to this. 10 minutes debate time is set, this item will be voted on tomorrow.

1119: Kevin does a point of order to note we can set up a committee to consider the issue of the YA Hugo for next year with a 2/3 vote… so I think this is a thing that can happen when new business can be proposed? Apparently people are texting Kevin Standlee. A lot. GOOD WORK PEOPLE!!!

1126: By unanimous consent we endorse the activities of the Worldcon Heritage Organization.

1127: Resolution to tidy up something in the constitution (in regards to the eligibility section which is apparently a hot mess) is passed with unanimous consent.

1128: Motion to extend retro Hugo eligibility of The Hobbit. There was a objection to consideration, which does not pass. It is pointed out that if this were 1939, The Hobbit would have been eligible under current rules. This one is a tough call, I think. <3/4 in favor, motion fails.

1135: Motion to extend retro Hugo eligibility of films released prior to 1937. Objection to consideration, objection stands, we do not consider.

1136: Kevin Standlee is back! He proposes committee to study the YA Hugo issue. Seconded by several people including me. Unanimous consent, the committee will be appointed. Kevin has said he will be willing to be appointed to it.

1139: Question raised: Young Adults themselves can be on this committee because there is no age limit they can be part of it.

1139: People can volunteer by contacting the Chair by the end of the business meeting (the end of the Saturday or Sunday meeting). Kevin Standlee clarifies that the committee chair can appoint new members to the committee with the Chair’s permission; this is apparently SOP. If you want the YA Hugo to happen, this is a big step. Involve yourself in the committee. To volunteer for the committee you need to contact the WSFS Chair, Donald Eastlake, by the end of the business meeting, so no later than Sunday when that the meeting ends.

1146: We have moved on to financial reports and my eyes have kind of glazed over.

1151: There is applauding and cheering when Aussiecon says they have at last gotten all their funds taken care of and they’re done.

1200: The agenda for today is done, at exactly noon.

1201: Kevin Standlee, bless him, asks for a quick summary of what will be at the meeting tomorrow.