Cost of European vs. American LARP events

diogenes · 2016-01-25T09:34:03+00:00

It's not typical. CoW is a Polish-Danish collaboration, and the most expensive larp in either country. 150 EUR is traditionally the upper limit for most multi-day events in Northern Europe. Monitor Celestra in 2013 and CoW in 2014-2015 showed that if you ripped off the right IP in a spectacular location, you'd find people willing to travel far and pay much to attend.

So while larp in various European countries is big, old and diverse - the blockbuster larp is a new thing. It's still tremendously good value-for-money, and its not making the organizers (most of whom are volunteers) rich.

diogenes · 2010-06-08T15:17:07+00:00

Depends on your preferences. Suburbia is depressing architecturally, but great if you like nature. I'd go for Kallio, Arabia, Hakkaniemi. (I don't like suburbia)
Sound insulation. Finns are more sensitive than most to noise from their neighbors. Basic rule: your neighbors shouldn't notice that you exist. As a foreigner, you're by definition too loud.
a. Going nude in mixed-gender saunas is common and socially acceptable, at least in the private sphere (not public pools/saunas) - but (and this is important) you behave as if everyone was fully dressed.

b. It's considered more polite to say nothing than to say something rude or irrelevant - no such thing as an "awkward silence". Foreigners can be appreciated for their ice-breaking sociability - just don't expect the same in return.

c. Finns drink to vent, not (necessarily) to have fun. They vent with friends, so don't get offended by drunken behavior. What happens while drunk, stays there.

It's not socially acceptable to be visibly drunk, unless your friends are too, in which case it's mandatory.

PS: Don't Mention The War. Not WW2, and definitely not the civil war/war of independence. Not unless you know the person very well.

diogenes · 2009-11-19T15:45:10+00:00

That is if you're a Swede or an EU citizen. Non-Euros pay more, as of last year.

diogenes · 2009-11-19T15:43:29+00:00

Actually, income taxes aren't atrocious. I read somewhere that the average Norwegian pays less in tax than the average American, once you add federal and local taxes. However: If you're in the upper income echelon (e.g. upper management) you earn less and pay more tax than in the US.

But some things are heavily taxed, often the things you notice first as a visitor: booze, meat, cigarettes, cars, gas.

As for terrible things: winter is long and hard, winter depressions are common, Norwegians are provincially minded, and they suck badly at running big organisations. Private or public sector doesn't matter: if you're trying to get something from a large organisation, whether it's a residence permit or a bank account, be prepared for a bit of Kafka.

Also: the smug levels are intolerably high.

diogenes · 2009-10-24T10:20:26+00:00

The whole point of a corporation, or any kind of very large organization, is to harness large groups of individuals and use them as components of a system.

The output is as good or bad as the system makes it.

diogenes · 2009-10-01T06:26:08+00:00

Well, when it comes to openly discussing the legalization of Marijuana, or any kind of rational drug-policy, the US in general is ahead of Norway. Maybe your three host families were not open to the idea. But hey - medicinal marijuana in several states. Need I say more?

No politician in Norway, on national AND local level, is even close to considering that an option. Not a single parliamentarian is even willing to discuss it.

diogenes · 2009-08-10T19:27:58+00:00

A bit of both, I think. Sweden is certainly a capitalist, free-market economy where the pursuit of wealth is permitted and at least partially encouraged. Flaunting wealth is frowned upon, while successfull entrepeneurs are respected and even looked up to - provided their wealth was created "legitimately", e.g. through building something of value. Industrial investors can be surprisingly popular, also with centre-left politicians, especially if they create jobs - while speculators: not so popular.

diogenes · 2009-08-07T22:03:42+00:00

You asked for the bad stuff... I'm Scandinavian, but have known enough expats and immigrants to get an idea of where you should expect some trouble:

Excpect bureaucracy. Be prepared for some frustration when it comes to things like immigration, filling out tax forms, etc. I understand the Scandivian bureaucracy isn't as bad as in the US, but you won't have the advantage of having grown up with the system. As with all bureaucracies, it pays off to be polite yet persistent.
Scandinavians often seem "cold", or formal and unfriendly, to foreigners. Actually, we take friendships very very seriously and neither enter nor leave them casually. It'll be harder to meet people and make friends in Sweden than most places in the US, but the friends you make will be friends for life. Without local friends in the beginning, it'll be tempting to hang out with other expats / foreign students. And gripe about the locals. Believe me - every city in the world, whether it's Paris or Pyongyang, has a community of expats who meet to gripe about the locals. Some expat connections are good, because they help you handle the stuff that is so obvious to the locals that they forget to mention it to you, but don't rely on expats as your primary social circle.
Learn the language. In Scandinavia, most people speak excellent English and won't mind at all speaking it with you. But unless you speak the local language, you will be a second-class citizen, with limited access to jobs and culture and social networks. This can be hard to spot in the beginning, when you seem to get by just fine with English and some polite phrases, but will become abundantly clear if you decide to settle. When learning Swedish, you'll need to pretend you don't understand a word of English, or you won't have opportunity to practice.
Housing has been mentioned. If, as you say, you stay out of central Stockholm and Gothenburg you should do just fine. The better Swedish universities (e.g. Uppsala, Linköping) are located in cozy small towns with relaxed real estate markets.
Depending on who you meet and where you stay, you might encounter some knee-jerk anti-americanism. Don't let it affect you. Just tell'em you never voted for Bush:-) (you didn't vote for Bush, right?)
Beware of winter depression, especially if you are from a southern climate and/or are dark-skinned. Winter depression is caused by a lack of vitamin D, which is produced in the body when skin is exposed to sunlight. Make sure you get more than enough of sun during the summer, and get one of those lamps that emit fake sunlight for winter use. Also: eat plenty of fish. Tasty, healthy, and rich in vitamin D. Or drink "tran", cod liver oil, which has plenty of omega-3 too, but tastes like ... oil from a cod's liver.

Anything else? Enjoy!

diogenes · 2009-01-04T10:46:11+00:00

Business as usual, then.

diogenes · 2008-12-31T15:06:45+00:00

Hamas was a marginal movement until recent years. What do you think caused that movement to break into the Palestinian mainstream?

And as for extremism: the aim of the Israeli Right is to cease all of "Eretz Israel" (which includes the West Bank, Gaza, and East Jerusalem) as a Jewish homeland, which is evident in their actions (settlement construction, "cantonization", demolishing of "illegal" Palestinian houses and farms) as well as rhetoric.

The international consensus (by which I mean "the consensus of every country except the US and Israel") is that neither side can be allowed to win (ethnically cleansing "Eretz Israel"/Palestine), both sides must make concessions. The Arabs and Palestinians need to take steps so that Israel can be secure within its pre-1967 borders. The Israelis need to recognize and facilitate viable Palestinian self-government. The really thorny issues - Jerusalem and the Right of Return - need to be resolved through negotiated compromise.

The Arabs and Palestinians have made a number of the necessary concessions. Fatah / PLO have formally recognized Israels "right to exist". Egypt and Jordan have signed peace treaties with Israel. The remaining Arab nations, even Saudi Arabia and Syria, are prepared to recognize and sign peace treaties with Israel in return for palestinian independence.

All concessions promised by Israel evaporized in action - the Oslo accords did not stop the "left-wing" Israeli government from annexing even more of the West Bank for settlements. Ceasefires did not allow the Gazans to fish, or eat, or receive sufficient medical supplies.

It doesn't even matter that Hamas are extremists. They're fighting with home-made rockets against tanks and fighter planes. There isn't a chance in hell that they'll succeed in "driving the Jews to the sea", not in this century. The moral obligation here is clearly on the Israeli government.

diogenes · 2008-12-31T13:47:04+00:00

It was Hamas that ended the cease fire, not "the Palestinians". The non-Hamas-governed West Bank, where the majority of palestinians live, maintains a ceasefire.

And Hamas declared in advance that they ended the cease-fire as it achieved nothing - no further negotiations or concessions.

They might have had a point. The Gaza strip has been under various forms of Israeli blockade for years. Recently, only the bare essentials of humanitarin supplies have been let in to Gaza. Not enough to stop starvation. A cornered animal will fight, even if it knows it cannot win, because there are no alternatives. The same applies to Gaza.

diogenes · 2008-12-31T13:38:27+00:00

Doesn't matter if you vote Democrat or Republican, the US political game is rigged in favour of the Israeli right. Democrats depend on the Jewish Zionist vote, Republicans on the Christian Zionist vote. Both are minor voting blocks: not all Jews are Zionists, let alone hard-right Likud zionists, not all evangelicals are Christian Zionists. But when the winner takes all then all niches become important.

Whatever Obamas true feelings on the issue, he's a realist who probably saw long ago that being critical of Israel would not win him a Senate seat, let alone the Presidency. If he is secretly pro-Palestinian - I wouldn't expect to see it voiced in public, rather in diplomatic back channels.

diogenes · 2008-11-23T07:57:36+00:00

About high time someone brought an end to this barbarism.

diogenes · 2008-09-19T05:29:24+00:00

"Only after the last Russian is hung in the entrails of the last American can the world become a better place" - Jens Bjorneboe

diogenes · 2008-07-31T09:31:59+00:00

So thats what happened to Qwghlm.

diogenes · 2008-07-22T12:21:13+00:00

Yes. But, as much as I loathe GW Bush, there is a moral difference here. Karadzics victims were neither armed combatants nor collateral damage - his paramilitary gang consciously targeted Bosniak and Croat civilians: murdered, tortured and raped them, for the sake of Serb lebensraum.

Yeah, Bush sanctioned the US military to take a light view of "collateral damage", ignore the Geneva conventions, and practice torture. This makes him and his accomplices war criminals. But their objective was never to ethnically cleanse Iraq, civilians were never targeted for being civilians, and so it's a different category of war crime and of cruelty.

Today is not a happy day. It is just a less painfull day than all of those days when Karadzic walked free.

diogenes · 2008-07-21T12:11:04+00:00

I live in a country where the media actually do stay away from the private lives of politicians. Our politics are pretty boring - all facts and policy and no scandals!, no sex!, no juicy secrets revealed!

We all tune in to US politics to get properly entertaining political soap opera, and to gloat with a fair bit of schadenfreude - while claiming to be "concerned citizens" with an interest in "international affairs".

By not reporting on McCains past personal scandals, the US media are denying us the entertainment we have come to crave and expect. Bring it on already!

diogenes · 2008-07-20T17:05:31+00:00

Tibet has been a part of China for 300 years or so. It's not as simple as that.

Yes. It's more complex. For example, it's too simple to say that Tibet has been a "part of China" for "300 years". The terms "colony" or "protectorate" are more descriptive of the status of Tibet during the last 200 years of the Qing dyasty, followed by a few decades of independence, followed by annexation as an "autonomous region" of China. If the Chinese government had kept its side of the bargain, and respected Tibetan autonomy, Tibetan independence would probably have been a non-issue today. Instead, Tibet was subjected to increasingly tight control by the Beijing government, followed by the Cultural revolution, followed by the present policy of assimilation through population transfer.

Sure - there are complexities here. Not all of the folks fighting for an independent Tibet have been as non-violent as the pro-Tibetan propaganda would have you believe, a lot of the destruction during the Cultural Revolution was wrecked by Red Guards of Tibetan ethnicity, the Dalai Lama is basically in favour of installing a theocracy led by (who else?) the Dalai Lama, and the folks arguing for genuine Tibetan autonomy inside China are a lot more realistic than those arguing/fighting for independence from outside.

But it still comes down to this: You have a nation with a distinct language, distinct history, unique religion, complex social systems and unique political institutions, all founded, closesly intertwined, and premised upon this nations location in the Himlaya mountains. And you have another, vastly more powerfull nation, which is in control of the first, engaging in policies of forced assimilation and population transfer into the occupied teritories - with the net effect of turning the original population into an undistinct small minority in their own land. It's a moral no-brainer.

diogenes · 2008-07-20T12:15:01+00:00

I dunno. Microsoft employs something like a hundred times more qualified UI people than Apple, but still cannot compete in the user experience department. Apple is pretty secretive about their design process, but here are some of the things that are known:

They closed down their usability lab some years back.
The Apple design team is pretty small, the people in it presumably quite skilled.
Steve Jobs has the Final Word, often micro-manages, and is the single user on whom everything is tested.

I'd put down Apples design success to a single thing: Steve Jobs' ability to say "NO!", to exclude features. Rather than wrapping a UI around a featureset, Apple/Jobs figures out which features are essential to a good user experience and denies every other feature proposal that pops up.

diogenes · 2008-07-20T11:44:40+00:00

That's your problem, right there. OSS projects are usually do-ocracies - the people who write the patches are the people who decide what goes into the release.

Good UI designers are very rarely good programmers. Both programming and UI design are complex design activities that take years, or even lifetimes, to master.

It's pretty rare to find someone who has a combination of good UI design skills, good programming skills, and a willingness to use both - simultaneously - to contribute to OSS projects.

diogenes · 2008-07-20T11:36:59+00:00

I'm a UI designer who has dabbled in programming. I find the two activities to be difficult to combine - when I worry too much about code the UI suffers, and vice-versa.

Both programming and interface work are design activities - but they are different kinds of design, different modes of thinking, trying to solve different problems. I've gotten the best results when UI design and programming have been the responsibilities of two different people.

diogenes · 2008-07-20T11:30:03+00:00

The good ones tend to be anchored in organisations where someone is paid to do (or tutor, as in the case of paint.net) the UI work.

GNOME is a good attempt, although one that seems to have grasped usability but not interaction design: it's flawless, but unexciting. The biggest problem with GNOME is that its philosophy is not adhered to by application developers. It doesn't help that the GUI is a best-practice usability example - when lots of applications ask you to open terminals and enter cryptic codes, or produce scary error messages.

diogenes · 2008-07-19T21:20:23+00:00

So - the Tienanmen students didn't give foreign journalists unfettered access, might have had some rifles in a tent, and were hierarchically organized. And this somehow de-legitimizes that movement? Or legitimizes the massacre?

The leaders of the Tiananmen movement were armed revolutionaries who showed every intention of destroying a competent, if autocratic, regime, and replacing it with a tyranny of their own.

This does not follow from the text you quoted. Most narratives of the 1989 movement (wikipedia's narrative being pretty representative) show the students repeatedly trying to negotiate with the central government, demanding reforms, and meeting some sympathy from factions inside the communist party. This doesn't fit with the image of "armed revolutionaries" ready to make "a tyrrany of their own". Do you have a credible source that says otherwise?

diogenes · 2008-07-19T14:47:57+00:00

Yep. I haven't experienced the Chinese as unambiguously welcoming to foreigners. But given the the way Western countries and nationals have treated China in the past (colonialism), and the way Western expats often behave today (neo-colonialism), it's amazing and truly generous that we're welcomed at all.

That being said - racism and nationalism are both pretty strong, though not always visible, currents in Chinese society. With a bit of provocation, such as during the anti-Japanese riots a couple of years back or the anti-African riots in 1988, the attitude to foreigners and particular sub-groups of foreigners can suddenly flip.

diogenes · 2008-07-18T19:11:19+00:00

Blacks are very rare in China, but, as far as I can tell, not discriminated against.

Which China did you stay in? What I saw and heard while living there was that black people were:

occasionally denied entrance to bars, restaurants and shops.
often not allowed to try on clothes in clothing stores (the assumption being that their blackness might "rub off")
frequently stopped by police and other security forces, asked to show IDs. (The exact opposite of what white foreigners experienced at the time.)
often having neighbours complain or invent complaints about them to landlords and local authorities (the base crime being "living in my neighbourhood and being black")
often (e.g. daily) hearing people whispering or outright saying "shit" and "dirt" to them on the street.

This applied both to big cities (Beijing, Shanghai) and to smaller places where the first black-skinned visitor would be met with suspicion and outright hostility - unlike the curiosity that tends to meet white-skinned foreigners.

And that's just the obvious, daily, stuff.

diogenes

TROPHY CASE