Combatants Vs Scholars

Nakari

Herenicus said:

Edit: Could set up an organization mirroring the Fellowship of Scarlatti and run a quarterly fictional non-fiction peer review publication to recognize and legitimize scholars.

Not gonna lie, a scholarly journal that could distribute ideas to all cities would be awesome. I feel like something like that could actually be a really interesting locus for scholarly development and contribution.

Herenicus

Nakari said:

Herenicus said:

Edit: Could set up an organization mirroring the Fellowship of Scarlatti and run a quarterly fictional non-fiction peer review publication to recognize and legitimize scholars.

Not gonna lie, a scholarly journal that could distribute ideas to all cities would be awesome. I feel like something like that could actually be a really interesting locus for scholarly development and contribution.

...if only there was a goddess committed to the clear-eyed pursuit of knowledge.

edit: *sighs wistfully*

Amarillys

Herenicus said:

Nakari said:

Herenicus said:

Edit: Could set up an organization mirroring the Fellowship of Scarlatti and run a quarterly fictional non-fiction peer review publication to recognize and legitimize scholars.

Not gonna lie, a scholarly journal that could distribute ideas to all cities would be awesome. I feel like something like that could actually be a really interesting locus for scholarly development and contribution.

...if only there was a goddess committed to the clear-eyed pursuit of knowledge.

I'm kinda just waiting for the other shoe No to drop at this point...

Ruth

I like to think that the Championship Quiz for the Staff of Nicator was a good way to test individuals and demonstrate people's general knowledge and history.

Unfortunately, and as its title suggests, it's held far too infrequently. :C

Silas

What is a scholar? Delphinus.

Him not logging in is the only reason somebody else won the Y650 quiz.

Blujixapug

I don't think it's a dichotomy, it's not either-or. It's been presented that way because that's an easy thematic divide when creating new Houses (eg. wizards / warriors), which are a hot topic right now. But you can be into both. They're also not the only two activities in this game. Maybe you don't do either. Maybe you prefer exploring, questing, bashing, socialising, marketeering.

I think one other thing that's maybe contributed to the sense of division is some people who don't PK attempt to justify themselves as qualified and therefore important in other ways, distancing themselves from PKers.

If you PK more often than never, you're some level of combatant. If you enjoy reading the histories, thinking about what your class is, discussing it with other people, typing emotes about it, you're some level of 'scholar'. Many people do both.

They can both be consuming activities. Developing PK strategies and ironing out your systems doesn't happen without constant practise and maintenance. There are only so many hours in the day.

The term 'scholar' has specific, academic connotations which I think can be inaccurate. If you were a dedicated monk roleplayer and did things with kata forms, kai, and telepathy, you probably wouldn't be considered a 'scholar'. If you did the same amount of roleplay examining, playing out, and documenting the themes of your magi or occultist skills, you probably would, because they're innately more academic.

Herenicus

Silas said:

What is a scholar? Delphinus.

Him not logging in is the only reason somebody else won the Y650 quiz.

He was awfully promiscuous about those Event posts

Blujixapug

Herenicus said:

Silas said:

What is a scholar? Delphinus.

Him not logging in is the only reason somebody else won the Y650 quiz.

He was awfully promiscuous about those Event posts

To be fair, if you've ever been near a forestal event... Imagine 15 people in a room, and Calliope is standing over a cauldron saying, "To finish this potion I'd prefer, an herb that makes you clever and rhymes with durr." You have a reputation as an event-whore that you don't want to enourage, so you stand there quietly for 10 minutes while the other 14 people say nothing, poke each other, walk away, try fifty syntax variations of put goldenseal in pot, go looking for the fur of a wise lamassu, try to find a fir branch, etc, desperately waiting for someone else to figure it out and take the credit. MYRRH. IT'S FUCKING MYRRH. I mean, maybe we should try myrrh, you guys! Does someone want to give the dryad a piece of myrrh? God damn it, now you're in another Events post and Skye is making fun of you.

Herenicus

A denizen would break wind somewhere in distant Hottentot and our boy Delph would know what it had for breakfast in thirty minutes or less.  

Caladbolg

Scholar: Halos
Combatant: Me
Both: Tesha

I think that sums up my thoughts on it.

There's people who would have an open debate. and then there's people like me who would say a few words then turn it towards battle. and then there's people like Tesha who can do both perfectly.

Fully depends on what you want to do.

Santar

I was actually considering making a poll like a month back asking what category you'd put yourself in out of like 5-10 different broad categories.

Amarillys

Santar said:

I was actually considering making a poll like a month back asking what category you'd put yourself in out of like 5-10 different broad categories.

Nike

Austere

Santar said:

I was actually considering making a poll like a month back asking what category you'd put yourself in out of like 5-10 different broad categories.

Just make sure scrub is a choice. 

Shirszae

Santar said:

I was actually considering making a poll like a month back asking what category you'd put yourself in out of like 5-10 different broad categories.

Should do it.

Tael

Re the existence of people who call themselves scholars but haven't really earned that distinction (particularly those who just use big words):

Achaea has scholars, and it has pseudointellectuals too.

Nim

Blujixapug said:

The term 'scholar' has specific, academic connotations which I think can be inaccurate. If you were a dedicated monk roleplayer and did things with kata forms, kai, and telepathy, you probably wouldn't be considered a 'scholar'. If you did the same amount of roleplay examining, playing out, and documenting the themes of your magi or occultist skills, you probably would, because they're innately more academic.

I don't think there's a simple class divide though. It really depends on how you approach it.

For a counter-example, if the things you do with kata forms, kai, and telepathy boil down to reading, writing, and lecturing about them extensively, then you're fairly scholarly. If the things you do are just emoting yourself being a cool monk, then you're just a cool monk.

Similarly, if the way you play out magi stuff is just showing off your control of the four elements on a regular basis, you're just a cool magus. The scholar distinction happens as a result of academic work.

Or, in summary: you're a scholar when you do academic things.

Bluef

Here's the thing about being a scholar IC (from my viewpoint anyway): I don't think being a know-it-all is the same thing as being a scholar. A scholar educates others, sharing his/her insights and wisdom in a variety of ways. In many ways I equate it with being a teacher, I suppose, because really other than quizzes that ask you what a denizen had for breakfast 250 years ago what good is knowledge unless it's applied? As the Agassiz saying goes, "Facts are stupid things until brought into connection with some general law." This is the scholar's role: To help those who do not yet see, envision all new possibilities and applications for shared information. 

Bade

I've read through this thread and I believe there are some good ideas as to what makes a person a scholar, and we already have some guidelines as to what makes a person a combatant, but I have a question. Is it such a rare thing for people to be both? I want to get good at combat and I want to write and be a scholar. Now what I want to study is changing as I'm getting to know the game better, and I probably will never be up there with the top combatants, but do many people do both well, or are they few and far between? or is this just a pipe dream of somebody who isn't far enough into the game to know he has to pick.

Blujixapug

Bade said:

I've read through this thread and I believe there are some good ideas as to what makes a person a scholar, and we already have some guidelines as to what makes a person a combatant, but I have a question. Is it such a rare thing for people to be both? I want to get good at combat and I want to write and be a scholar. Now what I want to study is changing as I'm getting to know the game better, and I probably will never be up there with the top combatants, but do many people do both well, or are they few and far between? or is this just a pipe dream of somebody who isn't far enough into the game to know he has to pick.

It's more that both things take a long time to get good at.

PK requires you learn skills, hit a high enough level that you have enough health that you won't just die to bashing attacks (maybe level 60-70, 3000+ health), learn what each class can do and how to deal with it, figure out curing priorities, figure out a defensive setup that you can adapt and adjust on the fly so that people can't exploit it, learn some coding or obtain a system to manage all that, figure out your own class's abilities and offensive strategies, practise everything, fine-tune everything, and maybe throw in a couple of arties like pipes (buckawn's, SOA, mount with collar).

'Scholar' stuff essentially involves learning a lot about the relevant aspects of the game. Or finding out where to learn about them. Reading histories, news posts, AB files and learning messages, help files, in-game books, exploring and figuring out quests, chatting with other players, etc. Organising your thoughts and presenting them to others to verify your understanding, and expand it. Maybe improving your writing skills, grammar, vocabulary, to more accurately and succinctly present information. Practising your improvisational abilities. Learning what the borders are in terms of what you can make up, or what you can extrapolate from what's already there, when making your own contributions.

If you have real-life responsibilities preventing you from playing the game for 14 hours a day, it may take months or years for you to get a firm grasp on both things. You may get bored of the game in that time. Or move off to college, get a job with longer hours, have kids, or otherwise change your RL circumstances. So yeah, it's kind of a rare thing for people to be great at both. Those who are tend to be the game's most memorable players.