[Noisebridge-discuss] [drama] LAN party gaming group

[Liz Henry]

On 10/3/10 8:46 PM, Robert Fletcher wrote:

> Regarding the official details of Zergbridge, we meet every Saturday at 3pm,
> do programming and video game development until 6:30 or 7, and then we
> proceed with the slaughtering of innocent zombies.  It's all on the wiki.
> My apologies for the noise violation, Jason--we should have been more aware
> of our surroundings.  It's definitely a priority now to keep ourselves in
> the same room and keep the noise at a reasonable level.
> 
> --Robert Fletcher
> 

That seems like a reasonable answer.

Playing games together is creative and performative, even if it doesn't
result in a giant robot. I like the game playing aspect of Noisebridge
and think it is defensible as a community use.  My son watched the
zombie-killing for a while last weekend. He was impressed and kind of
inspired. He also read for hours in the space as part of Scott's
readathon party, including a long while in the DJ Booth/ tea room, and
was not bothered by the LAN party noise. I was reading and writing and
working on the other side of the space, and was also not bothered by any
particular noise.

In fact, I like to see the space used, lively, and full of people.  Such
community uses bring people into the space, which is a good goal. It
means they become familiar with it and might use it for other purposes,
or get more involved in future. That's a good thing!

[drama]
So Rubin, I haven't made any giant badass robots lately. I come in to
Noisebridge and use the electricity and Internet. I pay dues, and I
clean up a bit extra or wash some of the dirty dishes when I come in to
make a small contribution to the community space. I talk with people who
come in and give them tours and am a nice person to hang out with.
Hopefully that is enough to fucking justify my occasional presence at
Noisebridge and I don't have to come build a flaming space robot with my
cock in order to prove myself.  Your email about this annoys me directly
because you are setting yourself up as the arbiter of legitimacy, which
is fucking bogus.
[/drama]

Where is the actual conflict here?  Is someone wanting to use the
classroom during the time Zergbridge people are there, and it's a prime
time for classes?   Is the Internet speed noticeably affected for other
folks while they're going?  Is there actual effect from scarcity of any
kind? If so, deal with those issues directly by talking to the people
and coming up with some ideas or asking them to pay a little extra
towards the cost of expanding bandwidth.  Maybe some of them are already
members, anyway. If they aren't pulling their weight in other ways as a
group, maybe some of the Zergbridge folks could make some conspicuous
effort to clean up, take out the trash, or do some other unglamorous
work for the space in addition to whatever else they do as community
members. Talk to people and suggest they contribute more, rather than
attacking a group and making these sweeping statements about how the
space should or should not be used.





- Liz




-- 
Liz Henry
lizhenry at gmail.com
http://bookmaniac.org
http://badgermama.com