[MUD-Dev] Totally OT... (Or is it?) (yes it is ;)

[Mike Sellers]

At 12:29 AM 1/10/98 PST8PDT, Jon A. Lambert wrote:
>On  9 Jan 98 at 17:36, JC Lawrence wrote:
>> On Wed, 7 Jan 1998 17:20:10 PST8PDT Ola wrote:
>> 
>> > Spoke to a norwegian friend working in the US today, he
>> > confirmed my observation (along with american professionals'
>> > observation), the attitude is that the employer "owns" the employee
>> > much more there than over here. (I know this is different in some
>> > game houses)

Okay, this really _is_ OT (and I think Ola is no longer on the list, for a
little while at least).  But it called to mind a conversation I had with a
Norwegian journalist who picked up me up for a ride from Las Vegas to St.
George while I was hitchhiking there years ago (a lonnng story :) ).  I
asked him what, if anything, in his mind set people from the US apart from
the rest of the world.  He thought for a moment and then said, "You
Americans, you think there is a solution for every problem."  I sat there
thinking, "yeah...?"  I asked him for an example, and he said he had been
at a press conference when the current pope was first elevated to that
role.  He was asked by an American reporter "when do you think the problems
between your government [communist Poland under Soviet influence at the
time] and your religion will be solved?"  This was translated, but clearly
the new pontiff had trouble with the question.  Finally he simply responded
with something like "what makes you think there is a solution to the
current condition?"  You see, there was a cultural disconnect: the American
simply assumed the condition was a problem, and therefore had a solution;
while the Polish Pope simply saw this as part of life, and not necessarily
something to be "solved."  

The relationship to MUDs?  Not sure. :)  If nothing else, it may help point
out some of the cultural issues we're going to see as we bring more and
more people together from different parts of the world into one virtual one
(as we have already on this list).  In M59 we definitely had to deal with
this; people from some parts of the world saw guild-creation as a highly
authoritarian endeavor ("you'll do what I say because I'm guild leader")
while others were more than happy to use their ability to vote early and
often until there was a structure in the guild they were happy with.  


--

Mike Sellers   Chief Alchemist -- Online Alchemy   mike at online-alchemy.com

"One of the most difficult tasks men can perform, however much others 
may despise it, is the invention of good games.  And it cannot be done 
by men out of touch with their instinctive values."  - Carl Jung