Episode 54: Digital Blood And Gor
To All My Gorean Friends,
I have one simple request and I'm addressing all of you. Back off. I know that seems harsh but I want to take you all through the history of that which happened to me. I had hoped not to bore anyone with the details of this but unfortunately, No one seems to understand that NO I'm not joining your Gorean Chat. NO I'm not joining your Gorean Sim. NO I'm not getting into it.
Well, let's see if this helps you understand where I'm coming from.
See it was back in 1998 or 1999 when me, my girlfriend at the time and a friend of mine were all sitting down having coffee just chatting. The discussion was over books and music. Now I'm not sure how it got brought up but I'll guarantee you with my reading material at the time (Much of it Anne Rice) somehow the erotica I was reading was discussed and my girlfriend (Possibly out of boredom) decided to out my porn interests across the table in order to embarrass me. Well that got turned on it's head when I did what I do best. If you're going to embarrass me because you're hate some aspect of me. I'm gonna blow it waaaaaay out of propotion and make it cartoonish. When you see that embarrassing me backfires all you can do is stew over it.
Right about then, my friend, Christina, recommended the Gor novels to me. She gave me a basic premise and right there in my notebook, I wrote it all down. I jotted down John Norman's name and decided at some point I'd go on a search.
Search I did and got nowhere. Not one library knew at all who the hell this guy was and not one bookstore I visited could pull up anything by the guy. I had resigned myself to simply doing without. I told Christina it's the strangest thing, I couldn't find his books and I had no idea where to turn. The internet wasn't the ubermall then that it is now. I had no means of buying anything online. I was out of luck for sure. I didn't bother to look for the books on the web because, as I mentioned....no way of buying online. Back then, didn't even have a bank account. No bullshit I was livin' Amish.
Fast forward a few years, different girlfriend, different living situation. I finally decided to have a peek and see if, indeed, the books were listed online. They were all used books and the lowest priced book went for $400 and the book was so tattered it was unreal. I had almost resigned myself to knowing nothing other than what Christina told me until a stroke of genius hit me. There was a resource page and chatroom for just about everything. I created an honest profile and went in...and got treated in a manner most hostile. I can honestly say I've never encountered this much hostility before and I have only ever seen this type of hostility in real life amongst Call of Duty fans during a midnight release for Black Ops. I didn't do anything disruptive. I simply observed. I contacted people in IMs. I was in a world where I didn't know the terminology and I wasn't about to learn it by just sitting there. My ejection messages consisted of "Read the Books N00b!" and that was probably one of the most polite messages I got. Room after room after room consisted of more of the same treatment. One became so enraged that I would be so arrogant as to challenge an Ubar that he literally continuously typed in all caps. I didn't know what the hell this guy was talking about.
Finally I had simply resigned myself to knowing nothing other than the facts that I faced. Gor fans were a hostile bunch and possibly found solace within it's literary walls for compensation. Perception is everything. I gave up. If I saw someone had a Gorean interest in their profile I would violently avoid digital eye contact. Few would ever give me the slight education I had. For all intents and purposes, I walked away from it and largely mocked the Goreans though my girlfriend at the time was one. Let me revise that. I mocked the Gorean dominants as it was very BDSM related.
Many years came and went without me giving it a second thought. My policy of just avoiding it like the plague was still in place. I was a guy from a small town. Things like that just aren't afforded to people who want a simple life and that means if they don't want you learning certain things...you won't. If you just happen to be resourceful enough to find the material by which to learn those things...be ready because you just made yourself a huge target.
There was this laundromat I'd go to every two or three days. Backpack full of laundry and I could poke around on my laptop while having lunch or dinner...whatever time it was. There was also a video store nearby and they were closing. I found Gor and Outlaw of Gor on VHS. They only wanted $1 for both and I decided to pay it. Worst case scenario, I was only out a buck and it's not like the movies would do anything like boot me from my TV right? I watched them both and immediately wanted my dollar and three hours of my life back. I'm a hhuge fan of really bad movies but these were deplorable. I'll admit that I'm ready to add them to my collection on DVD just so I can riff on them. Then again I may just save the money and pirate them. I don't think the MPAA could fault me for those two.
I had bought a few of the books and took the time to trudge through part of the first one. Finally, just recently, I read through the first one and started on the second one. I'm not going to give a blow by blow review. I'll just say one down and 31 to go. Yeah it's a long damn series but look, because I read ONE book doesn't make me ready for your lifestyle or your subculture. I gave them all the opportunity to have me and was more than fair. They saw fit to keep bouncing me like Roger Clinton tryin to get backstage at a Marilyn Manson concert. Not my fault and remember I don't care if they were the short dicked assholes or not, I had nothing upon which to operate so what I should have done is irrelevant. I know that you side with outcasts. I know that you know people but I don't care. I'm not going into the rooms and I'm not joining the sims. Elists, chat messengers, etc, etc, etc, are not going to get me. Not right now and not for the foreseeable future. IF I do decide to join up it will be on MY terms MY time MY rules. If you think I'm being unreasonable obviously you skipped a huge section of this narrative.
So there you have it. I will say it one more time. Don't take it personally. Calm down...it's not that serious.
Sincerely,
Damien V. Cross S.D.M.F.
Tarnsman of New Frickin' Jersey
Revision: Okay to silence the constant requests I have checked out SIX of these damn Gorean sims. So far they're so restrictive that I can't make sense of them and every one of them wants me to use a meter which I'm not willing to do. If they want a roleplayer fine but if they're worried I'm going to turn out to be the next Big Douchebag that much then perhaps they should find someone else to play in there. I gave them another shot everyone...can I close down shop and finally just get on with my life now?
I have one simple request and I'm addressing all of you. Back off. I know that seems harsh but I want to take you all through the history of that which happened to me. I had hoped not to bore anyone with the details of this but unfortunately, No one seems to understand that NO I'm not joining your Gorean Chat. NO I'm not joining your Gorean Sim. NO I'm not getting into it.
Well, let's see if this helps you understand where I'm coming from.
See it was back in 1998 or 1999 when me, my girlfriend at the time and a friend of mine were all sitting down having coffee just chatting. The discussion was over books and music. Now I'm not sure how it got brought up but I'll guarantee you with my reading material at the time (Much of it Anne Rice) somehow the erotica I was reading was discussed and my girlfriend (Possibly out of boredom) decided to out my porn interests across the table in order to embarrass me. Well that got turned on it's head when I did what I do best. If you're going to embarrass me because you're hate some aspect of me. I'm gonna blow it waaaaaay out of propotion and make it cartoonish. When you see that embarrassing me backfires all you can do is stew over it.
Right about then, my friend, Christina, recommended the Gor novels to me. She gave me a basic premise and right there in my notebook, I wrote it all down. I jotted down John Norman's name and decided at some point I'd go on a search.
Search I did and got nowhere. Not one library knew at all who the hell this guy was and not one bookstore I visited could pull up anything by the guy. I had resigned myself to simply doing without. I told Christina it's the strangest thing, I couldn't find his books and I had no idea where to turn. The internet wasn't the ubermall then that it is now. I had no means of buying anything online. I was out of luck for sure. I didn't bother to look for the books on the web because, as I mentioned....no way of buying online. Back then, didn't even have a bank account. No bullshit I was livin' Amish.
Fast forward a few years, different girlfriend, different living situation. I finally decided to have a peek and see if, indeed, the books were listed online. They were all used books and the lowest priced book went for $400 and the book was so tattered it was unreal. I had almost resigned myself to knowing nothing other than what Christina told me until a stroke of genius hit me. There was a resource page and chatroom for just about everything. I created an honest profile and went in...and got treated in a manner most hostile. I can honestly say I've never encountered this much hostility before and I have only ever seen this type of hostility in real life amongst Call of Duty fans during a midnight release for Black Ops. I didn't do anything disruptive. I simply observed. I contacted people in IMs. I was in a world where I didn't know the terminology and I wasn't about to learn it by just sitting there. My ejection messages consisted of "Read the Books N00b!" and that was probably one of the most polite messages I got. Room after room after room consisted of more of the same treatment. One became so enraged that I would be so arrogant as to challenge an Ubar that he literally continuously typed in all caps. I didn't know what the hell this guy was talking about.
Finally I had simply resigned myself to knowing nothing other than the facts that I faced. Gor fans were a hostile bunch and possibly found solace within it's literary walls for compensation. Perception is everything. I gave up. If I saw someone had a Gorean interest in their profile I would violently avoid digital eye contact. Few would ever give me the slight education I had. For all intents and purposes, I walked away from it and largely mocked the Goreans though my girlfriend at the time was one. Let me revise that. I mocked the Gorean dominants as it was very BDSM related.
Many years came and went without me giving it a second thought. My policy of just avoiding it like the plague was still in place. I was a guy from a small town. Things like that just aren't afforded to people who want a simple life and that means if they don't want you learning certain things...you won't. If you just happen to be resourceful enough to find the material by which to learn those things...be ready because you just made yourself a huge target.
There was this laundromat I'd go to every two or three days. Backpack full of laundry and I could poke around on my laptop while having lunch or dinner...whatever time it was. There was also a video store nearby and they were closing. I found Gor and Outlaw of Gor on VHS. They only wanted $1 for both and I decided to pay it. Worst case scenario, I was only out a buck and it's not like the movies would do anything like boot me from my TV right? I watched them both and immediately wanted my dollar and three hours of my life back. I'm a hhuge fan of really bad movies but these were deplorable. I'll admit that I'm ready to add them to my collection on DVD just so I can riff on them. Then again I may just save the money and pirate them. I don't think the MPAA could fault me for those two.
I had bought a few of the books and took the time to trudge through part of the first one. Finally, just recently, I read through the first one and started on the second one. I'm not going to give a blow by blow review. I'll just say one down and 31 to go. Yeah it's a long damn series but look, because I read ONE book doesn't make me ready for your lifestyle or your subculture. I gave them all the opportunity to have me and was more than fair. They saw fit to keep bouncing me like Roger Clinton tryin to get backstage at a Marilyn Manson concert. Not my fault and remember I don't care if they were the short dicked assholes or not, I had nothing upon which to operate so what I should have done is irrelevant. I know that you side with outcasts. I know that you know people but I don't care. I'm not going into the rooms and I'm not joining the sims. Elists, chat messengers, etc, etc, etc, are not going to get me. Not right now and not for the foreseeable future. IF I do decide to join up it will be on MY terms MY time MY rules. If you think I'm being unreasonable obviously you skipped a huge section of this narrative.
So there you have it. I will say it one more time. Don't take it personally. Calm down...it's not that serious.
Sincerely,
Damien V. Cross S.D.M.F.
Tarnsman of New Frickin' Jersey
Revision: Okay to silence the constant requests I have checked out SIX of these damn Gorean sims. So far they're so restrictive that I can't make sense of them and every one of them wants me to use a meter which I'm not willing to do. If they want a roleplayer fine but if they're worried I'm going to turn out to be the next Big Douchebag that much then perhaps they should find someone else to play in there. I gave them another shot everyone...can I close down shop and finally just get on with my life now?
posted by Lord Genocyde at 7:51 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home