Well, as I mentioned before, I am currently working on a larger rpg project, the design of a world setting.
In the course of this endeavour, I am running into many problems, and some of them will hopefully spawn ramblings to be posted on this blog. Here's the next of these ramblings:
In the course of designing the culture for one of the races in my setting, I started to think about metaplot in this setting in particular and gamedesign at large.
First, let me define metaplot for the rest of this post: Metaplot is an ongoing narative for a game's setting as a whole. It can be completely open for everyone to read and take part in, or it can be for the GM only, full of hidden things happening to baffle the players with.
Games with strong metaplot have been White Wolf's World of Darkness games and Deadlands, some other games like Fading Suns do have a metaplot of sorts, but it is very weak and can be ignored quite easily.
Advantages and disadvantages of metaplot are quite obvious, or at least I think so. A strong metaplot keeps things interesting for the gm as well as the players, it offers lots of hooks to hang cool adventures on, giving everyone the feeling of actually taking part in the world's history. The disadvantages of a strong metaplot are very much about freedom.
A strong metaplot can force GMs and players alike in a certain direction, cutting off interesting avenues of adventuring. It also can be very cruel to the GM to be the only one to know all this stuff and never getting the chance to reveal it to te players.
So is a strong metaplot a good or a bad thing?
Frankly I don't know. Of course, a good gaming group can always make up their own world-shaking plot-lines, but this takes some experience.
It's not that this is very hard, but it often takes a lot of self-assurance on the GM's part to tinker with an official setting in that way.
So, returning to my original point: Should I include a metaplot of sorts in the setting or not? At the moment, I'm thinking yes, for a few reasons that I will try to outline below:
First of all, I like metaplot, I like reading about it and discussing it with others.
Secondly, the setting is very well suited for metaplot. It is a very young setting with a short history. So quite a lot of things are happening at the starting point of the setting. Many changes are yet coming to the new world and I think that some of them are ideally dealt with in the form of metaplot.
Thirdly, I'm trying to make te metaplot as optional as possible, so that those who don't want it can ignore it without much hassle.
How will I achieve this? I'm not yet completely sure, but I always liked the idea of optional campaign supplements that can be used to play out one particular strand of metaplot. If the group doesn't want to play the campaign, the part of the metaplot simply doesn't happen.
This may lead to some problems in a future second edition of the setting, but at the moment I'm simply too far away from even a first edition, to bother about this.
The point of these ramblings?
Metaplot yes, but in moderations, I guess.
Sonntag, 26. Dezember 2010
Deadlands Preparation IV
Ok, I think I have the main plot for all three days down.
Looking at my plans, the next thing would be to decide on the locations and so forth.
Luckily this will go much easier, since the plot demands certain locations in certain places.
The first adventure will take place in a city, probably New Orleans, the second on a steamer up the Mississippi and the third somewhere much further west, with prairies and so on, I think.
I might put day one on the steamer and make day two a travel adventure, starting out on the boat and trying to get west, so that the gap between the second and third day is not as large as it is no.
This will depend on the details of the adventures, subplots, npc's and so forth.
Something I have to find out now, is the exact number and character of pc's in the posse. I know te number of players, but some of them are thinking about creating new characters, so I need to find out their exact plans to include hooks and challenges for each pc.
Apart from this, I'm rather pleased with my progress so far and will devote the rest of the day to the fleshing out of npc's and subplots.
Looking at my plans, the next thing would be to decide on the locations and so forth.
Luckily this will go much easier, since the plot demands certain locations in certain places.
The first adventure will take place in a city, probably New Orleans, the second on a steamer up the Mississippi and the third somewhere much further west, with prairies and so on, I think.
I might put day one on the steamer and make day two a travel adventure, starting out on the boat and trying to get west, so that the gap between the second and third day is not as large as it is no.
This will depend on the details of the adventures, subplots, npc's and so forth.
Something I have to find out now, is the exact number and character of pc's in the posse. I know te number of players, but some of them are thinking about creating new characters, so I need to find out their exact plans to include hooks and challenges for each pc.
Apart from this, I'm rather pleased with my progress so far and will devote the rest of the day to the fleshing out of npc's and subplots.
Samstag, 25. Dezember 2010
Deadlands Preparation III
Ok, so now I have a shadow of a plot for three days, a shadow of a villain and a few cool scenes.
The next problem will be to make some of the things more concrete, including the location where things happen.
The first thing I will now work on, is the villain. He must be scary, after all, this is supposed to be a horror game, at least in parts.
The whole concept of a Deadlands adventure, at least for me is about the overcoming of real evil by the power of big guns. Victory however, must be paid for with humanity and morals, no one can stay a saint while fighting evil.
It is this dilemma between good versus evil on one side and cold rationality versus humanity on the other.
These four concepts form a carthesian grid of sorts, with the perfect neutral character at the null-point.
The goal of my villains is now to drag the players from that point into the extremes, giving them choices that lead them ever further from moral and psychological equilibrium and then confronting them with the consequences of their decisions.
Sounds grand and noble, right?
Well, the difficulty lies in breaking these ideas down into a cool adventure, so that the players have a lot of fun, blasting away at everything, right up to that point, where they realise what they have done and are scared of themselves.
I Think, I'll make use of dreams to drive some points home, but I won't go into more detail. Fleshing out the main villain will probably take some more time, I just wanted to get these ramblings out.
Oh, and there might in fact be a steamboat in the adventure. Thank Terry Pratchett for it.
The next problem will be to make some of the things more concrete, including the location where things happen.
The first thing I will now work on, is the villain. He must be scary, after all, this is supposed to be a horror game, at least in parts.
The whole concept of a Deadlands adventure, at least for me is about the overcoming of real evil by the power of big guns. Victory however, must be paid for with humanity and morals, no one can stay a saint while fighting evil.
It is this dilemma between good versus evil on one side and cold rationality versus humanity on the other.
These four concepts form a carthesian grid of sorts, with the perfect neutral character at the null-point.
The goal of my villains is now to drag the players from that point into the extremes, giving them choices that lead them ever further from moral and psychological equilibrium and then confronting them with the consequences of their decisions.
Sounds grand and noble, right?
Well, the difficulty lies in breaking these ideas down into a cool adventure, so that the players have a lot of fun, blasting away at everything, right up to that point, where they realise what they have done and are scared of themselves.
I Think, I'll make use of dreams to drive some points home, but I won't go into more detail. Fleshing out the main villain will probably take some more time, I just wanted to get these ramblings out.
Oh, and there might in fact be a steamboat in the adventure. Thank Terry Pratchett for it.
Freitag, 24. Dezember 2010
Deadlands Preparation II
Ok, so I have not yet cleared up all ideas, but the one I like most at the moment has lead me to another problem:
Do I try out novel concepts, like flashbacks and so on, or do I stick with a sequential plot?
I'd really like to open the game with a scene from later on in the adventure, but am uncertain about how it would work out.
The point is that flashbacks and so on work very well in long-running campaigns, I think, but can feel like overkill in a short adventure. Now, some of the characters that will appear in the game, have been around in the Weird West for some time so they are to all purposes long-running characters, which makes me incline towards using the flashbacks and time-jumps.
These narative devices also add to a more cinematic feel, which is exactly what I'm aiming at.
So the structure of the adventure will be something like this:
First day: Begin with a boom, perhaps a scene from later on in the narative, then roll back a bit and play the part where the heroes meet again and set out for some adventuring.
Second day: The heroes are now in the deep shit. Their plans from the first adventure have seemingly succeeded marvelously, but then something wicked their way comes... with a vengeance. The Day should end with anoter big boom.
Third day: Begin at the point where we began the first day, but now there follows not the flashback but the story continues from that point onwards. End with anoter big bang, the biggest bang possible, since it is the end of the adventure.
Things I need to watch out for are manifold. The largest issue I have, is the problem of consistency. If the adventure begins with a scene from very late in the narative, I need to have a way to lead the story to that point, no matter what the players do. This sounds a lot like railroading and in the purest sense of the word it is.
The trick will be to make it feel as if it was a natural development and not planned from the start. And possibly have a backup plan to explain the beginning, if the players manage to derail the adventure to an extend that makes it impossible to reach that particular scene.
I'll now try to fit my ideas into that frame and see how it turns out.
Do I try out novel concepts, like flashbacks and so on, or do I stick with a sequential plot?
I'd really like to open the game with a scene from later on in the adventure, but am uncertain about how it would work out.
The point is that flashbacks and so on work very well in long-running campaigns, I think, but can feel like overkill in a short adventure. Now, some of the characters that will appear in the game, have been around in the Weird West for some time so they are to all purposes long-running characters, which makes me incline towards using the flashbacks and time-jumps.
These narative devices also add to a more cinematic feel, which is exactly what I'm aiming at.
So the structure of the adventure will be something like this:
First day: Begin with a boom, perhaps a scene from later on in the narative, then roll back a bit and play the part where the heroes meet again and set out for some adventuring.
Second day: The heroes are now in the deep shit. Their plans from the first adventure have seemingly succeeded marvelously, but then something wicked their way comes... with a vengeance. The Day should end with anoter big boom.
Third day: Begin at the point where we began the first day, but now there follows not the flashback but the story continues from that point onwards. End with anoter big bang, the biggest bang possible, since it is the end of the adventure.
Things I need to watch out for are manifold. The largest issue I have, is the problem of consistency. If the adventure begins with a scene from very late in the narative, I need to have a way to lead the story to that point, no matter what the players do. This sounds a lot like railroading and in the purest sense of the word it is.
The trick will be to make it feel as if it was a natural development and not planned from the start. And possibly have a backup plan to explain the beginning, if the players manage to derail the adventure to an extend that makes it impossible to reach that particular scene.
I'll now try to fit my ideas into that frame and see how it turns out.
Donnerstag, 23. Dezember 2010
Deadlands Preparation I
This winter, like the years before, we will play a three days game of Deadlands. It has become something of a tradition and although it takes place a week later than the previous years, I am already certain there will be a game next year and so on for the foreseeable future.
The role of Marshall (GM in Deadlands lingo)
is once again taken by me and so I am now planning the adventure.
Now, this has always been a daunting task for me, what with me being something of a complete failure when it comes to game preparation and planning.
It's not that I don't want to run the game or even prepare for it. It's rather that I just can't seem to concentrate on the work until I'm at home for crhistmass. Then I start reading all kinds of Deadlands books, usually while knitting some winter clothing. The problem with this approach is that
I usually end up with lots of random ideas and no coherent plot.
This year however, I'll try to improve on this. I know, I promised that the last times as well, but I'll try to
write about my progress and my approach in order to actually get a result.
I will, for the moment at least, refrain from posting any details of the adventure, in case any of my players read this and use it against me.
If anyone is interested and asks me about it, I might put up a write-up of the adventure afterwards. So without further ramblings to the matter at hand:
The facts about the adventure, or at least the ones I already know:
It should run for three days, I know the number of players and most of the characters they will play.
That's about it. What I want to achieve is a three-part adventure that has a complete plot and is absolutely awesome, so that the players want the year to go by faster in order to play again.
How will I get to this goal?
I have no idea, so watch me trying. The obvious advantage for you is that you can laugh at me, if I fail, without suffering my embarassment, when I wreck the adventure in front of my players.
Even before I start the preparation proper, I usually have a few ideas, very faint and disconnected, that float around. This year is no different in that respect and my first action will be to identify those ideas that make the most sense and are the most awesome.
Then I'll try to come up with a plot that can loosely be split into three parts. Each of these parts should feel like a complete adventure, but the first two should end with a cliffhanger to keep the players hooked for the next day.
The adventures also need a few sliding sections that I can remove or stretch out, depending on how fast the adventures run, to keep the time-frame.
After the first fixing of the plot, I need to decide on a location, if none is dictated by te plot itself.
After this it is time to write down more details concerning each adventure part, npc's, locations and so forth.
And then, hopefully, I have a finished adventure for thre days and enough time left to review it once and maybe even look for fitting background music.
That's the plan for now and this evening will be spent with the examination of the ideas I have and trying to make them fit into a whole.
We'll see how that turns out.
The role of Marshall (GM in Deadlands lingo)
is once again taken by me and so I am now planning the adventure.
Now, this has always been a daunting task for me, what with me being something of a complete failure when it comes to game preparation and planning.
It's not that I don't want to run the game or even prepare for it. It's rather that I just can't seem to concentrate on the work until I'm at home for crhistmass. Then I start reading all kinds of Deadlands books, usually while knitting some winter clothing. The problem with this approach is that
I usually end up with lots of random ideas and no coherent plot.
This year however, I'll try to improve on this. I know, I promised that the last times as well, but I'll try to
write about my progress and my approach in order to actually get a result.
I will, for the moment at least, refrain from posting any details of the adventure, in case any of my players read this and use it against me.
If anyone is interested and asks me about it, I might put up a write-up of the adventure afterwards. So without further ramblings to the matter at hand:
The facts about the adventure, or at least the ones I already know:
It should run for three days, I know the number of players and most of the characters they will play.
That's about it. What I want to achieve is a three-part adventure that has a complete plot and is absolutely awesome, so that the players want the year to go by faster in order to play again.
How will I get to this goal?
I have no idea, so watch me trying. The obvious advantage for you is that you can laugh at me, if I fail, without suffering my embarassment, when I wreck the adventure in front of my players.
Even before I start the preparation proper, I usually have a few ideas, very faint and disconnected, that float around. This year is no different in that respect and my first action will be to identify those ideas that make the most sense and are the most awesome.
Then I'll try to come up with a plot that can loosely be split into three parts. Each of these parts should feel like a complete adventure, but the first two should end with a cliffhanger to keep the players hooked for the next day.
The adventures also need a few sliding sections that I can remove or stretch out, depending on how fast the adventures run, to keep the time-frame.
After the first fixing of the plot, I need to decide on a location, if none is dictated by te plot itself.
After this it is time to write down more details concerning each adventure part, npc's, locations and so forth.
And then, hopefully, I have a finished adventure for thre days and enough time left to review it once and maybe even look for fitting background music.
That's the plan for now and this evening will be spent with the examination of the ideas I have and trying to make them fit into a whole.
We'll see how that turns out.
Montag, 20. Dezember 2010
On Conflict in Gamedesign
I'm currently working on a larger gaming project, pen and paper roleplaying, to be precise.
I'm trying to work on a setting for a game and since I'm not exactly a veteran game designer, I'll probably make all kinds of mistakes on the way. Anyway, I'll try to voice some of my thoughts on conflict and cultures here, in the hopes that writing about it might help me clear my mind and get things straight
(Hey, it's called random ramblings for a reason!).
So, the biggest problem I currently have with the game setting is the lack of obvious conflict.
I think that this is a problem.Of course, there are all sorts of monsters out there in the wilderness to be slain and relieved of their treasure, but I have the feeling this might not be enough of a hook to hang compelling adventures, let alone campaigns on for long.
So I am looking at different ways to include better adventure reasons. And the prime reason for going out and having adventures, which tend to be somewhat unpleasant, is conflict between different groups and cultures.
So I think the setting needs some kind of conflict but I'm not sure how to go about it.
So far, I have identified three different kinds of conflict: intercultural, intracultural and external conflict.
Let me explain what I mean by these three names in some detail.
Intercultural conflict is conflict between two (or more) different cultures (in a fantasy game this usually means races like Dwarves, Elves etc.). It most often takes the form of war, one culture invading the other, that kind of thing.
It is pretty straight forward and I only need cultures that are so different in outlook that it is only a matter of time until they clash.
Intracultural conflict is about struggles within one society. Revolutions, religious arguments and so forth are the most common appearances of this kind of conflict.
External conflict is something very metaplotish in nature, an external threat to the whole world and all cultures or a world-defining conflict like tech vs. magic.
The next thing to keep in mind is scale, meaning the relation in which each conflict standts to all other conflicts and the lifes of the potential player characters.
This is the fiddly bit, since it defines the atmosphere of the entire gaming world.
The question this all raises is to metaplot or not to metaplot, something I'll have to work on soon.
For the moment I'll try to get a moderate number of small scale intracultural conflicts, a few intercultural conflicts of medium scale and one large external conflict to put the whole setting into a perspective that makes it easy to understand.
I'll probably go with an external threat, firstly because I like cosmic horror and such things and secondly because I just can't come up with an interesting alternative to tech vs. magic which has been done to death already.
This large conflict will be very much in the background, good material for an epic campaign, whereas the small and medium conflicts will be more apropriate for adventures and shorter campaigns.
Now if only I could come up with enough of these without making the whole setting too complicated.
I'm trying to work on a setting for a game and since I'm not exactly a veteran game designer, I'll probably make all kinds of mistakes on the way. Anyway, I'll try to voice some of my thoughts on conflict and cultures here, in the hopes that writing about it might help me clear my mind and get things straight
(Hey, it's called random ramblings for a reason!).
So, the biggest problem I currently have with the game setting is the lack of obvious conflict.
I think that this is a problem.Of course, there are all sorts of monsters out there in the wilderness to be slain and relieved of their treasure, but I have the feeling this might not be enough of a hook to hang compelling adventures, let alone campaigns on for long.
So I am looking at different ways to include better adventure reasons. And the prime reason for going out and having adventures, which tend to be somewhat unpleasant, is conflict between different groups and cultures.
So I think the setting needs some kind of conflict but I'm not sure how to go about it.
So far, I have identified three different kinds of conflict: intercultural, intracultural and external conflict.
Let me explain what I mean by these three names in some detail.
Intercultural conflict is conflict between two (or more) different cultures (in a fantasy game this usually means races like Dwarves, Elves etc.). It most often takes the form of war, one culture invading the other, that kind of thing.
It is pretty straight forward and I only need cultures that are so different in outlook that it is only a matter of time until they clash.
Intracultural conflict is about struggles within one society. Revolutions, religious arguments and so forth are the most common appearances of this kind of conflict.
External conflict is something very metaplotish in nature, an external threat to the whole world and all cultures or a world-defining conflict like tech vs. magic.
The next thing to keep in mind is scale, meaning the relation in which each conflict standts to all other conflicts and the lifes of the potential player characters.
This is the fiddly bit, since it defines the atmosphere of the entire gaming world.
The question this all raises is to metaplot or not to metaplot, something I'll have to work on soon.
For the moment I'll try to get a moderate number of small scale intracultural conflicts, a few intercultural conflicts of medium scale and one large external conflict to put the whole setting into a perspective that makes it easy to understand.
I'll probably go with an external threat, firstly because I like cosmic horror and such things and secondly because I just can't come up with an interesting alternative to tech vs. magic which has been done to death already.
This large conflict will be very much in the background, good material for an epic campaign, whereas the small and medium conflicts will be more apropriate for adventures and shorter campaigns.
Now if only I could come up with enough of these without making the whole setting too complicated.
Sonntag, 19. Dezember 2010
No Balls as long as the cash is jingling
Today I watched the video for the EMP christmass song "Jingle Balls" and yes, it's about as bad as it sounds, possibly even worse.
Right now I just can't be bothered to find a link to the video, but it is on youtube if you really want to watch it, although I definitely don't recommend it.
It's a badly performed thrashy version of Jingle Bells with the chorus and main riff of Balls to the Wall stuck on at the end, still badly performed. Yes, it makes no sense apart from providing the weak joke for the title and allowing Udo Dirkschneider to scream a bit for charity. This really pisses me off to no end.
Why does he lend his name and credibility (or whatever is left of it) to such a crappy project?
For charity, the proceeds go to Peta after all.
But is this reason enough to rape one of the greatest (or at least most famous) songs in the history of german heavy metal?
I don't think so. And don't even get me started on the fact that people in this country think it is funny. It is not, damnit! It is unoriginal, bad performance being used to start the advertisement for the new UDO album which may or may not be released some time in spring.
The whole way this is done shows that Udo and his management have no respect for their fans and the fact that it is apparently working shows that they're probably right.
The result? I for one can't take the guy serious anymore and feel even more certain in my appreciation of the new Accept line-up. And I am feeling angry and misanthropic, hating a large number of anonymous people out there. Which makes not much sense and should best not be questioned to much.
Anyway, just wanted to get this off my chest.
Right now I just can't be bothered to find a link to the video, but it is on youtube if you really want to watch it, although I definitely don't recommend it.
It's a badly performed thrashy version of Jingle Bells with the chorus and main riff of Balls to the Wall stuck on at the end, still badly performed. Yes, it makes no sense apart from providing the weak joke for the title and allowing Udo Dirkschneider to scream a bit for charity. This really pisses me off to no end.
Why does he lend his name and credibility (or whatever is left of it) to such a crappy project?
For charity, the proceeds go to Peta after all.
But is this reason enough to rape one of the greatest (or at least most famous) songs in the history of german heavy metal?
I don't think so. And don't even get me started on the fact that people in this country think it is funny. It is not, damnit! It is unoriginal, bad performance being used to start the advertisement for the new UDO album which may or may not be released some time in spring.
The whole way this is done shows that Udo and his management have no respect for their fans and the fact that it is apparently working shows that they're probably right.
The result? I for one can't take the guy serious anymore and feel even more certain in my appreciation of the new Accept line-up. And I am feeling angry and misanthropic, hating a large number of anonymous people out there. Which makes not much sense and should best not be questioned to much.
Anyway, just wanted to get this off my chest.
Mittwoch, 8. Dezember 2010
Concerning Europe
I am not exactly a well informed and well educated person, where politics are concerned. Especially the finer points of diplomacy and international relations are completely lost on me.
But the discussions surrounding the european currency and by extend the european union as a whole over the last year make me ashamed to be german.
Everyone who thinks that helping those european countries in financieal difficulties is wrong is stupid, plain and simple.
Even worse, there are a growing number of people who think that the Euro as a currency was a bad idea and that we should go back to the good old Deutsche Mark. Now I know that there are always idiots proclaiming what ever bullshit just came into their empty heads, but what really frightens me is the sheer number of people following that particular idiocy and the ammount of publicity they get.
Personally I have profited from the common currency numberless times, in small and insignificant ways, like not having to change money and being able to buy stuff in other countries without any hassle.
Of course, this is no big deal and with credit cards, services like PayPal and other cool things brought to us by the modern times this would have even been possible with different systems of money (after all, I buy stuff in England or the USA). But let's face it, the rates of exchange for the DM would have been nothing like those for the Euro over the last couple of years.
Putting my narrow viewpoint aside, the common currency for all of Europe has been a great thing for our economy and thereby also for all people living and working in that economy. At least it should have been.
What we see now, however, is the reaction of small-minded people who behave as if they have gotten nothing out of the deal but now have to pay for the great living their neighbours had over the last ten years. And our political leaders do nothing to change this opinion, even further these sentiments.
This is very dangerous indeed and in my view shows a general lack of farsight, vision and will to work for the best of our country (as if any further proof was needed that our politicians mostly work for themselves and not for us).
What this all comes down to is the fact that most germans don't see the Euro and by extend the EU as a good thing. For a country that has profited largely from both, this is remarkable and merits a closer look. Why do so few people see the good Euro and EU have brought us?
There are several reasons, I think, some more obvious, some less and all not proven and completely my personal opinion.
The first reason is the lack of communication between Europe and its countries and citicens. Nothing new there, but it must be repeated, until maybe some day someone does something about it.
The EU does reglement a large part of our life, but no one explains to us (the citicens), why this is so. This leads to a lack of understanding for the EU and the low participation in european elections. To be fair, not everything decided by the EU is good for everyone, but if no one knows what those in charge are doing, no one can make his opinion heard until it is too late.
Europa needs to ramp up its advertisement with its own citicens sooner than later, telling them, why it is a good idea to be in the EU and what this EU is all about.
The second reason for the feeling that the Euro as a currency has not helped our economy might be the fact that most of the benefits reaped by the companies are not passed on to their employees, so they don't know how good the common currency has been for them (or at least their employers). This touches on another subject I'm even less qualified to talk about, so I'll leave it at that.
Now, the job of any good political leader in such a time would be to communicate the benefits of Europa and the Euro to the people, explaining to them, why it is not only important, but also morally correct to help the other partners in this community of states. But our politicians sacrifice all this for small-time gains in the race for the next election, not thinking of the future, or if htey do, not acting according to their thoughts.
But come to think of it, why should I expect any german to understand why it is necessary and right to help the irish or greek, when most of them not even understood why it would be a good idea to help their own countrymen after 1990?
Ok, trying to come to some point after this incoherent rambling, I can only say that I am fully supporting anything that needs to be done to make the EU and the Euro secure and further break down the barriers between the different states in this union. And I am pissed off to no end by the way our "leaders" handle the current situation.
But the discussions surrounding the european currency and by extend the european union as a whole over the last year make me ashamed to be german.
Everyone who thinks that helping those european countries in financieal difficulties is wrong is stupid, plain and simple.
Even worse, there are a growing number of people who think that the Euro as a currency was a bad idea and that we should go back to the good old Deutsche Mark. Now I know that there are always idiots proclaiming what ever bullshit just came into their empty heads, but what really frightens me is the sheer number of people following that particular idiocy and the ammount of publicity they get.
Personally I have profited from the common currency numberless times, in small and insignificant ways, like not having to change money and being able to buy stuff in other countries without any hassle.
Of course, this is no big deal and with credit cards, services like PayPal and other cool things brought to us by the modern times this would have even been possible with different systems of money (after all, I buy stuff in England or the USA). But let's face it, the rates of exchange for the DM would have been nothing like those for the Euro over the last couple of years.
Putting my narrow viewpoint aside, the common currency for all of Europe has been a great thing for our economy and thereby also for all people living and working in that economy. At least it should have been.
What we see now, however, is the reaction of small-minded people who behave as if they have gotten nothing out of the deal but now have to pay for the great living their neighbours had over the last ten years. And our political leaders do nothing to change this opinion, even further these sentiments.
This is very dangerous indeed and in my view shows a general lack of farsight, vision and will to work for the best of our country (as if any further proof was needed that our politicians mostly work for themselves and not for us).
What this all comes down to is the fact that most germans don't see the Euro and by extend the EU as a good thing. For a country that has profited largely from both, this is remarkable and merits a closer look. Why do so few people see the good Euro and EU have brought us?
There are several reasons, I think, some more obvious, some less and all not proven and completely my personal opinion.
The first reason is the lack of communication between Europe and its countries and citicens. Nothing new there, but it must be repeated, until maybe some day someone does something about it.
The EU does reglement a large part of our life, but no one explains to us (the citicens), why this is so. This leads to a lack of understanding for the EU and the low participation in european elections. To be fair, not everything decided by the EU is good for everyone, but if no one knows what those in charge are doing, no one can make his opinion heard until it is too late.
Europa needs to ramp up its advertisement with its own citicens sooner than later, telling them, why it is a good idea to be in the EU and what this EU is all about.
The second reason for the feeling that the Euro as a currency has not helped our economy might be the fact that most of the benefits reaped by the companies are not passed on to their employees, so they don't know how good the common currency has been for them (or at least their employers). This touches on another subject I'm even less qualified to talk about, so I'll leave it at that.
Now, the job of any good political leader in such a time would be to communicate the benefits of Europa and the Euro to the people, explaining to them, why it is not only important, but also morally correct to help the other partners in this community of states. But our politicians sacrifice all this for small-time gains in the race for the next election, not thinking of the future, or if htey do, not acting according to their thoughts.
But come to think of it, why should I expect any german to understand why it is necessary and right to help the irish or greek, when most of them not even understood why it would be a good idea to help their own countrymen after 1990?
Ok, trying to come to some point after this incoherent rambling, I can only say that I am fully supporting anything that needs to be done to make the EU and the Euro secure and further break down the barriers between the different states in this union. And I am pissed off to no end by the way our "leaders" handle the current situation.
Dienstag, 7. Dezember 2010
Hello Again!
Here I am. Again. For the third time, if my spotty memory serves. Why do I start this collection of random thoughts (read rants) again?
A good question and one I'll answer, even if no one asks it.
The point of a blog (at least for me) seems to be to put ones opinion out in the digital world, so that prospective employers, friends, enemies and vagely interested people can read them and use them to their own purposes. Ever helpful as I am, I can no longer keep from doing exactly that. The other thing I have come to terms with over the years is the fact that I am a very angry person, constantly on the fence about something and thereby annoying the people that actually have to live with my physical presence in their vicinity. So I thought, it might actually help those people (see, I told you, I'm helpful) if I took my rants on the internet, where they will probably be drowned out by all the other people ranting about whatever comes into their minds.
So the purpose of this blog will be to collect my unfounded opinions about whatever I get worked up about. I'll try to keep it in english, to baffle those of my friends, enemies and prospective employers that don't speak and read it and to make it understandable for more people at the same time. I might lapse into german on occasion, when I'm ranting about decidedly german topics, but I'll use labels to make it easy to filter posts by language.
So far, so good, so what?
Until (hopefully) next time
Raf
A good question and one I'll answer, even if no one asks it.
The point of a blog (at least for me) seems to be to put ones opinion out in the digital world, so that prospective employers, friends, enemies and vagely interested people can read them and use them to their own purposes. Ever helpful as I am, I can no longer keep from doing exactly that. The other thing I have come to terms with over the years is the fact that I am a very angry person, constantly on the fence about something and thereby annoying the people that actually have to live with my physical presence in their vicinity. So I thought, it might actually help those people (see, I told you, I'm helpful) if I took my rants on the internet, where they will probably be drowned out by all the other people ranting about whatever comes into their minds.
So the purpose of this blog will be to collect my unfounded opinions about whatever I get worked up about. I'll try to keep it in english, to baffle those of my friends, enemies and prospective employers that don't speak and read it and to make it understandable for more people at the same time. I might lapse into german on occasion, when I'm ranting about decidedly german topics, but I'll use labels to make it easy to filter posts by language.
So far, so good, so what?
Until (hopefully) next time
Raf
Abonnieren
Posts (Atom)