magicaddict: (B&W 2)
Doug Millington-Smith ([personal profile] magicaddict) wrote2013-04-16 11:32 am

As I'm Not Allowed To Be This Divisive On The Boards...

...I'll say it here.

Out of interest, what's it going to take? A broken limb? Someone being knocked unconscious? Brain damage?

Or just someone more influential's eye almost being put out?

We are, as a society, not safe enough with our fighting. We need a strategy to improve it across the board, from the most experienced players to the least, and we need it now. Simply assuming people will know what to do from five minutes of conversation and thirty seconds of practical demonstration, then being shocked and shouting at them when they demonstrate they don't, is not enough. It's being demonstrated over and over again.

I am not willing to wait until someone is permanently blinded before climbing on my soapbox. It's everyone's responsibility, it's everyone's lookout, and positive action needs to be taken, not dragging of feet at the prospect of actually having to do something, or indignance at the idea that you might be part of the problem. I am, and you are too. We all bloody well are. Get over it.

Safety workshops and weapons practice is one idea, and I think it has merit. I also think it should be mandatory until you can demonstrate that with each weapon type, in a range of different situations, you aren't going to have a brain fart that causes someone else to collapse while clutching something important of theirs. I also think that until you can demonstrate this, what right do you have to be swinging what has, over the past twelve months, proven to the world and their spouse to be a weapon perfectly capable of doing really unpleasant damage to the human body when wielded unsafely?

I don't care that I'm crap, I just want to be safe. Sign me up, every day until I am accepted as good enough not to hurt other people.

Anyone else? Any other ideas?
xanthipe: (violet)

[personal profile] xanthipe 2013-04-16 11:19 am (UTC)(link)
You also need to take into account, as the above has said, that people don't defend as well as they should 'because it's not a real weapon' and because they're not trained to react right.

There is just as much truth in the idea that people need to be aware of how to dodge or parry, how not to stand so their head is the prime target of wild swings, how to react sensibly if someone runs in from the edge of vision - and I'm trying to get that organised, but I'm not going to be able to do much until June because, y'know, wedding and shit.

And our terrain is lethal, but I love it anyway.
xanthipe: (violet)

[personal profile] xanthipe 2013-04-16 11:41 am (UTC)(link)
Also, we've already had broken bones, and brain damage might not be noticed.

[identity profile] magicaddict.livejournal.com 2013-04-16 12:30 pm (UTC)(link)
Also, I love our site because it's lethal. If I can stand up and fight safely on our site, I can trip the light fantastic round anywhere else.