[OSList] The OST Game

[paul levy]

Harrison...

"Open the gates! Open the gates!" Baron Munchhausen



On Monday, 14 October 2013, Harrison Owen wrote:

> Paul – I was a little short on the last response. Sorry. But I really did
> mean it. Thanks! As for Temple Bells and walking counter-clockwise... I
> like the bells, but haven’t used them in some years, mostly because I
> forgot to bring them (senile dementia?) – but it all seems to work. As for
> the counter-clockwise business. That one has me confused. I guess I usually
> got to my right? But that may be because I am marginally dominant in my
> right hand? Just confused? But I am left handed... double confused?? Anyhow
> – always good to push the boundaries. And Thanks again.****
>
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> Harrison****
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> Harrison Owen****
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> *From:* oslist-bounces at lists.openspacetech.org <javascript:_e({}, 'cvml',
> 'oslist-bounces at lists.openspacetech.org');> [mailto:
> oslist-bounces at lists.openspacetech.org <javascript:_e({}, 'cvml',
> 'oslist-bounces at lists.openspacetech.org');>] *On Behalf Of *paul levy
> *Sent:* Monday, October 14, 2013 4:48 PM
> *To:* World wide Open Space Technology email list
> *Subject:* Re: [OSList] The OST Game****
>
> ** **
>
> Harrison ****
>
> ** **
>
> Whatever you experienced as OST when it first escaped has largely become a
> game. A game of training. A game of "go back to base and read the manual".
> Even you play a regular game on here as one of the elders who keep
> defending OST against change (oh yes you do). It's become a game with a
> book of instructions with bells, anti-clockwise circle walking and "rules".
> That's a shame and, thankfully, fairly pointless as it keeps on escaping in
> different and lovely ways anyway.****
>
> ** **
>
> Now, opening space, that's something really worth trying... ****
>
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>
> (Waits as the usual elders line up to deliver their wise pronouncements)...
> ****
>
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> So it goes.****
>
> ** **
>
> Paul Levy****
>
> ** **
>
>
>
> On Monday, 14 October 2013, Harrison Owen wrote:****
>
> A marvelous conversation... and I have been absent a bit for a good cause,
> I hope. I have been doing my homework, reading all the assigned material
> about broken reality and culture hacking. Interesting journey! And along
> the way I came upon an odd realization – I really just don’t like games!
> Seems it had something to do with early childhood trauma... my mother just
> loved games, and she would beat me unmercifully. Oh well. Unfortunately
> that aversion carried on into my adult life, particularly as it related to
> the so called Group Dynamics games that we were all supposed to play prior
> to serious discussion. Seems like you just couldn’t have an adult
> interchange without some “warm-up” to break the ice. Or so they said.
> Really bugged me. I just couldn’t believe that consenting adults could not
> communicate without some elaborate foreplay – funny tools drawn from the
> omnipresent Facilitator’s Tool Box.****
>
>  ****
>
> So much for my inherent pathology and prejudices, but there may be
> something of a positive outcome. I simply had to believe that given
> reasonable conditions, human beings could sit down and talk productively
> with each other – all by themselves. As adults. It did take two martinis to
> get me there... but “there” was (guess what) Open Space.  We have been
> doing that ever since, and it turns out that children do just as well. ***
> *
>
>  ****
>
> What may have started as childish rebellion (against Mother, Facilitators,
> etc) has only gotten worse. With increasing age and experience it has
> become clearer and clearer that the less I do the better things work. It is
> not that I have no agency or contribution, but it does turn out that the
> ambient wisdom and capacity of the individuals and groups that I am
> privileged to interact with so vastly exceeds my own that I would do very
> well to fold my hands and shut my mouth. Anything else has me working much
> too hard, and generally messing things up... Such are the eye glasses
> through which I view my world. Distorted perhaps, and different for sure,
> but I’m stuck with it. And it is through those glasses that I read my
> assignments, beginning with “Reality is Broken.” ****
>
>  ****
>
> Jane McGonigal weaves a fascinating tale of the strange (to me) world of
> Game Makers, Gaming, and Gamers. I can certainly understand why she has
> created a stir, and I applaud her massive research and clear prose. That
> said, my reaction was close to horror, and the thought that the world and
> techniques she describes should become a model and a means to fix our world
> was pretty close to terror. Doubtless much of this can be ascribed to my
> aforementioned phobia – but I suspect that others might share such
> feelings. Two points stand out in my mind—Gaming is addictive, a point she
> develops in infinite detail, and secondly that good Game Makers actually
> capitalize on this phenomen
>
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