As you all know by now, the academic year at EC has begun (with a bang)! Ernesto and I woke up this morning to a very long and complicated Jeffrey lecture, went to lunch, and found that we completely missed the student organization activity fair. So far so good, eh? In light of the situation, however, we felt bad, so we sat down to eat and began brainstorming about the future of MAWGS and gaming-related events. The discussion made us realize a few things about the organization...
1. To us, MAWGS has always been, and always will be our very tight-knit group of friends. And the majority of those in the group have graduated. Unfortunately, this makes recruitment a bit difficult, as our group is close and hard to get into.
2. Additionally, there is some confusion about the meaning of the acronym "MAWGS". For a while, I think we were the Movie and Weekend Gaming Society, then after checking the offical tag written by SGA, we were the Movie and Weekend Gamers Society. But last year, I'm pretty sure we included Anime... so we were the Movie, Anime, & Gaming Society? Did "M" ever stand for "midnight"?! Either way, after reflecting on past events, we realized there really wasn't too much Movie-ing or Anime-ing going on. Perhaps we need to come up with something more universal.
Considering these things, here are a few goals we need to consider:
First, we want to keep our current circle of friends tight, and not easily invaded.
Second, we want the campus organization grow and reach out to meet new people.
Third, we want the organization to be passed down to new generations of gamers.
Fourth, we want a more accurate direction and name for the organization.
Fifth, we want an welcoming and active organization that meets regularly, creates events and tournaments, has posters and flyers, is recognized by SGA, and provides fun and entertainment for all.
PROPOSAL! (OPEN FOR DISCUSSION)
Ernesto, Emad, and I came up with this idea. We we thinking about changing the name of the campus organization to GEEC. This would be beneficial for a few reasons. First, the name would be more focused. We would be the Gamers Elite of Elmhurst College. It's a very simple name, and people would know what our primary focus is. Obviously, we would still welcome movies and anime should the interest arise. Also, we would be able to play off the whole "Greek" thing... (Instead of "Greek Life", we could advertise "GEEC life".) Plus, it would be a very smooth transition considering we already have a facebook group with several members.
This is not a proposal for the destruction of MAWGS, however. On the contrary, we should keep the two organizations separate! As I mentioned previously, MAWGS has always been our circle of friends, and we could still keep it that way. GEEC would simply be the active campus organization that is open to all, while MAWGS will forever be our friendly home that isn't affiliated with the college. Also, GEEC could serve as a gateway into MAWGS--for the people that we truly like and want to integrate into the family. Plus! This allows for more administration! I believe that the majority of MAWGS members feel that our founder, Pete, could still lead on with MAWGS, while GEEC is passed down at EC.
There would be a couple cons, though. First, we would be organizing "GEEC" events, and the MAWGS name would not be passed down. This is sad... Also, there would be some issues removing the Movie and Anime from the name... though it wasn't a strong part of the organization in the past, we don't want people to think that we are limiting events to strictly video games.
Anyway! Please give me your thoughts!!! A decision needs to be made!
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To me, MAWGS has always been about inviting EC to come together and game. Our circle of friends have adapted the name to refer to ourselves, but the organization itself was always open. We made quite a few recruiting efforts in the past and so I do not see it as elitest. We've only been elite in the sense that our circle of friends were regular members and therefore did more things together. We had other MAWGS attendees that were not part of our circle that still did MAWGS events -- such as Zmuda, Alison, Nick M., Nick Lanzo, or belt-stealer.
ReplyDeleteI believe that we've only been calling recent outings as "MAWGS" outings because we are regular attendees and are in contact. New members would not hinder this as I think there are a few of us who would appreciate new faces.
As for the lack of movies or anime as a blueprint for the future of MAWGS, I offer a thought. Anime did not come into MAWGS until a couple years after it began. Just as it came, it can leave, and come again. If neither of you feel like movies or anime are things you are personally interested in -- you may want to keep in mind that the future of MAWGS may want to embark on it.
If, however, you feel strongly that it is something that should no longer be a part of what was MAWGS, that is also your decision to make.
The changing of the name and the removal of movies/anime is the destruction of MAWGS at EC. It has always been an organization meant for the college, regardless of how we slang the name to our group of friends. We fall into the group, but the group does not fall into us -- which is where I think the confusion is.
In any case, it simply would not be MAWGS, it would be GEEC (which I do think is a catchy name). It really would not be "carrying MAWGS to future generations" (which was my thoughts of what was going to happen this year) it would be creating a new organization. And if that were the case, what would really happen is the name would change and the MAWGS funds would be used to start the new organization to save some approval trouble -- which is fine, because MAWGS wouldn't exist anyway. Sounds depressing though, doesn't it?
There are, however, other ways to approach this -- as Emad has pointed out to me. You could be "GEEC Powered by MAWGS" or something of that nature.
I'd deny the proposal if it were up to me, but the truth of the matter is that it's not up to me. And you guys should do what you'll enjoy doing. Don't stick with the name because a bunch of vets want it to be so -- you're the ones going to do all the work for it. Regardless of what happens, I'll be at your events gaming it up and 0wning you nubs.
MAWGS at EC isn't going be destroyed, that sounds so dramatic. I think changing the name to GEEC will merely act as a gateway to get more gamers to join us. It's catchier, to-the-point, and will prevent us from misleading people. I'd hate to tell people who come over for Anime/Movies that we don't have any for them to watch.
ReplyDeleteThink of GEEC as a social filter. We'll (hopefully) get a bunch of randoms and start picking out the douches (there's always someone who likes kenshin... wait lol <3). MAWGS' #1 and only rule remains.
Also, MAWGS IS elitist. It is very rare for us to find someone new, and when we do they'll either steal our belts or instantly hate the organization thanks to Emad bashing. I <3 Emad don't get me wrong, but I'd definitely like to tone certain things down, like the Facebook group descriptions and such.
But yeah, I really wanna hear what everyone has to say about it. My personal opinion is that I would like to see the name change but I wouldn't really mind if it didn't.
Ehem, ok here goes. First off, I like to say that I'm very impressed with the club gusto you guys are having. I know MAWGS (or whatever name you use) wasn't really the ideal club (or environment) from the start so I'm very pleased to see someone take initiative to keep it alive.
ReplyDeleteBack to the topic at hand though, first off I want to say that I'm not opposed in the slightest to the name change. Essentially the name only came about on an acronym hunt in the first place, and I'm glad it lasted this long. The "movie" part of the name was honestly the downfall MAWGS early days with our (unintentionally) viewing some less then appropriate movies. As fresh as GEEC is, I'm worried that the definition projects a further distancing from casual or enthusiast gamers (ones of the slightly less then 'elite' nature). Granted I understand there are very few idealistic names out there for a gaming club that don't sound snooty in some way. The name change though should be beneficial by allowing you guys a nice fresh start for the MAWGS image and hopefully pull back some early adopters that may have been scared off or confused by what we did. If you guys come to terms with name I say go with it, don't bother getting the consent of the rest of us or there will be some usual social unrest in MAWGS prime and honestly it doesn't directly effect us anyhow imho.
I know I'm usually pretty nostagic so I tend to cling to what's old, known, and comfortable, but we've got our nice group built up from my years in school. I guess what I'm trying to say is that the club is in your (Rob and Ernesto's) capable hands, and its up to you how you want to enjoy it. I'll harbor not a single shred of ill will if you guys change everything or nothing. I'm just grateful that the club made it this far as more then just an organized way for me to buy 4 video games a year =P.
A nice thought for moving forward might be to find a new place to hold the meetings. The one advantage I always saw of Online Athletes over MAWGS was that they had it in a more public, and accessible, location. Since someone like myself who isn't terribly interested in jumping through hoops (or phones) to get into North Hall wouldn't find out that the club is cool unless someone else tells them. But if more randoms find out the word-of-mouth spreads like wildfire and you'll get geeks/ettes in no time.
When you guys build a sweet gaming headquarters and get your first 100 members invite me over I'll give a speech or something =P. Kudos and best of luck to you guys. If you need any help big or small, lemme know. If anything I can at least provide retrogames or trivia =P.
-Pete
P.S. - Just one final suggestion if you can avoid it try not to make a brand new club. Since if you do you'll have to be on probation and whatnot for at least a full year and I know that'll hinder funding and other activity possibilities. Unless of course you branch into making 2 clubs... Just a thought though.
P.P.S. The name was originally Movie and Weekend Gaming Society, nothing midnight though w/Anime psuedo-added in later before 'and', yes I know that's awful and I'm OK with it, haha.
I'm sad to say that everyone seems to have forgotten one of the founding members and coolest people alive... PLUFF!
ReplyDeleteHeh anyways, i don't think the name change is a good thing, pete had good points about it. MAWGS could be the group name and our group of friends could be referred to as MAWGS elite or whatever. Who knows, but i like the mawgs name personally. It was a good club and i think its history should continue. oh well, that's my 2 cents. Peace