I took a look at my NaNo labeled posts, and truthfully, I'm surprised there aren't more. My first post was in 2009. I think I've done the challenge five or six times. I know I've completed the 50K words four times. What's sad is that all the history of my work has disappeared from the NaNo site.
I was chatting with another writer on NaNo the other day and she was reminiscing about old school NaNo. I remember it well. That first time I did it (2007 see here for proof!), the national site was just opening up. I think it might have been the second year. The site was very bare-bones. There was a profile home page, a chat room or two, and a place to paste your document to get your word count verified.
That was the only award or way to "win." You got to 50K words and you "won" the challenge and got a silly certificate that said, "you're a winner." I remember thinking "that's it?" I remember thinking that "winning" didn't have much value if it was so easy to cheat.
The other day I was talking about generational differences in our society over the years that might have contributed to the social unrest we see. This is an interesting crew I was talking to as one worked as a cop for many years and still works for the government in security. (Funnily enough, he and I served in the exact same platoon in the Rangers! . . . just separated by 3 years). The other person in the discussion group is a professor in academia. So his views are far different. We discussed that this is the result of an "everyone gets a trophy" mentality.
I look at the NaNo site and WOW can you ever see that! Now, not only is the "winning" of the challenge undervalued, but you can add dozens of other free "achievements" and "badges" to your profile. You want to feel good about your writing? Don't worry about writing 50K words, just give yourself a badge for "signing in" or for being an "outliner." Not an outliner? Give yourself a badge for "Working without a net." Want both? Sure!
Its gotten only more ridiculous and meaningless over time. I think that's apropos when discussing the social unreset we see too. But then again, perhaps I'm an old fuddy duddy.
2 comments:
I once heard a recruit telling an RSM that "It's not the winning that counts, it's the taking part"
Once the recruit had finished doubling around the parade ground with his rifle at the high-port (do you have that in the US? It's held above your head in the "I'm wading through deep water and need to keep my weapon dry" position) and he'd got past the massive amount of p*ss taking from the rest of his intake, a valuable lesson was learned.
It's the winning that counts. But giving it yoiur absolute best and keeoping on going until you are utterly spent is a close second. Just don't whinge about it.
Look at schools which are banning competetive sports because if there's a winner then someone has to lose. And crap like NanNo badges for just turning up.
Badge suggestions.
Memory meister: "Yay - you remembered your password!"
Word weaver - "Awesome! You found a foreign word to use!"
Benedict Arnold - "Hmm, you changed the direction of your story halfway through."
etc...
yes, port arms and high port arms is certainly something we had and had to do. There was quite a bit of running round doing insane exercises in my military life as well. I was wondering what the results of this post might be, I'm glad it resonated with you. I saw an article the other day that "shark attacks" would no longer be uses on new recruits entering the military. A shark attack is when all of the drill sergeants scream at once at a recruit, giving them countering orders and all expecting their orders to be followed at once. It's supposed to help the recruit focus their minds. I know when we did live fire ranges, we would sometimes include stress fires, sergeants yelling and making us do exercises while shooting and maneuvering. Again, it's supposed to help deal with stress and focus the mind. I'm stunned that even the military is finding a way to soften the edges. I could expect it from NaNo, but not the military. Thanks for reading and commenting. It's good to hear your thoughts.
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