The Fractured Riichi Community
I am sorry to say: The riichi community is fractured. This is natural due to three main reasons: Geography, Circumstance, and Personalities.
People in different areas tend to group together. Anyone outside that group is viewed as a stranger. Our response to "stranger danger" differs from person-to-person. The variance falls on our ability to be welcoming or not. This is assuming people of one language. The natural barrier stems from people of different languages. That's a whole different set of separation altogether.
I learned to be welcoming. For the sake of my own club, I cannot afford not to be. As long as a person plays mahjong, then the player is welcome unless there is a reason not to be. If a person is new or visiting, it is best to get a game together and know the person a bit as possible.
What about the Internet? Here, geography is irrelevant, as we are capable of interacting with anyone on Earth at any given time. Well, we are fractured here too.
Most cases, people are unaware of each other. No person is aware of everyone at any time. It's impossible. We are naturally subdivided in groups due to time and circumstance. After all, the Internet is vast with all the data and the different online communities. This is exacerbated with Discord, as individuals have the ability to "create their own" communities. Thus, they do and why not? It is a freedom, that we enjoy.
Even in the Internet, I observe the notion of "stranger danger", as I have the tendency to know (or try to know) everyone in my group. I do not require names or personal information. I just need to be able to identify everyone in some way; and whether or not they can function within the group. Some individuals are simply not worth interacting with.
This brings us to a very toxic point. People do separate from one another, even after some initial communication. This is heavily due to personalities. People have different approaches and views. This leads to disagreement and misunderstanding. Everyone operates in different ways; and they frequently clash. This is true everywhere.
Regardless of everything, the riichi community will never be unified. The various differences simply get in the way. Yet, we all have one thing in common, we play mahjong and more specifically the Japanese form of it. At the very least, this makes it possible for individuals see a group of mahjong players to sit down and play, if possible and allowable. So, the mechanism to bring people together is there. It just takes some effort.
Finally, everyone should just play mahjong and not care about all the differences. At the end, we generally play the same game.
People in different areas tend to group together. Anyone outside that group is viewed as a stranger. Our response to "stranger danger" differs from person-to-person. The variance falls on our ability to be welcoming or not. This is assuming people of one language. The natural barrier stems from people of different languages. That's a whole different set of separation altogether.
I learned to be welcoming. For the sake of my own club, I cannot afford not to be. As long as a person plays mahjong, then the player is welcome unless there is a reason not to be. If a person is new or visiting, it is best to get a game together and know the person a bit as possible.
What about the Internet? Here, geography is irrelevant, as we are capable of interacting with anyone on Earth at any given time. Well, we are fractured here too.
Most cases, people are unaware of each other. No person is aware of everyone at any time. It's impossible. We are naturally subdivided in groups due to time and circumstance. After all, the Internet is vast with all the data and the different online communities. This is exacerbated with Discord, as individuals have the ability to "create their own" communities. Thus, they do and why not? It is a freedom, that we enjoy.
Even in the Internet, I observe the notion of "stranger danger", as I have the tendency to know (or try to know) everyone in my group. I do not require names or personal information. I just need to be able to identify everyone in some way; and whether or not they can function within the group. Some individuals are simply not worth interacting with.
This brings us to a very toxic point. People do separate from one another, even after some initial communication. This is heavily due to personalities. People have different approaches and views. This leads to disagreement and misunderstanding. Everyone operates in different ways; and they frequently clash. This is true everywhere.
Regardless of everything, the riichi community will never be unified. The various differences simply get in the way. Yet, we all have one thing in common, we play mahjong and more specifically the Japanese form of it. At the very least, this makes it possible for individuals see a group of mahjong players to sit down and play, if possible and allowable. So, the mechanism to bring people together is there. It just takes some effort.
Finally, everyone should just play mahjong and not care about all the differences. At the end, we generally play the same game.
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