A Time-Traveling Downtimer Becomes Your Roommate. How Do You Help Them Adapt?
Jan 28, 2021 21:53:05 GMT
Post by Zyobot on Jan 28, 2021 21:53:05 GMT
In the miscellaneous ISOT scenarios we like to discuss, a common theme that drives the story is the stark values dissonance between downtimers and uptimers. Considering how removed their respective values and frames of reference are from one another, it's no stretch to argue that people taken from different times and places would judge the other side uncharitably and clench their teeth when forced to work together. In many cases, this underprops the plot directly, such as disputes over who owns the legal rights to some future content or how far uptimers should go in forcibly "enlightening" downtimers who have a laundry list of dated practices. Slavery, human sacrifice, cruel and unusual punishment, the list goes on--and never stops growing as history continues its march forwards.
Though it happens on a far smaller scale and is structured so that they have no power to change things, the same basic principles apply to cases in which either individual or small groups of downtimers are sent to the future and become reliant on uptimers to help them navigate it. Furthermore, since it's no exception and makes for an interesting subtopic in any case, what would you personally do if ASB compelled you to host a downtimer (or few) as your roommate--specifically in regards to helping them adapt to modern life, as well as describing how we got to the point we're at since their time?
Obviously, exact answers will vary depending on when and where the downtimer(s) in question comes from; some high schooler from the 1985 will, on average, likely have more of the "prerequisite knowledge" needed to make sense of the twenty-first century than a Medieval serf who's never learned to read and is mainly concerned with the welfare of themselves and their village, rather than global affairs at large. One side effect of that participants might take advantage of is that, assuming the ASB allows them to pick the time and place your guest is from, they won't have to teach them much and can leave them to figure the rest out by themselves (i.e. plucking someone from 2011 and having them browse the internet for answers). However, since ASB doesn't want to be too constraining with their ground rules, they'll also have participants take on a series of roommates from disparate periods--up to and including the distant past--so that the side effect mentioned earlier doesn't become a cheap get-out-of-jail card they can always play. This means that even if participants host a downtimer from 2001 before seeing them off, they'll also be asked to host white-collar professionals from 1960, runaway slaves who escaped to the North in 1845, and/or Greco-Roman students with semi-decent English skills, just as one example.
With that out of the way, let us proceed.
Thank you in advance,
Zyobot
Though it happens on a far smaller scale and is structured so that they have no power to change things, the same basic principles apply to cases in which either individual or small groups of downtimers are sent to the future and become reliant on uptimers to help them navigate it. Furthermore, since it's no exception and makes for an interesting subtopic in any case, what would you personally do if ASB compelled you to host a downtimer (or few) as your roommate--specifically in regards to helping them adapt to modern life, as well as describing how we got to the point we're at since their time?
Obviously, exact answers will vary depending on when and where the downtimer(s) in question comes from; some high schooler from the 1985 will, on average, likely have more of the "prerequisite knowledge" needed to make sense of the twenty-first century than a Medieval serf who's never learned to read and is mainly concerned with the welfare of themselves and their village, rather than global affairs at large. One side effect of that participants might take advantage of is that, assuming the ASB allows them to pick the time and place your guest is from, they won't have to teach them much and can leave them to figure the rest out by themselves (i.e. plucking someone from 2011 and having them browse the internet for answers). However, since ASB doesn't want to be too constraining with their ground rules, they'll also have participants take on a series of roommates from disparate periods--up to and including the distant past--so that the side effect mentioned earlier doesn't become a cheap get-out-of-jail card they can always play. This means that even if participants host a downtimer from 2001 before seeing them off, they'll also be asked to host white-collar professionals from 1960, runaway slaves who escaped to the North in 1845, and/or Greco-Roman students with semi-decent English skills, just as one example.
With that out of the way, let us proceed.
Thank you in advance,
Zyobot