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Published by The Amador Vampyre on the 18th of July 2017Role Players In The Vampire Community:
My Reaction To “A Brief Interlude: Why It Might Be Time to Abandon the Masquerade”
As I started reading A Brief Interlude LINK, it suddenly occurred to me that so many of us in the Vampire Community have our opinions... and that we’re very loud about them. For those of us who are vocal, we each speak as if our observations or perceptions are the correct ones–or at least, valid enough to be given serious consideration by the masses that we share them with.
Do all of our opinions on each matter hold the same weight? Yes, no and maybe. I think that we should consider how the individual is ACTUALLY interacting with and in the Vampire Community.
Let’s be honest. How much weight does my word hold? I almost exclusively interact online. I have my little blog page. I have and participate in a handful of online groups. I have my friends and colleagues in the community. If I have an opinion, insight or vote in any matter which involves or concerns other members of the Vampire Community... how much influence do I REALLY have?
Which lines do I stand behind?
Do I have the right to vote on anything involving Houses that I never visit, public events that I never attend, nightclubs that I never go to or ANYTHING concerning other members of the Vampire Community that I will never interact with on a face-to-face basis?
Well...
It seems that we’re all constantly putting in our two cents about policy. So, if everyone else is doing it... so will I. Even if I will never interact with the majority of the members of the GVC, maybe my offering my observations on the activities of our various aspects of the Community might be helpful to some of those that hear it. Even when it might be seen as a negative opinion about keeping divisions between particular types of members.
Why do some of us want to make the distinction between Role Players and Modern Living Vampires, anyway? Why don't we just hang out in the same clubs, go to the same events and just stop making separation between any of us in the Vampire Community?
Practical reasons.
Psychic Vampires... just like energy workers, magicians and psychics... want to discern between actual non-physical events and perceptions and that which WE would consider purely "imaginary". At base level, we are already working with a handicap–we need to be even more cautious with the tools with which we observe and measure our non-physical experiences, because they are fallible and easy to misuse, if we do not take extra care in our collection of data. Psychic Vampires are noting past personal experiences, current experiences and even conducting our experiments with energy and psychic phenomena. What we consider "purely imaginary" are those activities which are completely occurring ONLY on the mental level, without affecting any or having corresponding activity on the physical/etheric levels.
True Psychic Vampires notice the correspondences between internally/subjectively/ psychically perceived events and externally/objectively perceived phenomena. We see how one world affects the other. And we have enough personal justification to keep observing the world, this way.
We wish to share information with others who are having similar experiences and similar approaches in handling their personal observations... that is, with other Psychic Vampires and those who perceive reality in similar ways. There is something to be said for someone more experienced sharing their personal experience and history. Not that all advice will apply or be taken to heart... but, having someone share their actual psychic experience, as accurately depicted as possible, adds to one’s database of what is possible within their own experience.
Whether we are speaking of ourselves as a particular type of human or in terms of having an experience potential to all of humanity–when we speak of non-imaginary events, we are sharing information which could potentially be applicable to all others. When someone does not know or understand the distinction between the types of non-physical events AND they are speaking of imaginary events (mental level-only) as if they actually affected physical, etheric or psychic levels... when they did not... this information is misleading and adds false information to the database.
Role Players, by definition, deal with a fantasy or exaggerated accounts of possible events. They are not concerned with actual depictions of personal experience or accurate information regarding personal history. Role Players deal with a storyline, not anything that could be used in practical ways or anything that could be applied to someone’s life.
Given, there can be benefits to role playing. It can be entertaining. It can lead to stress relief or lead to elevated emotional states, which can later be transferred to real life or non-role play scenarios. However, role playing (especially, vampire role playing) is not always appropriate for all venues. Talking about being a 300-year-old immortal might be not be acceptable in Sunday Catholic mass services. Sharing how one supposedly bit into the neck of local callgirls might not be appropriate conversation over Thanksgiving turkey. There is a time and a place for all things.
Within the chatrooms of the Psychic Vampires, we exchange information that is relevant to those of us who perceive these psychic/energetic conditions which some of us are born with. The majority of us who are serious about exploring the psychic and astral realities of our conditions are more than happy to share whatever information we have. In addition, for those of us serious metaphysical students, we wish to collect and analyze information from others, as well. Role Players, by definition, do not deal with careful observation, perception and analysis. They deal with fictional storytelling. Their input into our collective database adds incorrect data, which is useless or misleading to those of us who want to work with our psychic perception and experiences in practical ways.
I often hear that our current version of the Modern Vampire Community has some roots in the Role Playing Vampire Scene–that it was through the Role Playing/Gaming scene that Real Modern Vampires met each other and divulged their real vampiric practices. There are references to the Role Playing/Gaming scene and Goth clubs as being integral to the formation of what we know as the modern Vampire subculture. Part of the support for this idea is that today, both the Role Playing scene and the Goth scene also double as gateways for the GVC, because of the overlap of members involved in all of the communities.
As far as networking goes, some of us more information-oriented members of the Community have much less interest (or at least, less focus) in the events scene. Clubs, balls and other social venues are great outlets to meet donors–both sang and psy, alike. However, for purposes of keeping our databases as close to accurate as we possibly can, we need to keep out those who are not having actual vampiric experiences This includes the need to feed and the benefits that come from that feeding. Role Players know that they are not actual sang or psychic feeders.
We no longer rely on Gaming and Club scenes as the only places to gather. The world has changed. We can respect the roles that the various venues have played in our history–but, with the internet, we connect and interact in completely different ways.
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This article is the property of
The Amador Vampyre (2017)
