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underaneonhalo
This will definitely be making an appearance in my game.

I believe that in the true spirit of nihilism the Nihilist Olympics should be held in a city where the actual Olympics aren't, probably at a different date as well. Of course there would have to be magical surprise events that aren't on the schedule, and even events that weren't put together by the organizers! The criteria for an event is that it must be pointless and/or utterly futile, points are awarded for style and whatever the judges feel like at the moment, and some participants may not even know they're competing in an event.

Sample event: making friends with nature
Competitors are given 30 minutes to find and make friends with an animal. Use of food is allowed, and devil rat musk will be available to those who are having trouble finding an animal. Medics will be standing by.

See, it's that easy, now let's see some ideas.
DUMPSHOCK GO!
Malicant
Hm, either I'm not getting the joke or I really don't know what nihilism is.
underaneonhalo
QUOTE (Malicant @ Mar 29 2008, 11:38 AM) *
Hm, either I'm not getting the joke or I really don't know what nihilism is.

Wikipedias article on nihilism

There's no joke to it, did you check out the link to the original nihilist olympics at the begining of the post? It was essentially a "hey wouldn't it be fun if..." idea that turned into a pretty large event. Some people did it as a statement, others as performance art, others because it sounded fun, and some for all the of the above. I just thought it would be fun to drop it into a game spin.gif
Larme
While Discordianism isn't the same as nihilism, I don't think any Nihilist Olympics would be complete without a "sink" event.

The rules: Sink anything into anything. Examples: sink rocks into mud, cities into yawning chasms in the earth, etc. Once you sink something, you must shout out "I sunk the [thing you just sunk]!" Points awarded for sinking the best thing into the best other thing. Failure to shout will result in disqualification.
Malicant
So, what's the connection between the Nihilist Olympics and Nihilism? Seriously, I fail to understand it. Weekend-brain-lazyness, I guess. indifferent.gif
All I see is a rebel without a cause, waving the flag of nihilism.

At least it gave me the opportunity to derail a thread right from the start. biggrin.gif
Larme
Umm, the whole idea behind nihilism is that there is no point. Don't start analyzing it, because there's nothing to analyze! Just go with the thread, or let it die peacefully, don't try to turn it into a useless discussion of philosophy!
underaneonhalo
QUOTE (Malicant @ Mar 29 2008, 12:04 PM) *
So, what's the connection between the Nihilist Olympics and Nihilism? Seriously, I fail to understand it. Weekend-brain-lazyness, I guess. indifferent.gif
All I see is a rebel without a cause, waving the flag of nihilism.

At least it gave me the opportunity to derail a thread right from the start. biggrin.gif


8.5 for the derailing!

Ya know, I read the article on the Nihilist Olympics and thought "Wow that sounds neat!" and didn't really mind that it's really just the dadaist sort of stuff that is more likely to come out of an anarchist art commune (doesn't grouping disqualify you as an anarchist?) than any sort of nihilist group (again doesn't grouping immediately disqualify you as a nihilist?). But I agree that the only thing nihilistic about it is the fact that it is meaningless, and self labeled nihilists thought it up.

BTW the wiki link was just in case you really didn't know what nihilism was... new event: pointless link posting! grinbig.gif

EDIT: I agree with Larme, the point was to think up fun pointless events and maybe give some people an idea for a game
Serial_Peacemaker
Wait, if they have a art destruction competetion, and this is performance art does that mean there are people actively trying to stop the Nihilism Olympics as part of the Nihilism Olympics could be interesting. Plus you get to have people beating up people performing performance art as performance art.
b1ffov3rfl0w
QUOTE (Malicant @ Mar 29 2008, 12:04 PM) *
So, what's the connection between the Nihilist Olympics and Nihilism? Seriously, I fail to understand it. Weekend-brain-lazyness, I guess. indifferent.gif
All I see is a rebel without a cause, waving the flag of nihilism.

At least it gave me the opportunity to derail a thread right from the start. biggrin.gif


Feh, what kind of a cause is nihilism? It's no cause at all. But yeah, it's more like dada than nihilism
b1ffov3rfl0w
QUOTE (underaneonhalo @ Mar 29 2008, 12:37 PM) *
8.5 for the derailing!

Ya know, I read the article on the Nihilist Olympics and thought "Wow that sounds neat!" and didn't really mind that it's really just the dadaist sort of stuff that is more likely to come out of an anarchist art commune (doesn't grouping disqualify you as an anarchist?)


Anarchism is about not having leaders ("voidance of leigance"), not about not having rules, or about being asocial. Stated positively, it's about local self-government. Although there are probably dozens (broadly speaking) of different kinds of anarchists, and many self-identified anarchists are really just (a) jerks who want the benefits of society, but for free or (b) jerks who like to break glass.

EDIT: I vaguely recall that SR's original Neo-Anarchists follow some sort of blend of half-understood Kropotkin and Adam Smith; they saw the oversimplified assumptions of Econ 101 (perfect information, no barriers to marketplace entry/exit, uniform product quality) as goals.
Larme
Anarchy is a very misunderstood philosophy, probably because many so-called anarchists are teenagers who don't want to be told what to do and have no understanding of the philosophy behind it. Anarchists with brains believe in essentially 100% direct democracy -- you can have rules, just not rulers, everyone has to agree on the rules. What this means is that anarchy is only practical for small communities, in effect.

But that's neither here nor there. Another Nihilist Olympics event: Rube Goldberg Suicide Machine competition! Points awarded based on how long, complicated, and unnecessary a device you create to kill yourself. Disqualification if your machine fails or you don't die from it.
Heath Robinson
QUOTE (underaneonhalo @ Mar 29 2008, 05:37 PM) *
8.5 for the derailing!

Out of how many?!

Artistic deconstructive reconstruction. Do anything with a given quantity of concrete, you'll be judged on style.
DocTaotsu
It's not fair? What kind of nihilists are you?!
Fortune
Apathetic! wink.gif
FrankTrollman
QUOTE (DocTaotsu @ Mar 29 2008, 06:26 PM) *
It's not fair? What kind of nihilists are you?!


A bunch of fucking crybabies!

-Frank
thegreatbuddha
QUOTE (DocTaotsu @ Mar 29 2008, 07:26 PM) *
It's not fair? What kind of nihilists are you?!


"**** me Dude. I mean, say what you will about the tenets of National Socialism, but at least it's an ethos."

Assuming there's a way to embed AR tags into real objects, a "Best Real-Life Macro" event would be pretty sweet.

example: tagging the astral rift in DC with "PWNT"
Larme
The comedy chase scene ending in manure event! Pick a victim that doesn't know what's going on, and engage in a wacky chase scene that somehow ends up with them falling into or crashing into a cart/truck full of manure. Automatic win if the person actually says, unprompted, "I hate manure!"
Snow_Fox
nilhism , originating 19th century russia, read, from contemperary reports, sound like beatniks almost a century early.
FrankTrollman
QUOTE (Snow_Fox @ Mar 30 2008, 09:26 AM) *
nilhism , originating 19th century russia, read, from contemperary reports, sound like beatniks almost a century early.


That's pretty accurate. Recall that the word "Bohemian" means "Like those people in Bohemia." Bohemia is now in Czech Republic. Dressing in black and chilling in cafes and pubs doing avant-garde art was just the thing to do in Slavic countries.

Kind of still is.

-Frank
kanislatrans
I would definitely watch an event such as the Mime pitch, where mimes are tossed off tall buildings . extra points for climbing an invisible rope on the way down.

spin.gif spin.gif
Snow_Fox
QUOTE (FrankTrollman @ Mar 30 2008, 09:36 AM) *
That's pretty accurate. Recall that the word "Bohemian" means "Like those people in Bohemia." Bohemia is now in Czech Republic. Dressing in black and chilling in cafes and pubs doing avant-garde art was just the thing to do in Slavic countries.

Kind of still is.

-Frank

yeah, but culturally russia was pretty cut off and xenophobic at that time. Besides 'bohemian' has an element of artistic to it, nihilist doesn't.
Larme
QUOTE (kanislatrans @ Mar 30 2008, 10:48 AM) *
I would definitely watch an event such as the Mime pitch, where mimes are tossed off tall buildings . extra points for climbing an invisible rope on the way down.

spin.gif spin.gif


You win shadowrun!
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