David,
I see where Stawert is going with this but I don\'t believe it is an opinion of his own but more of something that he can see that might offend some people. I know Stawert quite well and he isn\'t even a martial artist at all, but I am. I see what he is implying here about this mystical power thing then calling it martial arts. It is something that I see far too often from day to day.
Almost every magazine of the martial arts you will find advertisements for instruction in the martial arts and they list crazy skills like levitation, being able to knock someone out without touching them, moving objects with your chi, ki, or qi depending on what dialect you use; and other outlandish things. Fact is those hurt the world of martial arts in that they are not martial arts but are just tricks. They are slight of hand and other things that have nothing to do with martial arts what so ever.
What I feel Stawert was trying to do in this thread is put up the similarity to what goes on in real life and what is being done in this game. That if when it is done in real life it ios offencive so it might be considered offencive in a game as well. I don\'t think in reading his words find anything that leads me to think he feels that way personaly but that he just thinks it is a possibility to think about.
I as a martial artist don\'t like the idea of putting those skills to that title but that is just me personally. I know what is and what isn\'t, the only thing I don\'t like is that it fits too much into an old stereotype that has been around for quite some time, given to martial artists by con artists and greedy people wanting to turn a buck so they teach tricks instead of skill.
It is one thing when done in real life but an entire different one when done in something like this. Though I dislike it in either form, one is the lesser of two evils. If done right it can just go onto a different realm.
I guess what I am saying is an old, now passed on, master once said that it is not a martial art unless it builds character in the person learning it. This man was Gichen Funakoshi and I think if people are role playing this type of martial artists, and from what I see of the role players here, they will do so with character. They seem to take the shaolin monk persona and add it to their martial arts character and in doing so show curtousy and respect to others. If anything that is what martial arts is all about and if that comes out in the individuals that role play this class of fighter then I say more power to them.
So to close I would just say, take it easy on Stawert, he was just posting a possible concern due to how many frauds there are in the martial arts world that use such mystisism to make a buck. He was just figuring that if it is insulting in the real world then having the same stereotype in a game would be just as insulting to martial artists. Again he isn\'t a martial artist himself so he was only speaking in an assumetion(sp) and you know what they say about people that make assumetions; when you make an assumetion you are making an a$$ of u and me.
Sorry Stawert had to hit you with that one. It was a good thing you were thinking it could be something of a problem. Not too many people seem to care about what they say or do or that some might find it offencive. Then again some people are a bit too sensitive to the same things. There has to be a way to see things down the middle but nothing is ever that way. It is either black or it is white. That\'s all there is to it. Either PS was trying to be insulting or they weren\'t. Obviously the creator of the martial arts skills had no insult intended and went soully on the old mystic world of martial arts. That is something that you will find in many of Chinese history. It is filled with all types of magic abilities. See that word, MAGIC. There was a difference between magic and martial arts. The only real problem is when you have people today that try and say the magic and martial arts are the same. PS is not in that argument and I don\'t think they would ever want to.
To say it all perfectly clear and directly to the point, PS is using martial arts as a skill of disciplin. They are not out there to try and make people believe that if you train martial arts that you will have magic like abilities. That is the thing to remember, it is only those that try to make people believe the mystical mumbo jumbo is martial arts, just so they can make a fast buck, that is offencive to most martial artists. So like I said it is either black or white and there is no gray. PS is not trying to pose their form of martial arts as the real thing so they are fine to do as they will.
