Good point on the "victory-centric". I do feel wanting to play at a "high-level" and then [almost always not intentionally in my experience] excluding others is a problem our group currently faces. And not just on the fighting front. There's been a thing or 2 over the years I've chosen to avoid. That being said it can be very challenging to design something that is accessible to both the new and the veteran. Not every event can accomodate everyone and everything.

Totally agree if the "lowering the bar" on the poppy rumor is true. Better to just not give an award than to make it easier to get.

"Back when I met you, you and Andrew and Raul and Oelf and Douglas, et al, were still squires and you openly talked about the importance of being able to dance and that doing arts was part of the prerequisites to being a knight. I think that's been lost; knights are no longer expected to be well-rounded gentlemen, they are combatants."

Ironically much of what I learned on that front was at collegiums and A&S when there was often a fighting track. One the one hand I'd love to see that again. One the other hand I dread all the commentary about "the fighters" trying to co-opt another event. Just writing that here makes me wince in anticipation. ;)