A fan commented that her friends were jealous that she was getting more attention from Cat Dancer than they were. There's a definite algorithm involved, and it occurred to me that perhaps people would be interested in hearing about it:
Some people of course really like Cat Dancer, and others don't. Not that they hate Cat Dancer or anything, just that Cat Dancer isn't their thing, much as some people happen not to like sushi, or don't like first person shooter games, or whatever. This presents a bit of a challenge, as normally events happen in their own rooms and areas: if someone doesn't like video games for example, they can simply not go to the video game room. But we tried having a Cat Dancer dance as it's own event in its own room, and it turned out to be fairly boring. For people who like Cat Dancer, it's the energy of having Cat Dancer out and about in the convention that's fun.
So Cat Dancer obeys the rules of the convention and follows common politeness: I don't glomp someone without permission; if someone says I'm bothering them I go away; if security says I need to move out of a congested area I do so. However, the purpose of the algorithm is avoid anyone needing to have to say anything if they don't want a Cat Dancer interaction; while continuing to delight those who want to be delighted. If someone says "go away, you're bothering me" or "no, don't glomp me" than of course I go away or don't glomp; but it's also a failure of the algorithm that they needed to say anything.
The algorithm thus relies heavily on non-verbal cues and signals, honed over multiple years of practice. No algorithm is perfect of course: some people will end up being annoyed anyway; and other people will get less attention than they would have liked...
^_^
