GNS et al.

From: Alex Ferguson <abf_at_...>
Date: Thu, 22 Aug 2002 19:40:28 +0100 (BST)

Graham:
> I'm pretty sure Charles means 'people who frequently play in the same
> group', rather than a dig at armchair quarterbacks in general.

Point taken. Some (over-)sensitivity here from past pokes from other quarters.

> Possibly true, but for those of who find the whole gamist vs. narrativist
> vs. simulationist distinction trite and uninformative that's a good reason
> for avoiding the place. Personally, I'd be quite happy to see the word
> 'simulationist' banned from the group - it seems to be another variant on
> that old rule "the odds of someone being accused of simulationism tends to
> one".

I would largely have agreed with you, which is why I was somewhat pleasantly surprised by the nature and level of discussion on The Forge. Admittedly the ratio of key ideas to terminilogy stills seems a little low, but that's not a unique flaw. ;-) Like Nick I'm not entirely sure 'where it gets us', but I'd have the same qualm about Robin's "system". That has I think the merit of seeming more explicitly constructed to hang some advice around, rather than purporting to be some universalist inherent property. Still not sure if it has much in the way of useful predictive value, as applied to entire games, or indeed to entire people. (Maybe I'm still smarting from being called a Tactician/ Specialist by my Once (and Future?) Pendragon GM...)

Cheers,
Alex.

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