Heroism: "more symbolic than useful"?

From: Nick_Brooke_at_...
Date: Tue, 13 Feb 2001 16:49:45 -0000

Christian wrote, inter alia:

>> * Shaming the fyrd into standing firm and keeping the shield wall
>>   solid against the enemy by picking up a discarded shield and
>>   joining the line herself.

> If the purpose was to shame the others into holding the wall, the
> action is more symbolic than useful.

That seems a strange thing to say. Aren't *lots* of heroic actions going to be more "symbolic" than "useful"? I'd have thought HW games would *encourage* these, not disparage them.

Just my $0.02,

Nick