Hey, I value your insights into gaming more than then next man, but I have to correct you on the systemless thing in the Forge context.
Forgeists talk a lot about system and I get that you could infer from that that they are missing out on things like encouraging participation etc. However, a lot of what you said that was more important than system is included in the system part of the Big Model. xD
In the context of the Big Model, "system (including but not limited to 'the rules') is defined as the means by which the group agrees to imagined events during play." So even your flavor of freeform will have a system even though there might not be any written rules, because if you don't have some way of agreeing what happens in if your imaginations during play, you guys are all daydreaming, not playing together.
It can get kinda confusing, because they use a lot of jargon out there, but hey, we are into Glorantha, I guess we really can't go judging them or anything. ;-)
I do agree that the Forge as a community is focused on the game text and rules, but that's because it's a game design community first and foremost. That means that they are interrested in encouraging certain types or sets of behaviors that culminate in a satisfying play experience.
IMHO it's like your basic Forge-style indie game is _a_ specific way to have fun and the best game is the one with chich you can consistently get that fun out of playing it.
Anyway, in the recent years, IMO other parts of the Big Model have gained more attention. A key part of the Big Model is including the social stuff like the relationships of the players, their life histories and even things like eating eating pizza together while playing and how you are paying it, into analyzing what happens in gaming.
It seems to me that a lot of the top games have a lot of stuff about encouraging collaboration and participation for one thing! (Primetime Adventures, hello?) There are even games like 1001 Nights and Mist-Robed Gate that are mostly about evoking the proper mood and advice on what tea to drink with your friends while playing!
Olli Kantola
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