Unpopular opinions go here

[Umbran]

It is more about its sudden ubiquity. When I see it constantly peppered into posts by folks who have never used it before, I think, "Sus."

I don't know why you find it suspicious. Suddenly, folks have a word for a thing that means only that thing, and they start to use it for that thing, in discussions about that thing.

I find it an interesting example of observable language spread. Kind of neat, honestly.

(slang is like the opposite of jargon, right?)

Almost entirely not, no.

 

[TwoSix]

There is no more annoying jargon to have entered and completely overtaken the discourse than "diegetic." People can't stop saying it.

I've definitely started using it a lot about a year ago, once I realized was already being used for a particular playstyle I had been struggling to describe for a few years.

 

[Pedantic]

I've definitely started using it a lot about a year ago, once I realized was already being used for a particular playstyle I had been struggling to describe for a few years.

Oooh, have we found TTRPG discourse's next verisimilitude?

 

[Umbran]

Oooh, have we found TTRPG discourse's next verisimilitude?

It feels like it, really.

 

[Gradine]

Dissociated Mechanics

 

[Snarf Zagyg]

It is more about its sudden ubiquity. When I see it constantly peppered into posts by folks who have never used it before, I think, "Sus."

Brah, when I see diegetic tossed around by commenters on EnWorld with all of the care that Salt Bae uses to season his meat, I think Lit!

 

[Emberashh]

I can't believe how wrong I was upthread.





The quintessential 90's song is absolutely, without question, "Tubthumping" by Chumbawumba.

Ill counter with Blue by Eiffel 95.

 

[Umbran]

Dissociated Mechanics

Seems to be stealing a word from psychology, possibly with attendant stigma.

 

[Aldarc]

It is more about its sudden ubiquity. When I see it constantly peppered into posts by folks who have never used it before, I think, "Sus."

I suspect that a lot of it came into tabletop gaming partially through both its use in video/computer gaming and through a lot of the amateur film criticism that was popularized and made available for larger consumption on YouTube (among other sites). Much as @TwoSix said, 'diagetic' became a useful term in tabletop gaming to describe, in particular, in-fiction progression systems.

Seems to be stealing a word from psychology, possibly with attendant stigma.

And then applying it haphazardly to 4e in order to rationalize the Alexandrian's dislike of 4e while engaging in special pleading when encountering similar mechanics in games that the Alexandrian happens to like.

I will fully admit that the Alexandrian has left me with a visceral distaste for the term "disassociated mechanics."

 

[Willie the Duck]

It is more about its sudden ubiquity. When I see it constantly peppered into posts by folks who have never used it before, I think, "Sus."

There are definitely words that by all rights shouldn't be an issue, but become so because you keep seeing them in a context, especially if that context is the more frustration-laden part of something. For instance, 'strawman,' and the Latin-named fallacies are all valid parts of reasoned discussion, but they show up so often in padding bad arguments or in internet dumpster fire threads that seeing them show up makes me clench.

A long time ago another forum I used to frequent ran too simultaneous threads: The Quintessential "90's" Song and The Quintessential "80's" Song. The 90's thread was, as you might imagine, all over the map (my answer, FWIW, was "Mr. Jones" by Counting Crows).

That's an interesting one in that It was a big deal in the 90s, and got lots of air time, but I haven't heard it in rotation on the oldies stations (or grocery store background music) nearly as much as the other 90s adult contemporary. I'm sure the Counting Crows are still doing well on the casino and state fair circuit all the rest of them are on, but I basically never hear about them (meanwhile Eddie Vedder mumbling and Bono being pretentious jokes somehow are still timely).

And then applying it haphazardly to 4e in order to rationalize the Alexandrian's dislike of 4e while engaging in special pleading when encountering similar mechanics in games that the Alexandrian happens to like.

I will fully admit that the Alexandrian has left me with a visceral distaste for the term "disassociated mechanics."

Which is unfortunate because, a few imperfect essays most people don't care about aside, the concept is still something it's useful to have a term for.