Recent content by Thomas Shey

Fair. But I still think you need to stay aware of it when discussing what things like mechanics mean and how much they matter.

Don't count on it.

You can occasionally get mechanical structures that have outlived their functions--there were a few 3e era prereq things that, far as I can tell, existed just to justify the attributes themselves rather than just their modifiers existing--that can go without changing anything meaningful, but...

It requires a--particular--view to describe everything that was pulled out of RQ as "cruft". It may not suit everyone's needs, but that's no the same thing.

Yeah, I'm not sure rules about structural parts of the (there's probably a better term for this) social process are the same as rules regarding resolution. In fact, I saw those in the most ungame-like RPing environments I was ever in, mechanic-free MUSHing; most such MUSHes are operating on...

I meant it was moot in that if no one is trying to say "But that isn't a roleplaying game" in the discussion, the gatekeeping intent or not is irrelevant. That only comes up if that distinction is trying to be made, in which case the motivation involved becomes important. As to the other, I'm...

I'm willing to particpate as people use a term--I'm a descriptive linguist, not prescriptive--but that doesn't mean I don't think the choice of terminology confuses the issue, or feel a need not to say so. And I flat out think some of the ways RPGs are operated minimizes any game elements...

On the other hand, things often evolve in such a fashion where they're so broad they're virtually impossible to define, and even when they can be the definition doesn't mean much.

I think as the hobby has evolved "roleplaying game" hasn't been generically accurate for some time now, but terms often outlive their original function, so... From my understanding of it, that seems right. One can question whether that's because in a lot of cases saying "That's not an RPG"...

A term I've seen applied the the latter are "passtimes".

I agree regarding the second part of this, but not the first.

The ones completely lacking in rules I wouldn't call a game either.

See my post. Without some rules and resolution as far as I'm concerned, its not a roleplaying game, its just freeform roleplaying that happens to potentially be directed by a GM. I'm not automatically hostile to that, but I don't consider it the same thing.

Though I have to note how "optional" they are is very much in the eye of the beholder.

D&D wasn't the only one though; there was a pretty fair bit of special-casing for no obvious reason for quite a long time.