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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Guest&nbsp; 85555" data-source="post: 7571870">I am not defending the choice of terminology there, I agree something less pejorative could have been chosen. I think anyone interested in this topic would do well to check out the Alexandrian's posts on the subject (Justin Alexander's position, I believe, has shifted over the years on this topic). You can find his blog  here: <a href="https://thealexandrian.net" target="_blank">https://thealexandrian.net</a>I brought it up though as an example of how the kind of terminology we are using on the thread, can lead to people making gaming or design decisions that are counter to their actual interests. Again, I think at the time, it got at something that resonated with many people who didn't grok 4E. At the same time, it became this thing where many of us were so against every having dissociated mechanics in our games, we threw the baby out with the bathwater. It was just like, any amount of mechanic that could fit into this category, destroyed the whole game for us. Because we were hyper aware of it. I think the term Mother May I, as it has been used in this thread, can lead to similar problems. No one wants to play mother may I, just like no one wants something dissociated in their game (if they embrace the ideas and meanings behind those uses of the terms). It becomes a lens, and once you use that lens, you miss a lot of other details (details like, while a whole game made up of these mechanics may not be for me, here and there they can actually add a lot of fun to the game for me). I would also just add, this thread is from nearly ten years ago. And the original article is from ages ago as well. People have changed their views a lot since then I am sure.</blockquote>

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