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<blockquote data-quote="Mustrum_Ridcully" data-source="post: 4770723" data-attributes="member: 710">Even if a poor, penniless fledging desginer would have gotten the D&amp;D brand, he could slap the &quot;D&amp;D&quot; logo on Synnibar and sell it as &quot;D&amp;D&quot;.The important thing to Scribbles argument is that you own the brand. The next important thing (not necessarily from Scribbles position, I don't care to look it up again) is that ownership of the brand and calling something D&amp;D is merely the necessary condition to have a D&amp;D game. No matter what else can be said about the game, if it's not branded as D&amp;D, it ain't. After that, there are countless of conditions that can make a thing labeled D&amp;D &quot;actually&quot; D&amp;D, but these countless conditions are usually subjective, because people have different associations with D&amp;D and prefer different aspects of it. The only meaningful conditions to decide whether something is D&amp;D will always be subjective. Since we don't really care about an objective distinction, since we ask about &quot;does it feel like D&amp;D&quot;. Feeling is always subjective. If we just wanted something objective, then yes, Synnibar with the D&amp;D logo is D&amp;D, Monopoly with a D&amp;D logo, and a chair with three legs and a spike with a D&amp;D logo is D&amp;D. There is a laundry list of things we associate with D&amp;D. If, instead of having a &quot;binary&quot; decider &quot;It's D&amp;D&quot; we just want a &quot;close to D&amp;D&quot; (regardless of whether it carries the logo or not), we could compare the laundry list of elements that D&amp;D has contained over the years and compare it to any given game and say something like &quot;23 out of 45 items found.&quot; We could, if we cared to, also try to put &quot;weights&quot; to each item on that list that determine how important an item is to us, and measure how much a game is like D&amp;D to us. And we could even set a certain minimum number from where on we say: &quot;This game is D&amp;D to me.&quot;But we can't do the same objectively.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Mustrum_Ridcully, post: 4770723, member: 710"] Even if a poor, penniless fledging desginer would have gotten the D&D brand, he could slap the "D&D" logo on Synnibar and sell it as "D&D". The important thing to Scribbles argument is that you own the brand. The next important thing (not necessarily from Scribbles position, I don't care to look it up again) is that ownership of the brand and calling something D&D is merely the [I]necessary [/I]condition to have a D&D game. No matter what else can be said about the game, if it's not branded as D&D, it ain't. After that, there are countless of conditions that can make a thing labeled D&D "actually" D&D, but these countless conditions are usually subjective, because people have [I]different[/I] associations with D&D and prefer [I]different[/I] aspects of it. The only meaningful conditions to decide whether something is D&D will always be subjective. Since we don't really care about an objective distinction, since we ask about "does it feel like D&D". Feeling is always subjective. If we just wanted something objective, then yes, Synnibar with the D&D logo is D&D, Monopoly with a D&D logo, and a chair with three legs and a spike with a D&D logo is D&D. There is a laundry list of things we associate with D&D. If, instead of having a "binary" decider "It's D&D" we just want a "close to D&D" (regardless of whether it carries the logo or not), we could compare the laundry list of elements that D&D has contained over the years and compare it to any given game and say something like "23 out of 45 items found." We could, if we cared to, also try to put "weights" to each item on that list that determine how important an item is to us, and measure how much a game is like D&D to us. And we could even set a certain minimum number from where on we say: "This game is D&D to me." But we can't do the same objectively. [/QUOTE]

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