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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Malmuria" data-source="post: 8933141" data-attributes="member: 7030755">I take neutrality in criticism not as a matter of being not-negative but rather taking a position of disinterest.  While that's possible to a certain extent, I think the idea of the completely neutral, disinterested critic is not a realistic or even desirable goal, as people are always speaking and acting from a particular postion.That said, I would ask whether the point of any particular RPG theory or criticism is 1) To describe and analyze a ttrpg as an artform and/or mode of social interaction; or2) To help make and play better, more enjoyable and fun gamesTo [USER=16586]@Campbell[/USER] 's comment above, Forge theory makes a certain amount of sense for me in context: a group of would-be game designers, wanting to make and play better games, responding to the particulars of the 90s ttrpg scene.  Where they lose me is when it is pretended that this particular, very-interested position is an abstract theory that can describe games and play outside of this context, and is doing so using totally disinterested terms.I think a student in any academic field should be able to apply different theoretical paradigms to the same material, and do so convincingly.  This doesn't mean that student is a disinterested critic, but rather someone who acknowledges that there are a multiplicity of perspectives, and can get "inside" the logic of those perspectives even if they don't personally agree.  (for me, the Forge's attempts to do this are deeply unserious...it's how they come with concepts like "participationism."  "The game you are playing provides no player agency and has an incoherent set of rules and is poorly designed...I guess that's just what you are into!")I don't know...I've seen people on the blades in the dark reddit make posts about how they actually prep for their game, including doing things like drawing maps, because it helps them.  Woe to the new poster who says something similar here; they will be told, flat out, that they are playing incorrectly, and this conversation will go on for about 100 pages.  Now, if people want to theorize among themselves fine, but if you (general you) want to acknowledge that you are an interested advocate for a certain game or type of game, you'll need to consider how you talk about those games, especially to new players.</blockquote>

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