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Message: <blockquote data-quote="The Shaman" data-source="post: 2778220" data-attributes="member: 26473">I was about to reply to barsoomcore when I saw this:Well-said, Mishihari Lord.And yet somehow we manage to do exactly that.How do we decide what makes Shakespeare great? We analyze his technique, we compare him to his peers, we assess his influence over time, and we keep doing it over and over again. This is why Mozart will likely be considered great in another century while Lil' Kim is forgotten.To be clear, barsoomcore, I'm not talking about the experience itself - I'm talking about those elements of quality that transcend personal taste. That may be where our paths diverge.Part of the problem with this is that hack-and-slash is not exclusive of good roleplaying, so comparing them as if they represent extremes is meaningless.Your use of the word "objective" in this context sets off a warning flag for me: do you accept that qualitative (as opposed to quantitative) data and analysis can provide "objective" means of measure? I find that many people believe that if something doesn't have a number attached to it, it can't be "objectively" analyzed, which is a mistaken presumption.The fact that someone doesn't agree with an objective conclusion derived from qualitative data does nothing to invalidate the conclusion - it just means the someone refuses to accept the results since they don't jibe with personal experience.Fair enough as far as it goes.Would you agree that we could look for common memes in different play styles? What I'm suggesting is that common elements are what we collectively define as "best," whether we are conscious of it or not.I would also say that we can identify something as "best" and make a choice not to adopt that play style anyway - the fact that "best" is defined solely by what we do ignores the role that our values play in decision-making. I may think that Dremmen's "narrativist" approach is "best," and I might even be able to drum up some data to demonstrate that it's so, but that doesn't mean I'm going to necessarily strive to emulate it. What we believe and what we do are not always in lock-step the way we might like them to be.I'm not trying to get anyone to adopt any particular play style - I'm simply saying that what defines quality is more than a matter of personal taste.</blockquote>

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