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Using questionable referents in gaming

moritheil

First Post
I find a certain brand of painful humour in relating game elements to pop culture. For example, I once ruled that Otto's Irresistible Dance (which forces the victim to dance in place), a powerful spell with a long and storied history, was in fact the [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PLP9-K59tEA"]Caramelldansen[/ame] (a cute, inane, and exceedingly popular practice that also involves dancing in place.) This is a juxtaposition that I find both amusing and in terrible taste. However, this seemed to pass right over the heads of most players who heard it - they understood, but were neither amused nor horrified. I suppose they did not immediately think of dragons, ogres, kraken, etc. doing Caramelldansen.

Do you ever find that elements in pop culture are not quite suitable for reference in games - whether due to failures in connotation or denotation? Have you ever tried to refer to pop culture to explain some aspect of gaming and come up short? What came of the mismatch?
 

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