thread: 2009-05-12 : Right to Dream: at least take away THIS
On 2009-05-13, Joel wrote:
I just wanna chime in to say how helpful and interesting all this has been for me. This is like, the best thinking I've done ab out Creative Agenda since Jesse started Play Passionately, and the best thinking about Sim/RTD, like EVER. I even blogged about it (it's not much, just a bit of bandwagonning that I'm hoping will spin into bigger thoughts as it percolates).
I love the separation of the two things; it really really clarifies what both of them are for me. And I especially love the idea that this whole cause and effect thing from RFGA-Sim can be applied to all the CAs. That's exciting stuff for design! And it helps me understand some game texts, that I would otherwise wrestle with.
The other thing I like about the whole deal is that the descriptive phrases work so much better as designators than the "isms," for all the reasons you gave. I feel a weight lifted off of discourse. The taglines are a joy to say and use, without the weighty or dogmatic feel of the other labels. Which, actually, is what I like about the way you write, Vincent—friendly, conversational, and intuitive.
I feel like this whole issue has come full circle, in a way. I first found this whole crazy hippie-gaming world through Anyway like, 4 years ago. A random Google search brought me to the Theory Hardcore Page and I hunted down the Forge just to figure out what you were referring to. And if you look, back then you were referring to CA using—gasp!—evocative and conversational phrases. I found Say Something, Prove Yourself and Be There clearer and better ways of saying this stuff than any ways anyone else was saying it. And now you're back to evocative phrases. I say right ON.
Peace,
-Joel
