thread: 2005-05-02 : Person vs. Protagonist
On 2005-05-02, Ben Lehman wrote:
I remembered the term "lasersharking" to mean introducing a random disparate genre element to maintain interest.
In other words:
A hard boiled western? Not lasersharked. A hard-boiled western with zombies and magic and demons and and and..? Lasersharked.
A fantasy D&D game? Not lasersharked. A fantasy D&D game with robots and spaceships? Lasersharked.
A game about a killer shark that haunts the beach? Not lasersharked. The same situation with a flying, laser-shooting shark? Lasersharked.
The etymology of the term (laser + shark—two disparate, mismatched genre elements) reflects this.
Sadly, the brouhaha over Matt's post has surely destroyed this rather useful term and replaced it with "not Narrativist" in the minds of RPG folks everywhere. To this, I must throw up my hands and sigh. I seem destinied to lose every terminology battle, ever...
yrs—
—Ben
