Heh. I hate having my home node display a Daylog as my last written node. Good incentive for me to write something else today, but I doubt that I will get to it.
Everything is not a BBS is a big philosophy here. But, sometimes it is. I added a writeup to the Power Kill node, disputing what Erik Fish said. Two opposing viewpoints, a small discussion about them, both of which enhance the database by saying that there is indeed some disagreement as to what this "game" is all about. After that, I ended up in a conversation with Erik about the game. It turns out, we actually agree. We just presented our opinions on different aspects of the game. Both of us understand that the game's subject isn't to be taken literally. However, Erik thinks that some of the statements in the "game" could be harmful to the hobby. In particular, he quoted the "Is there not something wrong with a storytelling hobby that glorifies criminal behavior as the primary protagonistic component?" line which could be construed as damning the hobby to "Jane Doe, mother of four."
Truthfully, it might be. I don't think I'd introduce someone to the hobby with Power Kill. I believe that it's intended to be something you use to break up preconceived notions about your character as an established roleplayer. My mother, who was originally anti-RPG, had no lack of material to damn the game. So, one more bit of "bad press" about a game isn't making it worse. If she's looking for something bad about RPGs, though, she's not likely to pick up an RPG. So, there's little chance that my mom is going to run across "Power Kill." (she's more likely to run across Terror in the Toybox.) I've had this same debate with ardent gamers about exactly how damaging the movie Mazes and Monsters was to the hobby. I can watch that movie and see it as "pro-gaming." I might be high, but honestly, I saw a game with three "normal" players (each with their own problems, unrelated to gaming) showing concern for each other, enjoying a few hours of gaming a night, breaking a few laws unwisely (the no-tresspassing laws get broken by non-gamers too, and anyone watching that movie should have that perspective), and then having one of their close friends lose grip with reality. The movie then showed how they coped with their friends situation. It didn't seem that gaming caused Tom Hank's character's unhinging, just that he was unhinged and that he lost sight of reality when immersed in fantasy. Gaming isn't the only thing fantastical in life: Heck, movies are another case where you immerse yourself in fiction. Or video games. I find it simple as heck to explain Dungeons and Dragons to preteens. They understand the concept of playing a character, you only have to explain to them that they don't control the entire scenario, just their character.
So, it was good to have that conversation with Erik. I enjoyed it, which makes me think that E2 is a Wonderful Thing. And I got to state my opinion, which is great because I love to talk / write. And I ended up emailing John Tynes to see what he had to say about our discussion about his game. "What did you mean?" I mean, I am just excited at the possibility that he might reply. I'd love to get back a response from a game designer. I once got a reply from John Wick (L5R, I've talked to Mike Mulvihill (Shadowrun), frequently get replies back from Steve Jackson (GURPS), and every one of them is saved in my Geek Fun folder. These people are some of my idols. I know they're fallible, but they did something I have not yet been able to do: They published a game. And they have a reason to email me back occasionally, due to E2. (I get official "advance copies" of the L5R fiction due to the fact that post it to this website. If it weren't downvoted to all heck and back, I'd keep posting them. But, Rich Wulf think that it's valuable to put up here. So, I might go back to it.)