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Note to self

posted by [personal profile] benlehman at 04:27pm on 16/07/2009
On "de-geeking RPGs."

If anyone who plays a role-playing game is "one of us," then "de-geeking RPGs" is semantically impossible.

Someone: remind me to post this next time the topic rears its ugly head.
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There are 8 comments on this entry. (Reply.)
 

(no subject)

posted by [identity profile] gillan.livejournal.com at 01:19pm on 16/07/2009
Is this a topic that has its basis in arguing semantics? I mean, I get what you're saying, but I feel like that's a sideswipe of the actual discussion.

Or is this just one of those things that Needs to be Said?
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(no subject)

posted by [identity profile] benlehman.livejournal.com at 03:01pm on 16/07/2009
If you're arguing for something that's semantically impossible, you don't actually want it. You can't want it, because you can't even imagine it.
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(no subject)

posted by [identity profile] yeloson.livejournal.com at 03:41pm on 16/07/2009
Ha! That gives me a new look on "racial equality through colorblindness" :P
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evilmagnus: (Default)

(no subject)

posted by [personal profile] evilmagnus at 04:58pm on 16/07/2009
My parents play Settlers of Cataan. They are manifestly Not Geeks, although they were introduced to the game by a geek and had experience with more mainstream board games, like Monopoly.

I contend that it is impossible to de-geek RPGs, but it is possible to make people who do not self-identify as geeks to play them. That gateway drug - the slippery slope from Monopoly to Settlers.
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(no subject)

posted by [identity profile] benlehman.livejournal.com at 05:07pm on 16/07/2009
Oh, yes. I don't think that someone who plays role-playing games is manifestly a geek.

But a lot of people who are interested in "de-geeking RPGs" seem to think so.
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posted by [identity profile] apollinax.livejournal.com at 05:56pm on 16/07/2009
I don't know when it happened, but some point after leaving Brown I became virulently against us-and-them distinctions, particularly when applied to social status.

I agree with your assertion, with the caveat that one could de-geek them by making them something else. E.g., replacing a stigma of geek with a stigma of psychopathy would de-geek.
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(no subject)

posted by [identity profile] l-the-fangirl.livejournal.com at 09:12pm on 16/07/2009
Because god knows there are too many psychos who play D&D.

In my games. >:(
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(no subject)

posted by [identity profile] russiandude.livejournal.com at 02:47pm on 17/07/2009
Yeah...

If people want to say "broader market appeal" or "target a different market segment", they should just say that.
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