What is a Fantasy Heartbreaker?

[John Kim]

John, it might be worth considering the negative-judgment side of the picture to be a personal option that someone can exercise, toward a game that falls in the Fantasy Heartbreaker category, or toward whatever else. Decipher's LOTR can't be a Fantasy Heartbreaker by definition, so we have to get hypothetical ... let's say you read and played Forge: Out of Chaos and really freakin' hated it. Maybe some of its FH features contributed to that. I wouldn't say, "Oh, John, it's a Fantasy Heartbreaker so you're not allowed to dislike it." Of course you could. But the fact you disliked it wouldn't peg it as a Fantasy Heartbreaker either.

OK.  I think that's consistent with what I said, with different emphasis -- the three-point definition you give in the second essay isn't inherently derogatory, but that it can easily be used in a derogatory or at least negative way.  The line between a negative term and a derogatory term is pretty thin and defined mostly by usage rather than anything inherent in the words. 

Anyhow, apropos the original question, I think the straightest definition is summed up at the start of the second essay and repeated in the wiki entry. 

[Ron Edwards]

Yup, we're on the same page. I had a tricky time composing my post, in order to make my point but to keep it from becoming an unnecessary debate.

This thread's done, I think.

Best,
Ron