Previous Topics

12/22/2004 M. J. Young: Defining Game Mechanic
Over in Ramblings on the role of Mechanics in CA's (fishing), somewhere on the second page,My understanding is that a mechanic is a specific feature of system…
In RPG Theory
Participants: M. J. Young, lumpley.

12/17/2004 M. J. Young: Article draft comments wanted
I've taken up GB Steve's request for something summarizing RPG theory as it currently stands, and have drafted a three-article series that I think does a fair job of covering…
In Connections
Participants: M. J. Young.

12/8/2004 M. J. Young: Toward a New Creative Agendum Evaluation
Some years back, I devised a GNS/DFK quiz. There was a lot of debate about it, and although it is still available online (mainly, as with Ron's articles, for historic…
In GNS Model Discussion
Participants: M. J. Young, Ron Edwards, Marco, Jasper, Wormwood, ffilz, beingfrank, clehrich, jdagna.

10/8/2004 M. J. Young: Demo games--new rules or old?
Seth-- This seems the quickest way to get hold of you, as my private message boxes are kind of full and my address book is a disorganized disaster. I'm going…
In Dark Omen Games
Participants: M. J. Young, GreatWolf.

10/8/2004 M. J. Young: Ubercon IV
Things have been going so crazy around here I've not had a chance to mention that I'm slated to be at Ubercon IV next weekend, October 15-17. I've still got…
In Conventions
Participants: M. J. Young, inthisstyle, abzu, Tav_Behemoth, Dregg, Michael S. Miller.

9/28/2004 M. J. Young: Splitting Simulationism?
For a while lately I've been bothered by what I perceive as a widening rift in the definition of simulationism. In my mind, I had come to identify simulationist play…
In GNS Model Discussion
Participants: M. J. Young, Ben Lehman, C. Edwards, Mark D. Eddy, Marco, Jinx, Ron Edwards, Sean, timfire, Silmenume, clehrich.

9/3/2004 M. J. Young: Proactive versus Reactive--Illusory?
John Kim and I (and several others) drifted into this discussion over in Plot is the Wake of the Characters' Desires: But looking at it again,…
In RPG Theory
Participants: M. J. Young, clehrich, John Kim, ErrathofKosh, Russell Impagliazzo, Gordon C. Landis.

9/3/2004 M. J. Young: Referee/Player Sim/Nar Clash (from What GNS Is About)
As sometimes happens to me, I was asked a question in a thread, and I started to draft my answer, and then discovered that the thread had been closed since…
In GNS Model Discussion
Participants: M. J. Young, Marco, Ron Edwards, Gordon C. Landis, John Kim.

9/2/2004 M. J. Young: Illusionist Techniques
Over in Jay's Point of Clarification Concerning Illusionism threadNot all illusionist techniques are necessarily "force" in that the invalidate player choices. Some are used precisely to enhance player choice.I…
In GNS Model Discussion
Participants: M. J. Young, Marco, clehrich, Blankshield, contracycle, bcook1971, Sean, Eric J., Silmenume, ErrathofKosh.

8/27/2004 M. J. Young: Acceptance of Delayed Gratification--a Gamer Trait?
In Rewards for Setting Up, Callan (Noon) asked what the personal rewards were for the time spent setting up for a game. He put forward the idea that in-game…
In RPG Theory
Participants: M. J. Young, Noon, Negilent, John Kim, Eric J., Doctor Xero, timfire, contracycle, Ravien, Cup of Iron, Storn.

8/15/2004 M. J. Young: Altering the SIS in CRPG
I really should not be starting this thread, because I'm still wading through the stuff I missed when my computer crashed; but in reading Vincent's A short rant about…
In RPG Theory
Participants: M. J. Young, Noon, Rob Carriere, simon_hibbs, Christopher Weeks, contracycle, Inner Circle Inc, Andrew Martin, Blankshield, JamesSterrett, Doug Ruff, Ron Edwards.

7/28/2004 M. J. Young: Simulationism: Reflexive Play?
It seems to me that Jay (Silmenume) has several times said words to the effect that we don't explore the elements of exploration, but rather use the elements of exploration…
In GNS Model Discussion
Participants: M. J. Young, ErrathofKosh, Silmenume.

6/29/2004 M. J. Young: Congratulations to My Life with Master
Congratulations, Paul, for making the short list on the Diana Jones Award. --M. J. Young
In Site Discussion
Participants: M. J. Young, C. Edwards, Paul Czege, Valamir, Andy Kitkowski, Mike Holmes, John Kim, Ron Edwards.

5/26/2004 M. J. Young: Lunch at Dexcon?
It was mentioned over in the Ropecon thread that a number of Forge people are going to be at Dexcon. I was hoping to be able to manage it, but…
In Conventions
Participants: M. J. Young, Helvetian, abzu, lumpley, JamesSterrett, Tav_Behemoth, Dregg.

5/14/2004 M. J. Young: Gaming Outpost Thread Restoration
Much of the pre-history of The Forge was in the discussions at Gaming Outpost. It was there that Ron Edwards first introduced System Does Matter and the distinctions between…
In Connections
Participants: M. J. Young, Mike Holmes.

5/12/2004 M. J. Young: Character/Player Gender Relationship?
[quote="In [i][a href="http://www.indie-rpgs.com/viewtopic.php?t=11126"]Mechanical Gender Differences II (Mongrel)[/i][/a] Walt Freitag"]Players tend to assume that they will play characters of the same gender of the player.[/quote] I was shocked by this statement.…
In RPG Theory
Participants: M. J. Young, rafial, Ravien, Sean, AnyaTheBlue, Matt, Jack Spencer Jr, beingfrank, Walt Freitag, clehrich.

4/20/2004 M. J. Young: Alignment and Premise in D&D
I feel silly doing this, but over in Ben Lehman's Gamism and Narrativism thread a side issue emerged regarding whether D&D had within it the possibility of addressing premise…
In GNS Model Discussion
Participants: M. J. Young, Ben Lehman, NN, contracycle, BPetroff93, Noon, myripad.

4/19/2004 M. J. Young: Is a "closed" sticker a possible future feature?
I've often poured over posts on a thread for what feels a long time, and then come to the end to find that Ron or Clinton has closed it. Sometimes…
In Site Discussion
Participants: M. J. Young, greyorm, Jack Aidley, Ron Edwards, Christopher Weeks, xiombarg, Shreyas Sampat, quozl, Jack Spencer Jr, Emily Care, Rob Carriere, orbsmatt.

4/1/2004 M. J. Young: The Hard Question extended
I'm a bit miffed that Neil's thread The Hard Question got closed so quickly after such a shocking and, in my view, wrong-headed turn. In essence, the thread began…
In GNS Model Discussion
Participants: M. J. Young, Valamir, beingfrank, RDU Neil, clehrich, Ian Charvill, Silmenume, contracycle, Storn, Ron Edwards, cruciel, Rob Carriere, pete_darby, Bankuei.

3/15/2004 M. J. Young: An Experiment in Congruence
I have several times used an example in these forums of a concept in which setting and situation tend toward congruence--that is, in which gamist, narrativist, and simulationist choices would…
In GNS Model Discussion
Participants: M. J. Young, Ben Lehman, Dev, Alan, Mike Holmes, Marhault, Rob Carriere, Gaerik, JamesSterrett, Noon.

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Subsequent Topics

1/28/2005 M. J. Young: Participationism with an Agendum
O.K., this happens to me periodically, as I'm responding to a post and then discover the thread has been closed. This is a continuation of the discussion over in Celebrating…
In GNS Model Discussion
Participants: M. J. Young, Silmenume, Marco, Caldis, contracycle, clehrich, Ron Edwards.

2/1/2005 M. J. Young: On Story in CRPG Design
I followed a link earlier today to an article in Slate entitled Oughtta Stay Out of Pictures: Why video games shouldn't be like the movies.. Clive Thompson was complaining…
In RPG Theory
Participants: M. J. Young, inky, Marco, shlo, contracycle, Wysardry, Noon, NN.

3/18/2005 M. J. Young: Cookie Clearing
It is sometimes the case that someone's problem with The Forge relates to cookies. Just recently I was on some similar forum and noticed in passing a link/button that indicated…
In Site Discussion
Participants: M. J. Young, ffilz.

4/1/2005 M. J. Young: Introduction to Theory article posted
In response to inquiries from Places to Go, People to Be, I have submitted a three-part miniseries attempting to summarize the basics of role playing game theory as discussed here…
In RPG Theory
Participants: M. J. Young, Mike Holmes, Ben Lehman, Doug Ruff, timfire, Kit, Dobamine, GB Steve.

5/6/2005 M. J. Young: Character, Sheet, and Play Revisited
In The relationship between character, sheet, and play Fred (Vaxalon) wrote of character secrets not being part of the shared imagined space. I disagree. I'm very sorry I missed this…
In RPG Theory
Participants: M. J. Young, Troy_Costisick, 1of3, MatrixGamer, Valamir, pete_darby, Mike Holmes, John Kim, C. Edwards, xenopulse, contracycle.

5/12/2005 M. J. Young: Perpetuating Sing-Sex Play Groups
[quote="In [a href="http://www.indie-rpgs.com/viewtopic.php?t=15305"]Do RPGS allow for diverse participation/discourse?[/a] Julie"]One of these days I'd like to see someone address the issue of why gamers perpetuate the existance of single sex play…
In RPG Theory
Participants: M. J. Young, Mike Holmes, xenopulse, Noon, jrs, James Holloway, Bret Gillan, Gordon C. Landis, Paka, komradebob, BrennaLaRosa, Emily Care, GameLoft, Andrew Morris, Ron Edwards, contracycle, Walt Freitag.

5/20/2005 M. J. Young: Stance as Credibility Distribution
O.K., I'm actually sort of puzzling over something I wrote, and I thought I'd initiate some discussion on this to see if I'm off my rocker. I took a long…
In RPG Theory
Participants: M. J. Young, TonyLB, timfire, lumpley, Ron Edwards, Gaerik, John Kim, Mike Holmes.

7/1/2005 M. J. Young: Theory 101: The Impossible Thing Before Breakfast posted
For those following the series, Places to Go, People to Be has released the next issue, containing the second of the theory series, Theory 101: The Impossible Thing Before Breakfast.…
In RPG Theory
Participants: M. J. Young, Albert of Feh, John Kim, Andrew Morris, Ian Charvill, timfire, Sean, Paul Czege, cruciel, ewilen, greyorm, Silmenume, 1of3, contracycle, Marco, Noon, brainwipe, Vaxalon, Mortaneus, Ron Edwards.

8/4/2005 M. J. Young: After Reading Cruciel's Dice Riddle
Cruciel's A Dice Mechanic Riddle got me thinking a bit, and although this lacks a few of the factors he wanted to include it struck me as an interesting mechanic…
In RPG Theory
Participants: M. J. Young, ffilz.

8/4/2005 M. J. Young: Ubercon VI
Anyone who is planning, hoping, or thinking to go to Ubercon VI this fall not as a vendor or special guest: please contact me privately. I'm a guest of the…
In Conventions
Participants: M. J. Young, Adam Dray.

8/4/2005 M. J. Young: What's Not to Like?
I don't like change. That's a given. I think too many times people change things for the worse, or at least make changes that don't improve anything but only make…
In Site Discussion
Participants: M. J. Young, jrs, Vaxalon, Gaerik, Alan.

8/19/2005 M. J. Young: A Model for a CRPG?
Recently I was corresponding with someone whose understanding of The Big Model is rather incomplete. In the course of our discussion he portrayed his dream of designing a CRPG with…
In RPG Theory
Participants: M. J. Young, Noon, Warren, Adam Dray, contracycle, JamesSterrett, Eric J..

10/20/2005 M. J. Young: Clarifying Participationism
Over in Illusionism etc there has been some discussion of illusionism versus participationism. Hal, to extend your metaphor, the theoretical functional illusionism is where your wife…
In RPG Theory
Participants: M. J. Young, Mike Holmes, Joshua BishopRoby, timfire, Noon, Marco, JasonPalenske, Halzebier, Caldis, Silmenume.

11/3/2005 M. J. Young: Reward Cycle II: Cycle Sans System
There were some excellent points made in the recent thread Reward Cycle; as I read it, though, I was brought back in my thinking to the problem that I've had…
In GNS Model Discussion
Participants: M. J. Young, Vaxalon, timfire, talysman, Frank T, Mike Holmes, Ron Edwards.

5/19/2006 M. J. Young: Origins?
Just yesterday someone was pressuring me to commit to appearing at Origins, and it suddenly occurred to me that I don't recall anyone here ever saying anything about selling games…
In Conventions
Participants: M. J. Young, inthisstyle, Valamir, Mike Holmes, Dav, Lisa Padol.

12/14/2006 M. J. Young: Theory 101 Third Article Posted
I neglected to mention it last week as I've been pretty preoccupied with other matters, and I apologize because it should have been a priority. The new issue of Places…
In Site Discussion
Participants: M. J. Young.

7/12/2007 M. J. Young: Congratulations to Dark Omen Games...
...for being on the nominees list for Best Publisher in the ENnies. Best of grace in this. --M. J. Young
In Dark Omen Games
Participants: M. J. Young, GreatWolf.

4/24/2008 M. J. Young: Ubercon X, Edison NJ
I am at this moment expecting (98% certainty) to be at Ubercon X in Secaucus this weekend.  If anyone is going to be there, look me up--I'll be running Multiverser…
In Conventions
Participants: M. J. Young.

10/29/2010 M. J. Young: Ubercon XIII
I'm planning to be there next weekend, if all goes well.  I don't know if anyone else here will be, but I'm usually pretty prominent.  I don't yet have my…
In Conventions
Participants: M. J. Young.

7/15/2011 M. J. Young: Phasing Out the Forge--Personally
There was a time when I was very active here; I'm still in the top twenty members by total number of posts.  However, the changes here have gradually marginalized me--the…
In Site Discussion
Participants: M. J. Young.

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