The Infamous Five

This post is easy. Ron already did the work of listing all the links, in 2004...

...and then left that list in the Forge Archive without copying it in this subsection.

So, this is a simple copy-and-paste of the list he did wrote at the time. The link above points to the original list.

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Hello,

A while ago, I initiated a series of threads which came to be known as the Infamous Five. Each one spawned numerous daughter threads. Although each had a distinct topic addressed to its specific forum, their sequence was designed to constitute a larger argument as well. Those of us who participated in these threads enjoy a certain relationship and shared goal, here at the Forge, which is hard to explain - it's about knowing why we're here and considering what the Forge is relative to the rest of the hobby.

Why post them now? Because often I find myself referring people to one or another piece of this immense web of posts, and it's usually because I think the insights are central to participating here, for that person. So I'm putting them up as a big set of unified links. Are anyone required to read them? No, but I think a lot of people might like reading them, or might like to see what context a lot of smaller points are being made within.

For each forum, the list below leads off with the one that started the process, after the forum title.

#1: PUBLISHING: Mainstream: a revision
Production value
Promotion
Active vs. passive entertainment
The Store
What would make a non-role-player buy your game?
The game that would sell to non-role-players
The importance of play
Accessible? To whom?

#2: ACTUAL PLAY: Actual play in the stores
Mainstream media

#3: RPG THEORY: Social Context
Gay culture / Gamer culture
Self-image
Christian gamers and self-esteem
What does role-playing gaming accomplish?
Sexism and gaming

#4: GNS MODEL DISCUSSION: Vanilla and Pervy
Pervy in my head
Combat systems
Cannot stand cutsiepoo terms
Pervy Sim, points of contact, accessibility

#5: SITE DISCUSSION: The Forge as a community
The five percent
The Forge and cultural bias
Off-the-cuff Forge cultural analysis
Relationships at the Forge

Best, Ron