[MUD-Dev] Re: WIRED: Kilers have more fun

[Matthew R. Sheahan]

Marian Griffith propagated a meme to the effect of:
> Violence does not equate physical violence. It is the exertion of
> power over somebody else.

you may wish to note that this, while popular in certain circles, is a
radical redefinition of the term violence and unlikely to be found relevant
by those who don't keep up with academic feminism.

it's actually a semantic game like the terms "progressive" and "regressive"
as they apply to taxation.  those were set up so that they would sound like
value judgments but their usage could be defended as technical.  this usage
of "violence" creates an incredible amount of the stuff all over the place,
from teachers instructing students to complete classwork, to managers making
work assignments, to RPG game masters declaring that an effect has occurred
to a player character.  but then one can pick and choose any of this
"violence" one likes and apply the term to it, which sounds like a strong
pejorative to people despite the fact that one has defined it into total
meaninglessness.  that's a media version of the political maneuver where you
criminalize every action and can then nail anyone you don't like however
hard you like.

								chiaroscuro