Nathan Paoletta further thought: This isn’t just on the designers, it’s on the players, right? As you say, nobody talks about it and probably nobody appreciates it. I don’t know that that should remain unaddressed even if a sizeable % of players are firmly in the Artist is Dead camp. Games might be art but we don’t observe them as static creations. 

But, as Christian Griffen is getting at — and I can appreciate why nobody wants to say it outright — being coy about (for example) the design intent behind PbtA isn’t doing the hackers, players and buyers any favors.