I think that one of the most interesting (to me!) distinctions that has arisen from this thread and its counterpart from yesterday is the idea that one might use language different ways depending on one’s audience.

Like, in conversation with “your dad” (here representing anybody who is outside the hobby and doesn’t know any of the terminology), one might say “A roleplaying game is X” but in conversation with someone at a con, when one is safe to assume a bit of baseline knowledge, one might say “A roleplaying game exists on a spectrum between X and Y.”

While useful, that kind of distinction can be really difficult if literacy in the topic at hand grows more widespread, or at least if the terminology grows out of its original community.

Luckily, that’s not looking to happen any time soon in This Hobby of Ours.