When I first read Laws' essays years ago, I resisted many of his conclusions. He seemed to be framing a lot of the principles behind RPG game mechanics as the result of widespread pathologies within gamers themselves. This felt judgmental and mean-spirited, to say the least. As I write this in early October 2014, "Gamergate" is raging in all it's overwrought, tawdry, misogynistic glory. Rereading this now, it's hard to escape the conclusion that he was correct.