Why do 'bad guy' encounters often feel repetitive, derivative, or shallow, especially in rpgs and CRPGs, but also in much genre fiction? The "COG" model explains that dynamic, and suggests how to stop it from dragging our stories down. [Continue]

I’m noticing a severe lack of real story lines, much less storytelling, in free online rpgs.  The problem isn’t only found in free online rpgs - it’s in many paid rpgs as well -  but the free ones are ubiquitous these days, [Continue]