-E: I have reposted you questions there, but you can simply do that yourself. Just ask the question. It's pretty simple.
When he answers the brain damage question, I'll post.
See, here's the thing about the Damage: it's honest. It says directly what most theory-dialog says only obliquely (c.f. read the very first GNS essay where the author talks about Incoherent games and notes that most gamers get on-going power struggle, but Narrativist gamers get something "worse." -- that "worse" is the Damage).
And because it's honest and offensive and, frankly, bizarre, most theorists are very uncomfortable talking about it. It puts them in the position of either
1) Denying something they believe (and disagreeing with Ron which, as we've seen, has repercussions)
or
2) Admitting what they believe and having to deal with the very real fact that traditional gamers being offended by indie theorists is not, as they claim, an "over-reaction" to a neutral statement; its just a plain old natural "reaction" to someone coming in and making strangely hostile and unsubstantiated claims about a model they find fun.
If they faced this, they'd have to admit that they aren't hated-because-they-are-feared, or whatever (many indie folks are astonished that they're not embraced by traditional gamers and console themselves by saying the reaction they get has nothing to do with their behavior); they'd be in the position of admitting that the reception they get is the predictable and completely controllable result of their own boorish behavior,
The Brain Damage pulls back the curtain on the whole exercise.
It also exposes something else: indie theory blames bad games and bad game designers for social trauma some gamers experienced with their friends during their adolescence and young adulthood.
It tells gamers who had stayed in games they hated or got into on-going power-struggle, "You're not responsible for your behavior or your outcome. You're a victim -- you're blameless, the victim of a badly made game!"
That's, apparently, a popular message.
Cheers,
-E.