Quote:
Originally Posted by Fred Brackin
Some of us aren't very fond of memetics either. It looks to me like more Bad Science in the service of dubious roleplaying. The fact that some people would use Dominance Pheromones to make money in addition to getting laid doesn't really diversify things.
It's not that game settings don't need bad guys. It's that they need ones that the PCs are allowed to kill or otherwise decisively defeat.
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Shrug. Socially-savvy people are using their Charisma and Appearance and Voice and diplomacy to get laid and earn money all the time.
I think the value of memetics and pheromones and similar things is that they're more obvious reminders that social interaction is fundamentally an attempt to subvert and 'hotwire' another mind using the tools one has in the pursuit of one's goals. People easily forget that when talking about diplomacy, almost as easily when talking about looks and charisma and voice, but not as easily when talking about smells and mathematical/psychosoftware tricks. Saying "Look,
all infuences are a form of software tricks!" shatters the illusion, somewhat unpleasantly, it seems.