Genre

"I do not recommend using 'genre' to identify role-playing content."

-Ron Edwards, "GNS and Other Matters of Role-playing Theory"

That one was surprising, but it makes sense in the theoretical structure presented in the essay. Moreover, it got me thinking about genres and how a game can embrace a genre but simultaneously needs to be flexible enough to rise out of it. Apocalypse world does this by leaving all the details of the world, the apocalypse itself, and the psychic maelstrom undefined. But Vincent and Meguey Baker balance that openness by using their mechanics to nail down the specific type of story that Apocalypse World games will tell, namely stories about interdependent members of a community surviving in a land of want. The game is simultaneously incredibly focused and unbelievably broad, which makes for wonderful play.