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A week or so ago, the WEEI morning radio jocks were pushing the “it’s no worse than a frat hazing” talking points on Abu Ghraib. This morning, though, there was some interesting mutation going on. Dennis and Callahan spent a lot of time talking about how admirable the people who tried to prevent it were, and how little attention the media was paying to them — which is tacit acceptance that a lot of the soldiers did do something wrong. They went on to talk about the psychological tensions that might lead to abuse, once again accepting the postulate that abuse did occur.

I don’t think the “frat hazing” talking point is sticking.

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For the curious, my GenCon schedule follows.

Thursday

Iron Ref (Judge/Player), 2 PM — 8 PM

This is run by a couple I’ve sort of kind of known for a long time, and whom I had a great time gaming with last GenCon. The concept is also terribly cool. Quasi-fortunately, my other first choice for this slot filled up two hours after registration opened, so I didn’t have to make a choice.

Beneath the Astrolabe (Dread), 8 PM — midnight

I’ve always wanted to play Dread. Maybe I’ll get lucky and score a copy… OK, while looking up something else I just discovered that this is not the Dread that Rafael Chandler wrote. Well, crap. And I already bought the ticket. Well, it sounds kind of interesting anyhow.

Friday

Whirlpool of Blood (Shadowfist draft), noon — 4 PM

I am not ever going to be a top-notch Shadowfist player again. I’ve pretty much come to terms with this. I don’t play enough, I don’t obsess about it enough, and my play style is sufficiently different from the play style of the designers that I don’t get that many cards which support my play style. Mostly, though, I don’t play enough. So I’ll do one draft event and have fun, but I won’t do the World Championship this time.

Fireborn: Become the Dragon, 4 PM — 8 PM

The setting sounds kind of cool but I really want to find out what the system is like.

Saturday

The Frogs of War (Adventure!), noon — 4 PM

Heard good things about this GM from friends of mine, plus it’s Adventure! so how could I miss it? I got the last ticket for this. Phew.

Real Men Wear Tights (Four Colors Al Fresco), 4 PM — 8 PM

I am very intrigued by superheroes in a historic setting. The system is also pretty fascinating — it’s different, and I’m a neophile.

Sunday

Dragon Bone (Everway), noon — 4 PM

Another GM recommended to me by friends. The same friends, come to think of it.

I also failed to sign up for a Black Company preview. I’m going to try and get into it anyway. I really want to see what Green Ronin does with Black Company.

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“Today we have elves, stormtroopers and now superheroes,” Koster said. “We need to break out of the geek ghetto. No offense … I am one.”

Wired is running the old mainstream acceptance article, except it’s about MMORPGs instead of comic books. And yeah, we all know how unpopular stories about elves, stormtroopers, and superheroes are.

#2 movie of all time: Star Wars. #4 movie of all time: The Phantom Menace. #5 movie of all time: Spider-Man. #6 movie of all time: Return of the King. #9 movie of all time: The Two Towers.

If and when MMORPGs break mainstream, it’s not going to be because of a change in subject matter. It’s going to be because of gameplay, which needs to be more tuned to the mainstream user, and ease of play, ditto. But there are no problems at all with the genres they’re mining.