Dr. Emily Friedman
I think about this a lot as I clean up the chapter on how people “become” Actual Play creators. In a way it’s my oldest research in AP: making a crappy network visualization & realizing quickly all the ties that you DIDN’T see, that were *decades* old — from LARP, from cosplay, random gigs, etc.

RE: https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:cgyiayqcgzfdanbwndbfy4de/post/3mji4wehbxs27
Apr 14 at 8:30pmWeb
Show threadDr. Emily FriedmanApr 14
I also thought about it at #asecs26 as @[email protected] noted that the impressive clusters of eminent scholars didn’t bond by being powerful — they’ve been supporting each other since they were grad students decades ago sharing 4-5 to a hotel room.
Show threadDr. Emily FriedmanApr 14
I am so grateful to the real ones who knew me when so many thought of me with a wry patronizing smile (maybe still do) — when I was the weirdo, never-productive-enough, “unserious” junior scholar. My friends & colleagues who see what’s come not as inevitable but as “you worked so hard for so long”
Show threadDr. Emily FriedmanApr 14
And of course, to tie it to the other thread: this model lives & dies on whether folks see you as a peer. If you’re seen as a pet or threat — or in creative circles, a fan — then this falls apart. You have to find folks who value reciprocity, which is harder to know on sight. It takes time.