Dr. Emily FriedmanApr 14
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
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 Friedman
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”
Apr 14 at 8:37pmWeb
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.