My Thoughts on Steemit's Rules... or lack thereof.

I have read "The Complete Steemit Etiquette Guide (Revision 2.0)" [https://steemit.com/steemit/@thecryptofiend/the-complete-steemit-etiquette-guide-revision-2-0] by thecryptofiend, and I have this to say:

I first came across the idea of rules as mere guidelines, when for my 12th birthday I received TSR's Dungeons & Dragons Fantasy Adventure Game Basic Set... which contains the Basic Rulebook... wherein Tom Moldvay states in the Forward, the following paragraph:

“The D&D game has neither losers nor winners, it has only gamers who relish exercising their imagination. The players and the DM share in creating adventures in fantastic lands where heroes abound and magic really works. In a sense, the D&D game has no rules, only rule suggestions. No rule is inviolate, particularly if a new or altered rule will encourage creativity and imagination. The important thing is to enjoy the adventure.”

Reading this paragraph was so impressive to me, as my first encounter with D&D was a previous dialogue with a fellow kid, Paul, whilst walking home from school. That was the 6th grade. The encounter that Paul described as he initiated me into the game, included Darth Vader breaking through a dungeon wall, and Paul explained to me that while Darth Vader was not a part of D&D per se, he could be because D&D is a game of imagination where the rules are intended to be nothing more than guidelines for fun play. In other words, to read what my new 6th grade buddy, who I had never even seen before that day after school, had told me previously on that day, was incredibly gratifying in some adolescent intellectual sense.

I never saw Paul again after that day, his family had moved away that very afternoon, but I have been playing D&D ever since. I am now 48 years of age. Thanks Paul. And you were right, I did indeed meet many friends who play D&D, and I look forward to meeting more.

And so, as in D&D, I am looking at success or failure here on Steemit, as in life, as nothing more than the sum total of my own choices, decisions, and subsequent actions. This freedom to creatively express oneself unhindered by rules, only guidelines... suggestions... incentivized as here on Steemit, or not at all, is the way freedom ultimately works.

Thanks, Steemit, for a great platform, and thanks Hive account@thecryptofiend for the "The Complete Steemit Etiquette Guide (Revision 2.0)". That title reminds me of the old brown covered AD&D 2nd Edition Player's Handbook Rules Supplements "The Complete ..." Handbooks. Of course Wizards of the Coast used the same "Complete" titles in 3.5, and probably beyond as well, but, and while I play 3.5 even to this day, the old versions just bring back so much nostalgia for me that they are most worthy of mention.

Here is a different version of my first D&D game:
http://www.ttsrr.org/my-first-game-of-dungeons-dragons-sort-of/

Thanks for reading my content, Steemians!