The Business: What Seems Like A Threat Is A Blessing Instead

"Embrace, Extend, Extinguish" is a phrase I mentioned yesterday. I said this is how SOBS intends to get in front of the Bros.

What does this mean?

"Embrace, extend, and extinguish", also known as "Embrace, extend, and exterminate", is a phrase that the U.S. Department of Justice found that was used internally by Microsoft to describe its strategy for entering product categories involving widely used standards, extending those standards with proprietary capabilities, and then using those differences to disadvantage its competitors.

What this doesn't mention explicitly, but comes up in the aforementioned DOJ lawsuit, is that the only reason Microsoft got away with it (and, quite frankly, still does) is due to its possession of dominant Network Effects.

The Bastion development for Next Edition is SOBS attempting to do the Triple E thing to the Bros' recovery of Domain Play, and by extension to Braunstein. SOBS intends to use its superior Network Effects to get ahead of the momentum behind the Bros, and the "proprietary" part is where they design their mechanics and procedures to cater to Normie play expectations (e.g. it's a Safe Space where you can't be fucked with) while hard-coding this into the infrastructure they're erecting in their Online Only business model.

The intent is to conflate Bastions with Domain Play such that anyone coming from Next Edition to a Real Game table will be repulsed and bounce back into the Walled Garden.

"That sounds bad."

You'd think so. That's not unreasonable.

Consider this: SOBS is doing the gatekeeping for the Bros and the Clubhouse for them.

Yes, that's right, the Bros got SOBS to not only build the wall but to man the gatehouse and enforce the standards free of charge.

Most of those who'd be captured by this scheme are not the people that should be in the Clubhouse anyway. The Real Hobby, while it is a hobby, still takes a degree of effort that goes beyond what Normies will tolerate. As Casuals and Tourists both come from and therefore follow on Normies, you're getting a great deal by having SOBS keep all three of them out of your Clubhouse for you.

The Real Hobby cannot avoid returning to being an occult practice, which is what returning to the Clubhouse means in practice. SOBS, in an attempt to address what it seems as a threat in commercial terms, has played itself because it ends up aiding and accelerating this process. Conventional Play's collapse accelerates accordingly through this very attempt to do the Triple E to a perceived commercial threat that is actually a cultural one.

The only loser here is the Cargo Cult of Conventional Play.