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George,

I get the impression from your new post on proliferation that what you
mean by it is not the mere release of lots of variants but rather the
release of many untried and untested variants. If that's what you mean
by it, then you should watch who you're calling a prolificist. I am not a
prolificist by this definition of proliferation. Ever since I took up the
hobby of creating Chess variants, I have programmed and playtested nearly
every game I have released prior to releasing it. (The main exception
would be the games in my Experiments in Symmetry article, which arose
from an argument with Derek Nalls rather than from an interest in playing
them.) I began with Cavalier Chess in December 1998, shortly after getting Zillions of Games. Where possible, I have routinely written ZRFs for my
variants, and since developing the GAME Code language for Game Courier, I
have been programming my new games for that platform too. I have never
created a game simply as a work of art. I create games for the sake of
playing them.

I can appreciate the need for game inventors to slow down and think their
games through before releasing them. My recommendation is that people
program and playtest their games first. Programming a game helps to
clarify thinking about the game, and it helps the game inventor write the
game rules in full detail. Playtesting a game is essential for evaluating
whether a game should be released, for identifying what should be changed
in the game, and for trying out new ideas as the game develops.
Personally, I am leary about letting non-editor members make their own
pages on this site. While it makes less work for the editors, which is
good, it encourages people to release games before thinking them through.
If there is an upside to this, it is that they can benefit from peer
review and find other people to help them playtest their games with Game
Courier.