August 23, 2000: Really about emotional response in video games... Let’s Put the Magic Back in Magic:

We’re talking about a magic staff of lightning here, not a can of pepper spray. The appropriate emotional response to finding one is not "oh, good, this could be useful.... Our magic-believing characters should respond about the same way that we would if we were handed an armed atomic bomb: "Holy $#&%!! I just picked up a stick full of lightning! God, I hope it doesn’t blow my head off."