What is an RPG

Throughout the ages of roleplaying nearly every published role playing game has had "that" section near

the beginning of the book. The name of the section may vary, but content rarely does. They always give a stilted explanation of what role playing is and often follow it by descending into a long drawn out example of play.

The VAST majority of people who pick up an RPG, know what it is, and know how to play RPGs. So what purpose does this section even serve? Most players would only read the poorly acted "how to play" script to laugh at it. In the end this type of content could be dropped from the books  and maybe, if you really wanted to, you could print a link URL to some online resource that explains what the hobby is.

Imagine a person deciding to take up fishing, who walks into the fishing-shop without a bloody clue about what a rod is, or a hook, or bait, or a lure, or anything. That's kind of what you're suggesting is happening with these RPG books. I guess back in the day, it made some kind of sense when D&D was just taking off and it was a new hobby, but not now, not today. The first book I noticed that took the brave step of consigning this section to the dustbin where it belongs was Weird West. bravo Stuart Robertson, bravo!