Erfworld 77, page 71

[Zelig the Liar]

@ Murderous Hobo: I think crying Deus ex Machina every time something is revealed that surprises us cheapens the meaning of the phrase. Unless it's used to resolve the major puzzles or final obstacles in the story, it's just the story being told. Otherwise we'll be jumping every time a new character walks in the room, "HEY, nobody mentioned him before! What's he doing here! There's no precedent for there to be a third character in your standard Richard and Jane format story!"

@ Surfing HalfOrc: I don't think it's a matter of people "having issues", because we haven't had any confirmation on what combat really is yet. All we have are our own observations of a story, and how we interpret them using the data at our disposal. Disagreement does not mean we're blind, or in denial, or stupid, it just means we don't interpret it the same way. We may be proven wrong in the end, but that doesn't invalidate our position now when we have limited information to make our judgements.

edit: amusing, that the common male name in children's stories is censored.