Maybe this is more your style:
So, I was arguing with this guy on the internet. We had different perspectives and weren't really coming to agreement. But then he started acting condescending and insulting, which totally convinced me he was right.
You did not present your wife's (I'm assuming Josephine is your wife) opinion as evidence of a self sanity check. It came out of nowhere and seemed to be "I was venting to my wife, who laughed at your opinion." That's, at best, as relevant as me taking a poll of 1. Sure, it's technically "evidence", but it's about as biased and small a sample as you, yourself, personally, could get.
The core of my issue with it was not that she agrees with you or that she laughed. It's how you convey that information in a dismissive manner. You can say things that are true and corrective that are not also mean or condescending. Do you really need me to give an example in this case? Because I can do it. Anyway, being the rude guy is a choice that does not reinforce your opinion or do anything to convince other people you're right. In my experience, it just makes other people less receptive to a position.
So, when you fall back to being mean (and this isn't the only example I can cite), I just don't know what you're trying to accomplish other than perhaps boosting your own ego (that's usually why I'm tempted to do it)? It's usually self-defeating in what could otherwise be a productive discussion.
On to evidence:
I have no problem with evidence. I love evidence! And I would resent you saying I call it "insulting and irrelevant" if it wasn't such preposterous and obvious trolling. The work you propose when you say "conduct your own study" is kinda big for it to really mean anything. I do, for reference, ask my friends about these kinds of things. As you might imagine, some agree with me and some don't. On the general "you may" issue, for example, one friend would prefer "you may" on Soul Warden for the physical version and no "you may" in digital versions. So opinion can be context-sensitive, as well.
But I never get treated like I'm crazy. That's a special honor reserved primarily for you!
I already addressed that and don't have much more to say; I mean, I can't make you go back and read that section again.
I too have already addressed things, and have no ability to make that matter to you.
We can't run the experiment to see what percentage of the population exactly would have thought of Possession. I don't know what units creativity is measured in. But even things that are just one twist away from a basic thing can be extremely exotic. When they do a Magic card like that, me personally, I think, what a cool thing, not, wow that's just one twist away from a basic thing, this is so uncreative.
Let's take a step back here, because when I look at the previous posts, we've lost context and rat-holed on this specific issue. The crux of my argument against Possession is that it's overly-complicated for what it adds to the game. I still believe this. The crux has *never* been that it's uncreative. I continue to believe it's not a particularly creative concept, but as I've stated many times now with Smithy examples, a concept does not have to be creative to be valuable and productive.
I believe people really dislike watching other people use "their" stuff. Once you buy Possession, I have no choice but to watch you play it and then take "my" turns using "my" cards buying things that were supposed to be "mine". Psychologically, that sucks, man. It's invasive, no matter how you slice it. Once they get rolling the best you can hope for is having a bad hand when they Possess you and then you get to be like "haha - my deck is so inconsistent your Possession is wasted".
I have an insight here, check it out.
When I made Possession, I played it with the original group of Dominion players, and we all liked it. When someone took a good turn with my deck, I would think, "pretty sweet deck huh" not "oh I feel so violated." And it was the same for all of us. I am not lying, neither am I in error.
When I was working on Alchemy for publication, I played at a public game night with certain regulars plus random people. No-one voiced disapproval for Possession. Some people adored it and would buy it up. Other people would only go for it with Throne or something. No-one experienced any rage. Valerie said the FAQ was too long and I agreed and well I tried to make an exciting replacement in the time allotted but did not come up with something doable that was exciting enough.
Why do you experience such violation, where we did not? I put it to you that I was playing with friends, rather than random kids on the internet.
Out of curiosity, what sorts of numbers are we talking about here? I had a friend who, out of the blue, messaged me saying "man, it's really not fun to watch other people use my deck against me" and it clicked for me that's another reason I dislike the card. But that's not something I had thought to verbalize before he said it. For whatever that's worth. And another friend said something like "ick, that just helps the winner win more". So adoration for Possession is certainly not universal. It's weird to me that you didn't encounter any distaste for it, but I don't think you're lying or anything. If nothing else, it's an interesting data point that helps me understand the broader picture as well as you're personal experience.
But, anyway, I probably extrapolated my experiences too readily, because your reaction to being Possessed is so bizarrely foreign to me. It indicates that you're more concerned with showing off your cool deck than winning the game. Which is fine - that's a fine approach to the game. But I've never encountered that with anybody else I've played with. Maybe I just play with hyper-competitive people? Or is that not fair to your playtesters?