Maybe you spend too much time on Twitter yourself if you think this has anything to do with it. [quote]External media is meant to advance plot, character, motivation & world building[/quote] External media is 1) external. So what happens out there doesn't affect your game time or how you play, so is mostly irrelevant to gameplay unless the media inserts back into the game in some way that affects the plot. 2) External media is not only a means of advancement, but [i]expansion[/i] on background information or adding supplemental things where gaps in stories exist. 3) Characters having relationships IS motivation and provides further details about background the same way lore does, only usually in more detail. 4) External media is often supplemental information on things that have no influence on the game and merely fall into canon (or fall out of canon and end up meaning affecting nothing)