I don't say this with any anger, it's something I should remember, but let's take it and run with it a bit in terms of theft and RPG design.
This may be unfair, and I'm sorry if so, but I don't have a working alternative.
As an example, let's look at books.
Books have a lot of upsides. They're portable, we know how to use them, and they can be consumed according to our schedule.
Not everyone. There may be access issues, cost issues, usability issues, comprehension issues, or any number of other things gettin in the way of their utility.
And, again, it is not advice which excludes or negates other approaches.
So, given that, have I come to a dismissal?
I haven't. Because there's another mismatch of perception.
For almost any creative endeavor, it is possible to just *do* it. I can very freely put words on paper, or marks on a canvas, or "hello world" into a computer, or some rules on a page.
But we don't just *stop* there. Bodies of work and knowledge spring up over time because people are awesome that way.
And the great news is, you *can* ignore it. You can 100% start doing improv jazz when you know one note.
It might be. As noted, sometimes the culture is shit and needs to be blown up. But the *idea* of existing knowledge is not the enemy.
You're still a real designer if you ignore me, and I'm fine with that.
If I'm off base, and you have an idea for how to design great games that doesn't require learning them or playing them or deconstructing them or talking about them, I WANT TO KNOW ABOUT IT!
Dead serious. That would be some 5th element discovery kind of stuff.
If it's not clear, I think the idea of a universal canon is super toxic to our community. It encourages the worst sort of gatekeeping, and it needs to die in a fire.
Everyone has a personal canon, and that's a horse of a different color.
No one has read all the games, but we all carry the games that impacted us around with is, and that's a good thing.
Universal canon gives armor to your opinions. It is easier to say someone should go read Glorantha because it's a Great Work than it is to tell them to go read RIFTS, even if you love RIFTS and think is perfect, because it is not Accepted Canon.
But I call it out to make it clear that I do not think people are bad, thoughtless or unkind in searching for or subscribing to a universal canon.