The example that kicked off this discussion, replacing references or pointers with array indices, is presumably one example you're thinking of? The problem wit

The example that kicked off this discussion, replacing references or pointers with array indices, is presumably one example you're thinking of? The problem with using that example to make this argument is that it is the equivalent code. Jonathan Blow's argument was not that the borrow checker forces people to use a worse pattern - he uses basically the same pattern in C - but that the borrow checker doesn't help you with that pattern, and so the borrow checker is extra friction. Now, Catherine West's argument in the keynote video was that the borrow checker pushes people toward this better design, albeit without helping solve the use-after-"free" aspect, while Jonathan Blow says he would just start there as an experienced game developer, so he doesn't need to be pushed. There's also the fact that the borrow checker isn't completely gone, and still applies to any references you put in the array or temporarily take to the array or that don't involve the array at all; as well as the fact that Rust also helps with things like parallelism, which definitely applies to games and doesn't need to be "bypassed."