D&D 5E Sidelining Players- the Good, the Bad, the Ugly, and the Poll

[S'mon]

Voted #1, but it is certainly nice when I have something for the player to do a la #2. Best of all is old school games with retainers, player can have those.

 

[Shasarak]

So the general fault lines in the debate, as I have observed them, fall into two categories-

1. (a) The "consequences r lyfe!" crowd v. (b) the "playerz just wanna have fun" crowd. In essence, (a) believes that the game is more fun with the possibility of failure, and (b) believes the game is more fun when you are, um, playing it.

2. (a) The "suck it up buttercup" crowd v. (b) the "here we are now, entertain us," crowd. Again, the fault line between these two approaches is that (a) thinks that it would be good, but not necessary, for the DM to have options for the player being sidelined, while (b) believes that the DM is required to have options available if there is any player sidelined.

Definitely put me down for the DnD is more fun when you are, um, playing it camp.

This discussion reminds me of a quote from someones significant other observing that 'DnD is 30 minutes of fun packed into 4 hours'

 

[FormerlyHemlock]

But those are not mutually exclusive choices. You can have the possibility of failure without sidelining (except in the case of Death).
That's not the way it reads. If Option 2 is "Sideline, but Have Alternatives" and Option 3 is "You can have consequences without sidelining" then Option 1 is logically "Sideline without alternatives".

But option #2 is logically incoherent: if the player has things to do, he hasn't been sidelined.

 

[Shasarak]

Option one is winning because a large part of the player base still enjoys playing a game. A game sometimes means losing and part of losing some games means temporary elimination. Ever play dodge ball? When you get tagged with the ball, then you are eliminated until the end of the game.

Personally if I wanted to play Dodge ball then I would, you know, play Dodge ball. Certainly one thing I dont do is think about ways that I can make my DnD game more resemble Dodge ball.

 

[lowkey13]

*Deleted by user*

 

[Shasarak]

D&D is four good hours of joking with friends, spoiled by the rolling of dice.

I dont get it, DnD without dice?

 

[Harzel]

Yeah, sorry, for reasons along the lines that others have already mentioned, I don't think the alternatives are well enough defined to make voting interesting. IMC a PC becoming inactivated for an extended period of time, including permanently, is definitely possible. If the deactivation is permanent, I guess I consider creating a new character to be a perfectly good alternative activity. An extended but temporary deactivation hasn't come up yet, but this thread has made me realize that I am not well enough prepared to deal with it. So, definitely useful.

 

[Seramus]

But option #2 is logically incoherent: if the player has things to do, he hasn't been sidelined.

That's something to take up with the OP.

But if Option 2 is "I have alternatives for the player to continue participating" then Option 1 is, if not "It's okay to make a player sit for hours doing nothing" then at the very least it is "It's sometimes okay to make a player sit for hours doing nothing."

 

[FormerlyHemlock]

That's something to take up with the OP.

But if Option 2 is "I have alternatives for the player to continue participating" then Option 1 is, if not "It's okay to make a player sit for hours doing nothing" then at the very least it is "It's sometimes okay to make a player sit for hours doing nothing."

Yes. I wound up voting for #3 even though I wanted to vote for #1. I'm okay with sidelining or killing off player characters, just not players.

 

[Seramus]

Yes. I wound up voting for #3 even though I wanted to vote for #1. I'm okay with sidelining or killing off player characters, just not players.

I think part of the issue is (in my opinion) that Option 1 is worded in a very appealing way that implies the other two options (especially Option 3) do not have consequences. It uses positive language to say "I don't think it's always necessary to have alternatives", which sounds nice. But upon inspection and comparison to Option 2, the difference is that Option 1 means sometimes not giving the player any alternative.