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<blockquote data-quote="Lanefan" data-source="post: 7744747" data-attributes="member: 29398"><p>And this gets us into a question tangential - but not at all unrelated - to the main focus of the thread: instead of game mechanics and player agency we're veering into table mechanics and player agency.</p><p></p><p>By "table mechanics" I mean accepted modes of play, level of allowable metagaming, level of allowable disagreement and-or PvP, and so forth.</p><p></p><p>In this example, extended to generality, the only player with true action-declaration agency - and not just for a single PC but in effect for the whole party! - is the one who happens to speak first. All the other players' action-declaration agency is severely compromised (if not outright lost) for the duration of that sequence as they are bound by table mechanics to support that initial action or suggestion.</p><p></p><p>Given - as these other long threads have shown - that in most non-indie play the only true agency a player has is the freedom to declare actions for her character(s), to allow a table mechanic to take away so much of that agency so much of the time seems...odd.</p><p></p><p>Obviously it works for you and your crew. I just can't see it working in any situation where the players tend to have strong opinions in non-game situations...which describes most (or all?) of the people I game with...as those strong opinions will doubtless be reflected in the types of characters they play. We're not go-with-the-flow types! <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite1" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":)" /></p><p></p><p>Lanefan</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Lanefan, post: 7744747, member: 29398"] And this gets us into a question tangential - but not at all unrelated - to the main focus of the thread: instead of game mechanics and player agency we're veering into table mechanics and player agency. By "table mechanics" I mean accepted modes of play, level of allowable metagaming, level of allowable disagreement and-or PvP, and so forth. In this example, extended to generality, the only player with true action-declaration agency - and not just for a single PC but in effect for the whole party! - is the one who happens to speak first. All the other players' action-declaration agency is severely compromised (if not outright lost) for the duration of that sequence as they are bound by table mechanics to support that initial action or suggestion. Given - as these other long threads have shown - that in most non-indie play the only true agency a player has is the freedom to declare actions for her character(s), to allow a table mechanic to take away so much of that agency so much of the time seems...odd. Obviously it works for you and your crew. I just can't see it working in any situation where the players tend to have strong opinions in non-game situations...which describes most (or all?) of the people I game with...as those strong opinions will doubtless be reflected in the types of characters they play. We're not go-with-the-flow types! :) Lanefan [/QUOTE]
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