iserith
Magic Wordsmith
When GMing I want my players to engage the fiction of the game in their action declarations. I don't mind if they also connect this to mechanics, although ultimately that is a matter of adjudication by the referee.
I don't mind it per se as long as the goal and approach is stated since I'm not obligated to to accept the offer to use the mechanics. But in D&D 5e, it's just not smart play in my opinion to ask to make an ability check.
One thing I've noticed in playing a lot of D&D 5e with pickup groups is that whereas I never ask to make an ability check, sometimes - perhaps even oftentimes - my fellow players do ask to make ability checks. As a result, my characters are almost always more successful in achieving their goals by a margin of 50% or more. I'm not asking for a chance to fail. I'm putting forward my best approach to a goal and a lot of the time the DM will say I simply succeed.
The 4e DMG talks about it this way (p 74):
Some version of this approach, I think, is what is informing the assumption in the 4e rules that when the crunch is on in a skill challenge, checks will be made.
Yes, different games handle things differently. This thread was sparked by a discussion in the D&D 5e forum about D&D 5e. I don't know why the OP decided to quarantine it over in this forum.