iserith
Magic Wordsmith
I'm not the one talking about "punishment". You and some other posters are.
You could still answer the question from your point of view. Do you see that as punishment?
But if it's a team based game and level advancement is continues from session to session, then it would certainly seem to be less enjoyable for the person who cannot make every game session and falls farther and farther behind the rest of their team. Not a "punishment" per se, but certainly a less enjoyable play experience for both them, and possibly for their team.
Now if you are one of those hyper-competitive people who are always measuring themselves against their friends and teammates, then it probably more enjoyable for you to be able to lord your extra progress over the people who can't play as often as you. Dealing with that could be seen as "punishment" for your lower level teammates, I supposed.
I think it could be seen as less enjoyable by some people, but I would not say it was certain. I would also say, as I do upthread, that it's not as important mechanically that every PC be the same level. It was in D&D 4e, for example, but D&D 5e is much more forgiving in this regard and catching up is pretty fast in my experience. But there may be other good reasons why the group may want everyone the same level. Any ideas on why that may be?
My experience with the standard XP system and a player pool (and character pool) is that character levels vary a bit and that players of higher-level characters help the lower-level characters out with resources and equipment to get them on their feet. I haven't seen any of this "lording" extra progress over others. I don't doubt it happens though, given how nasty some gamers can be.