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Trust isn't unlimited. It's just that in 40 odd years of gaming, my personal experience is that trust does not get abused or used up over elf games. I've never had to work hard to establish trust in my groups, it exists naturally. If there were people who couldn't be trusted or made ongoing...

I haven't tried to make this anything. I've told you how I and my group operates. Something about the way I've done that does not sit well with you, but I'm not really sure why. You seem to be asking me for tips on dealing with limited or broken trust, but I have no answers for you. As I have...

I don't play in that zone and thus I don't do anything in "that limbo" because I'm not there. I don't experience trust issues in my group. I don't worry that my players might be losing trust in me. In the hypothetical instance I did feel that way, I would probably say something like, "Hey...

If someone in my group did something "concerning" I would talk it out with them. I am absolutely certain I would quite easily come to a mutually satisfactory accommodation with any member of my RPG group over any concerning thing that might occur in a session. Worst case, we might have an...

Submission to what? A fun game? I have no choice but to submit to my friends and risk that they are using their visits to my house to plot arson, or move across the country in the night to be safe from their possible machinations. If I have a concern, I speak to the other party about it. It's...

This is why others have said it's about trust. I would not play in a group where we weren't implicitly comfortable trusting each other with stuff like this. If I want to know which version of arbitrary my GM is being, I expect to be able to ask them and receive an honest answer. Worrying that...

I If you consider the two different definitions of arbitrary to be indistinguishable, we have again reached an absolute impasse. If you consider that any GM with the power to make decisions by fiat is definitionally the same as a GM making decisions on completely random whim, giving a GM the...

All good. I've stated my opinion on the phrasing, you've clarified your position, I'm happy to move on. :)

First, lets be clear: Commonly, "arbitrary" means without any reason, driven by sudden impulse and whim. I would hope that's more-or-less the way it's being used throughout the conversation. Under this definition, if the decisions being made were arbitrary, it might not be clear immediately...

I absolutely understand how that can apply to certain playstyles and that some people will indeed feel it's dull as dishwater. I have no doubt there are some styles of play that would make me feel that way, and I'm absolutely certain some of the games I run would feel that way to some players...

Telling people that their method of play is predicated on avoiding interesting things and mostly being "dull as dishwater" is going to advance a civil discussion how, exactly?

Does the difference between Soup A and Soup B matter? If no, then pick one for whichever arbitrary reason you wish. The choice doesn't matter, the reason for the choice doesn't matter, because it will never impact play. Worrying about things that simply and literally do not matter is a waste of...

This a broad, vague question. I don't think you should surprised to learn that my answer is that it's context dependent and very similar to the answers I've already provided. Is this a rhetorical question? Is there any possibility, after this entire thread, where I've been saying post after...

This is a good point. @hawkeyefan, it occurs to me that I should add to my previous response to you that, if I'm going to err in the amount of information I'm providing, I definitely aim for it to be too much, rather than too little.

In the majority of cases, I think it's supported by sharing information the character would have access to and hiding information the character would not have access to. "A GM" is extremely vague. Which GM out of the hundreds of thousands are we talking about? I don't know the vast majority of...

If you, @pemerton, berate a local mechanic, this could result in the mechanic relenting and giving you what you want. Or, it could result in the mechanic bristling, and refusing to do further business with you. Either is possible. If the mechanic is at liberty to react in either fashion (or in...

I mean that the players are able to make decisions from the perspective of their characters with what feels like the same degree of reliability as those characters would have were those characters and the world they existed in real; and that the outcomes of those decisions feel consistent with...

What does it matter if it's a low threshold? Is there something inherently superior about setting oneself a more difficult task, when the simpler task is providing the desired outcomes? In any case, while there are a wide range of possible outcomes, the number of likely outcomes is smaller. If...

You know it's consistent when the outcomes of your decisions consistently make sense. A lot of people are talking about how players can't make informed decisions in this style of play, but those advocating it know that players are in fact making informed decisions. And sure, it's always...

Because your average GM is certainly comparable in power, influence and authority to the Pope...