Bayushi_seikuro
Hero
I think maybe to put it in gaming terms:Like….in theory I get what you’re saying, it just doesn’t…make sense to me. Idk maybe it’s just that none of my favorite movies surprised me or maybe being surprised by a story development just doesn’t have the same impact on me as it does on others.
It’s obvious to you what value surprise has, and to me it’s quite obscure.
Let's say you're invested in a campaign (whatever system). You've sunk time and energy into the campaign. As a player, you generally like or dislike certain NPCs for various reasons. The day before the session, it gets out there's going to be a massive betrayal of the party when you get back to the session.
Whether you know any context about the who or why of the betrayal, no matter how good a player someone is, you are already going to know what's coming. Yes, you can still have a great session and roleplay accordingly, but for a decent amount of players, knowing there's a betrayal coming that session will color their experience by making them have a different kind of tension, the tension of waiting for the trap to go off.
YMMV