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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Remathilis" data-source="post: 9397341" data-attributes="member: 7635">I gave an example of the DM using dice to determine something and then using his human instinct to decide that the result would be detrimental to the game. The example is itself irrelevant. Because it sets up a sort of paradox: if the DM cannot alter the results for the better of the game, why have a human DM at all? He's as powerless as the players to change the result. Having empathy or human reasoning is meaningless if they cannot use them to alter the game for the better. Remember we started this discussion on the notion of a DM using the Rule of Cool to break other rules to further the game. Implicit in that statement is the fact that DM does in fact have that power. The notion that the DM cannot bend said rules, even in order to better the game, is baffling to me. There are dozens of MMOs with defined parameters that the system cannot break, even to the detriment of the player. Why not play those? (And even most of them have human moderators who can intervene in case of extreme situations. They are typically called... GMs).The advantage of a human DM is threefold. They can react to situations that a computer cannot understand because it's not part of its coding. They can read a room and decide if the current path the game is heading down is going to be the most fun for everyone involved, and they can alter results to achieve more enjoyable experiences. To limit these abilities to just the first (making the DM a living computer who can interpret rules but not break them) is to remove the actual humanity from the GM, and once AI gets sufficiently advanced to interpret player intentions correctly, it would be trivially easy to remove the need for a human DM at all.That would be truly sad. So put me down on the side of DM Magic if it means creating a better experience. A good director does not reveal all their camera tricks, no magician gives away all their secrets, and no DM should fail to keep an ace up their sleeve and use it when the game stutters. It's all part of the show.</blockquote>

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