Kromanjon
Adventurer
Very interesting reading this thread and it’s made me aware of something I’ve only started doing since DMing for new people.
I would never ask a player to describe something that I have added to the world. I would always expect that to be my job.
However I do regularly ask players ‘what would your character think about X’ or ‘How would your character feel seeing this for the first time’. Essentially how would their characters react on an intellectual or emotional level. Particularly if I think their characters reaction would have an interesting insight. I find it helps to add to the roleplaying, intrigue and mystery elements of the game. Particularly when playing online and not able to see each other.
I’ll also ask players about what they would like their knowledge on a subject to be based on how they view their character. “There is the Four Seasons Coach house, would any of your characters have travelled on the Four Seasons coach before?. I’d then tailor my description to their answer,
So I put folks on the spot. But in a way that hopefully doesn’t embarrass them. What do folks think… is it acceptable? Particularly for folks that don’t like description on demand?
To me this sounds fine. I don't see any problems in players describing their character's actions, feelings and background (withing the bounds of the game world). However I don't see any problem with an NPC asking a PC about their sword either. If the sword has no "story" the PC could just be honest about this: "It's a sword. I kill monsters with it." This isn't putting anyone in a bad spot.
Like a lot of people have already said though, different people just want different things in their games.