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Message: <blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 7280231" data-attributes="member: 42582">The parnters aren't in competition with one another. Do you play bridge or five hundred? Do you know how bidding works? The players (with partners sitting opposite) take turns to bid, with the successful bid binding the partnership. So bidding is competitive against the other partnership, and cooperative with one's partner.In bridge pay is cooperative for the partnership that loses the bid, but not for the winner (who plays their hand and the dummy). In 500 play is cooperative for both partnerships.Yet the social issue of timid players, and how to handle them, can arise in the context of a partnership. (I know; I've experienced it.) The fact that the partners aren't in competition doesn't make it any less. Some timid partners like playing with a strong partner who will dominate the play of their partnership and win the hand; other timid partners get resentful if their parner dominates play in that way, as they feel embarrased/shown up/that their participation didn't really matter (and that perception can often be correct).Those social issues are not obviated by the fact that the partners are not competing with one another. And the dynamic is no different from D&D - does the timid player who can't do maths, never remembers the spell lists and forgets about his/her PC's magic items want the skilled wargamer to take charge (so the PCs beat the monsters); or will s/he be resentful, and rather make his/her own choices even though they lead to failure in the adventure?There's no general answer to that question - it's utterly contextual, and the contrast of competitive/cooperative doesn't shed any light on that context. There's no general truth to the claim that the GM should make sure the player choices don't matter, so that the PCs will succed in the adventure whatever choices the timid player makes, or even if s/he doesn't choose at all but just dithers.</blockquote>

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