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<blockquote data-quote="EzekielRaiden" data-source="post: 9007788" data-attributes="member: 6790260">For my part? I always, 100% of the time, value the experience of the player over the experience of the character (or the world; the differences between the two are not relevant in this context), if I am truly forced into a choice where I get one and only one and the other must be sacrificed. The player is real. The character isn't. The player is a fellow-creator; the character is a creation (as is the world.)Of course, it's pretty rare--to the point of being perhaps a little hyperbolic!--to have a situation where it's &quot;Choose: 100% verisimilitude 0% game, OR 0% verisimilitude 100% game.&quot; The vast majority of the time, it's more like &quot;Choose: 55% verisimiltude 45% game, or 45% verisimilitude 55% game.&quot; Neither ceases to matter, but in a slim set of cases, you make minor sacrifices on one end for major gains on the other. And I see no reason--ever--to prioritize things that don't actually exist and have no actual feelings that can be hurt or hopes that can be dashed.That doesn't mean these things have no value at all. They do! And sometimes the real live people at the table need those things in order to feel the right feels etc. But all the fictional things exist to serve. They should never be prioritized over the purpose for which they were made, namely, to give the real, living people at the table a satisfying experience. (Note, &quot;satisfying,&quot; not cloyingly-saccharine eternal sunshine and rainbows and instant wish fulfillment. A satisfying meal may contain sour or bitter things, but only if they actually serve to make better, fuller, richer flavor, not if they become the core focus of the experience.)</blockquote>

[QUOTE="EzekielRaiden, post: 9007788, member: 6790260"] For my part? I always, 100% of the time, value the experience of the player over the experience of the character (or the world; the differences between the two are not relevant in this context), if I am truly forced into a choice where I get one and only one and the other must be sacrificed. The player is real. The character isn't. The player is a fellow-creator; the character is a creation (as is the world.) Of course, it's pretty rare--to the point of being perhaps a little hyperbolic!--to have a situation where it's "Choose: 100% verisimilitude 0% game, OR 0% verisimilitude 100% game." The vast majority of the time, it's more like "Choose: 55% verisimiltude 45% game, or 45% verisimilitude 55% game." Neither ceases to matter, but in a slim set of cases, you make minor sacrifices on one end for major gains on the other. And I see no reason--ever--to prioritize things that don't actually exist and have no actual feelings that can be hurt or hopes that can be dashed. That doesn't mean these things [I]have no value at all[/I]. They do! And sometimes the real live people at the table need those things in order to feel the right feels etc. But all the fictional things exist to serve. They should never be prioritized over the purpose for which they were made, namely, to give the real, living people at the table a satisfying experience. (Note, "satisfying," not cloyingly-saccharine eternal sunshine and rainbows and instant wish fulfillment. A satisfying meal may contain sour or bitter things, but only if they actually serve to make better, fuller, richer flavor, not if they become the core focus of the experience.) [/QUOTE]

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