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<blockquote data-quote="Felix" data-source="post: 3679515" data-attributes="member: 3929">Metaphor.The choice of turning right or left in the dungeon is symbolic of the player's choice of what to do. The point was to provide an example where the players both had no way to effect a difference upon the outcome of their decision and be aware of that fact. Was the example deficient to that purpose in some way?Absolutely it's dishonest. You're not behind a DM screen for your health! <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile&nbsp; &nbsp; :)"&nbsp; data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />As DM your job is to take the PCs on an adventure. If deceiving the players now and again into thinking they have control of the story helps you in that purpose, isn't that a good thing? I agree that as soon as the players are aware that they have no control the railroading has defeated its purpose; but as long as the players remain ignorant, how does railroading adversely affect the game?If the players think that every decision they make matters, and that everything that has happened is a direct result of what they have done, regarding their gaming experience does it matter that they are completely wrong?&quot;Here is an example of bad DMing. It is railroading. Therefore all railroading is bad.&quot; Welcome to the logical fallacy of Converse Accident.Again: if the purpose of the DM is to provide a good gaming experience, and railroading&nbsp; allows the DM to do so without the players' knowledge, then how has railroading adversely affected the game?</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Felix, post: 3679515, member: 3929"] Metaphor. The choice of turning right or left in the dungeon is symbolic of the player's choice of what to do. The point was to provide an example where the players both had no way to effect a difference upon the outcome of their decision and be aware of that fact. Was the example deficient to that purpose in some way? Absolutely it's dishonest. You're not behind a DM screen for your health! :) As DM your job is to take the PCs on an adventure. If deceiving the players now and again into thinking they have control of the story helps you in that purpose, isn't that a good thing? I agree that as soon as the players are aware that they have no control the railroading has defeated its purpose; but as long as the players remain ignorant, how does railroading adversely affect the game? If the players think that every decision they make matters, and that everything that has happened is a direct result of what they have done, regarding their gaming experience does it matter that they are completely wrong? "Here is an example of bad DMing. It is railroading. Therefore all railroading is bad." Welcome to the logical fallacy of Converse Accident. Again: if the purpose of the DM is to provide a good gaming experience, and railroading allows the DM to do so [i]without the players' knowledge[/i], then how has railroading adversely affected the game? [/QUOTE]

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