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Message: <blockquote data-quote="EricNoah" data-source="post: 2918903" data-attributes="member: 4">What kind of irks me in threads like this is a) the use of annecdotal evidence to generate a universal rule (i.e. "I've seen a number of people who do X, and thus now everyone in the world does X"), and b) in general, complaints about how "gamers today do X, whereas in my day we did Y."  It's like when people say "kids today have no values or respect or they hate school" or whatever.  I teach in a middle school and I can tell you ... based on those kids alone, mind you! ... "kids today" do have values, they are very respectful, they enjoy being in school and learning, and they want to please adults.  And yet I haven't seen all "kids today" so I'm in no better position to make a blanket statement than anyone else.Long story short: gross overgeneralizations are no help to anyone.  And whining about the behaviors of people whom you will never actually play with is unproductive. So ... back to the topic at hand ... maybe a more productive line of thinking or questioning might be, "How can I, as DM, get my players to come up with interesting character background?"  (If you already know the answer, please share!)My reaction: Ultimately, if you're going to ask someone to do some work (whatever kind of work it might be), it has to pay off somewhere down the road.  So you need to establish that character backgrounds will pay off.  There are some players for whom a background is its own reward, but for others you may need to provide a carrot.  Doesn't have to be much.  Maybe you'll promise to try to work in one bit of each character's background into the campaign's storyline.  (Crafting a background and then never having it come into play is a bummer!)  Maybe you let them have an extra rank or two in some crafting or profession skill to represent their background knowledge.  Something like that.  Some people will not immediately see the value in creating a backstory.  Some people, indeed, feel a little trapped by doing so.  They'd rather start with a bit of a blank slate and then let the campaign be their story.</blockquote>

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