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<blockquote data-quote="Nork" data-source="post: 5493398" data-attributes="member: 59879">Players will do what they think they can do.Using a familiar setting can cause the players to do things, because they know how to avoid the GM thwarting them.Using an unfamiliar setting can cause players to not do things, because they don't know how to avoid the GM thwarting them.That being said, I think the underlying issue is if the GM is stomping on players for being &quot;wrong&quot; or not.&nbsp; Often times GMs fall into the trap of having a world that is really nothing more than an elaborate game of Simon Says, instead of a basis for an interactive story.&nbsp; If a player wants to do something, GMs will say to themselves &quot;is the player being consistent with the world&quot; and throw up roadblocks over every inconsistency.&nbsp; This causes the player to just stop trying to do anything.&nbsp; Especially because it is almost always the case that there is a massive body of things the GM knows to be true that has simply never been mentioned to the players.&nbsp; Using a known world can alleviate this problem by reducing the mass of unknown information.&nbsp; That being said, it is possible to make the mass of unknown information not be as much of a hindering factor.If the GM instead said &quot;is there any reason why the world can't be consistent with what the player is trying to do?&quot; and tear down any inconsistencies that would present roadblocks to what the player is trying to do.&nbsp; Once the player is allowed to just make an assumption about how the world works and the GM supports that assumption, then the entire group is now has shared knowledge about how that aspect of the world works and they can all be consistent about it in the future.&nbsp; They also know they can try to interact with the world and not be shot down.So I think using a familiar setting like earth helps people interact because they are on the same page and the players know how to avoid the GM stomping on their attempts to interact, but I don't think that using a familiar setting is strictly needed to get players to interact if the GM is careful not to stomp on players when they attempt to interact with any setting.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Nork, post: 5493398, member: 59879"] Players will do what they think they can do. Using a familiar setting can cause the players to do things, because they know how to avoid the GM thwarting them. Using an unfamiliar setting can cause players to not do things, because they don't know how to avoid the GM thwarting them. That being said, I think the underlying issue is if the GM is stomping on players for being "wrong" or not. Often times GMs fall into the trap of having a world that is really nothing more than an elaborate game of Simon Says, instead of a basis for an interactive story. If a player wants to do something, GMs will say to themselves "is the player being consistent with the world" and throw up roadblocks over every inconsistency. This causes the player to just stop trying to do anything. Especially because it is almost always the case that there is a massive body of things the GM knows to be true that has simply never been mentioned to the players. Using a known world can alleviate this problem by reducing the mass of unknown information. That being said, it is possible to make the mass of unknown information not be as much of a hindering factor. If the GM instead said "is there any reason why the world can't be consistent with what the player is trying to do?" and tear down any inconsistencies that would present roadblocks to what the player is trying to do. Once the player is allowed to just make an assumption about how the world works and the GM supports that assumption, then the entire group is now has shared knowledge about how that aspect of the world works and they can all be consistent about it in the future. They also know they can try to interact with the world and not be shot down. So I think using a familiar setting like earth helps people interact because they are on the same page and the players know how to avoid the GM stomping on their attempts to interact, but I don't think that using a familiar setting is strictly needed to get players to interact if the GM is careful not to stomp on players when they attempt to interact with any setting. [/QUOTE]

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