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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Iry" data-source="post: 6810424" data-attributes="member: 6777378">But here is the problem. Meeting the needs of your players means knowing what is going on in their lives and building situations that can help them on a psychological level. Let me give an example:Player A is an explorer who just wants to experience what kind of cool story I am telling. I do some digging to find out what genres and tropes she likes and dislikes, then make sure she encounters (or avoids) those tropes to a moderate degree in-game.Player B has been passed up for promotion twice and seems really bummed about it. I make sure she encounters situations where she can be better recognized for her accomplishments and maybe an authority figure is willing to give her more responsibility (if she rolls well -- these are not freely given).Player C wants to talk trash to NPCs because he has to be extremely nice and diplomatic in his workplace. Since he needs to blow off some steam now and then, I make sure to arrange some situations where he has an easier time getting away with talking trash to NPCs. Doing so is ultimately his choice, of course.Player D is a higher functioning member of the autism spectrum and has trouble interacting socially with others both inside and outside of the game. I make sure circumstances in the game conspire to give him a wide and obvious range of social situations so he can learn and experiment with how to act in a safe environment.A sandbox is probably not going to meet the needs of those players with any regularity. Only by coincidence. This is one of the biggest reasons why it is such a good idea to tailor situations to the needs and capabilities of your players. Unless you have players who specifically enjoy a sandbox heavy game over the alternative, they may be having objectively less fun.</blockquote>

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