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<blockquote data-quote="Celebrim" data-source="post: 9543655" data-attributes="member: 4937">Oh that. Yeah, I'm just getting warmed up.&nbsp; I haven't even had the need for an essay that can't fit in a single post yet.As I understand the term, railroading is set of techniques and yes in and of itself it is neither bad nor good.&nbsp; Some of those techniques are more artless than others, but some of them are inevitable results of human limitations.&nbsp; What's bad is creating with your railroading a &quot;railroad&quot; which is the result of overusing those techniques.&nbsp; A &quot;railroad&quot; is a dysfunctional linear adventure in which the participants are feeling constrained by the rails and forced into choices they don't want to make especially when it seems their characters would not make those choices.&nbsp; In a railroad you notice your lack of agency.&nbsp; When you first start to notice it and care depends on you the player.&nbsp; I've been on railroads that other participants seemed to enjoy.What you shouldn't however do is equate a linear adventure like an Adventure Path with a railroad.&nbsp; Railroads are dysfunctional linear adventures, but not every linear adventure is dysfunctional.The other mistake is to assume that non-linear adventures are inherently functional and inherently allow agency by virtue of being non-linear.&nbsp; You can have dysfunctional non-linear adventures that lack agency as well.&nbsp; I refer to them by the term &quot;rowboat worlds&quot;.&nbsp; The metaphor here is you are placed in a seemingly endless ocean without landmarks, given a rowboat and told you can go anywhere you want.Happy New Year.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Celebrim, post: 9543655, member: 4937"] Oh that. Yeah, I'm just getting warmed up. I haven't even had the need for an essay that can't fit in a single post yet. As I understand the term, railroading is set of techniques and yes in and of itself it is neither bad nor good. Some of those techniques are more artless than others, but some of them are inevitable results of human limitations. What's bad is creating with your railroading a "railroad" which is the result of overusing those techniques. A "railroad" is a dysfunctional linear adventure in which the participants are feeling constrained by the rails and forced into choices they don't want to make especially when it seems their characters would not make those choices. In a railroad you notice your lack of agency. When you first start to notice it and care depends on you the player. I've been on railroads that other participants seemed to enjoy. What you shouldn't however do is equate a linear adventure like an Adventure Path with a railroad. Railroads are dysfunctional linear adventures, but not every linear adventure is dysfunctional. The other mistake is to assume that non-linear adventures are inherently functional and inherently allow agency by virtue of being non-linear. You can have dysfunctional non-linear adventures that lack agency as well. I refer to them by the term "rowboat worlds". The metaphor here is you are placed in a seemingly endless ocean without landmarks, given a rowboat and told you can go anywhere you want. Happy New Year. [/QUOTE]

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