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<blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 7951441" data-attributes="member: 42582"><p>I've highlighted a couple of key phrases in your post.</p><p></p><p>I think the notion of <em>duty </em>is not apposite in this context. No one is talking about a GM's <em>obligations</em>. The discussion is about various techniques that a GM might use to shift the gameplay in some direction or other. It's about instrumental rationality.</p><p></p><p>I think [USER=16814]@Ovinomancer[/USER]'s posts are relevant to you but I don't think they provide the only angle into this issue. An alternative to thinking about <em>incentives</em> - at least in some narrow sense of that word - is to think about <em>what actually matters in your game? </em>What is the game about? What sort of fiction is it concerned with?</p><p></p><p>To give a really crude example, which is not meant to be an attempt to characterise any actual posters game: if <em>friends and family</em> only ever figure in the fiction of a game as either (i) "quest-givers" or (ii) hostages or similar objects of NPCs' threats, then it makes sense to me that players will not play their PCs as real people with real emotional connections and relationships, because that clearly does no work in the fiction of the game. After all, the GM will always conjure up other quest-givers if needed. And there will always be other objects of NPCs' threats.</p><p></p><p>In the OP you referred to a game "focused on treasure hunting". The Indiana Jones films are focused on treasure hunting. But Indiana Jones acts like a real person, because real person stuff - like friendships, old allies and enemies, familiarity with places and getting on well with the people who live in them, etc - are all prominent parts of the fiction.</p><p></p><p>What is your game about? What do you <em>want it to be about</em>? If those are different things, how might you move it from A to B?</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="pemerton, post: 7951441, member: 42582"] I've highlighted a couple of key phrases in your post. I think the notion of [I]duty [/I]is not apposite in this context. No one is talking about a GM's [I]obligations[/I]. The discussion is about various techniques that a GM might use to shift the gameplay in some direction or other. It's about instrumental rationality. I think [USER=16814]@Ovinomancer[/USER]'s posts are relevant to you but I don't think they provide the only angle into this issue. An alternative to thinking about [I]incentives[/I] - at least in some narrow sense of that word - is to think about [I]what actually matters in your game? [/I]What is the game about? What sort of fiction is it concerned with? To give a really crude example, which is not meant to be an attempt to characterise any actual posters game: if [I]friends and family[/I] only ever figure in the fiction of a game as either (i) "quest-givers" or (ii) hostages or similar objects of NPCs' threats, then it makes sense to me that players will not play their PCs as real people with real emotional connections and relationships, because that clearly does no work in the fiction of the game. After all, the GM will always conjure up other quest-givers if needed. And there will always be other objects of NPCs' threats. In the OP you referred to a game "focused on treasure hunting". The Indiana Jones films are focused on treasure hunting. But Indiana Jones acts like a real person, because real person stuff - like friendships, old allies and enemies, familiarity with places and getting on well with the people who live in them, etc - are all prominent parts of the fiction. What is your game about? What do you [I]want it to be about[/I]? If those are different things, how might you move it from A to B? [/QUOTE]
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