Now we are getting somewhere! Here there are indeed a load of unstated assumptions coming to light
This is seriously a WTF moment for me. If you think this has been established by anyone I think we might just as well have been reading different threads. I have not seen anyone even remotly indicating they would stop, or claim power to stop any kind of critisizm
except for possibly while actually playing (The idea being that this stuff should be done
after session). Some might even claim to "ignore" the critizism as well in terms of it's effectiveness to produce changes.
But I have heard absolutely noone claiming they are stones that are unable to be
hurt by critisism.
Nor anyone claiming the social superpower of stoping critisism
outside of play. I cannot completely exclude the possibility you at some point might have come across someone juvenile enough to claim they would chase away a player that was critising them out of game. But let me just say that I am not interested in spending more time on that edge case than state a complete agreement that this is (mildly put) poor conduct. This kind of phenomenom is definitely not supposed to be at play in anything I have said in this thread.
Nothing that might damage. The exact limits of allowance was not tested in the kids example. The kid might have found the idea of getting a lot of stainy fingerprints all over their shiny new toy unpleasant, but it is a sacrifice they are willing to make. This is within the possible parameters of my example. I asked if you could see any
possibility the scenario might be based on seeking belonging.
In the more relevant ttrpg example it was established before your answer to the second question that the dragon was on the line. It was nowhere stated what was the perceived value of that dragon. You made an assessment based on unstated assumptions. The
possibility of the dragon being highly valued was purposefully kept open when I formulated my example. Indeed world's most powerful dragon in a 30 year in the making world would normally make me think that would go without saying. But seemingly not in this case.
I have not changed my example at all. I wrote a situation
with my interpretation actively in mind. Your
reading added on at least a few
unstated assumptions. This leads you to visualise a radically different situation than I had in mind when I wrote my example.
I fear that is might have gone in a lot in this thread. People describe what they are doing in a similar maner as I gave this example. You add in a few assumptions you think are correct given context and maybe some previous statements that was meant to be unrelated. You hence produce a vision of something that everyone would indeed find deplorable. However you then go on and make claims about how people have been defending these deplorable actions. Chaos ensues as people that is being accused are trying to defend their position rather than seek clarification, as they think you have indeed the same vision as them about what has been said. This lead to a vicious cycle.
There is a crucial difference between wanting absolute power as you know it
might be needed in order to cause irreparable damage to something you hold very dear indeed - and wanting absolute power to protect oneself from any kind of unpleasantness.
I think everyone still active in this thread running living sandboxes has seen and accepted
a lot of garbage from the players that they have not cared much about. This while having never given an inch on their absolute
power to strike it down.
They need to answer for themselves if they have a story to share if they ever have gotten to the point that they have sacrificed something dear to them in-fiction in the name of the game. I can think of at least one such moment myself, but I find that too personal to share here.