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<blockquote data-quote="prabe" data-source="post: 8015597" data-attributes="member: 7016699">[USER=6785785]@hawkeyefan[/USER]Decision (which is probably almost always an action declaration, but I'm open to the possibility it might not be; the decision of which trail to follow doesn't seem as though it requires action-resolution, for example, though acquiring the information on which to base that decision probably does) is when and where players exert--and demonstrate--agency. (Again, leaving aside games with mechanics that allow direct reframing of the fiction.) That agency can be falsified (which word seems better than &quot;undone&quot; or &quot;negated&quot;; I don't feel as though I'm moving the goalposts, here) by the GM in several ways, which mostly revolve around not allowing the players to change the fiction--which one might describe as framing the future (though there may be problems with that description). Once falsified, the agency effectively doesn't exist, and didn't in the first place. If you have two paths that might lead to the McGuffin, and no matter which way you go you find [THING] and then the McGuffin, there's no agency in that decision, even though the players might believe there is; heck, if there's no agency if the GM flips a coin after you decide, either.I tend to agree with the statement that failure should (at least sometimes) also change the fiction, just in a way contrary to the player's desires. To me, the ability to fail is inherent in agency. I recognize not everyone agrees with that.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="prabe, post: 8015597, member: 7016699"] [USER=6785785]@hawkeyefan[/USER] Decision (which is probably almost always an action declaration, but I'm open to the possibility it might not be; the decision of which trail to follow doesn't seem as though it requires action-resolution, for example, though acquiring the information on which to base that decision probably does) is when and where players exert--and demonstrate--agency. (Again, leaving aside games with mechanics that allow direct reframing of the fiction.) That agency can be falsified (which word seems better than "undone" or "negated"; I don't feel as though I'm moving the goalposts, here) by the GM in several ways, which mostly revolve around not allowing the players to change the fiction--which one might describe as framing the future (though there may be problems with that description). Once falsified, the agency effectively doesn't exist, and didn't in the first place. If you have two paths that might lead to the McGuffin, and no matter which way you go you find [THING] and then the McGuffin, there's no agency in that decision, even though the players might believe there is; heck, if there's no agency if the GM flips a coin after you decide, either. I tend to agree with the statement that failure should (at least sometimes) also change the fiction, just in a way contrary to the player's desires. To me, the ability to fail is inherent in agency. I recognize not everyone agrees with that. [/QUOTE]

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