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Message: <blockquote data-quote="redrick" data-source="post: 7299462" data-attributes="member: 6777696">Real people make non-optimal choices all the time. Particularly when it comes to something as lengthy and involved as personal development. Not to mention that there are plenty of other factors that play into how we develop personally and professionally beyond our choices to be the best [profession] that we can be. Maybe the fighter really enjoys figuring out mechanical puzzles, and spends a bit too much time playing with locks when they could be doing pushups and working on their swordfighting techniques. Now, we could have a game where the lock-picking obstacles are always such that the one Rogue is all who is ever needed to overcome them, and the combat obstacles are such that only a slightly more optimized Fighter could overcome them. Or we could have a game where events conspired such that the Fighter was really grateful to have put a little time into lockpicking because it really came in handy that one time, and who needs to be The Best Fighter in the world anyway? It's not like every monster you fight is The Best Orc in the world.Role-playing as war.No DM can hope to actually create a living breathing world that is so accurate that it perfectly responds to all the role-playing decisions of characters. We're doing this in our free time and we all need to take shortcuts. It's all illusion. As long as the Players and the GM are in agreement on the general criteria with which that illusion is constructed and implemented, everybody wins. We try to present situations that seem close to real. We try to present situations that seem fun. We try to present situations that will challenge and engage the players and their characters. We try to present situations that will highlight the weaknesses of the characters, and situations that will highlight the strengths of the characters. We try to adapt to the unexpected choices players might make, or the unexpected outcomes of die rolls that take the adventure in a different direction. But it's still all fake and governed by a certain layer of meta-gaming, which is to say, everybody, at some point, makes a decision because they think it will be more fun.</blockquote>

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