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<blockquote data-quote="Raven Crowking" data-source="post: 5409894" data-attributes="member: 18280">No; that follows from it being the subjective part of the term that is actually upsetting to people.And there we have the problem.&nbsp; Your &quot;objective&quot; differences are, in fact, subjective.&nbsp; The limitations of what is, or is not, a railroad using your &quot;objective&quot; analysis relies upon subjective valuation.Ex., the &quot;Tiny World&quot;.&nbsp; Just how do you know that World A is &quot;Tiny&quot;?&nbsp; How much larger does World B have to be to not be a railroad?&nbsp; Etc., etc.The problem with your IF/THEN statement is that the IF is unreachable.&nbsp; We cannot objectively identify a railroad, save by changing the meaning of the term to something other than what is meant by the problem.&nbsp; And if we change the meaning in that way, our objective definition ceases to tell us if the problem at the table is with railroads.It would be comforting to think that you can objectively look at games and say, &quot;This is a railroad; that is not&quot;, but the distinction would rely perforce on your own valuations, and would be useless if someone within the game felt differently.OTOH, recognizing that these valuations are subjective, and recognizing that others might have (will have) different subjective valuations (1) opens a dialogue about expectations, and (2) requires keeping an open mind to those subjective valuations, both of which are eminently practical.IMHO, of course.&nbsp; YMMV.RC</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Raven Crowking, post: 5409894, member: 18280"] No; that follows from it being the subjective part of the term that is actually upsetting to people. And there we have the problem. Your "objective" differences are, in fact, subjective. The limitations of what is, or is not, a railroad using your "objective" analysis relies upon subjective valuation. Ex., the "Tiny World". Just how do you know that World A is "Tiny"? How much larger does World B have to be to not be a railroad? Etc., etc. The problem with your IF/THEN statement is that the IF is unreachable. We cannot objectively identify a railroad, save by changing the meaning of the term to something other than what is meant by the problem. And if we change the meaning in that way, our objective definition ceases to tell us if the problem at the table is with railroads. It would be comforting to think that you can objectively look at games and say, "This is a railroad; that is not", but the distinction would rely perforce on your own valuations, and would be useless if someone within the game felt differently. OTOH, recognizing that these valuations are subjective, and recognizing that others might have (will have) different subjective valuations (1) opens a dialogue about expectations, and (2) requires keeping an open mind to those subjective valuations, both of which are eminently practical. IMHO, of course. YMMV. RC [/QUOTE]

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