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<blockquote data-quote="Blue" data-source="post: 8413797" data-attributes="member: 20564"><p>I see this more in D&D-type games where there are severe penalties for failure, such as character death. Play a game of Paranoia, Tales from the Floating Vagabond or Toon and you get a very different default player behavior. I go all the way to humorous games to show the difference, but there's a lot of RPGs along the spectrum. For example, most superhero games don't have character death on the table except in extremely rare cases. Superhero games are often also not zero-to-hero games like D&D where there is such an urgency to the hunt for the next character advancement.</p><p></p><p>When the <em>player</em> stakes of failure are high, players will go fro the best possible results for their characters, and will often mistakenly conflate their goals and character's goals. When the player stakes are low, player feel much more feel to engage in actions that bring fun and enjoyment to them and the rest of the table, even at times at the cost to their character.</p><p></p><p>Now, videogames have an end-game that players are shooting for, so as described in the video that's what most of them prioritize. On the other hand, RPGs do not necessarily have an end-state you are aiming for. Leaving the players freer to explore other goals. I've had great sessions that were mostly comprised of inter-party drama where all of the players had a great time in whatever social situation - because the stakes were not dire, and the players goal was enjoyment of the session, not making progress towards completion.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Blue, post: 8413797, member: 20564"] I see this more in D&D-type games where there are severe penalties for failure, such as character death. Play a game of Paranoia, Tales from the Floating Vagabond or Toon and you get a very different default player behavior. I go all the way to humorous games to show the difference, but there's a lot of RPGs along the spectrum. For example, most superhero games don't have character death on the table except in extremely rare cases. Superhero games are often also not zero-to-hero games like D&D where there is such an urgency to the hunt for the next character advancement. When the [I]player[/I] stakes of failure are high, players will go fro the best possible results for their characters, and will often mistakenly conflate their goals and character's goals. When the player stakes are low, player feel much more feel to engage in actions that bring fun and enjoyment to them and the rest of the table, even at times at the cost to their character. Now, videogames have an end-game that players are shooting for, so as described in the video that's what most of them prioritize. On the other hand, RPGs do not necessarily have an end-state you are aiming for. Leaving the players freer to explore other goals. I've had great sessions that were mostly comprised of inter-party drama where all of the players had a great time in whatever social situation - because the stakes were not dire, and the players goal was enjoyment of the session, not making progress towards completion. [/QUOTE]
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