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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Bacon Bits" data-source="post: 9340096" data-attributes="member: 6777737">Given that GNS is, in part, supposed to tell you why people have fun playing RPGs... Yes, he is probably wrong. Because, IIRC, many of the games he claims are "bad" or "played wrong" are, for the people actually playing them, wildly fun.In other words, for a theory that's supposed to describe why people have fun with RPGs, it doesn't seem to describe why a lot of people are spending their free time having fun playing the RPGs that they do. Instead, it tries to tell those people that what they're doing is badwrongfun. That's weird. A design theory shouldn't tell us why the players are wrong. It should tell us why the design is wrong. Because we have to trust that the players are going to choose what works best for what they want.At best, I think you could say that sometimes people play games too long. After they've worn out their welcome, and grown to identify the warts, and can't see the fun for the frustrating mechanics, people continue to play the same games instead of maybe moving on to a better one. But, at worst, I think that can be explained simply by friction and sunk cost fallacies. I don't think you need to say that a game is bad simply because you stop having fun with it. You can't easily extract an objective truth from subjective experiences, especially ones as complicated as social activities. There's all kinds of idioms and psychology around this kind of behavior. "The grass is always greener," "perfect is the enemy of good," "force of habit," "inertia," "this game is good enough," "friction," etc.People continue to play World of Warcraft long after they've exhausted all the content. They do so often because it's simply habit and it's where your friends are. The game stops being the point of the activity. The point is to hang out with friends and do some activity. It could be bowling or poker or board games or D&D. I think for a lot of people, the purpose of the game is to be the activity that fades into the background but fills space when there's nothing else going on. The enjoyment changes from learning new things and challenging yourself, to exercising your practiced skills in a flow state.Honestly, it feels like trying to say that people ride bicycles to challenge themselves athletically and to improve their sense of balance, which is pretty true of people picking up bike riding or taking up competitive racing. But people just use bikes as a vehicle, too. Or to see things, or get out of the house.</blockquote>

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