Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
White Dwarf Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Nest
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions, OSR, & D&D Variants
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
EN Publishing
Twitter
BlueSky
Facebook
Instagram
EN World
BlueSky
YouTube
Facebook
Twitter
Twitch
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions, OSR, & D&D Variants
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
What is player agency to you?
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Umbran" data-source="post: 9107895" data-attributes="member: 177"><p>We can build this out a bit - agency requires action taken to produce a particular effect. If I didn't know the ogre existed, a choice to take one path over the other isn't agency, because that action was not taken <em>to produce the effect</em> of missing the ogre. Choices made in ignorance do not provide agency.</p><p></p><p>In addition, if I <em>don't care</em> about the possible results of an action, that will not provide agency either - the particular results are not things the player seeks. And going beyond that, if the players <em>don't want</em> to be involved in something, giving them a choice in that thing can <em>reduce</em> their agency - trolley problem choices can do this, ethically <em>forcing</em> the player to make a choice when they'd really prefer to not be responsible party in the matter. </p><p></p><p>Once we recognize that agency depends upon what the player wants, it becomes clear that it is a subjective matter.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>In a game assembled for you, personally, that can be done. But, there's no guarantee of being able to produce that for other people at the table with you - in rather the same way that your personal favorite pizza may not be good for everyone else at the table.</p><p></p><p>I expect this is part of why Snarf keeps noting that talking about agency <em>broadly, in general</em> is not useful. Speaking about specific techniques, forms, and modes that can produce or enhance agency becomes more constructive, because producing agency becomes an act of assembling compromise solutions.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Umbran, post: 9107895, member: 177"] We can build this out a bit - agency requires action taken to produce a particular effect. If I didn't know the ogre existed, a choice to take one path over the other isn't agency, because that action was not taken [I]to produce the effect[/I] of missing the ogre. Choices made in ignorance do not provide agency. In addition, if I [I]don't care[/I] about the possible results of an action, that will not provide agency either - the particular results are not things the player seeks. And going beyond that, if the players [I]don't want[/I] to be involved in something, giving them a choice in that thing can [I]reduce[/I] their agency - trolley problem choices can do this, ethically [I]forcing[/I] the player to make a choice when they'd really prefer to not be responsible party in the matter. Once we recognize that agency depends upon what the player wants, it becomes clear that it is a subjective matter. In a game assembled for you, personally, that can be done. But, there's no guarantee of being able to produce that for other people at the table with you - in rather the same way that your personal favorite pizza may not be good for everyone else at the table. I expect this is part of why Snarf keeps noting that talking about agency [I]broadly, in general[/I] is not useful. Speaking about specific techniques, forms, and modes that can produce or enhance agency becomes more constructive, because producing agency becomes an act of assembling compromise solutions. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
What is player agency to you?
Top