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<blockquote data-quote="Celebrim" data-source="post: 9854168" data-attributes="member: 4937">The problem is that it's quite possible to use a term without having any idea what you mean by the term much less having a conscious definition for it.&nbsp; A lot of people have loose definitions along the lines of &quot;I know it when I see it&quot; which makes the meaning of the term wholly subjective to them, and thus really not useful to communicate anything except perhaps &quot;I don't like this&quot;.&nbsp; My own definition of railroading came out of a series of discussions about the topic where it was clear that people only meant by the term &quot;something I don't like&quot; and were widely applying it to a bunch of things that only shared in common that they didn't like it.&nbsp; They were then arguing with each other only over whether it was right to like this or that thing. The problem they then have with my attempt to define the term is that they argue that the term is wholly negative in connotation (which I agree) and therefore my definition is wrong because it isn't.&nbsp; But they are neglecting that &quot;what I don't like&quot; is subjective to them and has a sliding scale.&nbsp; What they don't like may fall into a range many other people are OK with.&nbsp; As such, my definition has to account for that subjectivity.&nbsp; I formulated a definition that was based on process and behavior, not based on people's response to it.&nbsp; How much you are on board with the GM limiting player agency varies according to taste and circumstances.&nbsp; It turns out in practice, almost everyone is a little on board with it as a necessary concession to the limits of the imagination and storytelling.&nbsp; I am postulating that people use the term &quot;railroading&quot; to mean &quot;I think you are using too much of these particular processes and behaviors&quot; without being able to necessarily articulate that or even exactly what the processes and behaviors are.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Celebrim, post: 9854168, member: 4937"] The problem is that it's quite possible to use a term without having any idea what you mean by the term much less having a conscious definition for it. A lot of people have loose definitions along the lines of "I know it when I see it" which makes the meaning of the term wholly subjective to them, and thus really not useful to communicate anything except perhaps "I don't like this". My own definition of railroading came out of a series of discussions about the topic where it was clear that people only meant by the term "something I don't like" and were widely applying it to a bunch of things that only shared in common that they didn't like it. They were then arguing with each other only over whether it was right to like this or that thing. The problem they then have with my attempt to define the term is that they argue that the term is wholly negative in connotation (which I agree) and therefore my definition is wrong because it isn't. But they are neglecting that "what I don't like" is subjective to them and has a sliding scale. What they don't like may fall into a range many other people are OK with. As such, my definition has to account for that subjectivity. I formulated a definition that was based on process and behavior, not based on people's response to it. How much you are on board with the GM limiting player agency varies according to taste and circumstances. It turns out in practice, almost everyone is a little on board with it as a necessary concession to the limits of the imagination and storytelling. I am postulating that people use the term "railroading" to mean "I think you are using too much of these particular processes and behaviors" without being able to necessarily articulate that or even exactly what the processes and behaviors are. [/QUOTE]

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