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Message: <blockquote data-quote="ThirdWizard" data-source="post: 2550872" data-attributes="member: 12037">Well, I agree that its not overly important to the game whether one gets XP or not when missing a session. I think that this is a great thought excersise more than anything else to look at how different people here perceve XP and advancement in RPGs. I also realize, and did before this thread, that I am in the minority on my outlook on XP toward the majority of gamers, but I'm okay with that.Now, your point on it (leveling) being a basic premise is, of course, dead on. If Gygax hadn't put some kind of advancement into the game, I doubt it would have caught on like it did. Kill things, take their stuff, get more powerful, kill bigger things. Like any kind of organized play, you can break it down into its most simplistic components. Usually you just see the kill things and take their stuff part, but if you're not moving on from goblins to ogres, the game loses its luster.An interesting question might by why is this? But, I think that would go into a whole other direction than this thread about giving xp to absent players. A shorthand answer, however, might be that progress is important. Since you can't beat D&D, you have to have something that you can look at and see that you've accomplished something. It's an interesting look into humanity.The fact that I look at XP in a very different mannar than most people, however, means that I don't quite understand the point of withholding it. But, I'm going to try to understand the other perspective. This is how I've gleaned others look at XP:<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">XP is the quantitative measure of your PC's achievements in the game.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">This measure is directly proportional to how much effort the player has put into the game.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Those who have put more effort into the game deserve more XP than those who havn't.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Those who have missed sessions have put in less effort, therefore, they get less XP to signify this.</li> </ul>In this way, XP is used as a kind of proof that the player has played the game. A 10th level character is special because it is earned by the player putting in the time and energy into the game to have earned the 10th level character. A player who puts in less time doesn't deserve to have a 10th level character if they have put in significantly less time than the other one who has. Concessions are sometimes made, but these are extreme cases, and the player who hasn't earned their character might be looked down upon by the ones that have. A new player joining a game and starting at 9th level might make other players feel that they've been cheated because they had to put in so much more effort for their 10th level characters. Like I said this goes completely against everything I think that XP is to me. I'm trying to understand where others are coming from. Is this an acruate portrayal?</blockquote>

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