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<blockquote data-quote="Manbearcat" data-source="post: 6248398" data-attributes="member: 6696971">I would use &quot;player empowerment&quot; here as well.&nbsp; What I was trying to convey above (with &quot;if I was forced to use&quot;) was basically the fact that I think (a) the term &quot;player entitlement&quot; is (at least in part) a confused term and (b) a proxy for &quot;player empowerment&quot; (as its component parts lead to that).&nbsp; I think the two (entitled to receive and things you can then do as result) are inextricably linked in RPGs as they correlate fictional positioning.&nbsp; For instance, in AD&amp;D2e you are &quot;entitled&quot; (using the pejorative nature of that word as a framing mechanism for this dialogue seems pretty instructive to me, to be quite honest) to spells if you're a spellcaster or weapon spec/heavy armor/great thac0/great saves if you're a fighter.&nbsp; You didn't &quot;earn&quot; these things.&nbsp; You get them just by showing up and making a character.&nbsp; Is this &quot;player entitlement&quot; to the fictional positioning of your character that the game defaults to?&nbsp; I think what it boils down to (as much as it can boil down to anything) is that 4e's &quot;defaults&quot; (specifically the mechanical elements that added horsepower) changed what some felt D&amp;D's default PC fictional positioning was; eg from &quot;zero&quot; (to hero) to instead &quot;hero&quot; (to big damn hero).&nbsp; By derivative of that default, PC fictional positioning (and the mechanical elements that induce it), the level of &quot;player empowerment&quot; was changed.&nbsp; From there, it is reasoned (incorrectly by my estimation) that &quot;power&quot; in an RPGing session is a zero-sum game and, accordingly, the GM lost some power.&nbsp; I've never remotely felt that.&nbsp; If anything, due to the framework, I'm more empowered than ever to focus all of my mental overhead on the things I enjoy most and spend table handling time on resolving conflicts (mechanically and then by way of fidelity to the fictional positioning surrounding that mechanical resolution) that matter to myself and my players.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Manbearcat, post: 6248398, member: 6696971"] I would use "player empowerment" here as well. What I was trying to convey above (with "if I was forced to use") was basically the fact that I think (a) the term "player entitlement" is (at least in part) a confused term and (b) a proxy for "player empowerment" (as its component parts lead to that). I think the two (entitled to receive and things you can then do as result) are inextricably linked in RPGs as they correlate fictional positioning. For instance, in AD&D2e you are "entitled" (using the pejorative nature of that word as a framing mechanism for this dialogue seems pretty instructive to me, to be quite honest) to spells if you're a spellcaster or weapon spec/heavy armor/great thac0/great saves if you're a fighter. You didn't "earn" these things. You get them just by showing up and making a character. Is this "player entitlement" to the fictional positioning of your character that the game defaults to? I think what it boils down to (as much as it can boil down to anything) is that 4e's "defaults" (specifically the mechanical elements that added horsepower) changed what some felt D&D's default PC fictional positioning was; eg from "zero" (to hero) to instead "hero" (to big damn hero). By derivative of that default, PC fictional positioning (and the mechanical elements that induce it), the level of "player empowerment" was changed. From there, it is reasoned (incorrectly by my estimation) that "power" in an RPGing session is a zero-sum game and, accordingly, the GM lost some power. I've never remotely felt that. If anything, due to the framework, I'm more empowered than ever to focus all of my mental overhead on the things I enjoy most and spend table handling time on resolving conflicts (mechanically and then by way of fidelity to the fictional positioning surrounding that mechanical resolution) that matter to myself and my players. [/QUOTE]

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