What is Player Agency?

[Mordaedil]

So your saying that having Player Agency is exactly like a normal game....so, in other words, it does not exist? Like when any game has just normal game play...the players have player agency. Seems like a bit of a run around...but ok.

But then you toss in the classic DM hate of doing things the poor DM was not ready for....and really that just seems like a jerk move. So now your saying player agency is when the players go out of their way to show their hatred for the DM by doing something they don't expect and going ''ha, take that stupid DM''. So now your saying that Player Agency is being a Jerk.

Like every time any event happen in the game, the players just sit on the edge of their seat and say ''hehe, how can we mess with and upset the stupid DM"? What kind of game is that? When the player is all ways coming up with a stupid third option only to attack the DM with it, then that player is a Jerk.

You're not far off here, but the idea is that the DM in most games don't have their plots frigid and easily upset by the players. The idea is that the DM prepares his scenarios with the players input in mind, so that you can more easily adapt to having wrenches thrown into the plot and build on what they've done to upset it. They aren't being jerk players by doing this, they are trying to test the extent of what their "Choices & Consequences" reach to impact your game.

This can be pretty huge.

Not everything is interesting to everyone.

Don't worry, I meant it isn't inherently more interesting, either one can be made interesting, but usually it takes more than just changing one aspect of something.