Full post on Reddit. Final paragraphs:
And I know that sounds bad. I know! I know this basically all sounds like “you prefer 5E to these other games because you have to actually try to play them?” But the answer is actually yeah, exactly! It’s not that I’m checked out on my phone or something, but I’ve learned I’m not actually interested in thinking too much about my part at the table. I think being there at game night with friends is fun, but I mostly just want to be along for the ride until it’s time to roll some dice to hit something and let the other players figure out what to do otherwise, maybe get in some banter-in character in between encounters, and chill. In everything else I’ve played, I’m dead weight if I’m not actively participating. In 5E, I can just kind of vibe until it’s time to roll to unlock a door or stab someone, and I’m not penalized for doing that. The game is neither loose enough that it needs my constant input outside of combat, nor complex enough to need any serious tactical decisions. That’s a very comfortable spot for me!
So yeah. I imagine there’s a lot of players who would prefer other systems if they tried them, but I’m not one of them. And I imagine there’s actually a lot more people like me at tables than you’d expect! Hopefully this gives some insight into why someone would still prefer 5E over everything else, even after giving a lot of other games a shot. Thanks for giving me a chance.
Interesting reflective statement from a 5e player.
I’ve talked about how I really like Fate, and how if you have players like the one in this post it won’t really work. Fate requires players to engage with the game- think about how aspects apply, think about when declaring a story detail would be cool, and so on. If you just DND style phone it is, it’s not going to sing.
I imagine this kind of player would hate it.
And that’s fine. This guy found his niche and enjoy it. But wow I do not really want to play with him.
To be fair, he’s “playing” as much as someone texting America’s Got Talent is on the judges panel. He’s a glorified audience member that’s taking up a seat, and I highly doubt the rest of the table feel as nonchalant about this petulant no-effort view of his.
I’d say all RPGs, even 5e, require players to actively engage with the game, he just wants other people to do the active engaging. Nobody wants to play with people like this, because either you want to engage and want to play with other engaged people, or you don’t want to engage and want to play with engaged people you can piggyback off.
A party of players like him wouldn’t get anything done, even in 5e, because they don’t actually want to be playing a ttrpg; they want to hang out with their friends and play something more like Ludo or Snakes And Ladders - roll some dice, move some pieces, go back to the conversation until your turn comes up again. HeroQuest if they really need the fantasy aspects.