In my experience, it's hard to for players to have their characters come to a hard and fast decision, either as individuals or as a group.

When a decision point is reached, I find that players will usually say something very non-committal. "All those ideas sound good. What do you guys think?" or "I like options A and B, but I'll go along with whatever the party decides" or "Option A is good for this reason, but on the other hand option B is good for this reason." That's if they say anything at all. After everyone has had a chance to speak up, the decision is... nothing. Everyone has deferred to the majority or "the party" or some other decision maker and that imaginary entity has not decided anything. At best, more than one person has expressed a tentative preference for the same option.

This isn't too surprising, when one considers what happens when someone does make a decision, or even expresses a particularly strong preference (e.g. "We need to" rather than "I think we"). Usually what I see it that the decision tends to be questioned ("I considered that, but what if....?") or countermanded ("No, that will just result in....") generally with no replacement option offered. More rarely, I see actual umbrage taken at the presumption of someone seeming to decide for the party. There's little social upside to having or expressing a preference.

I've heard players explain that they're interested in a roleplayed discussion, not a simple decision, so the charitable explanation would be that players are just trying to open conversational doors, it's just that no one is going through them. Or, they really don't have a preference and they'd rather someone else choose. Yet someone must, at some point.

Less charitably, it often seems to me that there's concern over the fact that every decision brings consequences, which in some games can be hugely open-ended, leading not just to inefficiencies but to death and destruction. My sense is that no one wants to get into a bad situation and feel like they're there because of a decision they made, suggested, or voted for - which I guess is what real-life decision points are often bogged down in.

I know some earlier RPGs had a "caller," a player whose job it was to convey the party's decision to the GM. That sounds appealing, but there's not necessarily anything in the concept of that position that allows or compels that person to make a decision when no one else will, or break a tie if a decision actually makes it all the way to a vote.

Anyway, this is the advice forum, so I'm looking for advice:
As a player, what has to be in place for you to be comfortable expressing a preference, or making a decision?
As a GM, what if anything do you do to make decision-making easier, or to urge/force progress toward a decision, or to relax over the players not nearing a decision?

*** This has never really been a problem for me -- it's actually usually t'other way: I make a choice and then everyone gets mad at me <grin>.


*** Now this one, what I've done here on Rpol if the players can't work it out is, I use the die-roller. IRL, I generally just give people a deadline and say that if they won't choose, I will -- same thing, really, except IRL I don't use dice.

There's not much you can do beyond noting the active players in your games and in the future specifically inviting them to game with you rather than holding open auditions.

As a player, I've never had a problem expressing a preference. I only make a decision for the group (in most games) when I'm the leader and everyone's had a chance to weigh in. Contrariwise, I often end up as the de facto party leader because I'm the sort of player who will usually have an opinion on what we should do.

That said, I think you nailed why people shy away from making decisions - they don't want to be un-fun by telling people what to do. (Plus, the umbrage about seeming to decide for the group.)

The GM-side solution is to apply standard GM tactics. Ask "What do you do?" And if there seems to be a tentative preference for doing something, ask "So do you do that?" If all else fails, have someone come through the door with a gun.

The player-side solution is to be aggressive. Have a preference - don't worry about getting shouted down - and if nobody else has another idea, call it for the group. (If everyone says no, that puts the onus on them to come up with an alternative.)

Thanks for the responses.


Yes, I was thinking about this, though I was thinking of ninjas. Ninjas always move things along.