Automatic Processing

 It falls upon us at this point to quantify the improvement of the novice to the second stage in Dreyfus's stage analysis, that of the "advanced beginner." We should note that the advancement spoken of here fails to denote either expertise of even competence... the adjustment is only from "novice" to "beginner." Therefore, we must assume a set of moderate but recognisable changes taking place between what a novice observe while playing the game and what a beginner's advancement allows. To explain that, we must explain how a novice sees the game. Understand here that the pattern of thinking described here is what defines the novice, NOT the amount of time the novice has spent playing. A particularly insightful DM who succeeds well out of the gate may, through other skill-sets and professional knowledge, intuitively leap past the novice stage and directly into that of the beginner. It's how the individual sees the game that defines a novice. This reinforces the idea that improvement is a matter of perspective and understanding, not just experience.

The novice's perception is rooted in the observation of "surface features". Largely due to the novelty of the novice dungeon master's perspective and the density of expectations that are thrust upon the position, novices rarely have enough time to do more than see elements of the game as distinct, isolated components, taking them at face value, in terms of their most visible and immediate details. Character abilities are mere numbers, as are hit points, while monster stats exist for the purpose of engaging in combat and little else. Surface descriptions are purely representational, therefore carrying a stigma of two-dimensionality. The approach to the game is much like a checklist to be followed without deviation, particularly in the case of a purchased game module, which is followed as written. It's not so much that the novice finds it difficult to see how these elements interact, it's more that the novice sees no particular reason to think that they do. Many elements of the game — like the description of a spell — are fragmented and challenging even to interpret, much less actually apply to the game, since the phrasing and assumptions used in the writing demand a complete grasp of many mechanics that take time to accumulate.

For example, when the novice reads about armour class, it's understood as a number, a stat to beat on a die roll: if the player rolls high enough, they "succeed" in hitting, and if they don't, they "fail." While there might be an understanding of the metric's importance regarding what's happening within the game's setting, the novice is still struggling to equate one to the other while managing the immediate complexities and unfamiliarity of the combat system.

Continued on The Higher Path