I messed up and gave my players a wish.

[Talakeal]

Hm? Am not sure you are getting my point...

Is not that players never acomplish anything cool, or make interesting choices, is that those choices, cool or otherwise, are theirs to make. As a Gm Your job is to set up situations for them to react to in whatever way they see fit. It's not up to you to judge them, if you think their choices are boring and whatever, you should either get comfortable with that or get a new group to play with.

The point is, Your players are doing allright, they have the right to take a boring choice if they so choose. You are the one who either is ok with that, or gets a new group.

Just give them what they wish for, like you literally handed the players a chance to do something nice for themselves and now you're bitching because they're going to do something for them instead of for you.

If you want some other stuff to happen that's more interesting for you, stick that into the campaign next episode. This is such a non-issue.

The problem is none of them WANT to make a boring choice, they all have interesting ideas, but because they all have different OOC desires for the game and are all somewhat competitive / jealous of one another that they are going to go with the most bland thing possible.

Its not about what I want, frankly the blander the wish the easier my job is as it doesn't disrupt the plot / game balance and I can just keep running the game as is. But I wanted a wish to feel awesome, and as one of the players said today, wishing for gold or XP is "The lamest of all possible wishes."

Heck, I could have sidestepped the entire problem by saying "As a reward I am going to grant you one wish, each."

I mean, gold is a pretty boring choice. On the other hand, one single Wish is hard to share among a group. It sounds like the main issue is that "Bob" is dragging everyone down to that level by having very specific criteria for what's acceptable.

I'm not sure if it would make sense to do it for now, but for future situations like this I'd go with a lottery system. Everyone makes a Wish, determine randomly which one comes true.

That could work, although it could also be a bitch storm from the losers.

Yes, how dare players wish to be fair, balanced, and not break the game. How dare they! Better players would use their wishes to further your story, not benefit their characters.

I know you are joking, but seriously, wow is giving the players the ability to shake up the narrative in an unexpected way furthering my story? Isn't it the complete opposite of that?

Others above forgot to continue the quote a bit further “...and everything that comes with it.”

That’s where the DM steps in— not with a cruel interpretation of the wish, but with the perfectly natural and logical consequences of the wish.

For example, if they wish they’d won the “wish” lottery, they’d also get:
The tax man coming to collect his share. Or else.
Relatives/old friends/new old friends crawling out of the woodwork for a “loan for my great investment/tied me over/save the family farm, etc., etc..”
Lots of attention from people who absolutely love them and want to get married, super-quick...
Strong encouragement to make a sizable donation to the local temple/shrine/Thieves Guild.
Oh, yeah. Other unwanted attention by the Thieves Guild.
So much gold the local economy collapses due to hyperinflation (Google Mansa Musa), and everyone now hates them.
The arrival of a dragon whose treasure horde it once was.
The close attention of the BBEG, who could use the treasure for his own nefarious ends.

Not to mention the issues of how to move it (gold weighs A LOT), where to store it, how to access it, how to keep others from accessing it without approval, and so on.

Mundane wishes can have very interesting results.

As for the “I want my ‘stats’ to go up” dude, I say (as the genie): “Prithee, little brother, what meaneth thee by ‘stats’? This word I knoweth not, and thus may not complete thy wish.”
Asking for specific game mechanic enhancements is a non-starter with me, as the characters don’t think in such terms, nor do the beings they encounter. It’s the character who is making the wish, not the player!
So, no wishes that they all “level up” (“This term I knoweth not”). Similarly, no wishes that their hit points go up, or their Constitutions, or anything of the sort, or any other reference to rule specific concepts. And thus, no “rules lawyer” wishes can be made.
If “Bob” can be made to understand that, then maybe he’ll shift to suggesting more imaginative wishes that benefit the group.

Or they can vote, and “Bob’s” character can be given a consolation gift of a big bonus on the next treasure find.

I really don't want to screw them over with this. If they are going to wish for something boring, that is "punishment" enough, I am not going to compound it with GM jackassery.