what skill would you use for researching in a library?

[Psyren]

If I believed the characters existed, I would have been of more interest to the psychology department.

And it's just a stupid green light. Stop making anything of it.

"Fictional characters can have motivations/desires" doesn't make you insane though, it makes you sane.

Not that believing the opposite makes you crazy of course... it just means your writing/DMing might be, well, not that great.

[Svata]

You are going far afield to miss the point.

If I believed the characters existed, I would have been of more interest to the psychology department.

There's a difference between existing and "having wants and motivations"

[heavyfuel]

There's a difference between existing and "having wants and motivations"

Don't be silly! Fictional characters are only ink on paper or pixels on a screen. They don't have the necessary brain matter. (Do I really need blue text there?)

[Svata]

I'm going to go find a void and scream into it for a while, thanks.

[Deophaun]

There's a difference between existing and "having wants and motivations"

Indeed there is. If you do not have wants or motivations, you can still do other things, like flow downhill or be fused with others to generate heavier matter.

If you do not exist, however, then you cannot do anything, including having wants and motivations.

[Nifft]

I'm going to go find a void and scream into it for a while, thanks.

You're not really screaming unless I can hear you. You may think that you feel better, but you don't really, because the screaming isn't real.

The void is real, though. I checked last week.

[King of Nowhere]

the funny thing about humans and the things we make up is, after a while they start existing and take on a life of their own. they only exist in oour mind, but they affect the real world. "Show me one molecule of justice", many here will recognize that quote. and yet justice shapes our lives much more thann a lot of things that are more real.

So, imaginary characters exist and have motivations. they impact our lives.

[Deophaun]

the funny thing about humans and the things we make up is, after a while they start existing and take on a life of their own. they only exist in oour mind, but they affect the real world. "Show me one molecule of justice", many here will recognize that quote. and yet justice shapes our lives much more thann a lot of things that are more real.

So, imaginary characters exist and have motivations. they impact our lives.

Justice is method and behavior. As such it exists.

I'm going to repeat: what a character wants does not matter because a character doesn't actually exist and so cannot actually want anything. It is player wants that matter. Confusing the two is going to make you think that the DM adjusting the world for his players is the same as the world adjusting for the characters. That this is a source of controversy is amusing.