Showing vs Telling

[Failivrin]

I'm don't think this can be reduced to a matter of preference. "Show, don't tell" is considered a cardinal rule among professional writers. But as others have pointed out above, the trick is understanding what the phrase means.
I could give my own opinions, but the best resource I've read on this subject is How to Write Science Fiction and Fantasy by Orson Scott Card. Card makes the argument that when showing is done properly, it communicates more information than telling! He also has much to say about the dynamics of world-building and how it's easy to get caught in a spiral of geography and politics while forgetting to craft a narrative arc.
The book is old, but it's very short and written by one of the masters, so I highly recommend it!

 

[Wavelength]

I strongly disagree with the statement that Undertale is an example of "telling the player everything" - you pick up most of what you need to know about the world and its characters through colorful dialogue and contextual clues. Papyrus' spaghetti is a great example - think about all of the things that it implies about Papyrus, without ever telling you those things outright.

 

[Gastin]

@Pierman Walter
I like show not tell. I take this one step further in that i leave the story line in places for the player to infer what they want from multiple beleifs people have in the game. Not only do i show you and do very little telling. But the actual story line is done so you could justify many routes as why something is.

For instance, Why was ghe world destroyed? I never really say. The story gives you one version, npcs think it was caused by mages lust for power, some by white mages being to passive, some gods, etc . The point is to let the player tell the story what it is. It could be all of these, one of these, or even none really.

@Failivrin Ty, im getting me a new book to read for today.

@Lynks

I like cut scenes. Haveing said that though in my game i start you out with nothing. You wake up in a crater and are all beat up. No memory, rags on your body, no weapons, no idea where you are at . What ya think?

 

[XIIIthHarbinger]

I am definitely working more of the "show" rather than "tell" angle with my current project.

For example I am creating various books the player can read, that discuss magical theory, the biology of monsters, the religious mythos, & past events. As well as having my NPC's dialogue shaped by things like player actions, weather, time of day, & even random chance.

I chose to do it this way to foster emersion of the player who "role play" when they play RPGs, but not bog down the players who are just there to crush the game & move on. As much as possible I want the game world to feel "lived in".

Mostly because, personally I enjoy looking in every house, talking to every NPC, reading every book, etcetera; which is why I love games like Elder Scrolls. However, I've known people who find that sort of thing truly boring.

Simply put, what I am aiming for in my own project is if the players wants to look under every rock & tree, they will be rewarded for it; but if that doesn't interest them, they won't be punished for not doing so.