The timer also discourages kinds of interactions or engagement with other players that may actually be welcomed, entertaining, and appreciated. It also takes a significant amount of the responsibility of being a referee off the GM’s shoulders - you know, that thing that they’re actually charged with doing - and turns it over to a clock that they can just use as a cudgle.
It’s the classic toxic nerd shit of turning something that should be a social encounter into a souless mechanical system.
The timer also discourages kinds of interactions or engagement with other players that may actually be welcomed, entertaining, and appreciated. It also takes a significant amount of the responsibility of being a referee off the GM’s shoulders - you know, that thing that they’re actually charged with doing - and turns it over to a clock that they can just use as a cudgle.
It’s the classic toxic nerd shit of turning something that should be a social encounter into a souless mechanical system.