I also find Tim's point about constraint interesting. It reveals something about his pattern of though I believe: I think consciously or unconsciously, there is a feeling that papering over something generated is in some fashion less okay or is more work than filling in a blank slate.
You may be right, but I don't think I regard it "less ok" so much as "I'm not brave enough to do it live" (or at least, when I do invariably find there are ramifications that I hadn't thought of which either a) the players take advantage of - which is fine, or b) the players find breaks their suspension of disbelief - which isn't fine). If it's not a case of being too timid to change something on the fly, it's that with a mass of detail I'm struggling in the pressure of game time to get to what I really need. MY notes are bad enough at this if I write too much, something I've not read in detail/created myself is even worse for finding something under pressure of time.
b) The time I spend on the 75% of any given system/planet I have generator and decide to keep is near zero, and that gives me most of that 75% of system development by hand back so that I can invest it in the 25% of the planet I want to imprint my stamp on (and of course, to plot, characterization, etc). To wit, my focus is on *the things I think are meaningful to the game and players* not just trying to wade through a bunch of mechanical stuff that is part of manually getting to some of the parts I care about.
Yes, I'd agree with this...
The way we play and the way I want to spend time in preparation (on richness of characters, agendas, friction points, and tools and tactics) is aided by having bunches of stuff automatically created within the bounds of the rules of the game.
... and wish I was better at this.
YMMV, and obviously for some does.
To the inestimable Tim's other comment: "Hear, Hear!" is usually heard in parliament here. It is the gesture of concurrence and 'let this be heard'. On the other hand, someone writing "here, here!" may actually be calling for the thing he is speaking of occur in his locality.... ;0P
Hah! You may be right. I should let these things go.
I'm currently struggling with 'staycation' changing to mean a holiday in the UK rather than only a holiday where you actually stay *home* and go out on day trips etc. The new meaning just seems to be a posy way of showing off that *normally* you'd be going abroad. My guess is that other (English speaking) countries around the world don't have this problem so much.
tc