BadWrongFun: how far is too far??

[Dungeoneer]

I have been hanging out on various gaming forums for a while now, and I constantly see people writing that you shouldn't judge them for their preferred play-style. "It's my table," they say, "I can play what I want!" Killer DM who punishes their players for not asking for searches on each individual floor tile? It's their table! Picky DM who bans all races except for humans, dwarves and kender? It's their table! Controlling DM who lets players pick their names and that's about it? It's their table!

Fine, I don't have to play in their game, live and let live, yada yada yada. But I started wondering - how far is too far? What sort of things cross the line from 'type of game I don't enjoy' to 'this kind of game is just straight up wrong'?

So I thought it would be interesting to list D&D practices that are TRULY BadWrongFun. A few examples are below. And if this list seems slightly tongue-in-cheek and possibly in the style of clickhole, well, you're not entirely wrong.

Types of D&D games that cross the line:

No bathroom breaks until players find the hidden bathroom on the sixth level of the dungeon. I know you want your game to be 'gritty' and 'hardcore', but bladder poisoning is a real thing! This is borderline abusive. WTH.
Instead of hit points, hitting the actual players with a baseball bat. You know what, this is supposed to be a GAME, not reality. Hit points are a useful abstraction! Plus, someone could get a concussion. You need to take a long hard look at your life, Mr. DM!
Players don't slaughter imaginary monsters, but actual woodland creatures. OK, that's just sick. You bastards. I don't even want to know what you do when someone rolls a critical hit.
Your game involves actual satanic rituals. We spent most of the 80's trying to get past allegations of this crap. Now you're actually doing it??? Don't eff this up for everyone! Geez.
Your weekly game is a front for human trafficking. It's one thing to have a weekly home game in your den. It's another to have it next to a cargo container full of Chinese immigrants on their way to Mexico. This is NEVER ok!
You cook and eat a member of an endangered species during your game. Call me crazy, but I think your five year campaign in your detailed homebrew fantasy setting will be just as immersive if you don't dine on spotted owl while you play it. I doubt bald eagles and horned toads even taste that good. Munch on some Fritos like everyone else!
You replace rolling dice with drawing cards from MtG decks. You sick, twisted animal. I don't even want to look at you. Get out of my sight!

What kind of games do YOU think cross the line into true BadWrongFun??

 

[TerraDave]

Ones with players that complain to much?

 

[Celebrim]

I have been hanging out on various gaming forums for a while now, and I constantly see people writing that you shouldn't judge them for their preferred play-style.

I'd never write that. I would say that if you judge someone else's table, prepare to graciously accept an equal degree of criticism directed at what you do.

While everyone has a right to do what they want and to play how they want, not every thing you could choose to do is artful, mature, moral, or maximizes the fun for everyone. It's perfectly acceptable and even desirable to discuss methodology for achieving the best possible play, keeping in mind that any really well thought out methodology will be able to adapt to the special interests of every table.

I think that like many simple memes, the 'badwrongfun' meme gets repeated until people no longer remember want the original longer thought actually was. 'Badwrongfun' refers to people telling someone else they are doing it wrong, despite the fact that everyone at the table is happy with the play. At some level, insisting that everyone is wrong despite the fact that they must be doing something right involves a fallacy.

But even then, we could probably find exceptions. If we were to find a table using RP to live out rape fantasies, or playing a game that glamorized real world racist philosophies, or generally where a line was crossed between fantasy and reality to blur the distinction (live action RPGs involving actually attacking strangers), we might be inclined to rightly condemn that as "fun for you, but bad and wrong nonetheless".

But conversely...

"It's my table," they say, "I can play what I want!" Killer DM who punishes their players for not asking for searches on each individual floor tile? It's their table! Picky DM who bans all races except for humans, dwarves and kender? It's their table! Controlling DM who lets players pick their names and that's about it? It's their table!

This should only bother us if we think that not everyone at the table is happy with the existing affairs, that this isn't really what everyone wants, and that the table is 'settling' for less fun than it could be having. If everyone is perfectly content, then claiming that any of the above is 'badwrongfun' is precisely correct for the meme. Maybe the group loves aggressive DM vs. player competitive play. Who are we to judge that? If all the group wants to do is play 'Tomb of Horrors' and 'Mud Sorcerer's Tomb' and similar tournament style competitive scenarios with hard railroading, then I think we ought to try to be sympathetic to that. If the group wants to ban every race but Kender and have an all Kender campaign, if everyone is having fun who are we to judge? If the groups primary aesthetic of play is sensation, and what they really want is the experience of being narrated through a beautiful story with little input in the stories direction, then as long as they are having fun who are we to judge that? It is their table!.

Moral considerations aside, the only game that is wrong is one where not everyone is having fun. I think DMs need to be flexible not just to accommodate their group, but the individual player preferences. But, I also think that players need to be flexible to accommodate the preferences of the group that they find themselves in. If you are in a group that only plays 'Tomb of Horrors' style scenarios with massive body counts and highly competitive player vs. DM play, then I think you ought to roll up your sleeves and play that with the same or greater gusto than the rest of the table. Even if you feel that sort of play is a bit immature and the equivalent of being a picky eater that only eats fries, hot dogs, and cheese pizzas, if you can't enjoy fries, hot dogs, and cheese pizzas then by the same standards you are judging that table you yourself are just a snob and the problem isn't with the food they are eating but with you. If you want more out of your play in the long run, gradually introduce new 'flavors' to the group, but don't judge the group if they still in the end like fries, hot dogs, and cheese pizzas better.

No bathroom breaks until players find the hidden bathroom on the sixth level of the dungeon. I know you want your game to be 'gritty' and 'hardcore', but bladder poisoning is a real thing! This is borderline abusive. WTH.

LOL. This is again blurring the line between reality and fantasy, one of the general ways that I think you can have real bad wrong 'fun'. But you know, on the whole this one doesn't seem to bad as long as everyone agreed to the game.

Instead of hit points, hitting the actual players with a baseball bat. You know what, this is supposed to be a GAME, not reality. Hit points are a useful abstraction! Plus, someone could get a concussion. You need to take a long hard look at your life, Mr. DM!

Again, blurring line between reality and fantasy. In this particular case, doing so in a way that precisely carries the most problematic aspects of play into the real world.

Players don't slaughter imaginary monsters, but actual woodland creatures. OK, that's just sick. You bastards. I don't even want to know what you do when someone rolls a critical hit.

Again, blurring line between reality and fantasy. Although its probably less immoral to keep in game score on the basis of deer you shoot or bass you catch than it is to hit people with a baseball bat, this sort of competitive play is likely to result is poaching and relaxing gun safety rules and other illegal and likely dangerous behavior.

Your game involves actual satanic rituals. We spent most of the 80's trying to get past allegations of this crap. Now you're actually doing it??? Don't eff this up for everyone! Geez.

Again, blurring line between reality and fantasy.

Your weekly game is a front for human trafficking. It's one thing to have a weekly home game in your den. It's another to have it next to a cargo container full of Chinese immigrants on their way to Mexico. This is NEVER ok!

Again, blurring line between reality and fantasy.

You cook and eat a member of an endangered species during your game. Call me crazy, but I think your five year campaign in your detailed homebrew fantasy setting will be just as immersive if you don't dine on spotted owl while you play it. I doubt bald eagles and horned toads even taste that good. Munch on some Fritos like everyone else!

Again, blurring line between reality and fantasy.

You replace rolling dice with drawing cards from MtG decks. You sick, twisted animal. I don't even want to look at you. Get out of my sight!

Err... what? No, this is 'badwrongfun', though I'm assuming from the position of this on the list and its incongruity with the rest of the list that you are joking.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

Er, Celebrim, I know you've claimed not to have a sense of humour at all, but I'm surprised that you missed that his post was meant largely as a joke, given that he explained that it was in the post...

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

I don't like it when the DM chains us to the locomotive and drags us down the tracks.

 

[Agamon]

Err... what? No, this is 'badwrongfun', though I'm assuming from the position of this on the list and its incongruity with the rest of the list that you are joking.

The worst kind of game is when the GM is running Toon and one of the players thinks he's playing Call of Cthulhu.

 

[Thalionalfirin]

Your game involves actual satanic rituals. We spent most of the 80's trying to get past allegations of this crap. Now you're actually doing it??? Don't eff this up for everyone! Geez.

Wait... you mean I've been doing it wrong this whole time?!!!

 

[The Black Ranger]

So nothing is ever the players fault?

 

[Agamon]

So nothing is ever the players fault?

Just the part where their PCs die.

 

[Dungeoneer]

So nothing is ever the players fault?

Hey, this list is by no means comprehensive! Feel free to tack on your own.