If DMing was a job, how much should you get paid?

[DonTadow]

A DM should be catered too, but not paid. In other words I would like to get a slice of your pizza, some of your coke and never have to leave the DM station. The less I want to DM the more catering I say. I've been asked to DM things by two other groups since gencon, and I'm negotating for some nicer benefits.

 

[Maggan]

Hmmm ... been thinking a bit about the replies.

It seems to me that many of the replies here are not of the "this is how much it should pay if it was a job" variant, but rather of the "it should not be a job" variant.

Otherwise I can't really understand why people are saying it should pay nothing. If it was a job, as the OP postulated, I would expect to get paid doing it, or pay the person I employed doing it.

/M

 

[Umbran]

It seems to me that many of the replies here are not of the "this is how much it should pay if it was a job" variant, but rather of the "it should not be a job" variant.

Which seems a little odd, to me. In pretty much every form of entertainment, there's someone out there who gets paid to provide it for you.

I tend to draw a strong distinction between "I would not pay for that" and "Nobody should ever get paid for that". If it isn't your own entertainment dollar, why should you care who gets it? If someone else wants to pay a DM, who are we to say otherwise?

 

[JoeyD473]

I voted $21-$25 an hour. I based this on Prep-time goes unpaid, 4-6 PCs per session, a session lasts 2-4 hrs normally

For those of you who said DMs shouldn't get paid, read the first post - IF it was a job.

Other...pay him in books and minis, not cash

That would be way above my $20-$25 an hour. SO it works

 

[Odhanan]

I tend to draw a strong distinction between "I would not pay for that" and "Nobody should ever get paid for that". If it isn't your own entertainment dollar, why should you care who gets it? If someone else wants to pay a DM, who are we to say otherwise?

I can't speak for the others, but I can speak for me. I said "DMing isn't a job", while I was probably more thinking it shouldn't be considered as a job in the first place, even if you possibly could get paid for it. Indeed, why not, that's ultimately a question of demand.

I'm very wary of the idea that DMing is hard, it's a job that requires a lot of personal investment etc. What I don't like is DMs whining about DMing. Somebody doesn't like DMing? You don't DM. You don't like the prep time for D&D? You find other ways to organize yourself, play another RPG or stop DMing.

I like DMing. Stop. Let me rephrase that: I love DMing. This isn't a job to me. This is my hobby, my craft, my passion. As a passion, I embrace every aspect of it, including prep time, painting minis, setting up the table, cleaning up the place before people come, etc. If I need help, I explain the situation to the guests and ask them for a hand before I start bitching about it. I always get some help when I ask for it. If not for a question of friendship, it's simply a question of caring, understanding and simple politeness.

So here we go. I absolutely agree that I am going straight for what I think are the motivations behind such a thread. "How much you'd get paid for DMing?" means to me "how much is DMing worth?" because you'd have some problem about your own worth or your time's worth, or demonstrating it to your players "who are not giving back anything to you". My answer to that is that I love DMing, I do it for myself and for my friends to have a good time. I'm doing it voluntarily, and I like it. DMing for me is priceless precisely because I love it, and I love RPGs. When I play, I respect the DM, the time s/he invested in the preparation of the game and the patience/time invested in running the game.

If I have issues with my friends, I discuss with them and try to find out how we can solve the situation. That works every time. I'm lucky I guess, but the bitching and complaining of DMs at players just doesn't lead anywhere to me.

 

[KB9JMQ]

I agree with TB - it already is a job.
But it is one I enjoy. Heck I have contemplated paying people to play just so I could DM.

 

[Hammerhead]

Nothing. Not because it doesn't involve work or skill, but because a lot of suckers give it away for free. Why pay when you can get something gratis?

 

[HiLiphNY]

Once again, the main bad characteristic of gamers rears its ugly head: They're Cheap, whiney folk.

I, would gladly pay to be with a great DM. I know there are others out there who would, too. I can see it working in certain places at certain moments in time.

Show me the $$$!

 

[Maggan]

I like DMing. Stop. Let me rephrase that: I love DMing. This isn't a job to me. This is my hobby, my craft, my passion.

Yeah, that's probably true for most DM:s. We don't see it as a job, because it isn't a job to us.

But let me draw a parallell:

I like writing. I love writing. It's my hobby, my passion, my creative outlet. It is also my job.

And even though I love writing, I expect to be paid to do it when it's a job. Even if it's fun stuff like gaming material, comic book writing and gaming reviews. When it's not a job, I'm happy to do it for free, and continue to do so.

So I do both. Much as I (in a hypothetical alternative life) could be a salaried DM during the day, and a non-salaried DM for my friends during my free time.

So the hypothetical situation for me is something along these lines:

If a gaming store wanted to hire someone to DM one 4 hour session every day, weekdays, for paying customers, should that DM be salaried?

Yes, IMO.

Demoing games once in a while, maybe once a month at the same gaming store, for people curious about gaming, should that be salaried? No, IMO. But I think some sort of compensation is in order, such as discounts or free samples or some such.

I don't see it as a way of figuring out how much a DM is worth. A good DM is priceless. A bad DM ... not so much.

For a good DM and a good 4 hour session I'd pay up to 15 dollars once in a while. But I think a good DM is worth a lot more.

/M

 

[DonTadow]

If it were an actual job I'd have ot change it to in the 20 buck per hour range, which is standard range for any creative job just about. I'd also want a budget for DM material such as laptops, graph paper, ink, mountain dew IV ect.