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<blockquote data-quote="Lord_Blacksteel" data-source="post: 7715106" data-attributes="member: 53082"><p>Since 1979</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Everybody burns out. Typically the answer is take some time off from doing it or change to another game or both. I don't think getting paid for it changes this at all. A paid DM may burn out faster as he is presumably running quite a few more games - you may play once a week, if he's doing this for a living I'd assume he's running at least 3-5 games a week. When it turns into "work" and someone is forcing themselves to run I find it usually doesn't go as well. I don't like it when I'm not paying for someone's time - I'm certainly not interested in paying for it. </p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>When you say "give away their time for free" - what do you mean? You're playing a game with your friends. When would it not be "free"? If you're (the general "you" not specifically you C) looking for some kind of monetary return for spending time with friends I'd think you are coming in with a problematic attitude about how this thing works. There's an opportunity cost for spending time doing one thing instead of something else and it's not just the DM that's paying that cost. </p><p></p><p>I do agree that the number of people willing to GM is a limiting factor in having a game. It's also a problem that's very simple to solve - when someone wants a game bad enough they will decide to run one. You do need friends willing to play - I'm assuming you have or can find a few people interested in playing but that's probably the next limiting factor. It may not be the most polished session ever but that's how it starts!</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>It's a hobby - economy doesn't really enter into it. I don't know that helping people on forums has anything to do with actually running a game. That could come from DM's, players, or people who do not have an active game at the moment. People have been posting stuff online for free since the earliest days of the internet. With modern PDF publishing and things like DTRPG and the DM's Guild there are fairly easy ways for a DM (or anyone else) to try and make some money off of their creations and that has probably decreased the amount of free contributions out there but there is still stuff out there.</p><p></p><p>For me it comes down to "if it's not fun why are you doing it?". Talk to your group and work out a solution. I've done it many times over the years. </p><p></p><p> The flip side is "if you think it would be fun why aren't you doing it?" and if the answer to that one is "no one wants to GM" well, there's an easy answer to that. Two of my kids started running games for their friends in the past couple of years and -while I'm sure it's full of all those wonderful things teenage boys bring to their games- they and their friends are having a blast. People get caught up in thinking they're not going to be able to make it work when it's really not that difficult to get started - you just have to take the plunge.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Lord_Blacksteel, post: 7715106, member: 53082"] Since 1979 Everybody burns out. Typically the answer is take some time off from doing it or change to another game or both. I don't think getting paid for it changes this at all. A paid DM may burn out faster as he is presumably running quite a few more games - you may play once a week, if he's doing this for a living I'd assume he's running at least 3-5 games a week. When it turns into "work" and someone is forcing themselves to run I find it usually doesn't go as well. I don't like it when I'm not paying for someone's time - I'm certainly not interested in paying for it. When you say "give away their time for free" - what do you mean? You're playing a game with your friends. When would it not be "free"? If you're (the general "you" not specifically you C) looking for some kind of monetary return for spending time with friends I'd think you are coming in with a problematic attitude about how this thing works. There's an opportunity cost for spending time doing one thing instead of something else and it's not just the DM that's paying that cost. I do agree that the number of people willing to GM is a limiting factor in having a game. It's also a problem that's very simple to solve - when someone wants a game bad enough they will decide to run one. You do need friends willing to play - I'm assuming you have or can find a few people interested in playing but that's probably the next limiting factor. It may not be the most polished session ever but that's how it starts! It's a hobby - economy doesn't really enter into it. I don't know that helping people on forums has anything to do with actually running a game. That could come from DM's, players, or people who do not have an active game at the moment. People have been posting stuff online for free since the earliest days of the internet. With modern PDF publishing and things like DTRPG and the DM's Guild there are fairly easy ways for a DM (or anyone else) to try and make some money off of their creations and that has probably decreased the amount of free contributions out there but there is still stuff out there. For me it comes down to "if it's not fun why are you doing it?". Talk to your group and work out a solution. I've done it many times over the years. The flip side is "if you think it would be fun why aren't you doing it?" and if the answer to that one is "no one wants to GM" well, there's an easy answer to that. Two of my kids started running games for their friends in the past couple of years and -while I'm sure it's full of all those wonderful things teenage boys bring to their games- they and their friends are having a blast. People get caught up in thinking they're not going to be able to make it work when it's really not that difficult to get started - you just have to take the plunge. [/QUOTE]
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