Player or GM?

[Dannyalcatraz]

I used to DM & Play about 50/50, but I may have lost my chops. The last few campaigns I tried ended badly. So now I'm almost exclusively a player.

 

[Shortymonster]

This happened to me about ten years back, and I stopped GMing for a good few years. It just took me coming up with an idea that I loved enough to risk it, and I was right back in the game!

 

[Bagpuss]

I'd recently been DMing for a good while for our group, now I'm playing again. In the past I think I'd say over all 30% GM / 70% player... +/- 10% either way.

 

[Traveon Wyvernspur]

I generally like doing both equally, but I haven't had a chance to DM in a while. It's funny because in my small group there are 4 of us that can DM really well so we try to take turns DM'ing the games.

 

[Super Pony]

Over all the years I've played it is probably an even split between being a Player or GM, but I tend to go in big hunks of time doing mostly one or the other. For the past six or so months I've been slackin' off in the player seat, enjoying the preparatory fruits of another's labors. It's during times that I am a player that I tend to concoct random ideas for one-shots, oogle premade adventures, and dust off homebrew campaigns that I want to run later on. And by the time I sink back into the supple leather folds of my GM chair, I'm usually loaded with enough ordinance to last a year or so of player abuse enjoyment.

 

[VariSami]

I have mostly been a GM. I used to play in weekly sessions every Monday at a club but I have not been able to attend those in some time. I do not exclusively play as the GM, though, but approximately 70% of the time I do.

 

[MatthewJHanson]

Of the four games I'm currently participating in, I only GM one of them, but I spend far more time outside of play on that game than on the others.

 

[innerdude]

Until 3 years ago, I was exclusively a player, mostly in 3rd Edition D&D with a foray into Star Wars Saga.

Since then I've GM'd Pathfinder and Savage Worlds, and been a player in two separate GURPS campaigns. I've also got my eye on the One Ring, Legends of Anglerre (FATE), Fantasy Craft, and Ars Magica to try GM-ing at some point.

My experience with ENWorld is that almost everyone who regularly posts in the D&D and General Tabletop forums have at least some GM experience under their belt.

 

[Oryan77]

I mostly DM and I enjoy it just as much or more as being a player. But I do love being a player.

A question for people that play a lot as a player; do you find it difficult to play well or fit in with other players? This is probably mostly a question for people that play in a group full of strangers.

I never had issues playing as a player with my friends back in the day. But playing with strangers lately has seemed difficult. After only DMing for many years, I've had the chance to play a PC in 2 groups in the past year. Even though I know all of the qualities that make a problem player, and I make a conscious effort to be a player that someone would like to have in a group, I still seemed to rub a person here & there the wrong way. I'm getting the impression that I have to walk on eggshells in order to not irritate someone over any little thing, including DMs. I always thought my critical opinions of players came from the DM perspective of dealing with the occasional bad apple. But it has been a challenge just to fit in as a player. I've been involved in some pretty pathetic situation in the past year as a player and I don't know if that is just the way things are, if I really am an annoying player to play with, or if I've just run into some bad luck.

 

[Nytmare]

I've never had a problem playing with strangers, but I have frequently had problems wanting to continue to go hang out with people that I don't want to be friends with.