It's Not the GM's Job to Make Sure People Have Fun

[Dannyalcatraz]

Yada-yada-yada.

 

[Doug McCrae]

I'd like to see George Costanza as a GM. It sure wouldn't be his job to make sure people have fun.

 

[MarkB]

It is everyone at the table's job to help enable everyone else at the table to have fun. That's why it is a game, right? So is it the GM's job? Yes.

Is it the player's job as well? Yes.

My thoughts exactly. Everyone playing should be doing their best to make it a fun experience, both for themselves and each other. The DM has a significant central role in this, since he is hosting and directing proceedings, but that doesn't mean he needs to take any more responsibility for it than the other players.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

I'd like to see George Costanza as a GM. It sure wouldn't be his job to make sure people have fun.

I'm sure Elaine wouldn't be a good GM...she wouldn't find many people "screen-worthy."

 

[Odhanan]

Nope. That's exactly what it is.

It sounds profound, so people can stroke their chins and nod thoughtfully (and repost it on message boards). But really, it's just setting up and knocking down a strawman.

-O

I don't think so.

If anything, I would consider the notion that the "GM should make sure everyone has fun" as a statement that looks profound, but really isn't. What you can do as a GM is create the environment in which people may have fun, but there is a responsibility of the players to answer the GM's invitation with participation, proactive behavior, that makes them appreciate the game all the more.

The thread asking "but then... what's the PLAYERS' job?" is swarmed by answers that "the players should make sure everyone else has fun", or "that the GM has fun", and so on, so forth. Which is all very true, but goes to show that the notion the GM needs to "make sure" everyone has fun is a simplistic one-liner.

Why point this out? Because I think this notion can have a very nasty effect at some gaming tables, by either encouraging players to view the GM as "the entertainer", remaining passive, waiting for the GM to perform his tricks on them, and/or encouraging players to blame the GM exclusively if someone didn't have fun during the game (It's the equivalent of "it's the GM's fault!" applied to an actual game instead of an ENWorld thread. If it is Godwining threads, then it can Godwin games, too).

I think this one-liner stems from good intentions, but ultimately may (not automatically, but MAY) encourage bad behaviors around a gaming table.

You're free to disagree, of course.

 

[Obryn]

I don't think so.

If anything, I would consider the notion that the "GM should make sure everyone has fun" as a statement that looks profound, but really isn't. What you can do as a GM is create the environment in which people may have fun, but there is a responsibility of the players to answer the GM's invitation with participation, proactive behavior, that makes them appreciate the game all the more.

Like I said - it's a shorthand. I don't know if it sounds particularly profound. But yes, by definition, this shorthand is a simplistic one-liner.

The blog response you posted amounts to turning that shorthand into a strawman, and then knocking it down. It accomplishes nothing, because I don't think anyone using that shorthand really believes what he's arguing against.

-O

 

[Odhanan]

Like I said - it's a shorthand. I don't know if it sounds particularly profound. But yes, by definition, this shorthand is a simplistic one-liner.

The blog response you posted amounts to turning that shorthand into a strawman, and then knocking it down. It accomplishes nothing, because I don't think anyone using that shorthand really believes what he's arguing against.

-O

You're calling "the GM makes sure everyone has fun" a shorthand on which the OP builds a strawman.
I'm calling it a simplistic one-liner which invites clarification and nuance, and thus ultimately fails as a shorthand.

Different takes, I guess.

 

[Fifth Element]

The thread asking "but then... what's the PLAYERS' job?" is swarmed by answers that "the players should make sure everyone else has fun", or "that the GM has fun", and so on, so forth.

Yes, they're saying that in a cooperative game, it is everyone's job (to some degree) to make the game fun for everyone. The DM is generally assigned the greater part of the responsibility, since he has more responsibility in running the game in all respects.

I agree with Obryn that it's a shorthand statement taken too literally, and an argument against something not actually being argued.

 

[FireLance]

I look at it from this perspective: why is it especially important for the DM to ensure that people have fun?

Well, first off, there's that whole "great power, great responsibility" mantra that everyone keeps talking about and presumably believes in.

Secondly, and perhaps more critically, DMs often have so many objectives for their games that they lose sight of the fact that "fun" should be one of the more important ones, if not the most important one. All too often, DMs excuse the unfun events in their game with simple, trite, cop-outs such as "That's how the dice came up," or "That's how the NPC would have reacted," or "That's what would have logically happened." To me, that's like a player saying, "I was just roleplaying my character."

Come on, now. You're the DM. Unless you're running a sandbox game (and in some cases, even if you're running a sandbox game), you control the setup of the world, what's happening in the world, the nature of the challenges that the players face, the characters of the enemies and allies they interact with, and the rewards and consequences of success and failure. You shouldn't have to sacrifice logic or consistency for fun because you should always be able to set up events in the game to unfold logically and consistently in a way that would be fun for the players even if their characters fail.

And if you mess up, and you will, unless you're some kind of DMing prodigy, you should feel bad. Don't try to hide behind your excuses, learn from your mistakes, try not to repeat them, and become a better DM for your players.

End rant.

 

[Desdichado]

I look at it from this perspective: why is it especially important for the DM to ensure that people have fun?

I think it's worth pointing out from time to time, because a lot of GMs get caught up in the work of GMing and forget it, honestly. They don't even look for cues for how much fun their players are having, they don't pay attention to what kinds of games people are enjoying, and which parts of the game are the most successful, etc.

Or, they get caught up in some GM-craft theory, and go off on a tangent. Or they get caught up in some GMing fad they hear about online. Or whatever.

I think the particular argument of the blog post from the OP is self-evident and obvious, and a strawman. But the idea itself; of the buck stopping right there behind the GM screen for fun, is a worthwhile notion.