Do You Consider GMing to Be Hard Work?

[ccs]

Speaking for myself; There's a little bit of work involved. But it's not hard. And most of it doesn't occur on Game Night.
Most importantly, as this is a hobby eating up my free time, if I weren't having fun doing it then I wouldn't be doing it.

 

[embee]

I'm going to have a missing player at tonight's virtual game. We've taken two weeks off in a row, and several of us are itching to play - including me, the GM. We don't want to continue the current game with that player absent, so I offered to run a one-shot of something I already had prepared and literally ready for immediate play.

One player is "maybe we should just hang out and chat on Discord or do something else online" (after having done this for the past two weeks). "I just don't want you to have to put in a lot of work." "You can relax and have fun with the rest of us."

I actually like running a game and look forward to it. Am I missing something? Do others think of it as a chore? Do players assume the GM isn't having fun?

Do what you love and you'll never work a day in your life.

My job is work. Signing complaints and writing motions is work.

Doing the dishes is a chore. Folding laundry is a chore.

When I'm at the office, I count the minutes until I can come up with encounters for the week's session. The reverse is not true. When I'm loading up the dishwasher, my mind is in my den, thinking about dungeons and how my players are going to outwit me. It's never the other way around.

If GMing was work, I wouldn't do it.

 

[TerraDave]

Like any serious hobby, it involves effort. Maybe a lot. Hopefully you get more out of it then you put in.

It is special in the sense that the joy of the other players does depend on your effort, and skill. I guess there are other hobbies out there like that, though its hard to think of them off the top of my head.

 

[Umbran]

So, I don't think "fun" and "work" are mutually exclusive, so I am not convinced if you're asking the question in as useful a form as you might..

For me:
Preparation is always work. It is sometimes fun.
Organizing people, getting things scheduled, and hosting a game is always work. It is rarely fun.
Running a session is usually not work. It is usually fun.

 

[Henry]

I do consider it work, but I also enjoy doing it, and personally I’ve always believed that every player owes it to themselves and their other gaming friends at the table to try it at least once or twice. Even if they find they don’t enjoy it, they’ve gotten a more well-rounded experience as a gamer, and they’ve gotten a chance to appreciate both aspects to a player/GM dynamic. It’s kind of like cross-training skills - even if you never use the knowledge again, you now have a better understanding of the role of the other person, and in a pinch you might be able to fill that role, or better support the person who DOES take that role.

 

[Benjamin Olson]

It's enjoyable, but it is a high stress enjoyable activity and far from relaxing for me. So, in some senses of the term, it is work.

 

[zarionofarabel]

Not at all! It's more fun than playing and to me is a much more rewarding experience. Don't get me wrong, playing is fun, especially if the other players are fun to play with. But nothing beats being the DM!

 

[Ace]

It can be hard work especially if I bother to prep but for me its far more satisfying than playing.

 

[TheSword]

Work for me is either something you get paid to do, or something you do because you have to and not because you want to.

I would say not all elements of prep are work. I don’t get paid for any of it of course. Map making, token making, making handouts, reading a hardcover, trawling the internet for interesting ideas aren’t work for me. I enjoy the creativity of making things and derive entertainment from reading new things. Even having to stat up creatures while a bit of effort isn’t much.

I really don’t understand how playing can be work unless you don’t want to do it. In which case it’s a hobby why bother. I don’t think I’d do it, if DMing was some kind of rotational time in the stocks.

The only real work I find in the game is having to spoon feed players if they stop interrogating the fiction. Or having to try and propel the action if the players are pissing about in character. That makes me feel like a school teacher and is most definitely work.

 

[Jd Smith1]

Since '79, I have very rarely played. I always GM; to me, it is the only way to game. It requires a lot of effort between sessions to be a good GM, but I would not call it work.