Adversarial Gaming Style

[DarrenGMiller]

Another thread inspired me to start this poll. You may choose more than one option (for those of you who play and GM).

How many of you feel that the object of the game is "to win" as a PC (kill the thousand orcs single-handedly, beat any NPC/creature the GM can throw at you, get the most items/treasure, have the best stats, optimize your PC with the best feat/PrC progression available, etc.) or to "challenge the DM"?

Is this powergaming, munchkinism, gamist, min-maxing, or some more sinister trend in gaming?

One of my players seems to think that this is the direction the game is going and I am looking for statistics. I am serious here.

What say you?

DM

 

[punkorange]

It's you vs. the DM baby! You win if your alive at the end of the night, if not you lose.

In all seriousness, I believe that the DM and the players work "together" to create a shared story entertaining to all of them with unique characters.
It really depends on the style you find more fun though, and If you enjoy trying to battle it out DM vs. Player style, go ahead. Me and my group enjoy working togather to create a fun and interesting game.

 

[Crothian]

Depends on the game, in moist games we play it is nice and friendly and no us verse them or us verse oursleves. But in the Paranoia game I'm running....

 

[Mark]

I wind up playing with a LOT of different people and rarely play long with anyone who is keen on the Adversarial game. I usually just point out that we have differing styles of play that will not reconcile and that neither of us need compromise. In short, thanks for playing but you need to find another group, or I do, but as the DM it's usually a matter of the player looking elsewhere or the whole group desolving.

 

[Darkness]

Conflict with the DM is pointless. If you want that, grab a computer game instead. (Or a board game/CCG/etc.)

At least, that's what I'd do.

 

[GlassJaw]

I'm not sure I would call him adverserial but I have one player who likes to control the action. If a decision is to be made, you can bet that his opinion will definitely be heard. It's easily remedied though. Usually I just have to tell him to chill out for a few.

 

[Rystil Arden]

My players aren't adversarial, but they also don't "all work together to make the game the best it can be for everyone." They just play without either of those in mind, seeing what will happen next, without trying to beat up on anyone or to work together to make the game better...except the Shade Demonologist who stole from the party, summoned fiends, and got himself killed by the other players for his adversarialism. As a player, I believe in cooperating with the DM, so I voted that.

 

[Wombat]

Barring playing Paranoia, nope, not adversarial in the least.

As a matter of fact, I don't run "my" game, but rather "our" game; this is always how we refer to the game. Everyone in the campaign contributes to it, not only in term of adventures on my side and characters on theirs, but also in terms of NPCs, ideas about local customs and legends, and the like. We have very, very cooperative games out here, something I am singularly thankful for.

 

[Ourph]

It's you vs. the DM baby! You win if your alive at the end of the night, if not you lose.

Agree 100%. I've been playing and running the game this way since 1980.

I believe that the DM and the players work "together" to create a shared story entertaining to all of them with unique characters.

What?

Oh. You weren't being serious with the first one. Way to raise my hopes and then crush my spirit. Tease!

Me and my group enjoy working togather to create a fun and interesting game.

Believe it or not, my groups work the same way. IMO, it's up to the DM to present challenges (real challenges, not just "interesting dilemmas" or whatever) and then work with the players as they try to overcome them. It's players vs. DM in that the players are supposed to bring their best game and the DM is supposed to pull no punches as far as the established challenges. Where it's NOT player vs. DM is when it comes to the DM adjudicating the rules and making judgement calls, at that point he's the "referee" and is supposed to be fair and impartial.

I think the poll starts with an unfounded premise, that "players vs. DM" is inherently opposed to "cooperating to create a good game". Adversarial gaming is just like any other game, the fun is in the challenge and the competition, but in order for the competition to be meaningful there needs to be a relatively equal chance of any "side" winning or losing....and that's why we have rules.

Conflict with the DM is pointless. If you want that, grab a computer game instead. (Or a board game/CCG/etc.)

Bad advice. A good DM is a much more challenging and interesting adversary than any computer.

 

[Darkness]

Bad advice.

That's merely your opinion and as it happens, not a very useful one unless one is into that kind of thing.