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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Negflar2099" data-source="post: 5857151" data-attributes="member: 65944">Okay there's this problem that's come up at my game table on numerous occasions, no matter what game we play or who the GM is (with some exceptions) and I don't know how to solve it.Basically we're having the problem of people talking over one another which has the effect of making those people feel marginalized. My wife was the one that first brought it to my attention (and sadly she seems to be one of the most often marginalized players, which is why she noticed it first). It's a complicated issue for us and there's a lot here to unpack. First there's the gender thing. This seems to impact the woman more than the men, although I've felt it too. There's also the issue of inexperienced people who don't (or can't) roleplay their characters versus those who just jump in and start talking, leaving the non-roleplayers feeling like they have no way to respond. Then there's personality issues between the more gregarious out-going people versus the introverts. We've talked about it individually but it's hard because people become very defensive about it. I have to admit when my wife first raised the issue I started to get a little defensive myself. <img src="http://www.enworld.org/forum/images/smilies/blush.png"  class="smilie" loading="lazy" alt=":blush:" title="Blush    :blush:" data-shortname=":blush:" /> I was GM and when she pointed out how it was my job to make sure everyone had a chance to speak (which is totally true) I balked at first. Being a GM is stressful enough and although I honestly have tried I just can't seem to remember to keep track of who hasn't spoken. Plus it's so subjective, trying to figure out when one person has spoken too much (here I go being defensive again). We've also talked about one of the most outgoing players who also tends to be the one who most often talks over other people. He listened and apologized but nothing changed (taking over a room is in his nature and it's hard to fight that sort of thing but maybe I'm making excuses for him.)So now short of breaking my group into introverts versus extroverts (which would leave me with two teeny tiny groups) I'm not sure what else to do. I thought about adding a talking token that gets passed to everyone who speaks in turn. That way we could keep track of who has actually talked. It sounds good on paper but seems, I don't know, a little group-therapy-ish if that makes sense.Does anybody have any other suggestions? If you've had this problem at your table how have you dealt with it? Bottom line is I want everyone to have a good time regardless of how outgoing or introverted they are. Thoughts?</blockquote>

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