D&D 5E Are DMs getting lazy?

[Derren]

For fear of of sounding like an in-my-day curmudgeon, are DMs these days just too lazy to make the game their own?

Yes. And you see that everywhere, not only in the increased demand of adventures but also on the constant cries for simplification, the complains about easy to understand 3 sentence rules and the demand for shorter and shorter combat (usually the rules heaviest part of D&D). I also think that things like "fail forward" is a symptom of this laziness as people do not want find other ways to succeed once their original thought out plan is blocked. Instead just continue like normal and add en extra encounter later on.

But to be fair, its not only the DMs who got lazy.

 

[jgsugden]

What these DMs do not realize is that once you learn to DM, using prebuilt adventures, etc... takes *more time*, not less time. It takes me longer to read a module and prepare than it does for me to prepare homebrew materials for a similar amount of gaming. It takes less time to get to 'know' an adventure if you built it than it does to memorize the elements of someone else's creation that must be down to run the adventure well.

 

[Umbran]

Yes.

No. For reasons previously cited. It is not laziness when the issue is that keeping other ares of your life working is a major issue.

 

[Derren]

No. For reasons previously cited. It is not laziness when the issue is that keeping other ares of your life working is a major issue.

Please tell me which "other areas of life" didn't exist 10-20 years ago?
No, people just don't want to spend as much time with D&D than in the past. After all there are so many other forms of entertainment, too and people want all of it. Time spend preparing adventures or even learning the rules is now spend on youtube, facebook, video games, etc. Why be invested in one thing when you can scratch the surface of five things?

 

[Sacrosanct]

Please tell me which "other areas of life" didn't exist 10-20 years ago?
No, people just don't want to spend as much time with D&D than in the past. After all there are so many other forms of entertainment, too and people want all of it. Time spend preparing adventures or even learning the rules is now spend on youtube, facebook, video games, etc. Why be invested in one thing when you can scratch the surface of five things?

Yep. Pretty sure movies, comics, video games, jobs, and other activities all existed back in the 70s too. Also, and sure this is anecdotal so take it for what it's worth, but most D&D players I played with back in the day didn't create their own stuff either. It was typically only about one out of ever five people who created their own worlds and adventures and DM'd them. Much like what I see now. That's why I think this is a myth, of sorts, and more of just a small % of gamers who are complaining and want instant gratification.

 

[I'm A Banana]

Please tell me which "other areas of life" didn't exist 10-20 years ago?

Well, for me personally, 20 years ago, I didn't have a full time job, or a car, or rent, or a family to support, or any of the time-sinks I have today.

But people in general have an issue with "time poverty". Debatably, people have less free time.

 

[DaveDash]

Please tell me which "other areas of life" didn't exist 10-20 years ago?
No, people just don't want to spend as much time with D&D than in the past. After all there are so many other forms of entertainment, too and people want all of it. Time spend preparing adventures or even learning the rules is now spend on youtube, facebook, video games, etc. Why be invested in one thing when you can scratch the surface of five things?

If you look at the "how old are you" thread you'll find that most DMs are now in their 30s-40s, so you can probably figure out for yourself what exists now that didn't exist before.

Even if what you say is true, then that is not a matter of laziness, but rather D&D not being competitive enough with other forms of entertainment.

 

[Hylo]

Please tell me which "other areas of life" didn't exist 10-20 years ago?
No, people just don't want to spend as much time with D&D than in the past. After all there are so many other forms of entertainment, too and people want all of it. Time spend preparing adventures or even learning the rules is now spend on youtube, facebook, video games, etc. Why be invested in one thing when you can scratch the surface of five things?

You are right, I don't want to spend as much time with D&D as I did in the past. Unlike my teen years, I have a full time career, wife, kids, household to maintain, non D&D activities, etc.

If I have to spend as much time preparing for D&D as I used to, my relationship with my children, wife, and my job will suffer. D&D is less important than any of those items.

Playing D&D with my kids is a great family activity. Preparing an adventure is solitary, and is a time-tax on that activity. If the tax is too high, it isn't worth it.

 

[TerraDave]

Of course, we have some other threads right now where some people at least confirm they have all sorts of time for D&D:

http://www.enworld.org/forum/showthread.php?425574-Play-Frequency-with-Poll!

http://www.enworld.org/forum/showthread.php?425055-How-often-do-you-play

And its actually strange to say this with 5E. There is so little for it, yet lots of people are already playing it.

I think it might be the opposite. With a depressed economy and the interwebs lowering some of the transaction cost with gaming, people are spending more time on D&D, not less.

 

[Shasarak]

Getting lazy?

I have been lazy for years!