Are you a "problem player"?

[blargney the second]

Yeah, I've got a problem. Crappy tactics from players really annoy me, both as a player and as a DM. There's a rogue in our group that actually avoids getting into flanking position, so he rarely (if ever) gets sneak attack. When he tries to justify it as "not metagaming" I get quite irritated. The G part of RPG is there for a reason - it's not metagaming, it's just gaming!
-blarg

 

[diaglo]

Do you recognize yours? If so, do you do anything to ameliorate it? If so, what do you do?

yes.
not really.
i grin and bare it.

Thoughts? Anyone else? Confession is good for the soul!

well i am pretty vocal about my opinions about what we should be playing. but once i find out i am outvoted i tend to play whatever the group wants within reason.
i try and do the best i can.
but i'm sure.. well i am conscience of it... that it is pretty obvious that i am only keeping time until an opportunity will present itself to play a real game.

 

[yesnomu]

I would consider myself a sometimes-problem player. My problems, as I see them:

• I'm a contrarian. If the group is making a decision, I may just decide to argue the other side. In obvious combat encounters, I'll try to negotiate first if at all possible (gave up a few surprise rounds due to this). Out of combat, And I've provoked fights in noncombat situations (though made it out ok, usually).
• I'm a powergamer. I won't make bad mechanical choices, even if there's a good RP reason for it. I'll never make a character without an 18 in their most important stat, for example. Back in the 3.5 days, I'd comb the CO boards for good combos, and I was already playing a druid! I tended to be one of the more powerful party members, and caught some flak for it. (Example: monk's belt w/ wilding clasp + wild dragonhide full plate + legendary eagle= I don't get hit, thanks) 4e has so far helped with this, since I can't play a really unbalanced class anymore.
• I am a bit of a rules lawyer, and hate rules uncertainty. I try to keep this under control, though.

 

[WalterKovacs]

My problem as a player is basically that I play my character in part by how the character is. If the character is a control freak, I am a bit of a control freak as I play, getting quite annoyed at the other players wasting time, or getting into trouble for the sake of getting into trouble. If my character is a brooding loner wth a one track mind, I kind of phase out on the details of the quest, leaving that to the people in the party that seem to "care". It does make it hard for situations where the characters need to meet up with each other and join together if the other players don't meet me "half way", especially if the character isn't someone that just walks up to people and suggests a team up.

One current group I'm in, it took a full gaming session to get my character tied to the other PCs, but even then none of the other PCs had interacted with each other directly. In our fourth session, we finally have about 3 out of the 4 together, and a fifth have joined the group. Our first meeting with that character left him in the hospital .

Then again, I'm DM'ing for a few groups, and I have some problems as a DM (I am probably a bit too lenient for the PCs). I've tried to basically make things "fair" by not fudging dice or allowing fiat except in a few cases (you got a 20? Ok, the guy auto fails his saving throw to avoid getting tossed down the well. Fighter going to die by geting tossed down a 100 ft pit? Well, Bigby's Icy Grasp is right there ... might as well let the wizard save him). I do often have tell the PCs, or at least hint at them, what the best course of action is. This is mostly some of the casual players who are indecisive. In this case though, I am also running an NPC ... who is a tactical warlord, and thus I'm at least acting as the characters voice when giving the PCs advice.

Ultimately, while I enjoy roleplaying as a game, I often end up immersing myself into my character and that's where I get a lot of enjoyment, but it can be a problem for DMs and other players as I rarely play a character that isn't "difficult" in some way, usally manipulative jerks, or brooding loners.

 

[RFisher]

I’m a recovering rules lawyer.

I have a tendency to remind the GM of things the other players wish I wouldn’t.

My characters tend to be rather flat.

I’m extremely indecisive. Though this may actually be less of a problem when gaming than in real life. I think I may be more decisive when playing a character.

I’m more likely to make an OOC joking remark than a proper IC response.

 

[Hussar]

I'm a problem player as well.

Impatience is what I consider to be my biggest fault. I get SOOO antsy and pissed off when I have to wait for people to take their turn. To the point where I actually timed people's turns for a session then presented my findings to the group the next day.

In retrospect, that was perhaps a smidgeon antagonistic.

But, TBH, nothing makes me want to paint my brains against the wall more than waiting five minutes for some wingnut to say, "oh, is it my turn?" Then I want to paint HIS brains all over the wall.

I also have a problem with loss of focus. If there's a bunch of stuff going on that isn't really relevant to what I perceive as the main point, I tend to try to push people to get going. "Yes, yes, it's all very well and good to discuss current politics with the greengrocer. Yes, YES, I know you're getting into your character. But, y'know, we are supposed to be saving those orphans locked up somewhere below Cauldron, so, could you please pull your head out of your vas deferens and GET GOING!"

:ahem:

I know what Dragonbait is saying.

"For some reason I have a difficult time really getting into other people's characters when I'm a player. I often really like my character, but am ambiguous about everyone else's."

Yeah. I'm guilty of that as well. Something I should work on. I remember we were about six months into an Eberron campaign and I still couldn't remember the name of one of the PC's. "Y'know, the dwarf cleric". In my defense, I don't think the dwarf cleric once mentioned which god he worshipped and almost never spoke with a Scottish accent. How was I to know?

 

[Lanefan]

I'm probably some people's worst nightmare as a player: my alignment of choice is CN, and I'll have my character do what it would do regardless of whether it's going to benefit the party or not; I've role-played myself right out of games in the past due to this. And even if I'm not playing CN, whatever I do play I'll usually take a bit over the top just for the amusement value. And I play a gonzo style at the best of times...if nobody else is doing anything one of my guys will...witness my wizard scouting ahead (and nearly getting killed) a few sessions back because neither of the party thieves wanted to.

Right now, for example, in the game I play in I've had two main characters:
1. A lawful-to-a-fault wizard from the game's equivalent of the Roman Empire. She knows exactly what her rank is, who outranks her (nobody in the current party), and who she outranks (everybody in the current party) and thus can give orders to. This came in real handy recently when we had to deal with some local bureaucrats...they never had a chance.
2. A Dwarf fighter with a southern drawl; an old-school traditionalist whose first line on meeting a female Dwarven adventurer was "What are you doing out here? Shouldn't you be in someone's kitchen?" (things went downhill quickly from there, as you might expect!). He died last session for the second time in short order, so I won't bother bringing him back and instead fire up something new.

All in all, my double-sided goal in the game is to entertain and be entertained. I make sure my characters are entertaining, and I get mighty bored if the other players don't reciprocate. The problems arise when "entertaining" and "annoying", or "dangerous", collide; and they do.

I'm at my most impatient if I'm bored with a particular storyline or adventure and suddenly my characters just want to get it over with. Either that, or if I've got the right character in play I'll instigate some party infighting and grind everything to a halt. (another sign I'm a problem player: my best sessions are often the ones where there's an in-party brawl of some kind...)

Lanefan

 

[MortalPlague]

If my character failed on "save or die" I could deal with it, but my DM couldn't and he would fudge the consequences. The only way my character could fail/die was if it was in script.

I don't view this as a 'problem player' trait. For me, this is the absolute worst thing possible for D&D. I can see where some groups might like this style of play, but I vastly prefer as a player to have the dice lie as they fall. Bitter failure makes the eventual taste of success all the sweeter.

 

[Humanaut]

Hello, I'm Humanaut, and I'm a problem gamer.

I DM 95% of the time now, so when I get in to play I suffer from various maladies:

I try and min/max the party and my PC. Then can get frustrated if others choose sub-optimal tactics or PC builds... because obviously I must try and compensate for that!

The two others who'll DM will either look to me for a rule clarification, or I'll call a rule even if it hurts us... "we don't want to CHEAT right?"

To mitigate I try try to just roll with my PC, whatever it is, not use "DM knowledge" of monsters and let people do what they want... or try to suggest helpful things in a non-comanding manner. (But dang, when the nubie doesn't have his rogue flank/ sneak attack... ah!!)

Also when questions come up I try to be sure that rule callings are that of the DM... it's THEIR world. Gotta relax.

btw ExploderWizard: that Dragon article on quasi-alignments... that was us! Dr.#124 Aug '87 ha ha! We were 16 at the time and our DM (Rich, the author) used our antics for his article. I would have the dubious distinction of being the Dragon Insulter example of Chaotic Stupid. My halfing thief was quite the instigator. I had to read it again this morning and chuckle. We did all those examples and more.

 

[AdmundfortGeographer]

I have my own problems, though I believe they are minor and I have been making concerted efforts to spot them at the moment and overcoming them.

I want to make the best tactical decision so badly that it can take me forever to make the decision, I over think situations to a terrible degree leading to slowdown for everybody. It takes me a very long time to become familiar with any ruleset so that I am comfortable adventuring outside of the simplest of character classes with the least powers.

In roleplaying situations am at pains to interact IC, I just feel embarrassed to do so most of the time unless I have a few alcoholic beverages.

Most of my characters seem to be iterations of the same theme.