DM or GM?

[smootrk]

Referee... see signature below for Star Frontiers material which uses the term Referee.

 

[Olaf the Stout]

I personally prefer the term DM (although I'm not sure why). Having said, being called a GM doesn't bother me. It is more just being used to the term DM rather than GM. One of my players that usually DM/GM's other games a lot uses the term GM exclusively. When I exchange e-mails with him I usually use the term GM rather than DM.

Olaf the Stout

 

[the black knight]

Stupid thread.

 

[Asmor]

Stupid thread.

Wow, thank you for that insightful post. In the future, if you don't find a thread to your liking... you should probably just ignore it. Many thousands of posts are made on this board every day, none are going to appeal to everyone and it shouldn't be too hard to just skip to the ones you do like.

 

[Dr Simon]

I personally prefer GM/Gamesmaster. DM/Dungeonmaster was what I was when I was 12 and it sounds a bit nerdy to my ears. Even though it invokes Genetically Modified, General Motors etc.

Terms like Referee and Judge don't cut it for me - they imply a role of aloof impartiality whereas being behind the screen involves more involvement than that. It's a very specific activity, mingling equal parts crowd control, creativity, challenge creating and impartial judgement, whereas a referee or a judge is rarely the one who creates the difficulties/opposition for players if you look at other areas where you would see such an individual.

More fancy pants terms, like Storyteller and Keeper of Arcane Knowledge - ehh. Faintly amusing at first, a bit up themselves at second glance.

Oh, and it's the Lazy *GM* series because of *grumble grumble* copyrighting. ...

 

[GirII]

I use the terms interchangably. DM / GM in most cases people either know what I mean or just go with it.


For an amusing aside....

Had a friend (non-gamer) walk into the middle of a conversation. He heard GM mentioned and asked-

"Since when do you talk about cars?" [GM=General Motors....nascar fan]

What life we lead....

lol... I think because perhaps I associated GM with cars before I associated GM with gaming, that to this day, I hear GM and think cars. DM works just fine for me!