Do close friends make less-effective players?

[Emirikol]

For most players, friendships are about equality..DMing requires a certain amount of authoritarianism..so in your years of gaming experiences, do close friends make the less-effective players?

jh

 

[Odhanan]

Never had that problem. Instead, gaming with actual friends outside the game table has only increased the quality of our games.

I game with friends 95% of the time. The idea of playing with people I would not socialize with outside of the game is unnatural to me.

 

[Deadguy]

I've been very lucky to do the vast majority of my role-playing with friends, over many years. And in all that time I haven't found that friendship caused any problems with the authority of the DM. Indeed the only problem I have ever seen is the (sort of) opposite, of being reluctant to tell a friend that the DMing was working!

I suppose part of this stems from the fact that whilst someone is DM now, they aren't always going to be so. As such, there's less authoritarianism involved and more a recognition of a shared burden.

 

[Crothian]

so in your years of gaming experiences, do close friends make the less-effective players?

Nope, the opposite in fact my best friends are usually the most effective players. Friendship is about being equal, but because of that and they know me so well they have no problem with giving me the power of DMing. If they didn't know me as well or trust that I know what I'm doing and that I will run something fun for them; there is no way that my games would be nearly as successful.

 

[Aaron L]

I have only ever played with close friends, and wouldn't want to play with anyone that wasn't.

 

[jdrakeh]

Never had that problem. Instead, gaming with actual friends outside the game table has only increased the quality of our games.

Generally I find that to be true, but its worth mentioning that making new friends through gaming is (for me, anyhow) even more rewarding than simply having fun with old friends.

 

[Andre]

For most players, friendships are about equality..DMing requires a certain amount of authoritarianism..so in your years of gaming experiences, do close friends make the less-effective players?

jh

For me, it's the opposite.

First, I'd argue that both players and GM's are equal in terms of determining how much fun the group has. Just because the roles are different doesn't make one more or less equal within the group.

Also, gaming with friends means gaming with people I trust - and being able to trust the GM and other players is a big part of enjoying the game.

 

[Davelozzi]

Yep, I prefer to play with friends, and haven't found any authority issues cropping up. My main group consists mainly of friends (and family) that play in my campaign but don't do much, if any, gaming when I'm not running something. However I also have friends that I play other games with that I met through gaming...nonetheless they are still friends.

 

[Odhanan]

Also, gaming with friends means gaming with people I trust - and being able to trust the GM and other players is a big part of enjoying the game.

Utterly agreed. I'd also argue that, when players trust their DM and the DM does the same for the players, there is no need for "authoritarism". I find that in many cases, trying to enforce rules through "authoritarism" is in fact a characteristic of poor DMing. If instead the rules are respected simply by virtue of being and the players just acknowledge the DM has to have the final word in game arguments for the game's sake, there's no need for "authoritarism", though at times, in rare, problematic situations, showing authority might be indeed a necessity.

 

[Maggan]

For most players, friendships are about equality..DMing requires a certain amount of authoritarianism..so in your years of gaming experiences, do close friends make the less-effective players?

jh

To give a meaningful answer to that question, I would have to hear a bit more about what you mean by "less-effective"?Mostly, we don't measure our gaming expericence with regards to effectiveness, so I'm not really sure if being a close friend with a player impacts that.

Being close friends impacts game play in many way, I guess. But then again, the main reason I play with my friends is because they are my friends, and I don't feel that to have such a negative impact on play, that I would need to seek out other players.

Cheers!

/Maggan