This is the complete opposite of my experience. I find most players are reluctant to offer even constructive criticism away from the table, never mind bitching and moaning during the game(!). Either you are a terrible DM or there is a big cultural difference.
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Do you GM for yourself or others?
- Thread starter Ravilah
- Start date
This is the complete opposite of my experience. I find most players are reluctant to offer even constructive criticism away from the table, never mind bitching and moaning during the game(!). Either you are a terrible DM or there is a big cultural difference.
I used to sing in high school and college. It's like that.
I do it because I want to do it. It's how I can make "art" and express myself, and impress myself and my friends.
I would sing to myself -- or do ENWorld by myself -- if there was no one around to sing with/to or to play in my D&D campaign.
But it's so much better to do it as a group -- it works better, and it gives the joy of comradeship and the joy of having someone appreciate what you're doing.
"Each another's audience" as Shakespeare and then Rush put it . . . except they thought that was a bad thing!
I do it because I want to do it. It's how I can make "art" and express myself, and impress myself and my friends.
I would sing to myself -- or do ENWorld by myself -- if there was no one around to sing with/to or to play in my D&D campaign.
But it's so much better to do it as a group -- it works better, and it gives the joy of comradeship and the joy of having someone appreciate what you're doing.
"Each another's audience" as Shakespeare and then Rush put it . . . except they thought that was a bad thing!
Interesting. I'm not sure this has really increased in US society, but perhaps the visibility of such attitudes on the internet has bled over into flaming mentalities in real life.
Perhaps it's just the economy, though . . . people do have a lot of frustrations these days.
I do this too, running 3.5e. This weekend, I finally skimmed through the 3.5e Unearthed Arcana, DMG II, and PHB II, to decide on what "extra" rules I'd let in, due to a player question.
I decided I liked only two rules in the three books: "Magic Rating" from Unearthed Arcana (using the variant where Arcane Classes or Divine Classes stack with each other for an Arcane Caster Level or a Divine Caster Level) and "Retraining" (where a PC can swap one Feat for another, or some skill points for another, etc. during level advancement).
Feedback from my players was that there were concerned about allowing the "Retraining" because they didn't want any munchkin characters, but that given our set of players, that probably won't be a problem.
Warms my little DM heart . . . I thought the same thing, but did it because someone wanted to make a change, and I'm willing to bend a LITTLE to make them happy.
Could be cultural. Which of these expressions of how to be a good solid bloke are British as opposed to American:
"stiff upper lip"
"Keep Calm and Carry On"
"muddle through"
Yes, that's right, all British. If we Americans have similar expressions about not moaning about stuff, I don't recall them.
TheAuldGrump
First Post
Both. I wouldn't run if I didn't enjoy it, and I wouldn't have players if they did not enjoy it too.
And part of my enjoyment is watching them figure things out, otherwise, why bother?
The Auld Grump
And part of my enjoyment is watching them figure things out, otherwise, why bother?
The Auld Grump
I started out as a DM with about a 30/70 split with it being for myself/the players. Our group had 5 or 6 people and 5 of us took turns as DM at one point or another, but I ended up being DM about 90% of the time due to the work schedules of the others as opposed to my own.
Now I do the work and creation part of it for myself. If the players don't care for something, I'm less likely to care nowadays. I want everyone to have fun, but I use role playing games, whether as a DM or a player, to help my creative juices get flowing to work on my writing. The campaign world I have created is what I base my writing in, and what the players do there gives me ideas to use when writing.
Now I do the work and creation part of it for myself. If the players don't care for something, I'm less likely to care nowadays. I want everyone to have fun, but I use role playing games, whether as a DM or a player, to help my creative juices get flowing to work on my writing. The campaign world I have created is what I base my writing in, and what the players do there gives me ideas to use when writing.
Tequila Sunrise
Adventurer
This has been my experience as well. Players either sit happily at the table and play, desperately thankful that they don't have to DM, or they just stop showing up. And I'm not an intimidating guy; in fact I'm pretty much a walking gamer stereotype.
Occasionally I've seen a new player get pouty and whiny if the DM crits their character, but I've never seen a player outright criticize a DM.
Could be cultural. Which of these expressions of how to be a good solid bloke are British as opposed to American:
"stiff upper lip"
"Keep Calm and Carry On"
"muddle through"
Yes, that's right, all British. If we Americans have similar expressions about not moaning about stuff, I don't recall them.
How about:
"grin & bear it"
"buck/cowboy/man up"
